Thursday, November 14, 2019


Even my simple programme seems to be more than I can manage: 10 more stitches on the Dathan hap; a bit of Ferrante; a bit of exercise; a bit of blogging; my daily Duolingo. Something always fails to get done.

The Dathan stitches now number somewhere in the 380’s, too many for comfort. I’ve found a longer needle.

My Personal Trainer came today, leaving me breathless but feeling better and newly resolved to incorporate some exercise into my simple programme. Archie also came, and changed a lot of light bulbs.

But mostly I read Trollope. I finished “The Belton Estate”, very much enjoyed. It starts off rather sluggishly, but picks up speed. Evelyn Waugh says wistfully somewhere that an artist or a composer can re-work a theme, but an author can’t. I think in this case Trollope is re-working Lily Dale and Mr. What’s-His-Name and Johnny Eames from “The Small House at Allington” and “The Last Chronicle of Barset”. The books are more or less contemporaneous. They don't depend on each other, of course. But the theme is similar.

The scene on the last two pages is utterly delicious – but it’s no use skipping ahead. You’ve got to read the book.

3 comments:

  1. Can the trainer come more often? Happy to hear it really helps. I may add more Trollope to the winter reading.

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  2. I think I'm going to have to add more Trollope! I've read The Warden and the next one, but not many more.
    I'm almost at the point of making myself a 'reward chart' and adding stickers in an attempt to get things done. There's a Schubert Sonata, the one in B flat that I heard on World Radio last night which I used to be able to play some of - it would take a deal of effort to get it going again. I give my students a prize if they earn ten stickers - why not one for me, too?

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  3. I am ashamed to admit I have never (to my memory) ever read Trollope. Thankfully, Amazon has a bunch of his books free and I have just sent Lady Anna, Barchester Towers, Orley Farm and Can You Forgive Her? to my Kindle for the incredible price of US $0.99! I am going to settle in with one of them tonight - any suggestions of where to begin? Another book?

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