2021 October – Malfunctioning, Emails, Nightmare before…,
Malfunctioning
This is a picture of me looking a little dispirited and somewhat downcast.
This seems to be a month for unwelcome stuff to happen. For starters, one way or another, the offspring seemed to have all malfunctioned.
Offspring #4 has ‘flu and is feeling terrible. She looks pretty ill too. She is being nursed back to health and having breakfast in bed – so not all bad. Ironically, she qualifies for a flu jab later this month….
Offspring #3 looks as if she has been to fight club – black eye, cut eye, swollen face generally, due to a footballing ‘incident’. Apparently she had to go into a client meeting looking like that. The thin veneer of being even remotely civilised – boomf – vanished.
Offspring #2 turned up to an international conference in her pyjamas. At least she came off the plane in ‘leisure wear’ (turns out these are in fact PJ’s according to the retailer) and her luggage went to another hotel. She had a spare pair of heels, earrings and makeup in her carry on bag. It’s fine really, she was only representing the UK – you know with one of those mini flags in front of her. She says she had the last laugh cos everyone else was uncomfortable in their starchy suits and she was just fine.
How on earth did we ever conquer the world eh?
Emails
This is me having a little stretch.
Because I can.
We had a long walk today. Mum said it was a necessary thing to keep her more or less on the right side of sane.
An email has kicked something off apparently and the lawyers are having to work super hard and super late to keep things (i.e. Mum) on a even keel.
I don’t know why Mum bothers with emails. They just seem to take up an inordinate amount of time. And they seem to stress everyone out. Mum reckons email is the new snail mail because it now takes up so much time to process the sheer volume of stuff that comes in.
Still, look on the bright side, there’s always the delete button…
Mum says she isn’t quite brave enough.
Maybe in a few days eh?
Nightmare Before..
This is lovely me in the sunshine.
I am exhausted. Mum and I have walked for miles today. Again. At least it’s sunny and I can have a nice relaxing snooze now.
As is the normal routine, we will be watching Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas later on, as it’s hallowe’en.
Danny Elfman did the music (which is just brilliant) and Mum knows most of the words. Her singing is awful but if it cheers her up then I will just have to put up with it I suppose.
Saffron’s recommendations this month:
Music: Nirvana. An alt rock band / grunge scene band with a bit of punk thrown in for good measure and apparently a figurehead for Gen X. Themes of abjection and social isolation. Not all their music was fierce though – try some of these.
Heart Shaped Box
Come As You Are
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Lithium
Lounge Act
(Mum is stomping around in her Nirvana T-shirt and listening to this stuff really loud. I am staying out of the way).
Reading: The Famished Road by Ben Okri, published by Vintage. The first of a trilogy (Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches). Follows the life of a spirit child in the real world. Astonishing imagery within the writing.
Film: Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron and James McAvoy. The fight scenes are amazing and CT is properly badass. Good entertainment based around a spy who has to find a list of double agents…cold war era setting.
In the news:
COVID-19 The number of people receiving a third vaccine dose exceeds 2 million
The two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is held in Glasgow.
Police make 31 arrests as members of Insulate Britain glue themselves to roads around London and Kent
After an agreement fell through in 2020 with owner Mike Ashley, a Saudi-led consortium buys 80% of Newcastle United’s shares worth £300m, making Newcastle the richest British football club, surpassing Man City.
Tesco opens its first checkout-free store, known as GetGo, similar in format to the automated Amazon Go stores