Wordy Wednesday

Back on the Road

I've not been able to get into my garage since I returned to England weeks ago, but today the locksmith came and broke in. He did it very neatly, but unfortunately had to break not just the lock but the entire mechanism, so it's going to be expensive to put right.

But it does mean that I was able to drive my car for the first time in a month, and do a proper shop at the big supermarket. I've been shopping in the one across the road, but it has a lot less choice, so I was restricted to the same two or three ready meals. I'd had high hopes for the "Bee-Plan Diet", but apparently it consists mainly of vegetables, which doesn't sound very exciting, although the bit about cooking them "until smoke detector sounds, extinguish flames and serve" does.

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Music

This week I have been mostly thinking about, no, not Rolf Harris, thankfully, but Beethoven's 6th symphony played on the piano and Scott Joplin. I say "thinking about", because I don't listen to music very much other than in my head. I did listen for about the millionth time to the wonderful recording by Glenn Gould of the Beethoven. I'm one of the many people who have been totally captivated by his recordings, and I keep meaning to write a post about my obsession, but I need to find a spare few weeks to do the subject justice. In the case of this particular recording, made for a Canadian radio broadcast, he plays it so that you don't really notice the lack of an orchestra.

Glenn Gould

Helena and I watched "The Sting" last week, and although she didn't understand the plot fully (you need to watch it several times), she loved the music. I haven't got any recordings of it to listen to, but I do have a book, so again most of the music is playing in my head, since my skills on the piano are so limited.

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Lost For Words

I'm reading a police thriller called "Night-time bulletin", or something like that. It's by Petros Markaris, and is apparently also available in an English translation. Our hero is Costas Haritos, and he's a very down-to-earth detective, who's only hobby is reading dictionaries.

Petros Markaris

I'm ony about 1/5th of the way through it, but it has me laughing out loud because of the wonderfully entertaining and sarcastic way that it's written. It's also very, er, colloquial, and I'm having to look up a lot more words than usual, quite a few of which are rather obscene. If Tracy ever takes her kids to Greece, I should be well-versed in some choice phrases for her to teach Emma. However, I am finding quite a few words that aren't in the dictionary. I wonder if they're in any of Captain Haritos's?