No, I'm not back.

I'm simply here to make a point so I can get on with the Christmas baking, unencumbered by a nagging twitch at the back of my brain. Twitches of this sort I've noticed, my neglected Cake Eater readers, tend to spoil the fudge.

I present for your edification, Moralism kills hope of less vicious vice:

{reprinted in its entirety because it'll slip behind the subscription wall soon enough}

Morality is choosing to live one's life by a code of behaviour. Moralism is inflicting a puritanical code upon others. Moralism kills. It leads to making prostitution and the use of drugs illegal. That brings ghastly results. Now, when the murders of five prostitutes in Suffolk are gripping the attention of the UK, all must see just how ghastly these results can occasionally be.

Finding prostitution abhorrent is quite understandable. It is equally understandable that people find the sale of dangerous drugs abhorrent. But policy should focus on consequences, not such emotions. Prohibition merely drives these practices further underground, thereby making bad worse.

In the UK, prostitution is not illegal. The position is far worse in the US, where it is illegal in all states, except Nevada. But even in the UK, soliciting and advertising by prostitutes, as well as "kerb-crawling" and, most important, living off the earnings of prostitutes are all illegal.

A brief glimmer of sanity broke out, with the publication of a thoroughly sensible review, Paying the Price, by the often unjustly condemned Home Office in July 2004. It did not take long for the UK's tabloid press, that whited sepulchre of hypocritical moralism, to douse the light once more.

Nothing will now be done to make the business safer for those engaged in it. That can only happen if it is possible to establish businesses, with secure premises, with proper security and medical checks. In other words, it can only happen with the legalisation of brothels. Instead, action against kerb-crawling is being intensified and the idea of establishing legal red-light areas has been abandoned.

This will merely drive the business yet further underground, where it will remain intertwined with another business driven into the darkness: drugs. Paying the Price estimated there were 80,000 people working in the sex industry in Britain, with 95 per cent of the women involved dependent on drugs. A close link exists between illegal drugs and prostitution, with pimps often suppliers of both.

Unable to work within properly regulated businesses, prostitutes are far more vulnerable to violent customers. Nobody can now try to ensure the safety of prostitutes even, as we can see, from the deranged attacks of a serial killer. Public indifference to the fate of these women explains, but cannot excuse, this immoral policy.

We will never eliminate either prostitution or the demand for drugs. But we can minimise the damage done by these twin evils: prostitutes must have the opportunity to work in safe and secure environments; addicts must be allowed safe and secure access, through the health service, to the drugs they crave. This is not to condone vice. It is to recognise the limits imposed by human frailty. Those who persist in peddling moralism instead have blood on their hands.

Am I the only one who finds it curious how, according to the FT editorial board, everyone is to blame for murdered prostitutes except, apparently, for the killer himself?

Supposedly the only one who is allowed to inflict his own particular brand of moralism with impunity is the murderer of these poor prostitutes.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:52 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Once again I've been remiss in posting over here long enough to have the Cake-Eater top page go blank. Dang it, I hate when that happens.

When I originally took it upon myself to try and keep this place warm against the day that Kathy decides to come back to it from her self-imposed hi-atus, I reckoned this would not be too difficult. After all, my general approach to blogging for the past three years has simply been to toss out whatever wanders into my head based on the nooz, what I read on other blogs and stuff that happens in my own little patch of the real world. In effect, I'm just chatting electronically. While this technique can lead to some neck-wrenching segues and necessarily limits the depth into which I can get on any particular subject, I've always found it pretty satisfying. So when Kathy decided to go on vacation, I figgah'd I'd just do the same sort of thing over here.

Well, as has become pretty apparent, I just don't seem to have enough material to jabber consistently on two soap boxes instead of one.

So what to do? Well, I can think of a couple options offhand:

One, I could just give it up. I don't much care for this idea because it makes me feel like I'm letting Kathy down. Also, and perhaps I'm just being selfish here, I really like Kathy and her writing, and long for her to come back. It seems to me that if and when she feels any inclination to get back into regular blogging herself, having the Cake Eater shop already up and running will add just that little extra inducement to get her to do so.

