h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... because there have been a fair number of big changes, and the journal - which used to be fun - was becoming sour and repetitive. Was becoming? Had long since become! And frankly I have been kept busy at THE PLACE - go on, look me up in the staff pages. Work kicks in big scale next Tuesday then I'm on the roller coaster. S, on the other hand, is now a lady of leisure - for a while, at least. She was dispensed with by as nice a pair of ... as you could ... encounter running a shop, but thankfully not a pie shop (the worst in London?), and ... 15 years of work; and the struggle for a ... is proving to be extended. S will resume work in due course, but hopefully not on the superhuman effort of holding everything together and BEING the shop that had become the case. Anyhow, tho' her mother is recovering from her illness, S remains on scaled-back mother duties and is looking forward to her week in Morocco at the end of the month. She is learning to chill.

So now, I'm back in full time work, and an adviser - of a different kind to my last career. All very satisfying. Miah is still living the life - happy lil' cat. S and I are able to go out - to the pictures, to the cinema (we have a list of shows to see). We saw Anna K on Monday and a relay of Dog in the Night on Wednesday. Both excellent, but Anna K in particular far exceeded its lukewarm reviews.

Chinese food tomorrow. An Italian the following week. Then Morocco.

Let's see - reading classic ghost stories and Bronte Angria tales. Listening to Peter Maxwell Davies. The new Dylan album is good, but I have become hooked on Hyperion recordings of choral music and am looking forward to a Stanford set in November. I used to hate vocal music. I went for prog and jazz and German synth music, but I have developed a taste for masses &c. Tye and Byrd and Gibbons and Macmillan...

The meaning of life is performance, and the purpose of life is Art and the service of art. Art is our highest aspiration and our greatest glory. We serve Art as Creator or Performer (or both) of Audience (or all three - the roles are not fixed, tho' the three form a trinity). It is important to remember that Bach's Masses did not serve his religion - Bach's religion served his Masses (a similar point may be argued in re Dawkings). Once this correct perspective is understood, everything becomes clear. So, listening to Masses isn't bad after all.

This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGzSz0KyNI is for Dr C.

Postings will be very much scaled-back. I get this image of a hamster in a wheel and the soundtrack is Chumbawumba's I Get Knocked Down, and I think, 'no, not me'. I still hanker after a new blog.

BTW, I have been re-reading thesis writings from three years back and find it hard to believe that I wrote them. Stuff I had forgotten, and, to be honest, better than I might have hoped.


Aniasbflyawebvfgl

Welcome back Douglas.
Nice photo but the tinted glasses look a bit of an affectation.

PJ's OH

Photochromatic varifocals - they cost a fortune. What you see in the photo that's unusual is evidence of a sunny day in Aberdeen mid September. I did have another photo that I wanted used which made me look like Rowan Williams but the staff in the officed nixed it.

Aguiljh;ljew

and Sue (enjoying redundancy)

Glad to see you again Douglas and Sue! Had been having a little worry about your absence, but Peet reassured me.