Thinking of Spring

Bad night. Calliope conducting a protracted screaming cat fight and then appearing full of purrs. She instantly went to sleep, while I lay awake for two hours cursing her furry head.

Most of the day on strokes and AF. And I took another more interesting brief from a colleague I met while freelancing. Went to the gym, though was low on gas, and felt a bit shattered after. Someone said hello but I glared at him coldly for I shall have no friends down the gym!

Two pieces of good news.

One, which my legendary discretion has prevented me from mentioning before now, is the excellent news that Richard and Jane are going to be married this Spring in Guernsey. This will necessitate a jaunt over in April. Very flattered as they have asked me to be best man. This is lovely stuff, and they make an excellent couple.

While Mick Ginty texted me today to say he is now a dad. Lucy has given birth to their daughter Olivia Elizabeth Rose this morning. Both well.

Keep being distracted by interesting ideas. (I don't know whether this is just a trick of the mind, when confronted with the monotony of writing dozens of website pages on subjects I feel particularly hypochondria-provoking.) Reading about the psychological concept of displacement today. Partially because I have had to consciously fight to quell displacement activities in the last couple of weeks. Displacement is when, for example, you get angry at a passerby who accidentally bumps into you, because you can't get angry at the target of your real rage.

It is like metaphor and talking of one thing in terms of another, which is a displacement too. I am beginning to wonder if the arts aren't just one huge displacement industry.

Went to bed reading The Mind in the Cave. I think it will change my life.