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returning to my addiction
May. 23rd, 2005 01:11 amGuernsey was very pleasant, and even the rainy, windy bits weren't that bad (plus I was inside for most of those). My aunt was in good health and glad to see me. My grandfather is declining in comfort, which is the best I can really ask for, and he recognised me when we visited.
Looked out at sea during a cliff walk, and was assured by my aunt that there would certainly have been privateers and wreckers at various points in Channel Island history. View would have been more impressive if tide had been in, but wasn't bad even so.
(Some things are universal constants for me; put me near a "collector's fair with secondhand book stall" in aid of the local lifeboat fund, and I walk out with copies of Renault's The Bull From The Sea, Agatha Christie's Parker Pyne Investigates, Buchan's The Island Of Grass, Eliphas Levi's The Book of Splendours, and Oliver Statler's Japanese Inn: A Reconstruction Of The Past.)
Also bought gache (local fruit bread) for parents and self, local cream liquor fudge for self, cooked supper for aunt one evening, and advised her on choice of new music center and DVD/VCR player when she gets round to it.
Stopped off at home with parents last night; as they mentioned, they've repainted my bedroom and cleared it out somewhat and it's now a quite acceptable guest bedroom. I got to test the new bed. Report; no peas noted.
(Also showed my parents the DVD of the first Clone Wars series. My mother's comment; "You can see it was made for people who play computer games based on Star Wars." Or along those lines. She enjoyed it, though.)
Work tomorrow. I think I left things more or less in order. We shall see.
---
Wolfish bearded faces in the shadows, earrings, head scarves, hairy drawers, dirty shirts open to the waist, bad breath, great buckled belts, cutlasses, knives and pistols gripped in gnarled and sweaty hands, and at their head, all in snowy white from breeches to head-kerchief, big as a houseside and nimble as a cat, Calico Jack Rackham, none other, cautiously edging his brutally handsome, square-chinned face round a corner of the watergate, grinning at the sight of the torch-lit empty tunnel, turning to his followers, motioning them to be ready for the assault, whispering his final orders. First among equals was Calico Jack, by reason of being literate and smart and able to navigate and do all things shipshape and Bristol fashion, look'ee, as his admiring associates often agreed. Also he was strong enough to break a penny between his fingers, which helps, and having served a turn in the Navy, he was reckoned dependable. In our day he would have been a paratroop sergeant, or a shop steward, or a moderate Labour MP. He was a pirate because it offered a profitable field for his talents, and he was saving for his old age.
-- The Pyrates, George MacDonald Fraser
Looked out at sea during a cliff walk, and was assured by my aunt that there would certainly have been privateers and wreckers at various points in Channel Island history. View would have been more impressive if tide had been in, but wasn't bad even so.
(Some things are universal constants for me; put me near a "collector's fair with secondhand book stall" in aid of the local lifeboat fund, and I walk out with copies of Renault's The Bull From The Sea, Agatha Christie's Parker Pyne Investigates, Buchan's The Island Of Grass, Eliphas Levi's The Book of Splendours, and Oliver Statler's Japanese Inn: A Reconstruction Of The Past.)
Also bought gache (local fruit bread) for parents and self, local cream liquor fudge for self, cooked supper for aunt one evening, and advised her on choice of new music center and DVD/VCR player when she gets round to it.
Stopped off at home with parents last night; as they mentioned, they've repainted my bedroom and cleared it out somewhat and it's now a quite acceptable guest bedroom. I got to test the new bed. Report; no peas noted.
(Also showed my parents the DVD of the first Clone Wars series. My mother's comment; "You can see it was made for people who play computer games based on Star Wars." Or along those lines. She enjoyed it, though.)
Work tomorrow. I think I left things more or less in order. We shall see.
---
Wolfish bearded faces in the shadows, earrings, head scarves, hairy drawers, dirty shirts open to the waist, bad breath, great buckled belts, cutlasses, knives and pistols gripped in gnarled and sweaty hands, and at their head, all in snowy white from breeches to head-kerchief, big as a houseside and nimble as a cat, Calico Jack Rackham, none other, cautiously edging his brutally handsome, square-chinned face round a corner of the watergate, grinning at the sight of the torch-lit empty tunnel, turning to his followers, motioning them to be ready for the assault, whispering his final orders. First among equals was Calico Jack, by reason of being literate and smart and able to navigate and do all things shipshape and Bristol fashion, look'ee, as his admiring associates often agreed. Also he was strong enough to break a penny between his fingers, which helps, and having served a turn in the Navy, he was reckoned dependable. In our day he would have been a paratroop sergeant, or a shop steward, or a moderate Labour MP. He was a pirate because it offered a profitable field for his talents, and he was saving for his old age.
-- The Pyrates, George MacDonald Fraser
