°

... so it wasn't, in fact, the end of the world. At least, in quite that way. Since we all know (post-Proust) that each day is assembled anew from the fragments of the old: that (post-Deleuze's reading of Nietzsche) every instant is an apocalypse as the dice are thrown once again anew (but are you ready to accept?). And that (post-Cage) every day is a new pair of ears if only one is open & generous enough to listen ... 

... so what do you do on the day that is not-the-end-of-the-world but is - it is generally agreed - the shortest day (& Frank Zappa's birthday for good measure - how we miss him more with every passing year) but read John Donne ('A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy's Day') and then some Wallace Stevens to cheer ourselves up ('Evening without Angels') and later settle down to watch Tarkovsky's Stalker a film which - astonishing & embarrassing as it is to admit I have never seen in its entirety ("and you say you're a Tarkovsky fan???...") - which seems to be the film to watch on such an evening ... 

... & then, waking up this morning (hello world!) normal service continues & yet not since the radio is playing a fascinating panel discussion on Noise as Art (& I'm thinking well, perhaps the world really has changed as if this is the World Service then I'm Lord Reith) ... but of course there's a rational explanation: I pressed the wrong pre-set and this is actually a programme issuing from London's Resonance FM - but it goes to show ... 

... & catching up on some listening of the past few weeks, here are three recommended CDs. I was adamant that the chord progression of track one on the Bobo Stenson was 'Send in the Clowns' but the CD notes said 'Oleo de mujer con sombrero' (which even with my Spanish doesn't mean the same thing). Then, seeing the track listing come up in iTunes the penny drops - this isn't the right case for the CD. The Ear had its Reason! 'Send in the Clowns' it is. Give them a spin. Plus the Belcea Quartet versions of Britten's String Quartets which I am too lazy to upload as another image ... No. 2 is especially wonderful ... 

°

°

°

°

... & also, in case you're interested ... I got hold of the slim Penguin Selected Letters of D.H. Lawrence. I'd seen it in the Nijinsky secondhand bookshop in town last week and (typically) um-ed and ah-ed and put it back. When will I learn? Buy on sight or regret later! True enough, during the week - after reading a couple of articles about Geoff Dyer - the volume has come under the ESSENTIAL category. Thus, at ten to eleven this morning there I am (plus L.) shivering in the doorway waiting for the shop to open. When the owner finally turns up, I race in & put my finger on exactly the spot where it was last week. *Gasp!* There's an ominous paperback's width empty space ... Now this is the sort of thing that brings the world to the end. I start cursing my thrifty stupidity of a week ago & then the old browser's savvy takes over: someone just might have put it back in a different place ... &, true enough, there under Gender & Feminism (someone with a sense of humour?) was the Desired Object. 4 euros 50 cents. Let's not quibble. I pay & we run out into the rain. That'll keep me going over Christmas.