We went shopping today. It took us about three hours
to buy everything at two stores, bring it home, disinfect it and disinfect
ourselves.
Later, I went for a run in the sun, and sweat actual
sweat. Later still, Karen and I went for a longish walk in the sun. In both
cases, we found most people were going out of their way to keep their distance,
as we did, more than a couple of times veering over on to the grass to avoid
others.
We did get a little concerned in some parts of downtown
where there is a heavy concentration of street people, some of whom didn’t seem
too worried about social distancing.
Later still, Karen sat out on the balcony in the sun.
We actually opened windows to get some air in the place too.
All good, but we’re hoping to not have to go to
grocery stores again for awhile. Social distancing there is next to impossible,
even when you go as early as we did (a little after 8 in the morning.).
One store had taped arrows on the floor so customers
would move up and down the aisles in one direction only. Good thought, except
if somebody else is in the aisle ahead of you, looking at products, what do you
do – stand back and wait or, as most people did, grow impatient after a couple
of minutes and scoot past as far from the other person as possible, about
three feet.
That store also had Plexiglas shields between you and
the cashier, the other did not.
When we went out, we discovered that building management
had posted signs in the lobby and in the elevators urging us to ride the
elevator only with other people living in our unit. If the first elevator that
comes when you call it has others on it, we’re told, wait for the next empty
elevator. Excellent. When I went out for my run, one fellow who had called the
elevator after me, backed off when he saw me.
I think we’re finished here. It's not that we aren't still pretty much cooped, but at least we can get outside now.
I did more than the seven
days of desert-island discs that Bobby Baines suggested, so that’s done.
Cryptic
corner? School’s out, kiddies.
I’ll
have to think of something else to fill my time now.
2 April 2020 (Day 14) - Almost there. Our release from
strict quarantine/self-isolation comes tomorrow. We’re both feeling fine – just
old and anxious.
Karen and I have a lengthy shopping list that we hope
to shop for tomorrow during the seniors hour. Whether we’ll be able to get
everything we need and want remains to be seen. We saw how panic buying and
disruptions to supply chains emptied shelves at the Tesco where we shopped in
Maldon before we left the UK.
I’m feeling nervous about just going out of
the apartment. The assumption at this point is that we’re C19-free. (Our
understanding is that 99.99% of people infected show symptoms within 14 days,
most within five to seven, and we don’t have any symptoms.) Now, every time we
go out of our home, though, we’re very much at risk of being exposed.
We will be taking precautions, both at the stores and
when we return. I wrote in an earlier post about the protocols we followed for
bringing our delivered groceries into the apartment last week and disinfecting them. We’ll do the
same again.
There has been considerable debate among medical
experts and others about whether we should be wearing masks when we go out. We don't have masks in any case, but I heard it suggested on the radio today that even a bandanna wrapped around your face could offer some protection. And in the Czech Republic, where they reportedly have the epidemic in better control than we do, it is required that you wear a mask when you go out. The
only reasons I can see for not wearing a
mask are that real medical-grade masks are needed much more urgently by healthcare professionals and are in short supply. And there is a risk, if you don't remove your personal protection with caution, that it could
actually increase chances of infection. Canada’s Chief Medical
Officer is advising against non-infected or -exposed people wearing masks. But she added, in an interview I heard on the radio yesterday, that the keys to preventing infection when removing protection are not touching your face and washing your hands carefully afterwards.
We
will have hand-sanitizer with us when we go out, and wear re-usable latex gloves. I plan to extend washing after the fact to clothes
and the rest of my body. Clothes worn when I go out will go in the laundry
hamper, not to be touched again for at least 48 hours. And I’ll shower.
I know, it sounds absurd. But if you’re a senior and
you’re not freaked by this pandemic, you’re a feckin’ idiot. Anybody really,
not just seniors.
*
I am smarting this morning after another humiliating
defeat on the Scrabble field at the hands of my darling wife.
It wasn’t a bad defeat, only by 15 or 20 points but it
still stings. The wins have been few and far between this year. And Karen
insists my summary of recent Scrabble activity in yesterday’s post actually
understated how badly she’s been whomping me recently. Possible.
As for last night, in my defense, I had terrible
letters. My first pull included the Q, the Z, three E’s, an O and one other
letter I can’t remember – but not U. I couldn’t use either of the big scorers
until at least six turns in, by which time Karen had zoomed way ahead. After
the first couple of pulls, I never had more than two vowels in my hand at any
one time. At the end of the game, I still had about 16 points in my hand, all
consonants.
*
This morning I started my new job, creating a closed
Facebook group for our building. It’s a learning experience, but nothing wrong
with that. Even old dogs, I keep telling myself, can learn new tricks. So far
so good.
*
Desert
Island: Definitely desert island material. The fourth movementof the Rachmaninoff sonata is sublime.
Some music snobs turn their noses up at Sergei Rachmaninoff, the 20th century Russian composer (1873-1943).
