under another sun

My ability to smell seems to have gone, another Covid indicator. A sleepless night wracked with continual coughing and sore throat. The opposite to the night before slept for a few hours, with waking up to cough every few minutes, then bleakly awake after 4am. Did have a couple of hours before I got up.  A tauntingly beautiful day. I went into the garden for a nice cough, but otherwise sat wanly on the Gold Sofa watching TV. My brain barely able to function. Watched a French documentary on the Chauvet Cave art. Wonderful. Then I watched Chelsea stroll seven goals past Port Vale in the quarter finals of the FA Cup which happened to be on TV.  Chatted to Mum too.  Lorraine ordered us in a curry tonight. Curiously tasteless because of being unable to smell anything. I had a sip of Lorraine's beer, not wanting to drink, but gave it back as it tasted nasty. A truly disconcerting development. Watched Extraordinary Portraits on TV.  Then to bed. Dreading it.  Beautiful...

Gah. Just finding being able to concentrate very difficult. I have a thousand ideas, but can't seem to concretise anything. But right now nothing seems more interesting that paleoanthropology. The evolution of early man is fascinating stuff. Watched a bit of The Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet Cave in France, which Betty got me for Christmas. Lorraine and I had seen it in 3D in the Duke of York's just last year. Knowledge on this subject is growing at an amazing pace. In the documentary for example someone asserts that no art was created by Neanderthals. But only a few months ago images of seals, dating back 43,000 years were found in the Nerja Caves in Spain and are thought to be from Neanderthals. If true this means that current opinion about the nature of Neanderthals has to be re-evaluated. And of course we now know that Neanderthal's contributed to Eurasian DNA too, so these guys are also partially us. Other hot topics ...