Book 4 of the holiday reading pile includes a lot of rape. Hardly surprising as the core of the narrative is the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during World War 2. In this book , so far , none of the main characters are involved. The brutality of the Japanese Occupation is the background to the narrative. I can revel in knowing the location well and slotting history into well-known locations is always fascinating.
In other news two new-to -me, Greek words have cropped up this week . Thanks to my fellow bookworms.
It was too tempting not to include a book and buttocks in a beach sketch . Surrounded, as I am, by buttocks both beautiful and not.
All that buttock sketching has revealed an error on my packing. No pencil sharpener!!
The second word is Ekphrasis.
Vivid description, oh how I wish I had the words. I may no longer have a useful pencil but I do still have my paints and a camera to enable a vivid end to the holiday.
The first book from the hotel shelf has been picked up, lets see how that goes.
Early morning dipping in Greece gave us the pleasure of walking through a herb garden full of Basil and Oregano and a cup of tea when the swim was done.
In other holiday news book three served up another rape.
Three in a row and I managed to give myself nightmares.
” You don’t want to read that kind of stuff , you will give yourself nightmares” are words that more than one relative has said to me in my prolific reading life. It has never happened until now. 3 random books from the bookpiles or bookclub. So all bets are off for the last book. The Piano Teacher by Janice YK Lee. A story of post-war Hong Kong.
Where did the nightmares come from? I can only assume that women writers don’t dwell on the savagery of the event but write about the lifelong impact in a way that got under my skin.
What better way to banish a bad night’s sleep than by a cool dip at dawn.
It turns out that even my fancy pants camera is struggling to cope with the bright sunlight. This swan was fabulous though. Our little bay is idyllic but only my abstract photos really work. The plan is now to get up very early for some photography and of course the Summer Solstice swim at dawn. The failure of photography forced out the painting kit today.
My outdoor studios were very warm.
I used sea water, fresh water and Sprite to create these two little snapshots.
Let’s see what photography can do at dawn tomorrow. Meanwhile two books down, and rape has featured in both. Both books written by women give the assaulted woman the upper hand as they are both equipped with professional cookery knives. An interesting co-incidence and not one I can really learn from, as my good knives live in my kitchen drawer. But the one time something approaching rape occured was when I was in a restaurant. Quick thinking rather than knife skills made me safe. But there is a similarity in that the two women and myself were in a quasi-work related location. In common with the fictional women, I reported the event to my boss and in common with the fictional women excuses were made for the perpetrator.
Just approaching book 3 of the holiday also written by a woman. I wonder if women are any better listened to in this one.
On a much lighter note the digital tweakment facility on my smartphone is doing some nice abstracts.
The repetition of a Greek Holiday has established itself after a gap of five years. Breakfast , beach, lunch, rest, beach, supper on repeat with swimming and book reading added into the mix in all phases.
Book 2 is nearly done.
The next book phase is likely to be reached by lunchtime. The crossover when we start reading each other’s books. That is the stage just before the Hotel bookshelf phase. Why not Kindle I hear you ask. There is also a Kindle as a holiday reading side- hustle, but a beach without paperbacks is not a beach at all. Suncream, sea and sand give paperbacks a rich patina of gentle decline. Their spines crack quicker and the pages ripple with dampness from freshly salty hands and wet swimming costumes.
Food wise we are also creatures of habit.
Oregano Crisps, Spanakopita and bitter Cherry Juice augmented by Papadopolis biscuits are our daily diet.
Looking forward to the Hotel Book Shelf I note that my current favourite book series Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher is very popular, but only in the original German. It would have to be a very long holiday before I could tackle those and an on-line linguistics course would have to be force fed to me via my headphones.
My morning holy trinity of tea, coffee and blog. A relatively low maintenance morning routine. This mornings coffee however, has raised the intellectual bar somewhat. A challenge I am without the necessary tools to compete with. Having broadened our minds with travel yesterday. Today will certainly cover less miles. A whole holiday book/ bookclub book has been finished.
3 more brought with me, from my book piles and then I am off to the lottery that is the hotel library.
Today we are having an extreme weather event. Not for us screaming winds, rattling through our chimney pots. Scorchingly high temperatures. Which this 66 year old will not be clambering on coastal paths in, at the peak of the day. Another life lesson, tragically learned from Michael Mosley.
@theoldmortuary are off on holiday. Despite home looking an awful lot like our chosen destination, Greece.
The dogs are also off on their holidays where the hollyhocks are signalling the need for a change of Government very soon.
Our Greek-style yard has settled into new pots and new locations. Despite a much colder than normal June things are starting to bloom. The Agapanthus that we grew from seed are going to bloom very soon.
Its 5 years since we were last in Greece and the last time we were in Skiathos or Skopelos the first Mama Mia film was being shot. Two weeks of bumping into Abba and famous actors, and inadvertently appearing as extras on a shot that took a whole day to film but ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. We even bought the DVD that included the out-takes and we didn’t even feature on that. Oh the ignominy!
The bedroom fish have their moments when sharp shafts of sunlight give them life. This morning sharp shafts of sunlight and a very strong wind gave them an ocean to swim in. See video below.
The bobbers were not so lucky with an Ocean to swim in.
