January, 2020

SALLY SALT: Who are you really? Baron Munchausen isn’t real. He’s only in stories.BARON MUNCHAUSEN: Go away! I’m trying to die. SALLY: Why?BARON: Because I’m tired of the world. And the world is evidently tired of me.SALLY: But why? Why?BARON: Because it’s all logic and reason now. Science. Progress. Laws of hydraulics. Laws… of social dynamics. Laws of this, that… and the other. No place for three-legged cyclops… in the South Seas. No place… for cucumber trees… and oceans of wine. No place for me. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam, 1988) Increasingly, I see myself morphing into a…

Back to work after my surgery. I’d expected pain at some point during the day… but nothing. I guess I’ve moved beyond feeble stage now. We watched the first episode of Succession, the HBO drama. Incredibly engaging (though every time we saw Brian Cox, I couldn’t get Bob Servant out of my head).

Bearing in mind I take surveys and polls with a terribly large pinch of salt, the report by Mintel, consumer analysts, about the growth of vegan products in the UK suggests a number of things: only 1% of UK are vegan (not sure this shows any change); 88% of Britons who eat non-meat substitutes say they would still eat meat in the report, people do not appear to cite animal cruelty or exploitation as a reason for not eating meat: When asked about the benefits of eating less meat, 25% of consumers cited improving the environment, while 32% said it…

Jan had me up at 5am and the day didn’t seem to get any better. I made the mistake of taking him down slides at a children’s play centre and antagonising my wound. Foolish.

Another day recovering. Better than yesterday where my wound hurt every time I moved and throbbed continually through the day. I forget that when you are “ill” or “recovering” that’s what you’re actually doing. Last week I imagined I could recuperate by reading and writing, popping out a little. In reality it’s been hard to do very much except sit watch 25 year old episodes of The X-files and feeling grim. The days go quickly, so even if I did want to be hyper-productive, I wouldn’t get the time before the kids are back and the evening routine begins. No…

Magazine reading. I subscribe to Wire magazine and it’s great to see the main feature is about Wire and their new album. Also read some tech magazines… but the less said about this nerdish preoccupation, the better. Very sore after my walk out yesterday. Surely I didn’t overdo it just having a little walk. I was told that someone’s partner took 6 weeks to get over a similar operation and go back to work. I’m looking at going back on Monday! Listened to an episode of The Writers Panel podcast interview with Paul Tremblay that was very interesting in terms…