As I said the other day, time now to Get a Grip. Kathryn is safe in Australia, arrived this morning and sent me a text to say all was well so that is a relief. She is staying in the company apartment for a couple of weeks while she sorts out a place to live, gets used to being in a new country and generally settles in. She has been very organised and has contacts and friends there who she will be meeting up with and has also lined up various interviews for accommodation. Decided a house/flat share a good way to meet people and not be on her own when she finished work. I am very proud of her organization and determination and am sure she will do well.
So the waiting for the departure has gone, matters are nearly now all finished regarding my mother's affairs and the final clearance of her flat is on Wednesday, and I feel that perhaps I can break out of this limbo I have been in for the last few weeks and start to get back on track with reading, writing and posting. Tomorrow I am up in London meeting with some book group friends for tea and looking forward to that and then back up again on Thursday to see Florence.
The books have been flowing in as usual and I need to catch up now and do some serious reading and
reviewing. Have taken refuge in the Barchester novels of Anthony Trollope in the last week or two, something about Victorian literature that I find makes me feel I am on secure ground. I read the Warden and then Barchester Towers after a gap of some ten years since the last reading and oh my goodness, I had forgotten just how wonderful they are. If there is a more marvellous creation than Obadiah Slope I cannot imagine who it is and after reading this volume I decided to take another look at the DVD with Alan Rickman oiling his way around as the aforementioned Slope. The scenes between him and Mrs Proudie - quite quite superb. I shall write more about this anon.
Am watching the football as I write this (Italy v Paraguay) and it is good to watch a match in which I have no vested interest and, therefore, can just sit back and watch and enjoy which certainly cannot be done whenever England are playing. I am sure everyone knows by now that we started off well in our first game, scored a goal and then played in our usual indifferent manner as if getting that one goal was enough, and then had to watch our hapless goal keeper fluff a save and see the ball trickle over the line. Never fails to amaze me the difference in demeanor and attitude amongst players who I watch throughout the season playing football with fire and determination for their clubs, totally fearless and then contrast this with the shuffling tentative play that is always exhibited when they are representing their country.
Ah well, no use pondering the why as we shall never know and I feel so sorry for the really loyal and fanatical English fans who have travelled to South Africa to support their teams and who will be doomed to disappointment as ever. There is a line in the movie Clockwise, starring John Cleese, in which his character says "It's not the despair, I can stand the despair; it's the hope...!"
That just about sums it up really but oh I would love to be proved wrong.
