Friday, December 04, 2020

 

Shandy, bless you and thank you for Barbara Pym’s “A Few Green Leaves”. I’m a fan, but it’s not one I know, and it’s just what the doctor ordered for these last grim days before the solstice. It’s very skilful, in its management of a fairly large cast and the shifts of points of view.

 

Mary Lou, I’m not at all sure I could identify a “wither” if you were suddenly to confront me with a horse. I’m glad to have introduced you to the phrase, and am delighted to hear that it appears in “Hamlet”.

 

I have done no knitting so far today, but have hopes of curling up with a podcast soon. I’m afraid I’ve ordered some dps. I hope they’ll come tomorrow. I’m hoping that today’s “Americast” will have gone up, but failing that, something from The Food Chain. The weather sounds ugly out there. Helen got me around the garden this morning in slight rain.

 

She says that my latest sourdough loaf has begun to go stale much faster than a store-boughten one would have. That is unexpected, as keeping quality is meant to be one of the attractions of sourdough. It still makes delicious toast, she says.

 

My Amazon delivery arrived not long after I wrote to you yesterday. Its “slot” was 3pm to 6pm, and the first time I logged on to “Track Your Delivery” after 6, the message had changed to “Your package will still be delivered today.” It is the thinking of things like that that made Mr Bezos the rich man he is.

 

Our virus: I am waiting with interest (but no impatience) to see what happens next around here. I’m fairly high up the list, given my age. I wouldn’t entirely mind waiting for one of the other two vaccines. Helen is dubious about the whole thing. We’ve had a considerable fuss here because of Dr Fauci’s saying the other day that the British regulators acted too fast, in approving the first one. Then he gave an interview to the BBC denying that he had said what he had said. Perhaps he didn’t realise, when he first spoke, how well known his name is here and therefore how widely he would be reported. But the episode wasn’t reassuring, for nervous old ladies.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Didn't Dr Fauci later say he had worded things badly? A few people suggested it was sour grapes but he doesn't appear the type.
    I'll have the vaccine when offered (59 and asthmatic, so I think that's tier 6), but you're right to be cautious and want to be informed. At least things are a bit more hopeful now.

    Sarah.

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    1. I just read yesterday that scientist were surprised to find that people with asthma were in fact less likely to get Covid. No one can understand why but it does seem to be the case. I am now feeling very invulnerable thanks to having asthma AND type O blood. (Not enough to go maskless though.)

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    2. I read somewhere that the steroid inhalers some asthmatics use daily for prevention of an attack were supposed to also help prevent them from getting Covid.

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  2. Dr. Fauci slipped up. But he's still tops in my book.

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  3. I am a Fauci fan, but my sister who works as admin at a medical school says given her health risks she is waiting to see how the vaccine goes. On another topic, I am really enjoying Scoop. Lord Copper very much reminds me of our own Lord Coppertone!

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  4. And I neglected to add, the withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades, sort of at the base of the neck. I think it is close to the scruff of the neck on a cat.

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  5. Yes, thank you for A Few Green Leaves. Just the sample I downloaded had me hooked on, how does she do Ito well! I had forgotten about the winter sols approaching. I watch the dawn changing the skies over the roofs in our street (and pine for mountains or sea or SCENERY but that is not as practical as bus routes and corner shops, thank heavens for memory and imagination)

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    1. Solstice. Don't know where those letters disappeared to

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