Still Not Dying, Plus Books

I did go get a private x-ray yesterday morning, and in fact I have the results already: Normal. That is what I wanted to hear from the hospital on Tuesday, not this "it-takes-us-28-days-to-read-it" baloney. I know it sounds crazy, given that I'd had clear scans just a few years ago, but I've been having a lot of congestion and shortness of breath and I was worried -- not least because a friend of mine just died from lung cancer last week.

I probably shouldn't go irradiating my lungs anymore or this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but at least I know that for now, all is well. (My heart is also fine.)

After I got the x-ray, I took a walk through Hammersmith and Fulham, all the way down to the Thames. Fulham Palace Road, which runs past Charing Cross Hospital and the park surrounding the Bishops' Palace, isn't the most scenic road in the world but I found a few decent photos.

Those of you who read Mr. Pudding's blog will recognize this bookshop, which he posted about a couple of months ago. I had never been there, though I'd ordered a book from them online, so I made sure to find it when I was in the neighborhood. It's surprisingly tucked away but I eventually figured out its location. I did not go inside because at the moment I need another book like I need a hole in the head, but maybe after I'm retired and caught up on all my reading (does that ever happen?) I'll check it out more thoroughly.

All those books piled outside the windows -- lots of travel guides and paperback novels -- are on sale for a pound apiece. I think they stay outside, covered by tarps. There's no way the owner moves them in and out every night.

The books in the windows look more collectible. I'm sure this shop must do a lot of business online, like many booksellers these days. That little shop is so packed that it's a bit intimidating to a casual shopper. (It was to me, anyway!)

After I came back home, I finished my own library book, "Flashlight," at long last. I enjoyed it but it took me forever to read so I'm glad it's finally off my plate. I've started a new one by Evan Osnos, "The Haves and the Have-Yachts," about multibillionaires and the increasingly unequal distribution of the world's wealth, which looks interesting and possibly enraging.

I worked a bit in the garden, and found a dead rat mysteriously lying beneath one of our trees. It didn't look mangled, just dead. I buried it for fear it had eaten poison somewhere, in which case I didn't want some bird or fox to ingest it.

Last night we watched the Huw Edwards movie from Channel 5, which several other bloggers mentioned. I enjoyed it, if one can enjoy such a troubling story. You just gotta wonder what that guy was thinking. I mean, if you're having secret gay fantasies and looking for a way to explore those, there are plenty of perfectly legal channels online, available at a keystroke. How does one go from garden-variety twink porn to communicating with (and paying off) teenagers? Astonishing.

Here's my favorite recent New Yorker cartoon: