Preparing to depart for my annual trip to the UK,
it struck me the main difference between travelling by air and
by car/boat is that, in the former case, it's a question of how
little you can take and in the latter how much. It expands to fill the space available.
Just going back to Chaucer for a couple more
observations:
- There are no apostrophes in his text. Even for
the possessive case.
- Now and again, there's a sentence almost the
same as now. Such as: "Of remedies of love she knew
perchaunce" and "A good man was ther of religion".
When I find a perfect line, Ill let you know.
An Italian professor tells us that: "Politicians
do not lie in the classic manner of deliberately telling an untruth.
Instead, thy are practiced in the art of self-deception, so much so
that when they utter an untruth, they themselves believe it to be
true". Self-deception, Prof. Galeotti says, "is a type of
motivated irrationality - the art of believing something simply
because it is desired to be true when evidence points to the very
opposite". This, he adds, is an essential tool for a successful
politician. Normal human beings have developed intuitive skills to
detect lying, sometimes based on recognition of facial signals known
as 'micro-expressions'. So, most people are not deceived by
straightforward lies. Politicians, however, have learned to avoid
giving these signs. And the more successful they are, the higher they
rise, one assumes. Think Tony Blair, I suppose. An absolute master of
the game. And now a very rich one. Smart move to leave one lying
profession, the law, for another one which would reward his
superlative mendacious skills even more handsomely.
BTW - I think I lifted the stuff about the Italian
prof from Lenox Lewis's Business over Tapas.
Cognitive dissonance is the art of holding two opposing
thoughts at the same time. In my case: 1. I think I'll put this
half-mug of coffee on the other sofa cushion, and 1. If I put this
mug there it'll fall over like last time. Then there's: 1. If I put
this glass of wine on the floor, it'll be OK, and 2. If I put this
glass there, I'm bound to kick it over. Both of these come under my
acronym of DTIDDE items. Or daft things I do despite experience.
Reader nominations welcome.
I've heard people assert, on this blog in fact,
that Russian bureaucracy is far worse than that of, say, Spain. But
it can't be true. For the absorption/annexation of Crimea - which on
Monday faced 'numerous' hurdles - has been completed in less than a
week. Impressive. Perhaps the paperwork had all been drafted
beforehand. And maybe Mr Putin has some influence on the Russian
parliament and the Constitutional Court.
Finally - A certain on-line journal this week
published its list of the 6 best expat blogs in Spain. This didn't
include any of those I read, let alone mine. But
two can play at that game!So this will be the last time I
(don't) mention this journal. Vindictive? Moi?
No comments:
Post a Comment