Strange things in the last few days:
Sitting opposite Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku as we waited for the plane to Pristina. Kosovo. It is strange to sit with someone who you know has killed.
Coming out of the train station in Vienna on arrival and seeing the great Joe Zawinul’s ‘Birdland’ jazz club opposite with a small but simple tribute to him. He died two weeks ago as I mentioned in a recent blog. Zawinul was a hero of mine.
On arrival at Pristina airport slowly realising that the person I was sharing the official car with is the person who approves my visits and agrees to the cheque being signed. He realised who I was before I realised who he was. Hence his line of questioning which it took me a while to fathom.
Reading the Daily Telegraph (through lack of any other option) and being surprised at the low level of debate and rational argument in such an esteemed paper. Many ‘news’ articles were actually opinion articles apparently designed to brainwash the gullible. Simon Heffer’s column just full of rant – advocating the immediate abolition of the UN. Really Simon? His column just seemed nasty. The letters page full of ‘The country going to the dogs’ and ‘rapidly becoming 3rd world’. What a miserable way to see your country. Especially as it is patently untrue. It is just different from the way they want it to be.
England making a reasonable impersonation of a rugby team last friday.
Being aware of my complete lack of sex drive at the moment. Good or bad? I remember the late George Melly saying that life became so much easier when he didn’t have to control a wild beast anymore. I don’t think I am at that stage yet but the lack of ‘desire’ is puzzling.
Sleeping solidly for 9 hours without waking up. For the first time for a while I had a spring in my step this morning.
Having my mother arrive in France with new boyfriend and thinking that I do not like her at all. I started to feel like my sister does about her and I started to feel a little guilty about that. It’s the first time I have ever felt no connection at all and I could not wait to get away and on the plane at Lyon. She is drinking very heavily and is clearly telling lies to a number of people, me included.
But despite some of the negativity above I feel positive at the moment although my hypochondriac tendency is coming out. Hence no alcohol for a few days.
Music of the day: Zakir Hussain – Making Music. Thanks to the Half Note blog in NYC (my favourite blog at the moment) for reminding me of the beauty of this album.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Great diary. Found a January entry on Chips Channon. Do you know where I can get a copy of his "diaries"? Got interested in the 1930s period.
Thank you 'Unni Warrior' for your kind compliment. I am not sure how easy it is the US but in the UK it is in print and easy to get hold of through usual outlets - probably amazon.co.uk rather than 'dot com'. There may well be further installments because 'Chips' son died recently and it is believed he had a huge amount of unpublished material from the diaries. It is thought that, just before he died, he was considering releasing at least some of it for publication. It is quite possible that these contain some of the most important revelations of the first half of the last century in British and in some senses global history. He had no political power and was equally loved and hated but he had a talent for idle gossip and really knew everything about everyone.
One thing about the diaries. They contain, to my mind, one of the best accounts of 1939-40 from the appeasers point of view. The 'winners' always get to write the history but the appeasers point of view needs to be heard because it was probably the prevalent view at the time.
Chips is arrogant, a snob and disdainful of all but the most 'symbolic' people and comes across as a not particularly pleasant person. But I sometimes think that the secret to an open mind is to take in a range of views and then make your mind up from a more informed position. Chips has a world-view which is dead but his diaries remain a fascinating document of a time which (some may say thankfully) has gone forever.
Post a Comment