Thursday, July 31, 2008
Why should I play the Roman fool?
Now Mr Brown is not Macbeth nor is he a fool. Nor is he greedy for anything but power (unlike his predecessor). But why can't he - or anyone else that I talk to for that matter - see that it would be a good thing if he were to call an election forthwith, without waiting to be forced out. While he has a good majority in the commons there is no requirement for him to go, but it would show respect for the people in whose name he governs. They have got sick of him and his party. They have got disillusioned with politics and politicians generally. So he would probably get hammered in any election soon. But he would get respect for going gracefully and letting the other lot have a turn. The other lot would then have the job of digging us out of the hole we have fallen into. And the electorate might remember why they chucked the tories out in the first place. Labour might even get in again in five years time. As things are it seems likely that they will be out for ages.
Talking of holes, I remember that the hole that Mrs Thatcher is said to have dug us out of was all down to the greed of those dreadful unions. Ironic that the new hole is all down to her spiritual children - that is to say the greed of those dreadful bankers.
And talking of Macbeth, I have recently acquired (from a charity shop), a facsimile of a quarto edition of the Merchant of Venice, described on the opening page as a comical history. Presumably the Elizabethans (or perhaps Jacobeans) had a differant sense of the word comical than we do. OED not terribly helpful, saying mainly that comical pertains to comedy as opposed to tragedy. The fifth and last meaning of comical is given as queer, strange or odd - but the first date is 1793, a little out of range. Another mystery I am unlikely to get to the bottom of.
Curiously, I have read on two occasions in the last couple of days about running amuck, something I knew nothing about before. First, I read in a Huxley travel book of the thirties about Malays who get the hump, perhaps because they have been insulted by a foreman or overseer. (Despite being a thoroughly decent chap, the language he uses would probably not pass the PC test these days). He says that they can go silent, still and deadly, gathering their strength and resolve, and then they run wild with a large knife, killing as many people as possible, in the certain knowledge that they will wind up dead in fairly short order too. There was a sense that killing white people, that is to say interlopers and infidels, was more meritorious than killing their own kind, although that would do if better was not available. This was happening, it seems, to crew members on steamers travelling in and around Malay waters. Amuck being the transliteration of the Malay word for this behaviour. Second, I read a shorter version of the same thing in a Simenon novel of the late fifties.
Yesterday mainly devoted to the construction of a flying curtain rail. The problem is the curtain for the large glazed door in our extension - maybe three metres wide by two high. For ease, the curtain rail was hung off the door frame - but this means that the curtain is resting on the glass and gets damp and mouldy in the winter and after twenty years this is starting to show a bit. So, as part of replacing the curtains, we want the curtain rail to be moved some inches away from the glass, but still inside the door hole as otherwise the curtain will look too big. But we can't just screw the thing to the top of the door hole as this contains a steel beam which I can't fix to.
The good news is that this gives me a splendid excuse to delay painting the extension while I construct a flying curtain rail, sprung off the door frame. A splendid construction of four brackets made of old dark oak, finally finding a home for a very small portion of all the old oak stored in the roof of the garage. I knew that I was keeping it for something. Then finished off with a nice new pine rail, about two inches by one, to be painted something light, and to which the existing white plastic curtain rail can be fixed. Now a suitable number of inches off the glass. Expenditure in curtain shop nil. Expenditure in Travis Perkins modest.
Talking of holes, I remember that the hole that Mrs Thatcher is said to have dug us out of was all down to the greed of those dreadful unions. Ironic that the new hole is all down to her spiritual children - that is to say the greed of those dreadful bankers.
And talking of Macbeth, I have recently acquired (from a charity shop), a facsimile of a quarto edition of the Merchant of Venice, described on the opening page as a comical history. Presumably the Elizabethans (or perhaps Jacobeans) had a differant sense of the word comical than we do. OED not terribly helpful, saying mainly that comical pertains to comedy as opposed to tragedy. The fifth and last meaning of comical is given as queer, strange or odd - but the first date is 1793, a little out of range. Another mystery I am unlikely to get to the bottom of.
Curiously, I have read on two occasions in the last couple of days about running amuck, something I knew nothing about before. First, I read in a Huxley travel book of the thirties about Malays who get the hump, perhaps because they have been insulted by a foreman or overseer. (Despite being a thoroughly decent chap, the language he uses would probably not pass the PC test these days). He says that they can go silent, still and deadly, gathering their strength and resolve, and then they run wild with a large knife, killing as many people as possible, in the certain knowledge that they will wind up dead in fairly short order too. There was a sense that killing white people, that is to say interlopers and infidels, was more meritorious than killing their own kind, although that would do if better was not available. This was happening, it seems, to crew members on steamers travelling in and around Malay waters. Amuck being the transliteration of the Malay word for this behaviour. Second, I read a shorter version of the same thing in a Simenon novel of the late fifties.
Yesterday mainly devoted to the construction of a flying curtain rail. The problem is the curtain for the large glazed door in our extension - maybe three metres wide by two high. For ease, the curtain rail was hung off the door frame - but this means that the curtain is resting on the glass and gets damp and mouldy in the winter and after twenty years this is starting to show a bit. So, as part of replacing the curtains, we want the curtain rail to be moved some inches away from the glass, but still inside the door hole as otherwise the curtain will look too big. But we can't just screw the thing to the top of the door hole as this contains a steel beam which I can't fix to.
The good news is that this gives me a splendid excuse to delay painting the extension while I construct a flying curtain rail, sprung off the door frame. A splendid construction of four brackets made of old dark oak, finally finding a home for a very small portion of all the old oak stored in the roof of the garage. I knew that I was keeping it for something. Then finished off with a nice new pine rail, about two inches by one, to be painted something light, and to which the existing white plastic curtain rail can be fixed. Now a suitable number of inches off the glass. Expenditure in curtain shop nil. Expenditure in Travis Perkins modest.
# posted by Jim @ 5:57 AM 
