A June-July-August 2020 Update

Since mid-June, things have remained relatively uneventful. We did our 04:43 sunrise lustration dip in the Thames across from Battersea Park. The tide was such that the area where we go in was full of accumulated logs, branches, plastic and trash, but we did it. We have since then got through the July feriae and the 11-day August festival sequence begins tomorrow with the Portunalia on the 17th of August. There have been via Zoom a blót on the 26th of July and two moots (Yves Kodratoff on 15.7 speaking on the Hávamál & Askr Svarte on 12.8 whose subject was the Pagan Tradition & Julius Evola).  

On the Pagans group (Facebook), there has been a long, tiresome and acrimonious exchange concerning transphobia and J.K. Rowling. Some left the group, but with 2800 members, that is not a problem. Meanwhile, I was asked by the Doreen Valiente Foundation to review two of Yvonne Aburrow’s books on witchcraft/paganism, Dark Mirror and The Night Journey. I liked both and assessed them well, but then Yvonne informed me of their non-binary identity which went to the heart of euphony and my love of English grammar. But after reconsidering the pronoun controversy I have changed my ‘she’s’ & ‘her’s’ to ‘they’s’ & ‘them’s’ or used Aburrow’s name in place of the pronoun.

On the 9th of July, Gin and Rix took us to Aldeburgh where we had a heavenly four days looking onto the sea. It was our first post-lockdown break. I did one cycling but with a bicycle without breaks. I passed two women with a dog at one point, but then the dog ran ahead and in front of the bike. My left leg was substantially bloody as a result. But in all, we had a perfectly lovely and enchanting time. We also got to see Janey and Michael.

The ‘curse of the times’ has been for me the laptop and my inability to get a steady reception of France-Musique and Radio4/the World Service via BBC. My router would blink off every night at 03:30. Talktalk told me that the router was obsolete, so I bought the new one for £30, and the reception has since then only been worse. A Talktalk engineer finally came but told me that my sync speed is only 11 Mbps with the throughput at 8 Mbps. Since Talktalk cannot provide anything higher in the apartment building, I am now in the process of switching to Hyperoptic and cancelling with Talktalk. But this last will be expensive and take another month. I have had one Teamviewer session with Scott.

Healthwise, things seem to have improved to a degree. On the 24th of June, my PSA proved to be still at 0.02. In preparation for my lockdown-postponed formalin treatment, I had a covid-19 test which was negative. The preparation was the worst part, but Dr. Kohoutova decided in surgery that the treatment was unnecessary. I have also seen Aileen for pelvic physiotherapy – having forgotten one earlier appointment.

My reading has been Stuart Nicholson’s Billie Holiday, Andrew Calimach’s The Gay Greek Myths, a New Yorker article on Fiona Hill, Woody Allen’s biography Apropos of Nothing (convincing me), Wade Davis’ “The Unravelling of America” (Rolling Stone), and Vicky aka Helga Hewdge’s “Condi and the Colonel – A Ghost Story” (thesatirist.com). At present, I am reading David Norris’ autobiography, A kick against the pricks.

Socially, Gin has come for two 5:2 meals (23.6 & 9.8). For the 4th of July, Chloe & Matt came to us for dinner. They have bid on a house in Bristol, but the mortgage negotiations are protracted and painful. They returned two nights ago (14.8) with Woody for a most fun evening meal chez nous. At the Sloane Club, we had a dinner with James & Eamonn on 21.7 – me making the Club’s first post-lockdown dinner reservation), coffee with Padma on the 3rd of August, and last night dinner with Sue & Patrick. And we also had a perfectly lovely dinner outside at the Saatchi Gallery Bar and Brasserie with Rix & Sylvester. This last occurred during England’s marvellous heat wave – one of the longest lasting on record. I adored it – being reminiscent for me of the East Coast sultry but wonderful summers of my youth. And one evening during the heat, Richard and I had pizza at Vardo’s.

With the London museum’s re-opening, we have been to the Royal Academy’s “Picasso and Paper,” Tate Modern’s “Andy Warhol” and Tate Britain’s “Audrey Beardsley” exhibitions – all perfectly enjoyable. We have also had a Zoom time with Barbara and Patrick and another for the Sophia Centre’s graduation celebration. My ‘autobiography/pagan criticisms’ proceeds slowly. It is now to be titled Matter Matters: An End of Life Critique of Paganism.One new member to Pagans located a 2011 exchange I had had on ‘pantheism versus panentheism’. I had forgotten about it completely but was then able to incorporate it into the autobiography.

So that has been more or less it. No real complaints apart from the restrictions and lack of abilities involving the aging process. At the Marsden a few days ago when I had to give my birthdate, the receptionist said, “You wear well!” I can live with that. And Richard remains a dream and complete love.