behind the hedge
My bread turned out well. White bloomer. Used it as part of a toasted bacon sandwich for breakfast. Last night was chatting to a chef at the Wright Vigar do. He had made the quarter finals of Masterchef a few years ago. Gave me some tims. Butter is definitely better than olive oil and fresh yeast is better than dried. So I’m going to up the amount of butter, I think I wasn’t using enough, and up the quantity of fresh yeast to 20g. Let’s see where that gets us. I’m trying to home in on the ideal recipe.
The Wright Vigar do was good as usual. Also as usual mostly populated with suits. I guess that’s the name of the game. Bankers, lawyers, solicitors etc. Clients too. Stayed for a few beers then went on to the Taphouse and Kitchen to meet Nige. After that ended up at the new Castle View curry house. It’s where Tito’s used to be and prior to that the Castlegate Indian. Have to say it’s a good start. Food was good. Will get the Christmas takeaway from there.
One year we had curry for Christmas Day. Except Anne and John who shared a turkey leg. Made a change. I picked it up the night before and reheated it on the day. It was surprisingly difficult to coordinate getting all the dishes hot enough. It was ok but we won’t do that again. It’s beef again this year as you know.
With 8 working days to go until Christmas there is now very little happening. Not that much happens anyway but now there is even less. Richard is coming up next Wednesday for our regular LONAP 121. Last one of the year.
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Last night’s curry has certainly had after effects. I won’t elaborate. I’m now sat in the conservatory with the Dyson fan heater on. It is a bright day out there and I think I’ll go for a walk later on. Maybs check out a few bits and bobs for Crismus. Round the Bail perhaps.
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Words. These are what come out when you stare long enough at a page. If you stare long enough something just appears. That’s how it works. It’s a bit like a cricket match. You start off slowly, maybe scoring nothing for a long time and then gradually the runs come. Sometimes you play a blinder and the runs start to come at a fast rate and in great style. This is just the same as when you are writing.
Sometimes a piece of writing comes from an idea you have when you are nowhere near a computer (or notebook). If you can capture the idea at the time and revisit it that can result in some good words. If there is no means of capturing, or remembering, the idea is likely to be lost. How many great ideas have blown away in the wind like this?
I imagine Archimedes, when he was having his bath and shouted Eureka, had to get out of the bath straight away, pick up his chisel and start writing that word down. He would have had to be quick because he’d have got cold quite quickly having just stepped out of the water. Although it can be pretty warm in Greece in summer, if that was the time of year, so maybe he would have been ok. Perhaps he quickly got into a dressing gown before picking up his utensil.
During a cricket match an interruption can change everything. Break the flow. This can be the lunch break, tea or stumps at the end of the day. In the case of the modern day writer it is more likely to be a Facebook message interrupting the streaming of content. You stop to check out the message and are further distracted but other stuff in the timeline. It doesn’t have to be like this. You can disable notifications on your laptop but in my case a) I can’t be bothered and b) I’d have to look up how to do it.
I’ve never thought of cricket as being a metaphor for life. It probably isn’t a great model but we can pick and choose aspects of the game that fit the bill. The game ends in a win, lose or draw. That could reflect how an individual has lived his life or how lucky he or she has been. On the other hand it could mean nothing. We all die in the end. You know. Nothing or nobody is immortal. Even these words will get lost or destroyed. Will there be anyone around to read them? Will the language have changed so much that only niche academics will understand them? Questions questions. Have you considered the structure of sentences like that last one? Two repeated words but still a perfectly good sentence. Good grammatically. Not necessarily good subjectively.
Words are an interesting subject in their own right. Someone died recently. A well known journalist. The eulogies have flown thick and fast. What a great wordsmith. I didn’t like his stuff meself because I thought that he used complicated words for the sake of it. I’m more into using simple language. Discombobulation is not my game:). Simplicity doesn’t have to mean not as good as sophisticated or complicated. Simplicity is an art in itself. I’m gonna move on.
Leonard Cohen died recently. Lots of stuff was broadcast about him at the time. I hadn’t realised that he spent 10 years living simply on an island in Greece. His routine involved writing three pages of words in the mornings and then chillin out for the rest of the day. Maybe good. Maybe not. It’s a lot of time wasted. The rest of the day. Maybe it doesn’t matter.
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Walked into the Bail and hand delivered a couple of christmas cards en route. Coffee in Lincoln castle cafe. Cafe dans the cafe du chateau. Oui. Not queit le meme.
In other news ever wondered what was behind that hedge. Well the featured image provides us with a tantalising glimpse of what lies beyond.