One American composer and critic, now largely forgotten, said of Rachmaninoff's music that
it was “mainly an evocation of adolescence” and “no part of our intellectual
life.” Sergei was definitely swimming against the minimalist, atonal current of
modern orchestral music. His work is tuneful, accessible, very romantic, a
throw-back to the music of the late 19th century when he came of age.
Dirty
Hippy: I’d never heard of J. J. Cale until about 20 years
ago, but he’s definitely of our era (1938-2013), and he’s now a regular part of
my mix whenever I’m looking for social music that’s not too crash-and-bangy.
A friend’s 20-something son introduced Cale to his Dad
years ago. Dad introduced J. J. to his group of friends and I think we
all listen to him now, or did at one time. The music is laid-back, groovy, with
a distinctly southern feel – although he was actually from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Wikipedia lists “blues, rockabilly, country and jazz” as the mix of elements in
his style.That sounds about right. He
was apparently very influential. People like Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton, with whom he made a record late in his career, list him as influences. Yet he was never actually famous. A great find.
The
Cryptic Corner
From today’s Globe
& Mail puzzle, a few illustrative examples:
“Shipping trade (5).” As the form suggests it’s a
double-meaning clue, but it’s a tricky one.
The non-cryptic part of a cryptic clue isn’t
necessarily an exact synonym for or definition of the answer. As in this case,
it can be a word that might, only in some contexts, be a synonym for the answer.
Or might be only a near-synonym that could be substituted for the answer in a
sentence sometimes.
The answer: CRAFT.
You might refer to water “craft,” boats, in some contexts as
“shipping.” You’re meant to be confused by trade – is it the verb, the noun
from the verb, or a noun meaning...well, a “craft.” It’s true that you wouldn’t
call the trade of electrician a craft, but you might call carpentry a
craft, or a trade.
Some clues offer concocted, sometimes humorous
definitions for a phrase formed when you break up the answer word into constituent
parts. Here’s an example from today’s puzzle: “A policeman not on duty perhaps
is unusual (7).”
Answer: OFFBEAT. Get it? The non-cryptic clue is “unusual.”
The policeman, you see, is “off” his “beat.”
One more. Here’s another example of the non-cryptic
clue not being an exact definition or
synonym. “Work in a band to commit fraud (6).”
Answer: FIDDLE.
Well, in some “bands” one or more members fiddle. A
fiddle is also a colloquial term for a “fraud.”
Finally, here’s the puzzle as far as I’ve got it. Any
ideas about the last two? (Gail Wreford, c’mon, you’re a crossword fiend – time you
stepped up to cryptics.)
1 April 2020 (Day 13) – I have a new job. I’m creating
or helping to create a closed Facebook group for our building.
I had floated the idea to the board chairman, Jim, when
we first got back from Europe, thinking it might be a way to ease the sense of
isolation for residents who are practicing social distancing – which now, of
course, everyone should be. It’s a fairly social building, but all or most of
the incidental contact we have with neighbours, in the lobby, halls or
elevators, is gone. And certainly any planned social events have been or will be
cancelled.
One of the other board members, our neighbour across
the hall, Christian, was apparently already thinking along the same lines, so Jim
put us together. The upshot, after a brief telephone meeting with Christian yesterday,
is that I’m going to take the first steps to setting up the group.
It will be a moderated group. It’s meant to be a place
for people to keep in touch, exchange ideas on how to cope, offer or request
help, and for the board and management company to pass on information. What the
board doesn’t want is for it to become a forum for carping. There are unfortunately
some chronic complainers in the building.
We’ll also want to ensure there is nothing offensive
posted. So I’ve volunteered to be part of a moderating committee that would
have the power to take down posts and even expel repeat offenders.
Could be interesting.
*
Karen said to me last night, “How come you don’t
mention in your blog that I’m whomping you at Scrabble all the time?”
Okay, I'm setting the record straight. After a few years
of my dominating in our winter-away series, Karen came roaring back this year,
winning the series something like 4-2 or 5-3, including by some big scores.
Since we’ve been home, we’ve played three games. She’s won two, once by a few
points, once by 15 or 20. I destroyed her in the other game, winning by over 50.
The series will possibly resume this evening. We’ll
see.
*
Karen reported a dream to me this morning with an
interesting twist. In it, she was working in an office providing some kind of
public service. (Hers was the corner office, she said, with big windows on two
sides – yeah, right, in her dreams!)
At some point, for some reason, it became necessary
for her to get some forms that were stored in a tower. She had to scale the
outside of the tower to get to them. (I can just see her in one of the business
suits she used to wear to work in the 80s, shinning up a church-steeple-like
tower!)
When she got to the top, there was some kind of
pointed concrete cap that, when she grabbed it to pull herself up, wobbled
under her weight. She initially thought (in the dream), ‘This is dangerous, I
need to get down from here!’ But then she thought, ‘No, no, I just need to wake
up!’ And so she did.
See! Lucid dreaming! Maybe not quite as effective as
the Senoi, but still, a measure of control.
