10 FEBRUARY 2008
Tim's blog has been a regular feature since May 2003...
I am on the side of the flowers . . .
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS of trying to do a more frequent blog is that life
gets in the way. I forgot to post this one before I left home for my
Ma's in Wiltshire so am sending it from an Internet cafe in Soho
manned by Russians. And on the 20th the blogmaster is off for a couple
of weeks so I shall be hors d'email relying on him, as I do, to post
these missives.
Anyway, last week was as boringly wonderfully routine as I had hoped
and the most exciting moment was a visit to the dental hygienist. As
one of my friends says there is nothing but nothing quite so
calculated to put the fear of God into even the most intrepid human as
a hygienist telling you that you haven't been flossing properly. Oh
the shame!
Otherwise it was a gentle chug forward of the Return of Simon Bognor
which I am much enjoying and which is now beyond the half-way stage. I
also have been sorting things out for Boston, arranging thoughts and
papers for the Cobb letters volume and exploring wonderful
possibilities for the Jardine-related trip to India. And exhilarating
morning conferences walking the cliffs. One day it was stormy
mid-winter and the next it was balmy spring with primroses flowering
in the woods in the belief that summer was just around the corner.
They may be wrong but I am on the side of the flowers.
The Independent finally printed my obit of Kevin Sinclair,
eliciting an immediate response from a friendly lensman in Hong Kong.
He was delayed because it has been a busy time for death. Indeed it,
dispiritingly, has.
The webmaster thinks we might usefully broaden the appeal of this blog
and position ourselves nearer the cutting age if I tried a regular
"Thought for the week". So here goes.
My first 'thought', prompted by the US Election's over-reported,
anti-climactic "Super Tuesday":
Barack Obama is not black in the accepted sense.
As someone who once interviewed Martin Luther King I want black
American politicians to be Messianic underdogs but Obama strikes me as
a classic, preppy, privileged schmoozer, an impression enhanced by the
endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy. Am I the only person who thinks
this?
This week starts with face-showing lunches and parties, a memorial
service (Ian Gilmour), two TV interviews, a couple of business
meetings and supper with the sons. Then back for another visit to my
aged Ma and home for, I hope, a brief bash at desk and disk. On Sunday
I pick up Penny who will be in London to celebrate Chinese New Year. I
shall use her absence as an excuse to buy and eat some offal. Absence
may make the heart grow fonder but it is also an opportunity to eat
same, stuffed and baked in the oven. Yum!
Tim Heald
