Out of the rain
Two days into a three-day storm. It's wild. It's grey. The wind is full of light rain. But it's not cold.
Now that Max is too deaf to hear the paper being delivered in the morning, he has developed a new strategy. He sits gimlet-eyed in the morning darkness, by the front door, waiting to see the paper-guy's headlights. Then he starts barking and will not stop until I get up, open the front door to reveal that there is nobody there. The paper is usually delivered between six and half past.
Spoke to my sister on the phone yesterday. She cannot visit me - there are loads of cases of Covid-19 at the firm where she works. She suggested I start getting bread and milk delivered, so that I can avoid going to the shops so frequently. She says the milkman she uses is like a ninja - does not wake up her three dogs. It's a sensible suggestion, but whether I could take being woken by Max ambushing the milkman at 4am, I am still considering.
***
LJ has a little thing flashing up on screen exclaiming 'Try out our Modern Post Editor!'. I read this as 'Try out our Post-Modern Editor!'. Either way, no thank you.
***
Still in lockdown. Only leaving the house to walk Max and to shop at the nearest supermarket. Lots of comfort-reading going on. Re-reads of Gaudy Night and various light fantasies: Martha Wells' Raksura books, and Sherwood Smith & Rachel Manija Brown's Change books (both series with a strong theme of community and belonging).
And I re-read Megan Whalen Turner's Return of the Thief for the third time. Because I adore it. It seems such a prosaic title, Return of the Thief. But when you realise all the ways in which the Thief returns, and you consider that there is more than one meaning to the word 'Return", maybe less so.
***
Television. There has been much watching of Taiwanese romances. Most Taiwanese romances are too bad to watch, but there are some that simultaneously bad and charming. I like them for their sweet nature, and the lack of cynicism - you are expected to enjoy the tropes, or laugh along with the writer's enjoyment of the tropes. No-one's sneering. (In UK television, the jokes are too knowing. There's always a sense that someone somewhere is sneering at you for watching this tripe, and that you should be sneering slightly at yourself).
At some point in every Taiwanese romance the female lead will clumsily trip, and fall against the male lead's chest, at which he will say something like:
"I am quite surprised by your initiativeness."
No judging during the Pandemic, okay? All means of escape are valid.
List of bad-but-good Taiwanese romances:
Prince William: a sweet-natured, happy-go-lucky islander is coerced into impersonating the ruthless, land-grabbing CEO of a property company, in order to save his mother's house from being redeveloped. Love the sing-song tones of the island dialect.
Wacko at Law: eccentric lawyer takes on high-profile, lost-cause cases with the help of plucky assistant and reformed-hooligan right-hand man.
Falling Into You: starts off as standard overbearing CEO romance, but the CEO's assistant - left cold-hearted by betrayal, ultra-competent, ass-kicking - isn't having any of it.
Because of You 2020: enjoyably cheesy overbearing-CEO BL romance.
***
Poetry
Emotions on Being Apart
Thousands of miles off, behind countless mountain passes,
you make me grieve.
Do you even know that?
Since you left
I've counted the leftover days in winter, waited out spring.
Still not one word.
All the flowers have bloomed
and you are still gone.
Su Xiaoxiao (late 5th century courtesan)
The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry - Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping.
Now that Max is too deaf to hear the paper being delivered in the morning, he has developed a new strategy. He sits gimlet-eyed in the morning darkness, by the front door, waiting to see the paper-guy's headlights. Then he starts barking and will not stop until I get up, open the front door to reveal that there is nobody there. The paper is usually delivered between six and half past.
Spoke to my sister on the phone yesterday. She cannot visit me - there are loads of cases of Covid-19 at the firm where she works. She suggested I start getting bread and milk delivered, so that I can avoid going to the shops so frequently. She says the milkman she uses is like a ninja - does not wake up her three dogs. It's a sensible suggestion, but whether I could take being woken by Max ambushing the milkman at 4am, I am still considering.
***
LJ has a little thing flashing up on screen exclaiming 'Try out our Modern Post Editor!'. I read this as 'Try out our Post-Modern Editor!'. Either way, no thank you.
***
Still in lockdown. Only leaving the house to walk Max and to shop at the nearest supermarket. Lots of comfort-reading going on. Re-reads of Gaudy Night and various light fantasies: Martha Wells' Raksura books, and Sherwood Smith & Rachel Manija Brown's Change books (both series with a strong theme of community and belonging).
And I re-read Megan Whalen Turner's Return of the Thief for the third time. Because I adore it. It seems such a prosaic title, Return of the Thief. But when you realise all the ways in which the Thief returns, and you consider that there is more than one meaning to the word 'Return", maybe less so.
***
Television. There has been much watching of Taiwanese romances. Most Taiwanese romances are too bad to watch, but there are some that simultaneously bad and charming. I like them for their sweet nature, and the lack of cynicism - you are expected to enjoy the tropes, or laugh along with the writer's enjoyment of the tropes. No-one's sneering. (In UK television, the jokes are too knowing. There's always a sense that someone somewhere is sneering at you for watching this tripe, and that you should be sneering slightly at yourself).
At some point in every Taiwanese romance the female lead will clumsily trip, and fall against the male lead's chest, at which he will say something like:
"I am quite surprised by your initiativeness."
No judging during the Pandemic, okay? All means of escape are valid.
List of bad-but-good Taiwanese romances:
Prince William: a sweet-natured, happy-go-lucky islander is coerced into impersonating the ruthless, land-grabbing CEO of a property company, in order to save his mother's house from being redeveloped. Love the sing-song tones of the island dialect.
Wacko at Law: eccentric lawyer takes on high-profile, lost-cause cases with the help of plucky assistant and reformed-hooligan right-hand man.
Falling Into You: starts off as standard overbearing CEO romance, but the CEO's assistant - left cold-hearted by betrayal, ultra-competent, ass-kicking - isn't having any of it.
Because of You 2020: enjoyably cheesy overbearing-CEO BL romance.
***
Poetry
Emotions on Being Apart
Thousands of miles off, behind countless mountain passes,
you make me grieve.
Do you even know that?
Since you left
I've counted the leftover days in winter, waited out spring.
Still not one word.
All the flowers have bloomed
and you are still gone.
Su Xiaoxiao (late 5th century courtesan)
The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry - Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping.