belgianwaffle

Reading etc.

Keeping up with the post-millenial Joneses


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Reading etc.

The Observer had a cartoon a while back where these guys in a coffee shop are chatting and one says to the other “So, half way through dinner she googled me on her blackberry and found my ex-girlfriend’s blog so that was pretty much that”.  His friend replies “do you know that three of those terms didn’t even exist five years ago?”

So, I was playing with the computer and I saw this post from Fluid Pudding and I said to my loving spouse “guess what Jeff gave Angela?”.  And he said “eh, who, what?” because he is not as up on my computer stalkees as I would like.  “A ticket to the blogHer thingy” I said.  And he said “eh, who, what?” and I explained that it was this conference that everyone was going to and I would like to go too and he looked at me blankly.  “Off you go then, nobody’s stopping you”.   There are times when this whole independent woman thing palls.  Somehow, I feel that I will not be going to California at the end of July.

French as she is spoken


Posted in: Belgium, Reading etc.

I heard a man on the radio the other morning talking about the Walloon economy (unwell compared to thriving Flanders – I suspect that if you had the slightest interest in hearing that, you knew it already). Anyhow, he was saying that the benefits from the Flemish economy also help Wallonia “ce que nous economistes appellons ‘le spillover’”. Is there no word in the language of Voltaire to cover this concept? Or self-service restaurant “le self” or air conditioning “l’airco” or a car park “le parking”? The final insult to the French language was delivered on the radio this evening. The Belgian ambassador to Sweden has written a book and he was being interviewed. “So”, said the interviewer, “if two diplomats have a ‘spirited exchange of views’ it means they had a huge fight, right?” “C’est vrai” said the diplomat” que la langage de la diplomatie, c’est la langage de l’understatement” Tell me, is there really no equivalent for the word “understatement” in the language of diplomacy? Good grief. You will note that I am making progress on my aim of becoming a grumpy pedant in two languages.

And, in an entirely unrelated matter, please consider what is possibly the greatest waste of money, ever. I appreciate that this is a challenging category in which to excel, but I think you will agree that this product sees off the opposition in style. Credit for disseminating information on this new high in the tasteless, expensive and useless goes to Spirit Fingers.

Reading


Posted in: Reading etc.

I was inspired by GP mama’s reading list to share mine with you. Yes, I knew you’d be fascinated.

“Guns, Germs and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years” by Jared Diamond. I have been reading this since before 2002. I know this because the price on the back is in Irish pounds so it must have been acquired pre-euro. I would keep getting bogged down on the role of fertile grasslands in the development of humanity and abandoning and restarting but a couple of months ago, I made a prolonged effort and got past the fertile grasslands and nearly finished it. In fact, I got to the second last page. Then, I put it down somewhere and my fabulous and efficient cleaner whisked it up and put it away. If she has a fault, it is her tendancy to rearrange by size books that I have neatly classified in alphabetical order (stop laughing at me). So, I know it’s there somewhere, I just can’t find it.

“Mary George of Allnorthover” by Lavinia Greenlaw. I was obliged to read this for book group and didn’t enjoy it one little bit though am forced to concede that it is very well written; the author holds down a day job as a poet.

“Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke. I am finding this surprisingly enjoyable. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it but I’m about half way through now and showing no signs of stopping. It’s written in pastiche Victorian style and that is mildly trying. The author uses the word “presently” to mean now and this is not a mistake a Victorian would have made. I find it jarring and it keeps appearing “A spell to see what my enemy is doing presently”. Do you really mean in a bit? I don’t think so. Hey, this is my blog, I can be as pedantic as I like.

“The Great Ideas” by Suzanne Cleminshaw. Not fantastic. Nicely written but moves along rather sluggishly and, really, gifted 13 year olds are tiring. It’s set in the 1970s but somehow it feels like the 1950s and I don’t know why the author didn’t go the whole hog and set it in the 1950s altogether. One of the characters is a French femme fatale and I find her entirely unconvincing. I suppose living next door to France, I am not as seduced by the glamour of simply being French as the 13 year old narrator from Cleveland Ohio. Also, the French lady is Catholic and the author seems to feel that this is thrilling in and of itself and she nearly swoons at the sight of rosary beads. Frankly, it’s hard for me to get excited about rosary beads.

“We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. I’m in a book group. We had to read it. It’s not bad.

“Anybody out there?” by Marian Keyes. As you will know, I have a special devotion to Ms. Keyes as she lived second next door to my husband growing up and she did her first interview in a suit lent to her by mother-in-law. Do you think I’m joking? Oh no, I’m not. Also, I enjoy her books and this new one is fine but so far, it’s just a bit samey and I’m not as keen as I was on some of her other offerings.

How do I do this? How do I find the time to read you ask? Let me tell you. Every night I feed the boys for half an hour before they go to bed and during that time, with two babies attached, I read and turn the pages with my nose. I bet you’re glad you asked now. Do you think that image will stay with you?

Death in America


Posted in: Reading etc.

I read lots of blogs. I should get out more. I should be sleeping.

One of the blogs I used to read was Cancerbaby. She died last week and I cried and cried. Amanda posted this last week looking for money to help Chester who is dying and can’t afford palliative care and who is still being assessed for eligibility for benefits, in America. What kind of a country let’s people die without pain relief? The same country that produces people like Amanda and Cancerbaby, I suppose, eloquent, passionate and angry.

My friend the heart surgeon has worked in American hospitals for many years and she said to me that because the primary care system there is so inadequate, when (poor) people get to hospital they are usually a lot sicker than they would be in Ireland. Mind you, she also said that once they get into hospital the care and equipment tends to be much better than it is in Ireland. For all the faults of the Irish medical system (where people get to die on trolleys in nurses tea stations, so dying with dignity is out), I don’t think that what’s happening to Chester would ever happen in Ireland.

I was talking to my husband about this and he said “yes, apparently, has the highest rate of infant mortality in the developed world”. All this can’t be right in one of the richest countries in the world, it just can’t.

Random Numbers


Posted in: Reading etc.

“I recollect nothing that passed this day, except Johnson’s quickness, who, when Dr. Beattie observed, as something remarkable which had happened to him, that he had chanced to see both No. 1, and No. 1000, of the hackney-coaches, the first and the last; ‘Why, Sir, (said Johnson,) there is an equal chance for one’s seeing those two numbers as any other two.’”  From Boswell’s Life of Johnson

Not a particularly relevant quote but I’ve been waiting to use it for a long time.  Humour me. Yesterday I had the 50,000th visitor to my blog since, just over two years ago,  Locotes very decently explained to me how to install the site meter thingy.  If memory serves me, he entitled his mail “Advice for a raving egomaniac”.

No smirking please, 50,000 may not be a lot of visitors for some of you lot but I am delighted with myself.  It confirms my growing suspicion that not absolutely everyone reading my blog has been forced to do so by me.  I have a wide circle of acquaintance and many relations but I think 50,000, even allowing for repeat visits (and, obviously, my constant checking for comments), covers more than those.  Of course, there are all the people who are looking for waffles who end up here.  Sorry about that people.  I imagine that the person from Tokyo looking for baby Dior probably didn’t stay long either.  A lot of people looking for information on “suicidal bunnies” seem to be directed here. If you’re here for suicidal bunnies, I appreciate your difficulty, I couldn’t find anything on Amazon either. I suggest you may wish to email Hodder and complain.  Or you could stay here.  It’s delightful, 50,000 visitors can’t be wrong.

While we’re looking at user stats, can I say what a kick I get out of the world map that the site meter people give you and I see little dots all over the globe reading my blog (or looking for waffle recipes, as appropriate)?  I love the fact that someone from Anchorage used to regularly read this blog.  Please come back lurker from Anchorage, and don’t be unnerved that I know you are there, this is all my visit counter tells me; I cannot track you down and send you scary things in the post

So thank you gentle readers, for reading, it is great to know you are out there. And thank you kind commenters for commenting, it is lovely to get comments.  Any of the rest of you like to delurk?  I’d like that and, as you know, I presume, it’s all about me, me, me the raving egomaniac.