Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Fox and Ducks


This mural in Shoreditch, by street artist Fanakapan, is called "Follow the Leader." I love the skillful way he rendered the glass fox and the gullible ducks. I have other shots showing the mural without people, but I prefer this one, with all the street activity. I'm not sure why there are two P's in "Trump," unless Fanakapan was trying to avoid a lawsuit over use of the name. Surely the fact that it's backwards is a message, though.

I'm still plugging away, popping my antibiotics and painkillers on regular 6- and 4-hour rotations. I keep thinking it's about time I turn the corner on this tooth problem, but it hasn't happened yet. At least I'm able to go to work and keep up my daily routines. Dave and I talked about how lucky I am to live now, when antibiotic therapy is an option. Imagine having this condition 200 years ago! I suppose it would not only be incredibly painful, but perhaps ultimately fatal.

In other news, I've been getting very peculiar e-mails from Match.com, of all places, trying to draw me back to the site with new potential matches. I haven't been active on Match for at least 11 years, if not longer, and why they've started contacting me now I'm not sure. But I can't unsubscribe from the e-mails without signing in to the site, which annoys me to death. I have no idea what my login is, and frankly, I don't want to sign in to Match.com at all. I have found my match, thank you very much! (And doesn't it seem a bit cynical on their part to assume I'm still single, 11 years later?!) They recently tried to hook me up with someone called "newbountyhunter," which, just based on the name itself, seems an unlikely match for me.

Dave and I finished "The Sopranos" on Monday night. I have to say the critics are right -- it was excellent television. And as I've said before, I am generally not a fan of mafia-related productions. I'm sorry to see it  come to an end. I can understand the furor over the ending, which at first seems ambiguous -- but I tend to agree with this guy that the more one ponders it, the less ambiguous it becomes.

12 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I need to catch up here! I've been neglectful of all my favorite bloggers -- and even my own! How wonderful that you were able to see The Sopranos in its entirety as a virgin! I LOVED that series, even though I, too, never liked the Mafia-themed stuff before it. Have you seen The Wire? It's incredible television as well -- very dark and intense but sublime. I highly recommend it.

I sure hope your tooth problem is fixed before long. You're right at how fortunate we are to have antibiotics. I have visions of some medieval butcher or ironsmith pulling all your teeth out with a fire-blackened iron in a cobblestoned alley of London!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I thought that Match.com was either a website for arsonists or for sports enthusiasts but you indicate that it is a dating site so I guess it is for archaeologists or antique collectors.

Ms. Moon said...

I've seen maybe a dozen episodes of the Sopranos. Don't know why.
Can I tell you that you have superior street art in London? Well, superior to anything I've ever seen.
It's going to take a few days for that tooth to calm down. I wish you hadn't had to wait until it reached this point to get treatment. Dang that other dentist! And Elizabeth is right- you would have gone to a barber and gotten it pulled out if you'd lived back in the days before antibiotics. Can you imagine? No anesthesia, no pain killers. Just...blood and screaming.
"Newbountyhunter"? Really? Now I'm sort of curious. Go look him up and tell us what you find.

ellen abbott said...

never seen even one episode of the Sopranos. you do have some cool street art there.

Red said...

200 years ago thee wee all kinds of everyday health problems that would do us in.

Anonymous said...

Glad those antibiotics and pain meds are working. Toothaches really do take our attention away from everything else. I've never watched The Sopranos. May have to take a look for at least one episode. Take care there.

Sharon said...

I LOVE that mural. It makes an oh so important statement in a very subtle way.

Allison said...

It is so interesting that Aleve is not OTC in the UK, but codeine is. That's news we can use when traveling, I shall bring my own!

Catalyst said...

I remember being stunned by the "go to black" action and then, when the credits began to roll, laughing out loud at how Chase had ended the series. Masterfully!

Lesley UK said...

I get masses of spam from dating sites. As my name is Lesley they all seem to be a bit confused as to my gender. You have no idea how many beautiful Russian women want to contact me with a view to marriage. As I'm a 72 year old woman, I think they might be somewhat disappointed. Oh to be young, and sexually curious again. lol

Cheryl West said...

I am sincerely sympathetic about your tooth infection. I do hope the treatment helps very soon and that the root canal goes. well. I am 73 and my sensible dentist has removed two back teeth when they were problematic rather than going through the very expensive process of more crowns.

I agree with Elizabeth about watching The Wire. It is brilliant and has certainly made me more sympathetic to life in inner cities and how people get trapped into their lifestyles. ( My daughter lives and works in Baltimore as well). Yet another reason why I detest Trump and the Republicans for destroying programs that will help the poor and under privileged.

jenny_o said...

The worrisome aspect of antibiotics is the rise of some resistant strains of bacteria. When my father had MRSA in his final year, I was concerned about the probability that it had passed to me because I was around him a lot helping him wash and eat, and he was coughing . . . I spoke to a couple of nurses and one doctor and was essentially told that many, many people carry it without knowing. A bit scary. Anyway, I'm like you - so very thankful that there is still something powerful that will knock out infections and take away the pain and the possibility of demise!

Oh, wow. That's really not going to help you feel better, is it? Eek. Let's end on a better note. That mural artist truly is skillful, as you said. I thought for several minutes that the ducks actually existed as sculptures. I had to re-read what you wrote to know the difference.