OH,
DO GIVE OVER!
It's
the cats' birthday.
Yep.
Both of them. Spike (above), who insisted on being seen in front of a
bookcase because that's what they're all doing nowadays and she's
read about as many books as most of them, and Angel – the boy –
the other half of a name mix-up by daughter Roz when they were the
size of a very small fist: Spike was the spikier one then and she
still rules the roost now. Angel and the dog Buddy (a week younger
than them) are putty in her tiny but lethal paws. I love 'em all: and
they love me when I'm dispensing biscuit treats.
LOCKDOWN.
The
schoolroom is open.
Roz's living room has become grandson Ellis's schoolroom and, in keeping
with the irrepressible sense of humour of his mother and teacher, has
its own Ofsted report defiantly posted on the door.
It ain't a fair
reflection, but I love it.
TELEVISION.
A
real book person.
You
can pick out the real book people if you don't just take those camera
views into other people's houses as an invitation to check on their
wallpaper.
One
real book person is the English academic Dame Mary Beard (above) who
is an expert on Ancient Roman civilization, a Professor of Classics
at Cambridge University and an extremely likeable television
personality.
Her extended, book- filled, den is everything Mo and I
feel at home around.
To add to the ambience, in a recent TV programme
she interviewed Sir Simon Schama who, clearly at home, stood
in front of the most gloriously chaotic bookcase in the whole learned
world. He immediately became our favourite art historian.
LAST
BUT NOT LEAST.
YouTube.
If
you scramble around you can sometimes come across an unexpected gem.
It was my good fortune the other evening to chance upon a great
performance of Nessun Dorma sung by Michael Bolton (below}. I have
his Vintage album of classic songs, which we cherish, but this is
something else. If you like Michael and have not heard this track,
look it up. It is followed by Vesti La Giubba, a wonderful duet
with Luciano Pavarotti.
Go
carefully.
Don't
chance your arm.
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