Second, I suppose I could just start cross-posting stuff from over at Llamabutchers. There may be something to this - at least it would guarantee regular updates. But for some reason, I just wouldn't feel right. It seems too much like "regifting" posts.

Third, I could experiment with a different blogging paradigm. Instead of ad hoc mouthing off, I could perhaps develope a more focused model, working on planned, longer essays on given subjects. (Jane Austen, anybody?)

Of course, overshadowing all of this is the fact that this is Kathy's place, not mine. It's one thing just to play around here, but it's something else entirely to start trying to shape the thing in my own pixelated image. When you're house-sitting, after all, it's perfectly okay for you to watch tee vee, raid the fridge and play with the dog, but you can't go and start painting walls to your liking.

What is a devoted Cake Eater fan to do?

Posted by: Robert at 11:33 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 ... so what does Kathy want?.....

Posted by: Eric at December 05, 2006 07:37 PM (NlzwQ)

2 I will, of course, obey her wishes without question.

Posted by: Robbo at December 07, 2006 08:29 AM (0JsTF)

3 Erm. Kathy's been a wee bit remiss about coming here and checking things out. Bad Kathy. Robbo, you know my blogging rule: write about whatever interests you, no matter how inane or arcane. It simply doesn't matter---as long as you've got something to say, say it. Go to town. I never asked you guys to come over here and guest blog when I decided to go on hiatus, but you did anyway, and I'm grateful for it. As such, do what you would like to do---and that includes letting everyone see Cake Eater Girl in her entirety every now and again. Besides, anything you put up will undoubtedly earn me less grief than what Steve-o would put up. I forgot to tell you this, but my sibs really did enjoy his "Beaches Blogging" and commented at great length about how hy-larious it was when I saw them last.

Posted by: Kathy at December 09, 2006 10:08 AM (EcKjI)

4 Dang. And here I was going to not do that again. Now where did I leave that key.......

Posted by: Steve the LLamabutcher at December 13, 2006 02:28 PM (mOATe)

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{Insert exceedingly brief moment of abject humility here}

I take it back. I take it back. I take it back. I take it back.

I will now proceed to shout it from the rooftops in case four takebacks did not adequately get the message across.

Ahem.

I have yet to figure out which Bond he is (it could very well turn out to be that he's the "Smokin' Hot Bond"), but after seeing Casino Royale last weekend and allowing my thoughts on the subject to percolate over the past week, I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong to call him what I did.

I apologize wholeheartedly to Mr. Craig. Which is pretty much a worthless gesture on my part, because it's not like he's going to stumble across this post. But just in case, well, I thought I'd throw it out there for what it was worth.

{insert ending to brief moment of abject humility here}

Allrighty then. If you're interested in what I thought of Craig's performance and the movie itself, take the jump. If not, well, that's your choice, but, hell, this is a "one-time only" comeback performance. And, unlike a Babs Streisand performance, not only will I not charge you an arm and a leg to attend, I will refrain from shouting obscenities at you from the stage if you heckle me.

Because, and I think this goes without saying, my neglected, yet somehow still devoted, Cake Eater Readers, I'm much cooler than Babs ever could be. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 02:56 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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View image

Oh yes...Phin is definitely on to something.

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at 08:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've got to concentrate! - oncentrate! -oncentrate!

I've got to concentrate -oncentrate! -oncentrate!

Hello? -ello? -ello?

Echo! -echo! -echo!

Now batting,-atting, -atting.....

Mannyyyyy Moto! -Moto! Moto! Moto!

Yes, I am serious. And don't call me "Shirley."

Posted by: Robert at 02:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You, stop now and think.

You see that celebrity across the coffee shop? Is your instinct to grin and gush and fawn over them? Trying to decide if you have the temerity to approach and offer a kind word or ask for an autograph?

What the hell for!?

Think.

What has that person ever done for you? Sure, it's possible that you appreciate the work of that artist/politician/actor/author. But it is equally possible that you find that celebrity's work to be utter crap. Still, you sit there all a-twitter in the proximity of 'Someone Important'.

Garbage.

If you can, halt your media induced stupor for one minute and be in the moment. Look at your surroundings. Who in this coffee shop should you revere? Who deserves your attention and kind word?

