![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3It's been a busy week.
My friend Bill was here last Saturday, en route to Dumfries for the funeral of his sister. I put him up, and our talk was mostly of 1970's comics, the state of the fantasy novel, and politics. We watched a few episodes of Justified, and we didn't talk much about Angela, dead of cancer three days after he 47th birthday.
On Sunday I dropped Bill at the train station, and then went off to watch Britain play the US in the Davis Cup. What this amounted to, mostly, was seeing Andy Murray in the flesh for the first time, and realising why he's won two Grand Slams and two Olympic Medals. It's not just his physical presence. His opponent, John Isner, is around six foot 10, and more imposing. Or his fitness - I don't doubt that Isner is as fit. It's the combination of his ability and his ability to solve for the man on the other side of the net. You could see that he had an overall strategy to deal with someone who serves at 140 mph, and that he adjusted that strategy on a game by game, rally by rally, shot by shot basis. Awesome.
On Monday I took the day off work and drove to Dumfries for the funeral. It was and wasn't what I expected. As I mentioned to a friend, I've been at more funerals for people who took their own lives, than for people my age who died of natural causes. Something felt un-natural about this, that Angela, who was alive and funny and worried and very much here in November is now gone. Apparently she met her death with... well, she managed it. She negotiated the package deal for the funeral and meal afterwards, and scripted the service. Peter Gabriel, ELO, Martha and The Muffins and Rod Stewart played her out. There were quotes from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" and Alan Moore's "DR and Quinch" (when asked what she'd like to do to her cancer she apparently said, "A kiss on the lips may be quite Continental, but thermo-nuclear weaponry is a girl's best friend"). I spent a couple of hours with Bill and the family afterwards, talking about, oh, a lot of things, in the same function room where my friend Jackie's wedding dinner was a few months ago.
On Tuesday I was up at five to drive to Inverness, and a meeting at ten. Tuesday and Wednesday were fine - the two pieces of work I'm occupied with there should both wrap up at the end of this month, which is a good thing. I've done enough living in hotels for the moment. Mostly the problem is that I put my life on hold when I'm away, and there's not enough time to reboot it when I get home.
I drove back on Thursday afternoon, which was my birthday and the day Terry Pratchet died. Lots more thinking, and many miles of road to do it on. I got back in time for dinner with the person I wanted to spend my birthday with, and that was good.
On Friday I actually got to sleep in my own bed, and was home in time for a walk around the West End in the dusk, which let me know that the days are getting longer.
Saturday I had coffee with two old friends, and then spent the rest of the day watching rugby on TV, eating some very good Bolagnese, and catching up with "Better Call Saul". A friend and I talked through where she is, and where I am, and how sometimes things take a while to work out.
Today I went over to my mum's for lunch, and a catch up. She's having some health problems, and has an operation scheduled for the 11th of May. We didn't talk about that much.
And tonight, Sunday, I watched an episode of Justified, played a little on-line chess, and now I'm putting off packing for this week's jaunt to Inverness tomorrow.
One reason for the comprehensive update is that I'm going to take a little break from LJ. ust a couple of weeks, which makes me wonder why I even mention it. I've been gone longer without making a thing of it. I'm also dropping off Twitter and Facebook for a couple of weeks - I might mention it there, or not. At any rate, anyone who needs to contact me knows how to do that, so I'm not out of contact or anything.
You all play well together when I'm away, you hear?
My friend Bill was here last Saturday, en route to Dumfries for the funeral of his sister. I put him up, and our talk was mostly of 1970's comics, the state of the fantasy novel, and politics. We watched a few episodes of Justified, and we didn't talk much about Angela, dead of cancer three days after he 47th birthday.
On Sunday I dropped Bill at the train station, and then went off to watch Britain play the US in the Davis Cup. What this amounted to, mostly, was seeing Andy Murray in the flesh for the first time, and realising why he's won two Grand Slams and two Olympic Medals. It's not just his physical presence. His opponent, John Isner, is around six foot 10, and more imposing. Or his fitness - I don't doubt that Isner is as fit. It's the combination of his ability and his ability to solve for the man on the other side of the net. You could see that he had an overall strategy to deal with someone who serves at 140 mph, and that he adjusted that strategy on a game by game, rally by rally, shot by shot basis. Awesome.
On Monday I took the day off work and drove to Dumfries for the funeral. It was and wasn't what I expected. As I mentioned to a friend, I've been at more funerals for people who took their own lives, than for people my age who died of natural causes. Something felt un-natural about this, that Angela, who was alive and funny and worried and very much here in November is now gone. Apparently she met her death with... well, she managed it. She negotiated the package deal for the funeral and meal afterwards, and scripted the service. Peter Gabriel, ELO, Martha and The Muffins and Rod Stewart played her out. There were quotes from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" and Alan Moore's "DR and Quinch" (when asked what she'd like to do to her cancer she apparently said, "A kiss on the lips may be quite Continental, but thermo-nuclear weaponry is a girl's best friend"). I spent a couple of hours with Bill and the family afterwards, talking about, oh, a lot of things, in the same function room where my friend Jackie's wedding dinner was a few months ago.
On Tuesday I was up at five to drive to Inverness, and a meeting at ten. Tuesday and Wednesday were fine - the two pieces of work I'm occupied with there should both wrap up at the end of this month, which is a good thing. I've done enough living in hotels for the moment. Mostly the problem is that I put my life on hold when I'm away, and there's not enough time to reboot it when I get home.
I drove back on Thursday afternoon, which was my birthday and the day Terry Pratchet died. Lots more thinking, and many miles of road to do it on. I got back in time for dinner with the person I wanted to spend my birthday with, and that was good.
On Friday I actually got to sleep in my own bed, and was home in time for a walk around the West End in the dusk, which let me know that the days are getting longer.
Saturday I had coffee with two old friends, and then spent the rest of the day watching rugby on TV, eating some very good Bolagnese, and catching up with "Better Call Saul". A friend and I talked through where she is, and where I am, and how sometimes things take a while to work out.
Today I went over to my mum's for lunch, and a catch up. She's having some health problems, and has an operation scheduled for the 11th of May. We didn't talk about that much.
And tonight, Sunday, I watched an episode of Justified, played a little on-line chess, and now I'm putting off packing for this week's jaunt to Inverness tomorrow.
One reason for the comprehensive update is that I'm going to take a little break from LJ. ust a couple of weeks, which makes me wonder why I even mention it. I've been gone longer without making a thing of it. I'm also dropping off Twitter and Facebook for a couple of weeks - I might mention it there, or not. At any rate, anyone who needs to contact me knows how to do that, so I'm not out of contact or anything.
You all play well together when I'm away, you hear?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-03-16 01:33 pm (UTC)