Stormy morning


After an unsettled night, I woke to a thunderstorm. The sky to the northeast was an angry reddish grey, threatening a drenching, and by six thirty the thunder was booming and the rain pouring down. It was the sort of storm my wife loves, though she’s half the world away and not able to appreciate it. I closed some windows, went back to sleep for a while, then went to work.

This evening I came home via the supermarket, but unfortunately although I did restock the fridge with food, I also bought a big bag of crisps and ate all of them while watching television, just as I’d threatened my wife I’d do so. Disgusted with myself, with all that grease and indolence, I set down to read the London Review Of Books, which includes this week the memorable phrase

"The Truth is actually a giant ice sculpture of Benny Hill dressed as Ernie the Milkman!"

I think Benny Hill must be the only male light entertainer from the 1970s not to be investigated for sex crimes in Britain. Maybe he’s further down the list.

Apart from storms, I’ve been sleeping ok this week. The Fitbit gives helpful analysis of how much sleep I get, and how much I’m tossing and turning, and it appears I don’t do much better than six hours a night right now. I really need to work on that. I’m particularly lonely this evening because right now my wife has forsaken WiFi and internet connectivity for a picturesque cottage outside of Montreal, so I really am alone with TV and books tonight. I read another 25 minutes of Anubis Gates, so they have something more to listen to, and then prepared for bed.

This issue of the LRB, I must say, is one of the most interesting I’ve read for a while. There was a piece on the Oracle of Delphi, complete with discussion of the vapours that emanated from beneath her, a long critique of Piketty’s Capital In The 21st Century, a review of Happy Valley, and of a book about murderous healthcare workers during the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans, and a review of Obama’s foreign policy record, and a discussion of sex workers, and that Benny Hill reference. More things about things than most other things I read.


4 responses to “Stormy morning”

  1. A sever, I love your ” turn of phrase “. Also, I agree, thunderstorms are to be enjoyed and marvelled at from behind closed windows (and doors) !

  2. The New Orleans article was very interesting, although the rest of this issue wasn’t my cup of tea.

    Crisps seem to be your nemesis.

    • I’d like to hope that eating that bag of crisps was a lesson and I won’t make the same mistake again this summer. History, of course, suggests otherwise…

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