It might be the cashier who, despite waking at 4:15 AM, five days a week for the past 3 years, always greets you with a smile and a warm "Good Morning" - even when you're tired, annoyed and an absolute bitch for no reason other than it's early. It might be the barrista who, regardless of doing the same thing day after day for going on 4 years now while studying full-time and trying to find 3 minutes a week for a social life, takes care each morning to make sure your milk is steamed just a little bit hotter than he would normally do - because that's the way you like it.

These people are the celebrities. These are the ones who deserve your attention and your gratitude.

You want to argue that they get paid to do those things for you, so any extra isn't deserved? I call bullshit again! The actor you would so gleefully fawn over helped a movie studio and distribution system take several million dollars, $8.50 at a time, for what he does. He got paid. The politician has been campaigning for the past 3 months to get re-elected. This campaign process burns tens of millions of dollars for her alone. When was the last time she voted "No" when a congressional pay raise was up for a vote? She got paid.

They both got paid, and because you're too stupid to recognize that you're paying them for the privelege of kissing their ass, you'll probably pay them again and get very little in return. But every morning - every. damn. morning. - your coffee comes across from a helpful pair just the way you like it.

Ask them for their autograph, and strike up a conversation. I'll bet the service gets even better.

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at 11:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Whoops! Looks like I let things go too long here, as my last post just dropped off the face o' the blog, leaving nothing but the stylzed image of your lovely hostess, Kathy the Cake-Eater.

Not that this isn't pleasant in itself, but I hate to think of all that blank space going to waste.

Gotta think of something quick.

.........

Oh, I know -

One of my main frustrations about blogging is the fact that I can't discuss my work. On the one hand, there's the whole attorney-client thing. On the other, there's the complication of working for Uncle Sam. Between these, I'd have to be so careful about what I said and how I said it, that it simply isn't worth the risk of trying to put something up on the blog. So I keep mum.

Which is a pity, because it would be nice sometimes to grump and vent, and it would be equally nice to trumpet the occasional modest triumphs that come down the pike. I suppose I'll just have to store up all my anecdotes and write a book some day.

I suppose I'm thinking about this now because it's been a good couple of weeks on the job. I've turned in some good work that has earned me a bit of praise from the suits, and I've just received a couple of challenging new assignments that will keep me both entertained and very busy for the next few months. Every day, I'm feeling more confident in what I do and more like I'm actually contributing something to the greater good.

Which makes it all the more irritating that I can't tell you anything about it.

Oh, well.

Posted by: Robert at 12:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So my section is having its annual picnic tomorrow. Heigh ho.

Whenever we have one of these little office do's, I'm always reminded of the words of Marvin the Paranoid Android, who once said, "You needn't bother trying to engage my enthusiasm because I haven't got one."

I signed up to bring some kind of munchies. As it happens, I've got a whole desk drawer full of those little bags of pretzels the airlines hand out, gathered on my many bidness trips this year. Think anybody'd notice?

Posted by: Robert at 11:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=171&p=2&c=573014

I managed to write an article about the ISU/Texas debacle after nothing more than listening to the game over the radio while working cattle & hauling big round hay bales in from the field. This is easy. Why didn't I go into journalism? This career is even easier than leaning on a shovel with a Department of Transportation repair crew.

ISU plays in-state Division 1AA Northern Iowa this weekend in a night game. We're going up to the game early to try and get a good parking place.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 08:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's an interesting social conundrum that has raised its head recently:

We used to have some fairly close friends, a guy who worked in same firm as me and his wife. This friendship got to the level of sometimes going on vacations together, being invited to family events like weddings and birthdays, that sort of thing.

We had always had opposing political views, they being Chevy Chase Donks and us being Virginny Republicans, but none of us was especially political and the topic simply never got discussed. At least until 2000. When Bush got elected, my friend started tossing little jabs - sending email jokes and the like. I either ignored them altogether or responded off-handedly.

Eventually, our friends moved across country. They came back to Dee Cee every now and again and we visited with them when we could.

Things stayed at about the same level, viz a viz the politics until about 2003 and the invasion of Iraq. Suddenly, the level of political commentary from my friend changed from gentle banter to outright attack. This culminated in a full-blown rant about the Bush Administration in 2004 (and about my job), when we met for lunch one day in Dee Cee with our children in tow.

I don't have much patience for this kind of behavior, so after this outburst I simply cut contact with these people. We have (I think) traded holiday cards since then, but nothing else.

Well, the other day we got a phone message: they're moving back to Dee Cee. It seems we have several options in dealing with this and I'm not sure which one to choose. Do we:

- ignore them altogether?

- welcome them back as if nothing had happened?

- welcome them back but preemptively explain we couldn't be friends if they (he) are going to keep up the political screeding?

- welcome them back and wait to see if/when the politics start up again before issueing said explanation?

Personally, I'm rather ambivalent. I can see being friendly, but things have grown cold and I'm not going to waste energy heating them back up just to get hectored again. And given the current climate, it's quite conceivable that my friend has got even shriller in his outlook. On the other hand, I'm not even sure they completely understand why we lost contact. I mean, I didn't confront them or anything like that.

We shall see, I guess.

Posted by: Robert at 01:49 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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The Iowa State University Cyclones lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes last weekend 27-17 in Iowa City. My wife Janis & I were in attendance, sitting directly behind the trombone section of the ISU Cyclone Football "Varsity" Marching Band in the North end zone.

You want to know what OLD feels like? I was talking to one of the trombonists about the last time I'd sat in that section of Kinnick Stadium in 1986, when ISU was so bad we spent more time soliciting varied brands of liquor from our neighbor's wineskins than we spent actually watching the game. It was pretty cool, because you could stand up and yell any particular brand or type of liquor, and someone would throw their "bota" bag at you so you could take a drink. I never tried "Absinthe", but I'm thinking that SOMEONE would have brought a 'skin full of that liquid death in with them.

The kid (yes, he's a "kid") gave me a funny look & said "I don't want to make you feel old, but, Dude, I was BORN in 1986." Impudent Whippersnapper. You can be sure that he didn't get any of my blackberry brandy.

I've been asked by the powers that be running the Cyclone Nation website to write a weekly column with a perspective from the cheap seats & the public parking lots. I focus on tailgating activities, my general impressions of the game atmosphere, thoughts on the team's performance tempered with humor, and the state of the program. No worries about those pesky facts & keeping quotes accurate for me, no sir! That's for the REAL journalists.

My first column, after the win over UNLV is HERE.
My second column, after the loss to Iowa is HERE.

I'll limit my future reports here to links to my CN articles, which should continue to appear every Tuesday, unless I get fired, detained by the authorities, or sent to rehab.

Go Cyclones.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 08:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you're making your spouse's lunch and you decide to include a banana, please be sure to tell said spouse before he or she jams the brownbag into his or her briefcase.

This will ensure one fewer nasty surprises at lunch time.

Ick.

Posted by: Robert at 02:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"Mr. Knightley entertains his nephews."

From the Jane Austen Society of the U.K.:

Emma Woodhouse regards herself as the most important lady in the village of Highbury, being mistress of her father's house and receiving the deference of all the neighbourhood. She is cleverer than most of her acquaintance, and loves to meddle and arrange their lives for them. The only person who ever expresses any criticism of Emma is Mr Knightley, who owns the nearby Donwell Abbey and estate. Sixteen years older than Emma, he is both fond of and exasperated by her. His younger brother is married to her older sister, and they have a string of nephews and nieces in common.

Read the rest (and the novel, of course).

SOOPER SEKRET MESSAGE TO KATHY: Yip! Yip! Yip!

Posted by: Robert at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I'm sorry, but I had to put this up to bump the poetry fest. I know Kathy's a "girly-girl" who likes all these sorts of fru-fru things, but she also possesses an appreciation of all things testosterone-soaked (with some minor exceptions), so I'm confident that she's happy with my football updates. Until she shows up at my door with a lead pipe & a blowtorch, I'll assume that my attempts to "butch things up" at Cakeeater Central are welcome.

