Saturday, October 3, 2020

Thinking Like Q


When I walked past the ol' Nautilus last weekend, it looked like someone had taken out its windows. Wonder what the story is there? We had a guy walking around bashing out shop windows many months ago, but I think the police eventually caught him. Hopefully this was just an accident.

Dave and I have still never been to this place. One of these days we need to try it.

So, yeah, what about the news of Trump and Covid? Karma, baby! I don't want to see him die, but I hope it at least makes him ill so he can see that it is real and it does affect people. (Apparently he is feeling symptoms and is enduring the inconvenience of hospitalization. Good.) Of course my mind, so primed for conspiracy thinking these days, immediately suspected the diagnosis was a hoax to excuse his debate performance and/or allow him to emerge in a week saying, "See? I had the virus and I'm fine! It's no big deal!" (There are apparently other people voicing similar suspicions.)

I told Dave that the right-wingers are going to assert that the Democrats somehow gave it to him. And yes, apparently that's already happening as well.

We've all become so insane. I'm not immune to it.


Remember that jimsonweed I photographed a couple of weeks ago? It got mowed down a day or two after I took my photo, but I found a limp stalk that included a seed pod, and I thought I'd bring it home and see if I could get the seeds to ripen. Now it's living quite happily in a milk bottle, putting out new leaves, and I'm wondering if it will even take root. Dave says, "That's why it's called a weed."

I'd love to have some in the garden. I think it's a very cool plant. (Yes, I know it's poisonous. I promise we won't make tea with it.)

I finally finished "I, Juan de Pareja." It wasn't my favorite Newbery book, I gotta say. A bit dry. But the author gets credit for creating a whole novel about a relationship that is apparently very poorly documented, historically. Velazquez didn't leave a whole lot behind besides his art, and neither did his erstwhile servant.


I love looking at the date stamps in some of our older library books. The library acquired this book in 1976, ten years after it was published, and it was first checked out the following April. I was nine years old! It spent my high school years -- the early '80s -- pretty much sitting on the shelf, but it was borrowed a couple of times in 1988, my last year of college. A couple more times in the early '90s, when I was in Morocco. When it was borrowed on March 21, 1994, I was actually in Seville, Spain -- where part of the book takes place! What are the odds? And it's interesting that after 2000 it sat untouched for seventeen years before being borrowed again.

A lot of our older books seem to suffer a dry spell after the late '90s. By then, kids were all over the Internet and playing video games, I suppose.

18 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...

I was starting off by saying how much I love your street photos, but then I love all your photos, so well...

And glad Dave pointed out the obvious to you. I'll bet that didn't even need water!

I also hate what the Trump years have done; I immediately started suspecting "distraction and then he'll be cured by injecting Lysol." Not nice to say, but I'm disappointed Pence has not been diagnosed.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

It is enriching to read things into the date stamps. Quite poetic really or am I simply being "peculiar"? If I had moved to a garden flat in West Hampstead, I would have visited "Nautilus" for a fish and chip meal in my first week there. With the meal I would have had bread and butter, mushy peas and tea. Perhaps, if the food or service displeased me, I would have smashed one of the front windows rather than leaving a negative review on Trip Advisor.

Ursula said...

Nautilus looks a bit dismal. Not particularly atmospheric and appetizing.

Dave's observations keep growing on me. And I think you are to be commended to give a weed a chance. What is one person's nuisance is another's delight. Think Dandelion. What we call "Pusteblumen". In the motherland's lingo there is no ambiguity. When he was little, I showed the Angel and his friends how to blow the seeds, see them dance in the air, and deal with his mother becoming hugely popular with next door neighbours. I entertained bindweed in the front garden too.

As to your "conspiracy" theory re Covid chasing Trump. I am not given to be suspicious of others and their (possibly nefarious) motives. In this case I'll make an exception. How convenient to suddenly be out of circulation instead of facing the music of another disastrous debate. Instead chasing the sympathy vote. I wouldn't go as far as "Karma". Let's leave that for another life. When, maybe, he'll come back as a lightbulb "By Jove, I've got it".

U

Ms. Moon said...

I want you and Dave to go visit Nautilus and do a story (with photos of course) on a real, true, FULLY licensed fish restaurant. You can skip the mushy peas as far as I'm concerned. Have you become Brit enough to use vinegar on your chips?
I absolutely think that Trump has covid. First of all, he's having to miss his rallies and they are his lifeblood. Also, he's not tweeting. And then there's the fact that I don't think that even the president can be admitted to Walter Reed for a fake illness. Now- how his supporters spin this to make it appear less damaging to his inability to contain the virus is yet to be seen but I do believe we're about to hear some fantastic theories. The one I think that will be quite prevalent is that the Chinese invented this illness for one reason- to get rid of Trump of whom they are so afraid.
We'll see though, won't we?

Anonymous said...

I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant with such big signs about being "Fully Licensed." That would make me not want to go in there. Why advertise what should be an obvious given?
My brain ran the whole gamut about Trump's diagnosis from immediate hysterical laughter to suspicion, to a political ploy, to maybe it's true. The whole thing is crazy. Now I'm just waiting to see how far this is going to go.
Nice weed in a bottle there.

Vivian Swift said...

Trump's diagnosis makes me so happy, so very happy. I don't hope he dies, not right away...it would be nice if sticks around until Nov. 4. I don't want to see the Republicans charged up with a new, slightly less terrible candidate. Keep Trump on the ticket, and after he loses BIG then God can do whatever she wants with him.

Red said...

With the completely freaky politics now even an illness can throw the whole thing in a tizz. If Trump survives he will have lots of spin. He will have learned nothing.

Sharon said...

Yes, my mind went in the same direction when I heard the news. I blame it on him. He lies all the time and will do anything to win and has sewn the seeds of election tampering in everyone. But I agree, too many other people are infected. It sounds like the event to nominate the new supreme court judge was a super spreader event. If you see the videos from it you will see no masks and everyone is hugging one another. Who does that these days?

Linda Sue said...

Serving fish is sketchy at best. I have had a fair share of bad fish, one bad fish has pretty much done it for me. I never order fish unless i see it pulled out of the sea. Trump will be fine i reckon, the very best medical treatment in the world- He will have learned nothing, incapable. He will garner sympathy votes and more adoration for being godlike, conquering C19. All of this will not go well, I am afraid. However, the rose garden party seems to be doing its worst.

Angelicastar said...

Yes Steve and I still believe he and his crew are lying. He is trying not to go to the next debate because the commissioner is planning on changing the rules and he said he didn't want them changed. Who the hell is he to make a decision on the debate. As you know he pays people to lie for him. I will only believe it if he die and then I would have a hard time believing it. He might be in Russia and pretending he is dead. I doesn't trust nothing he or anyone in his circle say, Not even the Republicans who say they have it. If they don't have it, they should and a bad case of it.(laughing)

Mary said...

That jimsonweed in a jar looks like a cheerleader raising pom poms in its hand. :)

Allison said...

It's a terrible thing to say or think, but if Pence gets it and neither he nor the president can carry on, then we'll have Madam Pelosi running things. That would be better.

Michael said...

I thought the same things as you did about Trump and Covid. It seems as if we are living in a real-life soap opera with a cliff hanger every Friday.

The Padre said...

A Library Stamp From 1977, Like WoW - Sneak A Little Olga-Girl Treat No One Is Watching From Uncle T - Take Care Of Mr Dave And Enjoy Your Sunday

Cheers

Elizabeth said...

Interesting sleuth work on the library card and why the book sat on a shelf for so long! I envy you across the ocean and able to "observe" without actually living through this shitshow. I guess, though, it's affecting the entire world.

Anonymous said...

Ah, so it was the Democrats who infected #45. All those who surround him must be secret Democrats.
It will be interesting to see how the plant goes.

Steve Reed said...

Mitchell: It could still happen!

YP: People say they make good fish & chips, and I would get mushy peas too. But we usually just go to the pub, where I can get a pint rather than a tea!

Ursula: "Pusteblumen" is a fantastic word! Dandelions are supposedly great for bees. We always leave them when they appear in our garden.

Ms Moon: Yeah, thank goodness it's not just PARTIALLY licensed. I love vinegar on chips! I agree that Trump really has it, but it is convenient for him in certain ways. (Provided he doesn't die.)

Robin: I don't know why the licensing is such a big deal that it needs to be on the sign. Maybe Britain has a tradition of fly-by-night unlicensed fish restaurants?

Vivian: As long as this doesn't generate a sympathy vote for him! I can just see some people saying, "Well, he's sick, poor guy -- let's vote for him and make him feel better."

Red: It will be interesting to see what he has to say when he emerges from the other side of this experience.

Sharon: I did see that video, with Mike Lee hugging everyone. It shows once again how disconnected these Washington power brokers can be. They really do think they're immune from the concerns of the common man. This'll show 'em!

Linda Sue: I hope it doesn't benefit him in some weird way. Argh.

Angelicastar: It's amazing how suspicious we've all become, isn't it? Trump's culture of disinformation has infected us all.

Mary: IT DOES!

Allison: Unless SHE gets it, God forbid, and she's older than either of them.

Michael: It really is the craziest roller-coaster of a year!

Padre: It's mind-blowing, isn't it? Where were YOU in 1977? Were you even born yet?

Elizabeth: Yeah, I certainly don't feel at all detached from it. What happens in the USA affects all of us. (Besides, we have our own smaller-scale shitshow here.)

Andrew: Dave told me there IS an online theory that Democrats secretly put Covid on Trump's microphone at the first debate! LOL! People really will believe anything.

ellen abbott said...

the only thing that surprises me is that it took so long for him to get it.