*
Before introducing my latest desert-island and dirty-hippy
picks, I wanted to say a couple of things more about one of yesterday’s selections,
Frazey Ford’s 2014 disc, Indian Ocean.
I listened to it again last night, for the first time in a few months, and was
impressed all over.
First, full disclosure. As Bobby Baines takes great
pains to point out on FB, it was he who first introduced me to this album, or a
snippet of it, when we were holidaying a few years ago in the Canary Islands. I
rediscovered it on my own months later, by which time – he’s probably right, because
I’m old – I had forgotten all about his introduction. So.
I was struck on my most recent listening by the
album’s almost hypnotic groove. It’s partly Ford’s sometimes monotonic singing
style, partly the similarities in the arrangements of the songs. The High
Rhythm Section always sounds very distinctly itself – the mellowed-out funk guitar,
the muted braying of the horns.
Bobby mentioned the song “Done,” which I think is one
of the great take-down songs of all time, right up there with Dylan’s “Like a
rolling stone” and Carol King’s “You’re so vain.” The song is a declaration of
war and a kill shot in one go. A little snippet from the lyric:
Who told you that you could rewrite the rules?
And do you really take me for a goddamn fool?
'Cause I'm not - oh, I'm done.
And you can drag me out before some authority
If that's what you have to do to feel like you can
punish me
But I can't (ooh), I can't, I can't, I can't keep the
peace anymore
With your dogs (ooh), with your dogs, at my door
...
And I'm sorry that you don't like your life
But I fought for my own victories and for the beauty
in my life
My joy (ooh), my joy, my joy takes nothing from you
No, my joy (ooh), my joy takes nothing from you
I also wanted to point out, for anyone who actually
takes the trouble to check out this album, that it includes an interesting hidden
track – sort of like “Her Majesty” on the Beatles’ Abbey Road. The penultimate track – the title track–continues with silence for
over a minute after the song ends, so it seems like the album is over. It’s not.
When that track finally ends, another, which appears
in my rip of the CD as “[Untitled],” plays. It’s in fact a second, acoustic version
of the album’s first track, “September Fields,” with just Ford, her guitar and
minimal back-up singing. It’s interesting because it gives an idea of what The High
Rhythm Section adds to the song, but also because it shows how well the song stands on its own.
*
Desert
Island: If you’re into classical, you listen to Wolfy. So
here he is.
I’ve been listening to performances of the piano
sonatas played by Mitsuko Uchida for for over 35 years. I have a very clear
memory of sitting in our living room on Manning St. in Toronto, listening to the
LP of this that I'd only recentlly purchased, taking a brief respite from the insanity
of having a newborn in the house. Baby Caitlin was sleeping upstairs with her
poor tired mother. Bliss. Uchida released a succession of Mozart sonata albums
in the mid-1980s. The album cover here is of the one I first bought. The sample
track is from one of the other albums.
Dirty
Hippy: Joni is one of my abiding loves from the dirty hippy
period. I think this was the first or second album I bought. It stands up well.
I rediscovered Mitchell a few years ago. I had fond
memories of the albums I'd owned back in the day, but hadn’t listened for
decades. The great Court and Spark,
which came after the period when I was intensely interested in her, and Blue, one of the jazz albums, both still
get played here. Along with this one. It includes some of the early hits,
including “The Circle Game,” “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock” – the last two
of which I don’t actually remember being on my LP. If they were added as bonus
tracks for the CD, I’m grateful.
The
Cryptic Corner
Again, it’s astonishing that no one among my legion of
followers could help me with the puzzle I was stuck on yesterday. Never mind.
From here on out, I’m just going to post illustrative
examples from the puzzles I’m working on – the ones I can actually solve, I
mean. Here goes.
From today’s puzzle in The Globe & Mail: “Close – doubly close in fact (6). The answer
is: NEARBY. Once you see it, it’s easy. “Nearby” means the same as “close”
(with a hard ‘s’), but so, in some contexts, do “near” and “by.” So “doubly” “close.”
It’s a typical setter’s trick: use a word that describes how to build the
answer, but looks as if it might be part of a
non-cryptic clue.
Here’s another: “One of the top stylists (11).” It’s a
kind of riddle. It plays on the fact that in spoken English, the way words in a
sentence are stressed changes the meaning. You’re meant to think the stress
falls here on the word “top” – he’s one of the best stylists. But the clue actually means “one who styles tops” –
heads in other words. The answer: HAIRDRESSER.
One
more. “Leave behind waste (6).” A classic clue playing on multiple meanings of words
in English, in particular the different meanings when the word is a verb or a
noun. Here, to make the clue intelligible, you need to put a semi-colon between
“behind” and “waste.” The answer, DESERT, means “leave behind” when it’s a
verb, a “waste” when it’s a noun. Photos of the Day The sun came out, but it was chilly on the balcony - though Karen sat out for awhile. Photo ops were few and far between.
A long way away: Blackfriars Village just the other side of the river from us
