Woke up at 7, and meditated before 10am - a record, so far. Don’t know what to do with myself. Aden’s working. I don’t want to spend all day on this thing (I could do Metanoia, or have another go at Stuart’s e-book). I won at freecell, again:
Emailed brother Joe about his book. He’s insistent all the editing has been done by Val and the new version will be OK (although his blooper about the date of the Battle of the Somme hadn’t been picked up). I got a copy of my review from Amazon, but they’re still not listing the cleaned up version. I think he just doesn’t want me anywhere near it, didn’t even acknowledge my offer of the Kindle notes and marks. We’ll see. Be interesting to see what Val’s edits amount to.
Emailed brother Joe about his book. He’s insistent all the editing has been done by Val and the new version will be OK (although his blooper about the date of the Battle of the Somme hadn’t been picked up). I got a copy of my review from Amazon, but they’re still not listing the cleaned up version. I think he just doesn’t want me anywhere near it, didn’t even acknowledge my offer of the Kindle notes and marks. We’ll see. Be interesting to see what Val’s edits amount to.
I am going out to buy toothpaste and bananas and talk to the computer shop. And do some culture. Aden says I can't go to the Citadel because he hasn't seen it yet. So I shall visit the Art Museum and the Temple of Literature, which may inspire a needed poem.
Booked a ticket home from Basel - €62 and 6 hours, so quicker and cheaper than the Bla Bla car option, which is a shame. Go back on Thursday 8th so I'll catch Andrew and Delyth before they leave.
Having given myself brownie points for booking my flight back to Felicity et al, she's now asked me to change it to fit in with Joe, who as usual seems to be taking no notice of what anyone else is doing. I am irritated, pissed off with the waste of an admittedly modest sum, and suspect that Joe simply won't turn up so the whole exercise will have been the usual waste of time and effort and cash. Harrumph. But Felicity wants us to be together, even if Aden and Lottie can't make it, which I understand. The car hire looks like it might be a problem. Need to ask Entreprise and Alamo what their attitude to debit cards is.
Finished stuffing around (basically, I'm just waiting to go back to B and Basel, which is silly; I need a job or something to take my mind off it). Meditated, briefly, and then went out and had a moderately disgusting burger (too many odd tasting sauces / mayonnaisey things), nice lime juice, and then went on to the Museum of Fine Arts. Very pleased with my navigation. Bad timing tho' as I had to drive home in the rush hour, which as I said to Belle, is almost too thrilling. Thought I'd lost my way and was heading off north to gawd knows where, but found my turning in to Xien Dieu OK and got back just before Aden. Blustery grey day, trying to rain, finally did in the evening. Aden says it's going to brighten up by the weekend. Be nice - Sunday and Co Lao was lovely.
The Museum was great. I got there a bit late (it shut at 5pm) and started at the ground floor which was bronze age - interesting, but I should have started with the modern stuff upstairs. I might go again. Some lovely pieces. I discovered that To Ngoc Van is a famous artist, who died in 1954. He had a number of paintings and drawings in the museum, rather good. A wonderful room of 'characters' - more than life size wooden / polychrome statues, from a pagoda, dated 1794 - all various (Buddhist I assume) patriarchs, so not done from life presumably. A sort of caricature style, exaggerated features, very smooth skin and extended earlobes, outrageous jaws. Mostly smiley, included a seated figure, laughing his head off, picking his right ear with a chop stick . And Shakyamuni Buddda, who is clearly an ascetic, almost skeletal, like a medieval cathedral awful warning of death. Some lovely portraits 18-19 century, and some fine modern sculpture - a girl sharpening bamboo stakes for weapons. Beautiful lacquer work (modern) - like woodcuts, cutting through the lacquer to expose the bare wood underneath - landscapes and vegetation and crowds. And some very fine limited palette / natural lacquers - dark reds, ochres - reminded me a bit of the enamels at Ligugé. Chucked out at 5,and took no photos which was silly (Aden said he thought they were allowed anyway, and there were no guards around to stop me). Ran out of time, so unable to visit the Temple of Literature next door. Not sure why I needed to, Aden told me to. As always, tasteful, low key, and very cheap (slightly over £1 to visit - VND 40,000 seems to be the going rate for 'attractions').
Drove home, very easy apart from the traffic, and total inability to find a petrol pump (they are scarce - Aden has a dealer just round the corner who sells it out of jerry cans and a little hand pump).
We fiddled with our machines (I've been listening to the John Main Seminar recordings on SoundCloud, some of them rather good - Marco Schorlemmer, a physicist I think and Barry White, a hospital haemotologist ) until about 7:30, by which time it had stopped pissing it down, and we walked out for bangers and mash at a nice cheap eatery around the corner.
I came home and finished my poem for La B's birthday (would help if I knew how old she is). I'm quite pleased with it - my first poem in a very long time, and probably my first poem yet written when completely and entirely sober. And I essayed a (short) letter in German, which B said she was v impressed by - much nicer reading hers in German, albeit through a glass darkly, although she insists German is not her muttersprache and finds it as difficult to write in as English. Methinks she doth protest too much.