Yesterday should have been a birthday ‘bob’ for one of the Oxford Bobbers who was 86 but bad weather forced us indoors for a dry bob.
Laat year her 85th bobbing birthday celebrations caused injury when one bobber, in a rather optimistic moment, attempted the splits on carpet. This year there were no injuries but bobbers gave fascinating demonstrations of slut dropping against a Victorian fireplace. So much the safer option
And many Northern Soul moves with rugs moved and slidey floors .
Original footage of bobbers doing their thing was not recorded but these two videos represent the flavour of bobbing birthdays held on dry land.
Quite enough giddiness for a Saturday morning. Welcome to the weekend.
Facebook timehop gave me this image this morning from exactly 10 years ago. It is an image of a young Hugo finding an empty shelf in a quirky antique/book/giftshop/cafe in Spitalfields, London. The cafe was in the basement.
The cafe was a place I loved to visit after very long shifts in a hospital. Stepping down into the basement shifted the reality of a busy London life.
Spitalfields always felt like home. I had known this corner of London from the age of 18 when I first arrived in London as a student. The area was somewhat more gritty at that time.
But that cafe inadvertantly brought me to blogging as a daily ritual.
Knowing, that in a life of science, I had abandoned my love of inconsequential writing, I often looked at creative writing courses. I never bothered to apply because I was a little intimidated. Creative writing being something other people did.
I had dabbled at blogging but not fully committed, or found my niche, when I saw a blogging course run by The Gentle Author.
There is no doubt in my mind that once again I would have thought that such a course was not for me. But by a gorgeous coincidence he ran his courses at the Spitalfields Townhouse. Finally, fate, kismet or simple serendipity kicked me into action.
And that my friend, is why we are both together today. Me writing inconsequentially and you reading something of no consequence.
From Hugo being cute in a cafe to theoldmortuary pondering.
Beyond blogging, Spitalfields is just the most tingle worthy part of London.
Great Architecture.
Gilbert and George.
Brick Lane.
Bagels
Art Galleries
Diversity
Street Art
I could go on but Google does it better.
I urge you to read the two links I have shared, the location and The Gentle Author are both a good visit
Below is a tiny taste of my Spitalfields fascination.
And, to end, two small stories.
The time my art filled the front window of a gallery.
And the after party.
And to finish on a blogging note. The Smoked Mackerel Moment
I was attending a very International blogging course and the lunchtime offering was a smoked mackerel salad. It turns out that smoked mackerel does not hold huge excitement for International bloggers. I love the stuff and the lovely hostess encouraged me to eat more than would normally be polite.
There is a reason smoked mackerel should be eaten in small portions.
Gluttony can be exceedingly painful. A bellyful of smoked mackerel is not a comfortable belly. Only large quantities of iced water could politely save the afternoon. My creative writing skipped a beat for a couple of hours. A different useful lesson was learned.
Apart from Bloganuary I don’t tend to use prompts from my blog hosts more than once or twice a week, but I have used 6 prompts in 8 days. Of course I have to twist the narrative of the question,slightly, to fit the blogs that are bubbling under the surface, but todays was particularly apt
As long as no one expects to be super excited by my definition of notable.
What notable things happened today?
I have been catching up with Tennis Club admin, and prepping a Social Media campaign to celebrate 100 years of Tennis and gardening by the sea. The angle of June sunlight is becoming just a little awkward for my phone camera so yesterday I charged up my digital camera, ready to use for the next couple of months. Usually I clear the memory card but for some reason 3 pictures from significantly different locations had been left on the card. These form my notables for today.
Tulips and an Ikea bath mat 2018.
We lived in the actual Old Mortuary and the tulips had just had their water changed when a bright shaft of sunlight pierced the window of the room that was originally where the bodies were stored. Once the sunlight hit, the room warmed up at a ridiculous rate. With no refrigeration we always wondered quite how appropriate that was.
Statton Island Ferry Terminal pier support. 2018.
These majestic old pieces of wood were endlessly fascinating and have stuck in my mind far more than the Statue of Liberty which was the point of the ferry journey.
Cornish Pilchards in Bilbao 2018
A huge percentage of the pilchards caught off the Devon and Cornwall coast are exported to Europe, where they are presented in traditional fish baskets and are all the more charming for it.
I have no idea why these three were left on the memory card but when I say that the rest of the day was spent painting white walls white again you can see why I would consider them ‘ notable’
Below Hugo posing for my ‘white-balance’ set up shot yesterday.
Not notable but infinitely more interesting than painting an old rock wall.
Not to be outdone Lola posing for the beige set up shot.
I love fresh air moments. Early summer mornings in a park or by the sea before the day has fully got going.
Time to make tiny inconsequential pleasantries with fellow early morning souls.
What I would question is my passion for fresh air.
Passion seems such a hot, engulving sensation. I feel a little odd attaching the word passion to such a mundane activity as taking a walk in a park.
But walking in fresh air several times a day is something I really enjoy.
Why am I required to be passionate about doing something so simple ? I prefer to hover somewhere below passion and well above hatred for most of my daily activities. I suppose it could be said that I am passionate about moderation. No giddy excesses or plunging desperation involved with moderation.
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