ISU won again last night, but it was closer than it should have been. UNLV came into town as a 13 point dog, and ISU only managed to get 16 points on the board to manage a 6-point win. The ending was straight out of central casting. The officials were screwing the pooch all night (apparently, the Mountain West conference has hired Mary Mapes as their Q/C assurance supervisor) and they totally fouled up the last drive of the game. UNLV appeared to let the clock run out on a crucial 4th & 1 near their own 40, but the officials disregarded their own flag & stated that UNLV had called their last timeout (which I saw nobody call). The spots for UNLV were consistently generous all night, while ISU appeared to get the crappy end of the stick most of the time. In the last :07 of the game, the UNLV receiver appeared to fumble the ball into the hands of an ISU defender, but the officials allowed UNLV to run back to the line & spike the ball with :02 left on the clock. A ten-minute review followed this play, and the officials proceeded to mangle the rulebook & put :07 back on the clock while IGNORING the "spiking" play UNLV used to stop the clock. Once the game started again, UNLV took one last shot at the end zone, and their receiver caught the ball after the QB scrambled around 'til the clock ran out before throwing. The problem with that play? The receiver was at least one yard out of bounds when he caught the ball. The officials immediately ran for their locker room, with members of the UNLV coaching staff hot on their heels.

While the PA announcers were congratulating the victorious ISU team, the UNLV team proceeded to embark on the biggest display of poor sportsmanship since the 2000 Florida recount. Their players started CELEBRATING & making touchdown signs with their arms, while the coaching staff railed at the officials and the assembled media. The UNLV coach did manage to shake Coach McCarney's hand when he came over to the sidelines, but this didn't stop him from keeping his team on the sidelines for 20-30 minutes after the final gun sounded. He was acting like all he had to do was stomp his feet & hold his breath and the officials would come back out & declare his team the "REAL WINNERS". The behavior of the players was even worse. About half of them tore off their helmets & started taunting the crowd, and a few of them even went out to the ISU logo at midfield & threw down their helmets & stamped their feet on the logo. I understand that several players from this team transferred to UNLV after legal and/or attitude problems with their former programs, and unfortunately this shows in the way they behaved in our house last night. Maybe they should change their name to the UNLV Leper Colony.

No matter how ugly the game was, we're still 2-0. Next up: Iowa.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 07:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I realize that I'm about two weeks too early. But after picking about a pint of raspberries from the garden for Sunday night dessert; a nice, cool, rainy day yesterday, and a nice, cool, misty morning today, I can feel my summer torpor slipping away. So I'm going to go ahead and post a tribute to my favorite season by one of my favorite poets:

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Posted by: Robert at 03:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's currently three days and nine hours until Iowa State University opens the 2006 football season against Toledo. We're optimistic that the defense can replace their losses and continue their winning ways, and that the offense will benefit from another year's experience and realize their full potential. Many pundits are picking ISU to finish somewhere between 4-8 and 7-5, but you've got to remember that most pundits are idiots.

Me? I'm looking at 8-4, with losses at Texas & Oklahoma, a loss to Texas Tech in Ames, and another loss in there somewhere. Can they do better than 8-4? Yes, but it will require an almost injury-free year plus a little good fortune.

The biggest strength of ISU this year? Wide receiver. Todd Blythe is a man among boys out there. I think he's got room to improve, but a 6-5 receiver with leaping skills & good speed is always a good weapon. Austin Flynn is a senior former QB who's made the transition to WR completely. He's got heart and a set of huevos big enough to haul in a dumptruck. Jon Davis, Marquis Hamilton, RJ Sumrall, Houston Jones and the tight ends Ben Barkema & Walter Nickel round out a formidable corps of receivers. Bret Meyer, the QB, has proven that he's able to get the ball downfield to any one of these guys who's open. I hope the coaching staff is willing to forsake the "run first" mentality & gives Meyer the green light to throw like a Texas Tech QB, but we'll see how that works when the season gets here.

Heck, I haven't even mentioned our secret weapon yet - redshirt sophomore EUSEPH MESSIAH. He's only 5-8 and 160#, but he had a great spring game, and he's currently my sentimental favorite on the team - mainly because I'd love to hear our play-by-play man exclaim "The MESSIAH has returned to the end zone, baby!"

