under another sun

Snowing.  Luckily I had nowhere to travel, and was working by eight at my desk. Stayed manacled there till noon, completing the pesky but interesting freelance job before sending it into cyberspace. Finding concentration a bit hard as prostatitis taking advantage of the lull in antibiotics. After three hopeful days of feeling better than I had done for some time, the old enemy is at the gates again. Trying not to be downcast about this, and am hoping the diagnostic operation is not too many months away. Afternoon more relaxed. Lorraine working at home in the afternoon, after long cross county drives were cancelled. This in from Richard in Guernsey, which was on the news this morning, for its unprecedented snow: 'looking out into the garden where the palms and tree branches are practically horizontal because of the on-shore wind howling in from the bay, which is only about two hundred metres away from us. There's sleety snow coming in and the bird feeders and water bowl hav...

Walked up to the hospital, this time on my own account. The future holds a general anaesthetic and a couple of rather intrusive procedures aiming to pin down what's up and how to best treat my prostatitis. I welcome this as life at the moment is short of joie de vivre. Remembered Spooner's facebook description of the hospital as Gormenghastly, which made me smile as I trudged up the hill. Efficient visit though, saw the doctor, thoughtfully left them some urine and was out within 25 minutes. Home and took it easy this afternoon. Did start work on a new branding brief, and cooked a chilli. The addition of cumin and a bit of nutmeg seem to be a good thing. Lorraine late, but pleased to be home, then had the task of finding clothes for her go to school as a book character. She selected something vaguely African. Finished Blindness . An unpleasant, compulsive read, in the vein of Golding's  Lord of the Flies , or John Wyndham novels. Hungry for books lately.

Lorraine coughing nastily, so another low profile day.  I horrified myself by reading a good chunk of Blindness by Saramago. It is a horribly compelling story about a mystery, highly-contagious outbreak of blindness. The infected are confined to an old asylum building and shot if they attempt to escape, or the guards panic. Also listening to lots of music, including Arvo Pärt's Te Deum. A major discovery is Stravinsky's ballet music called Les Noces, which depicts a wild voiced Russian wedding and which in its highly percussive, and almost chanting open-throated style, I find completely unexpected and exhilarating. Really enjoying my journeys into classical music these days.