A belly of pork

Busy doing nothing this morning. Up in the loft today storing stuff, and later out to the shops buying a little table for my printer to stand on. Generally however I find myself unable to focus on writing or anything productive, and I am feeling a bit twitchy. However this clip has helped a good deal.

Instead this morning I listened to the ancient BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers. It is going through one of its rare lively patches. The characters have such unremarkable lives that when something dramatic happens it is astonishing.

Following this I listened to a long outside broadcast from the ceremony at the cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday. Made me think about the Somme: all those young guys just having to do their duty -- to leave their trenches and WALK a few hundred yards in a hail of machine gun bullets. Appalling. As I type this the radio says four UK soldiers were killed today by a bomb in Basra. I wonder if they knew why they were there?

Anton and Anna invited me for Sunday lunch today. Very good fun as usual. Anton outdid himself, spending hours preparing the wonderful belly of pork he bought yesterday from the correct butcher. Plus lots of organic vegetables, and home-made onion gravy made to Anton's own recipe. After some cheese, there was a final butterscotch sugar-rush of a pudding with custard. Standing up to leave, I put on my Guernsey, and I swear it felt tighter.

This is Oskar. He is a very good boy.