And so to bed, late as usual, and then woke up at 2am, so I got up and had a cup of tea and fiddled a bit and read Richard Rohr's Adam's Return and fell asleep with my earphones in listening to chill out music that Soundcloud had decided I needed to hear. It was nice, but not at 2 in the morning. And woke up at 7am with the usual cramp - keep getting cramps in my calves, first thing in the morning. Something I'm not eating? It can't be scurvy, at least, I'm drinking half a gallon of fresh lime juice a day.
And I've just noticed all my page / blog view stats have been zapped. Don't think I did it. And I've found a whole load of photos that Google Photos has been storing elsewhere - i.e. not in my Drive - like the videos and stylized photos it keeps making for me. Plus I think all my photos from my smartphone. No wonder I'm using 13 GB of my free storage - I suspect a lot of stuff is up there 3 or 4 times over.
Booked a ticket home from Basel - €62 and 6 hours, so quicker and cheaper than the Bla Bla car option, which is a shame. Go back on Thursday 8th so I'll catch Andrew and Delyth before they leave.
Having given myself brownie points for booking my flight back to Felicity et al, she's now asked me to change it to fit in with Joe, who as usual seems to be taking no notice of what anyone else is doing. I am irritated, pissed off with the waste of an admittedly modest sum, and suspect that Joe simply won't turn up so the whole exercise will have been the usual waste of time and effort and cash. Harrumph. But Felicity wants us to be together, even if Aden and Lottie can't make it, which I understand. The car hire looks like it might be a problem. Need to ask Entreprise and Alamo what their attitude to debit cards is.
Finished stuffing around (basically, I'm just waiting to go back to B and Basel, which is silly; I need a job or something to take my mind off it). Meditated, briefly, and then went out and had a moderately disgusting burger (too many odd tasting sauces / mayonnaisey things), nice lime juice, and then went on to the Museum of Fine Arts. Very pleased with my navigation. Bad timing tho' as I had to drive home in the rush hour, which as I said to Belle, is almost too thrilling. Thought I'd lost my way and was heading off north to gawd knows where, but found my turning in to Xien Dieu OK and got back just before Aden. Blustery grey day, trying to rain, finally did in the evening. Aden says it's going to brighten up by the weekend. Be nice - Sunday and Co Lao was lovely.
The Museum was great. I got there a bit late (it shut at 5pm) and started at the ground floor which was bronze age - interesting, but I should have started with the modern stuff upstairs. I might go again. Some lovely pieces. I discovered that To Ngoc Van is a famous artist, who died in 1954. He had a number of paintings and drawings in the museum, rather good. A wonderful room of 'characters' - more than life size wooden / polychrome statues, from a pagoda, dated 1794 - all various (Buddhist I assume) patriarchs, so not done from life presumably. A sort of caricature style, exaggerated features, very smooth skin and extended earlobes, outrageous jaws. Mostly smiley, included a seated figure, laughing his head off, picking his right ear with a chop stick . And Shakyamuni Buddda, who is clearly an ascetic, almost skeletal, like a medieval cathedral awful warning of death. Some lovely portraits 18-19 century, and some fine modern sculpture - a girl sharpening bamboo stakes for weapons. Beautiful lacquer work (modern) - like woodcuts, cutting through the lacquer to expose the bare wood underneath - landscapes and vegetation and crowds. And some very fine limited palette / natural lacquers - dark reds, ochres - reminded me a bit of the enamels at Ligugé. Chucked out at 5,and took no photos which was silly (Aden said he thought they were allowed anyway, and there were no guards around to stop me). Ran out of time, so unable to visit the Temple of Literature next door. Not sure why I needed to, Aden told me to. As always, tasteful, low key, and very cheap (slightly over £1 to visit - VND 40,000 seems to be the going rate for 'attractions').
Drove home, very easy apart from the traffic, and total inability to find a petrol pump (they are scarce - Aden has a dealer just round the corner who sells it out of jerry cans and a little hand pump).
We fiddled with our machines (I've been listening to the John Main Seminar recordings on SoundCloud, some of them rather good - Marco Schorlemmer, a physicist I think and Barry White, a hospital haemotologist ) until about 7:30, by which time it had stopped pissing it down, and we walked out for bangers and mash at a nice cheap eatery around the corner.
I came home and finished my poem for La B's birthday (would help if I knew how old she is). I'm quite pleased with it - my first poem in a very long time, and probably my first poem yet written when completely and entirely sober. And I essayed a (short) letter in German, which B said she was v impressed by - much nicer reading hers in German, albeit through a glass darkly, although she insists German is not her muttersprache and finds it as difficult to write in as English. Methinks she doth protest too much.
And so to bed, late as usual, and then woke up at 2am, so I got up and had a cup of tea and fiddled a bit and read Richard Rohr's Adam's Return and fell asleep with my earphones in listening to chill out music that Soundcloud had decided I needed to hear. It was nice, but not at 2 in the morning. And woke up at 7am with the usual cramp - keep getting cramps in my calves, first thing in the morning. Something I'm not eating? It can't be scurvy, at least, I'm drinking half a gallon of fresh lime juice a day.
And I've just noticed all my page / blog view stats have been zapped. Don't think I did it. And I've found a whole load of photos that Google Photos has been storing elsewhere - i.e. not in my Drive - like the videos and stylized photos it keeps making for me. Plus I think all my photos from my smartphone. No wonder I'm using 13 GB of my free storage - I suspect a lot of stuff is up there 3 or 4 times over.
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