We went for a walk on the east pier in Dun Laoghaire this morning where it was overcast and spitting rain as sailors got ready for the day’s racing.
Thirty Minute Exercise
Fake Memoir
Headlines and Thoughts
Eid Mubarak.
We watched Aljazeera news this morning and the headlines included scenes of celebration of Eid from various parts of the world. There was also coverage of the end of the Hajj, the start of the annual wildebeest migration, the European weather forecast and the 45th President of the US criticising the integrity of the American voting system.
I’ve witnessed Eid el Adwa, the Festival of Sacrifice, in the UAE, Algeria, Tunisia and Indonesia over the years. I’m a vegetarian these days but back then, I enjoyed a celebration meal or two among colleagues and friends. I recall one evening in Algiers when Karim, an excellent chef and master of the barbecue, served up an elaborate green salad. I declined politely, half jokingly added that my wife was a vegetarian and I needed more meat. Next thing you know he brought over a selection of more unusual cuts of halal lamb. He was delighted to share liver and the sheep’s head with me. I began to wish for the green salad while taking yet another lesson in why it’s important to be careful what you wish for.
A Week In Three Photos
The summer weather has not been kind here in Dublin. In a mock despair, we ended up doing a jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table while it lashed rain. The puzzle took several days and it made an interesting photographic challenge once completed. How do you make a jigsaw interesting but different to the picture on the box? There are hundreds of ways but I wanted to do it with a tilt-shift adaptor on a 50 mm manual lens. I really like this photo with a focal emphasis on two tourists in front of an iconic London bus. It was raining there too.
A Vegetarian Year
Caveat emptor: my musings may not be complete let alone correct.
My first year as a vegetarian year has passed quickly and comfortably. We took How Not To Die very seriously and this excellent cookbook makes regular appearances on the kitchen counter even now.
You probably realise that wine, beer, bread and blue cheese exist because of fungal agency. Having met these big four, you’ll recognise that the benison of yeasts and spores is unobtrusively vital to our everyday lives. You have learned to avoid the yeasts and moulds of decay because the mycotoxins have a well deserved bad reputation. Good fungus, bad fungus. A sad fact you may not know is that fungus kills more humans than malaria (I’ll let you search for fungal diseases alone).
Brief Encounters: 2002
So, this is journal number 150 and I’m wondering if Siena is a nice place to visit. We’d have spent last night there and be walking down the last eleven days to Rome if not for the pandemic. Our plan had us continuing along the Via Francigena, reaching Ponte d’Arbia tonight where we’d planned to rest for our weekly day off. I think we’d have stayed a second night in Siena instead. I’ll try to remember this for next year, assuming waves of pandemic and panic won’t prevent us trekking from Manchester to Rome in 2021.
There’s a letter regarding life insurance on the counter this morning. It includes a Covid alert that seems strangely inappropriate on a renewal notice.
Brief Encounters: 1979
February 1979 (or 1399)
Another Joe. This Joe was probably once a soldier. Perhaps he became a spook. I’ve met a few active spooks over the years and they don’t advertise. Perhaps they join you for a fun run to places that are restricted for diplomats. Perhaps you accompany a friend in a city of refugees to meet a brother from ‘the’ agency. Perhaps a casual central Asian street acquaintance wasn’t so casual. Perhaps this colleague in a security arrangement really did formerly work where he said.
The spooks ask questions. They probe for information. This Joe asked such questions.
We met in an oilfield services club in Sharjah. We only ever met the once and spent no more than a few hours together over a few drinks and I’ve not forgotten him.
