Monday, July 29, 2019


A better day, on the whole. The weather is  a bit cooler, and I did some knitting. And tonight, if all goes well, Greek Helen and her family will be back in Scotland and I’ll see them tomorrow. My cleaner has gone home to Romania for a month. I hope Archie can take up the slack.

Mary Lou, the beautiful yarn from Colonsay (link yesterday) is, in one sense, four skeins of the same colour (nettles?) but in fact all four are slightly different. It’s quite heavy – worsted weight? perhaps. And rather rough and homely. I think a nice cosy hat is the only serious possibility.

Health: I will look at sports drinks such as Gatorade in the supermarket tomorrow, and read the labels carefully for news about electrolyte balance. I put a banana in today’s smoothie. And I will cautiously investigate acupuncture – I’m not averse to the idea.

I continue to enjoy Trollope’s autobiography immensely. It’s curious that he doesn’t mention Mrs Gaskell. It’s not that he’s biased against women – he gives Jane Austen and George Eliot the high places they deserve (although he ranks Thackeray slightly above Eliot), and discusses some young female authors of whom I’ve never heard. But no Gaskell.

And then it was all to be blown to bits, not much later, by the Great War and Virginia Wolff and James Joyce and TS Eliot.

Peggy, I think I might suggest Barchester Towers to start with – but you’ve almost certainly tried that. He tells a good story about overhearing two men in his club, complaining about the way he re-uses characters from book to book. Finally he could bear it no longer, leapt up and introduced himself, and promised to kill Mrs Proudie that very week.

Our new Prime Minister was in Edinburgh today. I don't think he has the vaguest idea about Scotland, and fear that he will hasten the end of the Union.

3 comments:

  1. I started with Barchester Towers, and read most of that series. The Pallisers I only know by television. Does he talk about his work for the Postal Service? I seem to recall him having a role in the idea of mailboxes. Re. acupunture, my primary care physician received a fellowship to study acupuncture. Her particular interest is the way it which it may be used with aging patients in lieu of more medication.

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  2. Anonymous11:01 AM

    There can be a tendency to prescribe the same strength dosage for seniors which is used for younger patients sometimes with damaging results, so this sounds like a very worthy avenue of research. Provided, like everything else, it proceeds with caution. Chloe

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  3. I will try Barchester Towers next time. I think the last Trollope I tried was Can You Forgive Her? Thanks!

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