Monday, May 3, 2021

I Engage With the Proletariat


Our neighbors have a couple of really nice crabapple trees, and this is what they look like from our patio on a sunny morning -- a wall of bright, vivid pink.

Yesterday felt very strange. We had two friends over for brunch, our first social guests in more than a year. First we both took Covid tests, just in case. Then I spent the morning cleaning as Dave made a frittata and a fruit salad, and by the time Colin and Warren arrived at 11 a.m., the place was as clean as it was ever going to get. We sat out in the back garden and had mimosas (or buck's fizzes as they're known in England), and although the skies were mostly gray and the temperatures chilly, we spent a couple of hours eating out there. Olga sat with us and got some bacon.

After they left, though, the rest of the day felt off. I guess drinking at 11 a.m. will do that, although I only had three mimosas over a couple of hours -- it's not like I was schnockered. My routines felt disrupted.

Some guy came to the door on Saturday selling newspapers for the Internationalist Workers' Club. Although I live on a fairly bourgeois street I'm generally sympathetic to left-wing politics -- a "limousine liberal" without the limousine -- and plus he was kind of cute, so I bought a copy. I bravely attempted to read it, but it bills itself as a "Journal of Marxist Analysis" offering "Proletarian Opposition to European Imperialism and Unitary Imperialism," and the banner headline on the front page is: "External Constriction and Materialist Theory." Doesn't that just make your eyes roll up into your head? I suppose there's a reason Communists have a reputation for being humorless. They need to leaven those pages with a little Kim Kardashian. (I know, I know, she's not even remotely Marxist, but I Googled "Marxist sex symbols" and nothing comes up.)


The camassias are blooming in the garden and looking pretty good despite our recent lack of rain. We're supposed to get rain today and into this week, and I hope it really happens because we could use it. The ground is as hard as a rock.

I scheduled my second Covid vaccine for June 3, which is almost exactly twelve weeks after my first one -- the standard waiting period between doses here in Britain. Dave and I were both told our GP would contact us to make an appointment, but we've heard nothing so I decided to be proactive and do it myself. I just wanted to get it on the calendar. I can always cancel if the doctor calls me in the interim. Dave also tried and the NHS's online platform wouldn't let him book, I suppose because he's in some special category of medically vulnerable people. But he should be getting a call any day because his first vaccine was several weeks before mine.

I tried to walk Olga in the afternoon, and she acted excited until we walked out the front door into the chilly, gray afternoon. She stopped on the front step and wouldn't budge. She turned right around and came back inside.


These are the foxglove seedlings I potted on Saturday -- plus two additional trays not in the picture. You can see the densely planted seedlings as they were originally grown in the green seed tray. I could grow a whole nursery's worth of plants if I pricked them all out into their own pots. Foxglove overload!

42 comments:

  1. Funny that you used the word "schnockered" as The World Schnocker Finals conclude in Sheffield today with Selby currently ahead of Murphy.

    To tell you the truth I had never come across the word "schnockered" before though I have been "schnockered" on many occasions. However, not in recent years as I am very wise and mostly sober now.

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    1. It's not a word I use often, but for some reason it popped into my head at the opportune moment as I was writing this post!

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  2. We were served a free glass of mimosa when we were at the drag performance. I didn't know what it was and you caused me to Goggle it and it is just champagne and orange juice. No wonder it tasted weak. One may have at times had a barbeque breakfast with mimosa to drink. I have heard of buck's fizz.

    Now Comrade, sex symbol = Che Guevara but he never seemed amused about anything.

    When I had my first jab, COVID jap if that needs clarification, the doctor made a firm appointment for my second jab and added, the longer between your jabs the better, and it is set for just over twelve weeks.

    Don't forget to show us your foxgloves in bloom.

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    1. Apparently the ratio of champagne to OJ in a mimosa is lower than in a buck's fizz. I learned that yesterday too. Ours were quite strong!

      Yeah, Che WAS a sex symbol, wasn't he? I forgot about him.

      You will definitely be seeing foxglove pictures when the time comes! These little seedlings won't bloom until next year, though.

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  3. Olga is a dog after my own heart!

    What a coincidence. I couldn't sleep last night because I was once again stewing about External Constriction and Materialist Theory ... or was that Materialist Constriction and External Theory?

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    1. Either way, it's enough to keep a person up at night! LOL

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  4. Entreating Again , Wonderful News - Bacon Makes A Girl Dance With Joy - All The Best This Week

    Cheers

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  5. Hmmm, I wonder why the difference of time between vaccine shots? You folks have to wait twelve weeks between shots. We wait twenty one days between shots (Pfizer). Interesting. I love that beautiful crab apple tree. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

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    1. Britain decided to use their vaccine stock to give first doses to many more people, and delay second doses until later. That way they were able to get at least SOME vaccine into a lot more people.

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  6. Perhaps a second career opening the back garden as a nursery??

    You could also serve mimosas!

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  7. I hope you get a good crabapple crop!
    Marxist writings do tend to be heavy on words when they don't need to be. I bet if they put it more simply they could be more popular and better understood?

    We met family yesterday and felt definitely worn thin afterwards! First time in a restaurant since we were in NZ..not something we do often anywhere!!

    Olga, you have good sense...we too took one look out of the window and said no way !!

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    1. I think those crabapples get left for the birds! (Do birds eat crabapples?)

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  8. Funny how important our routines have become to us, isn't it?
    I had a friend who used to sell "The Call" which was a Communist paper. I never could get through an entire article. The very definition of unsexy.
    Yes. You do have plenty of Foxgloves. There is no doubt about that.

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    1. Oh, I remember "The Call." I think I used to see it in New York.

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  9. I can't imagine drinking mimosas at 11:00 in the morning and then expecting to get anything done the rest of the day. I don't think I've ever had a mimosa. Maybe I should try it. I would finally have an excuse for doing nothing. LOL!

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    1. One mimosa is fine. I'd draw the line there, though, if you want to be productive the rest of the day! My mistake was having multiple mimosas!

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  10. mimosas with breakfast on New Year's Day is our go to celebration and we empty the champagne bottle between us and you're right, it totally ruins the rest of the day which we spend lazing around and taking naps. I don't think I'd try to read something like that. gone are the days when I would read something with a dictionary at hand.

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    1. Well, I didn't try very hard! Because I agree -- reading shouldn't be WORK.

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  11. I haven't heard the word proletariat for a long , long time. Interesting that someone is still involved with communism to such and extent that they will publish and sell a paper.

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    1. And that he has subscribers...

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    2. I think Communism and Socialism are more alive and well in Europe than in America. They've always been more viable political options here, and Europe doesn't have the fanatical "Red Scare" history of the United States.

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  12. I know that feeling. If I drink mimosas, I get that same "off" feeling for the rest of the day. I have to remember that because I'm going to a brunch next Sunday.
    Interesting that Britain separates the vaccine doses so far apart. This is all such a big experiment.

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    1. Yeah, I was so happy to have a "normal" day again yesterday!

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  13. mimosa- why mess up champagne? I never appreciated mimosas - a g&t, please, I mean if you are going to drink at 11:00am make it count, right? I agree with Andrew- Che Guevera was a dish!

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    1. I love a good G&T, as you know, but in the morning?!

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    2. Oh, and yes, as Marxists go, I'd have to say Che was probably the most appealing. Certainly not Lenin or Trotsky or, God forbid, Marx and Engels.

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  14. What a lovely photo of your camassias! I love the color of the blossoms and the nice blurred background. Your big camera repaired and charged! Thanks!

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    1. I like the camassias and they're not around for long, so it's always nice when we get some good blossoms.

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  15. I first read your title as Secretariat, which I've been seeing a lot lately on Facebook. Horse racing? Evidently, I need more coffee this morning. That was hilarious about the Marxist newspaper; they DO have the reputation of being humorless. I drink my mimosas virgin since I don't like champagne. ;)

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    1. Ha! There's a psychology experiment in there somewhere -- when you see words that aren't there simply because you've been seeing them recently.

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  16. I laughed out loud about your marxist paper. I am always wary of anyone/anything that lacks humor. Laughter is really the best medicine and if you can't find the humor, forget it. That would probably be the scariest thing if we did have a marxist takeover- laughter would be banned!

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    1. I realize there are all sorts of injustices in the world and I'd like to correct them as much as anyone, but at the same time, I just want to say to some ardent leftists, "Lighten up!"

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  17. I read "camassias" as "camellias" and I thought Steve has lost his mind - that looks NOTHING like a camellia! Ha!

    I totally agree with Olga - sometimes Mike will want me to go outside to check something out. If it's too cool I just turn right around & go back inside.

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    1. Olga definitely appreciates her creature comforts!

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  18. I am with Olga, stayed inside all day too.

    Humour in left wing mags? Well, I only know the little ditty about being a socialist as opposed to be a social drinker (the socialist has everybody paying for him). Not funny, I realise.

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  19. You have proved once again that Olga is smarter than you. While you buy meaningless newspapers from Marxists just because they are "cute", Olga knows now matter how eager she is for a walk she sure as heck ain't going out there on a cold, gray, miserable day. Besides there are Commies roving around out there.

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  20. Kim K probably is a communist sex symbol, because every man I know gets this eyes-glazed-over look as if he's about to melt simply at the mention of her name. I've never understood it. I don't think she's attractive.

    Love,
    Janie

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