Sorry about the sportstalk, Kathy, but as a fellow Cyclone I figured you'd tolerate a little boosterism on my part here. I'll make up for it, I swear - I might even read a chapter or two of Jane Austen in the near future. Hey, it could happen, right?

(sooper sekrit message to the camelids: Good luck to your Dolphins. Losing Sage Rosenfels to the Texans is a big blow (from an ISU point of view), but I think the new coach is moving in the right direction with the team)

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 09:05 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Very, very cool, Russ. I think this is a great feature, since I never seem to follow the team well during my day-to-day schedule. I, for one, hope you keep it up here.

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at August 29, 2006 10:38 PM (NIqTJ)

2 Asking me to post updates on the ISU football season is like asking Br'er Rabbit if he wants you to throw him in the briar patch. Is this going to be copacetic with the Kath-meister? I don't wanna get on her bad side. You're her hubby, so she's not going to do anything disfiguring when you piss her off. Maybe beat you with a bag of oranges or somethin' like that so it doesn't leave bruises. I won't get the same consideration.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at August 31, 2006 12:47 PM (ZGpMS)

3 In a nailbiter that shouldn't have been necessary, ISU beat Toledo 45-43 in three overtimes on Thursday night. It was 23-23 at the end of regulation, and Todd Blythe scored two TD's in the overtimes. Bret Meyer was responsible for five of ISU's TD's, running in three & tossing the two to Blythe, while Stevie Hicks ran for almost 90 yards & one touchdown. The young defense looked young, and they made mistakes, but the worst mistake was by special teams. On Toledo's first touchdown, ISU blocked th extra point, but then failed to fall on the blocked ball. Toledo recovered the blocked ball in the end zone, so a big play for ISU turned into a two-point conversion for Toledo in the blink of an eye.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at September 02, 2006 07:03 AM (vFS/o)

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Step 1:

Me: You know, with all the bad news about the Iranian nuclear mess, I think it may very well be time to start considering taking some precautions - storing up rations and supplies, thinking out evacuation plans, getting papers in order - that sort of thing.

She: Hmm. Maybe.

Step 2:

Me: Of course, this would mostly be about you and the girls, since any nuke attack on downtown Dee Cee by the bad guys would more than likely take me out as well.

She: Uuuuuuuh......!!!!

See? Easy!

Posted by: Robert at 02:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It turns out that I will have to fly on bizness on the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

So far, this seems more creepy than worrying to me.

As anybody who's read my blog over the years knows, I'm already quite frightened of flying. But my fear is the irrational sort, the kind that makes me think the wings are going to fall off if I let go of my arm rests, not the rational sort that would make me concerned that the bad guys might try some kind of commemoration.

Whatever the case, I reckon that's going to be one quiet and subdued flight....

Posted by: Robert at 12:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I set out on my two week jaunt to Maine with a couple of biographies with which I intended to amuse myself while sitting on the porch overlooking the bay.

The first of them, which I was already about halfway through, is Georgiana: Dutches of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. Georgiana was a prominant late-18th Century political hostess and like her Spencer descendant, the late, unlamented Princess Di, lived a glamorous high life but lacked both emotional stability and common sense.

The second was Elizabeth Longford's masterful study Wellington: The Years of the Sword.

So what did I wind up reading instead? Well, you know what summer cottages are like - various bits of flotsam and jetsom washing in and out, left there by previous tenants. For reasons which I still don't comprehend, my hand fell on a scifi murder mystery called Spider Play by one Lee Killough.

My opinion? I've finally found a book I had no hesitancy in throwing away once I'd finished it. Who reads this stuff? (Evidently not the publishers - I've never seen so many typos.) The plot was tedious and, in the end, anti-climactic. The style was clunky enough to make Tom Clancy read like Trollope. The "futuristic" language was laughable. (Apparently, in the late 21st Century a coffee pot will be called - are you sitting down? - a "caff urn".) And not even a decent snogging scene or two to liven things up!

My only excuse for finishing once I'd realized what I'd got into was that my brain was on vacation.

Posted by: Robert at 12:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Just sayin'.

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