TIME IS TICKING BY

Current Work: Queries, novel editing and admin

Listening to: Italian radio to improve my understanding

Reading: Fleshmarket Close (Ian Rankin), old diaries

First Thought for the Day:

A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. -H.G. Wells, writer (1866-1946)

Friday Fumbling

It’s been a strange day, they very often are here! I and my Man Friday are still trying to get to grips with the Italian Health System. Today we were up at a sparrow’s song, in the dark as MF had to have an eye examination. The poor chap suffers from Type 2 Diabetes and this is one of the regular checks he has to have, the service is very good and very similar to the UK, just with a few (or should I say many) misunderstandings. We reached the hospital at 7.30 am (no 9-5 here) and the waiting room was full of octogenarians smiling a toothless grin at the stranieri (foreigners). Anyway it turned out that he should have other tests before this one and now we have had to rearrange it for next month.

You may well be asking what all this has got to do with writing? Well, I for one believe in making everything an opportunity for writing and this will be no different. I managed to scribble a few character sketches, add more to a piece I’m putting together on our experience which will also fuel the novel in progress. So never look a gift horse in the mouth – OK enough of the cliché’s they get a bit boring but sometimes they just tumble out.

Weekly Assessment

Not bad, I’d say 8/10. Not bad for the Queen of Procrastination? I have lots of red ticks in my diary against actions (it’s a lovely feeling – sad aren’t I?). I’ve started editing my draft novel which feels strange but its lovely to get together with it again and the characters feel as fresh as when I was writing about them.

Today is my query and admin day, though with the trip this morning I’m running a little late and we have to go out again in about 10 minutes.

Plans for the Weekend

I like weekends. Sunday particularly as I try as much as I can to keep it sacred (to me and my other half, not for any other reason). If we’ve had a Red Cross parcel from my dad, I’ll demolish the reading material or catch up on the novel on my bedside table. I’ve just finished a biography about Rosalind Franklin, the silent but considerable contributing scientist to the discovery of DNA which led to a Nobel Prize. Not for poor Rosalind though, it’s a fascinating read, not only because of how women were viewed at the time but also because she was the great Aunt of my brother in law! And he’s brainy too!

Dogs are also on the weekend agenda. Bertie’s sister is coming to stay for another week and we’ve been bracing ourselves! Lots of exercise thought to balance the overindulgence with the vino rosso!

Until later….

And Finally, the Last Word of the Day:

nubilous

PRONUNCIATION:

(NOO-buh-luhs, NYOO-)

MEANING:

adjective: 1. Cloudy, misty, or foggy. 2. Vague or obscure.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin nubilosus (cloudy), from nubes (cloud).

USAGE:

Antonioni is probably best known for Blow-Up, a nubilous 1966 drama set in swinging London about a fashion photographer who comes to believe that a photograph he took of two lovers in a public park also shows, hidden in the background, evidence of a murder."

Rick Lyman; Michelangelo Antonioni, Subversive Filmmaker; International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); August 1, 2007.

"All of which nubilous musing serves little purpose, except to show that cloud-gazing, as a way of passing time, has appealed to all humanity since the earliest of times."

Andy Drought; We Really Don't Know Clouds At All; The Herald (Glasgow, UK); Oct 27, 2001.