March 2022 Update

March 2022 Update

Chaos has continued to reign ever since Amsterdam – especially with the internet and my Mac Pro laptop, not even yet two years old. There have too many times where I was seemingly going back and forth to Apple’s Genius Bar in Covent Garden virtually every other day (in actuality six times). I’m now plagued with all sorts of unsolved problems with no immediate prospect of solutions.

Add to this the 24 February Ukraine invasion along with the war crimes, sadness for the people there, and the possibility of a nuclear World War III, a perpetual miasma of depression persists. And our dear Saint Lynne’s options are not encouraging at all – essentially palliative care or brain radiation which might give her 2/3 to 6 more months. In London, we have had a water leak into the kitchen and bathroom from the flat above ours. And one day the police arrived to inquire about a package of cannabis sent to us from abroad that the post office had intercepted. For the rest and for me, my domestic happiness remains the grateful counterbalance.

The New Year began enjoyably enough for us in Amsterdam, and though the government had proclaimed no fireworks because of the 24/7 lockdown, we went outside shortly after midnight as did everyone else to witness the otherworldly beauty of the pyrotechnics over the canal and ancient buildings. We met the students across the street and were offered some of their homemade olieballen. Two days later we and Nancy joined Stephan & Koen at

Maxim’s in the Jordaan for an utterly delicious Mexican meal with margaritas prepared by Michael. On the 3rd, Richard and I had massages from Hans. The next day we had our appointment with our new huisarts., Joep Schats. Our blood tests proved to be okay. Then it was champagne and a light lunch of hors d’ouevres and delicious cheese omelette with Nancy at Stephan & Koen’s. Perfectly delightful, and the three of us walked home afterwards.

Despite the lockdown, the following day Richard and I took a chance and went to the IND and were able successfully to procure our verblijfsvergunningen! This had been the main purpose of the Netherlands trip in the first place and was now an enormous relief in succeeding to get them despite not having some unobtainable code that was otherwise necessary. Vicky came by to say goodbye. On the day before all three us were to depart, we did our COVID antigen tests on the Spuistraat which proved to be negative. Strangely quiet

and empty but dazzling with Christmas lights ubiquitously, Amsterdam had a unique and different kind of beauty.

Then on the 7th and after Richard had flagged down a taxi to the Centraal Station, we were refused entry by Eurostar because Richard could not produce his NHS COVID Pass. For thenext two hours at the station I tried everything. The Medicine Chest Pharmacy in London then sent a confirmation that I had paid for Richard’s day-8 PCR test, but while at the station, my phone would not receive their or any other emails. I tried NHS and Vidahost, etc. Finally, we returned home. I tried them all again plus Three. At least once back at the house, I could print out the on-line pharmacy confirmation. The Eurostar trains all appeared to be fully booked for the next several days. Somehow, not sure how, I managed to book us for later that same day on the 18:47 train which turned out not to be full at all. Of course, it became super expensive, but dinner was served on the train after Brussels. And once we were back in London, we found that the NHS had sent us both new COVID Passes in the post – unfortunately though still not mentioning our having also had our booster jabs. And, of course, a day or two later, Richard found his missing pass in his ‘other’ wallet (with his British papers).

In Amsterdam, both Nancy and I were plagued with computer difficulties. My laptop would continue to log itself out during the night three, sometimes even five, times. Since being back in London, besides taking the machine to Covent Garden, I have been on the phone to Apple or tsoHost almost constantly. Finally, Apple had me migrate everything to the newer laptop from my old one which did not have that problem. The self-logging out has ceased, but I have

a whole list of new problems presumably inherited from the older laptop that I did not have before – plus my emails between 2019 and the first month or so of this year have vanished. I have not been able to retrieve anything from my backups. Gin has been having problems as well and has lost her entire art archive. This cyber meltdown appears to be everywhere. To do any online bank transaction, for instance, I end up always having to phone the bank directly,

and the computer of the person I eventually get is not functioning as well.

For London for the rest, we have seen five films: Licorice Pizza which dragged and I found not particularly interesting, Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers which was superb – especially Penélope Cruz who was also stunningly beautiful, Branagh’s Belfast and Roger Michell’s The Duke – both very British but excellent, and Branagh’s Death on the Nile which is stunningly beautiful. Museum-wise it has been the luxury of a Members Evening at the British Museum during which we saw the Peru exhibition, ‘America in Crisis’ at the Saatchi, the Durer exhibition at the National Gallery where we had coffees with Meg and Judy, the ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ show at the Royal Academy, ‘The World of Stonehenge’ at the British Museum, and both the guided LGBTQIA+ tour and ‘Life Between Islands’ exhibition at the Tate Britain. Music: the Cadogan Hall concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra which opened with Anna Clyne’s stunning This Midnight Hour followed by Fumiaki Miura performing Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto and concluding with both

Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite; and at St. James Paddington, the Nonsuch Singers’ concert where, of the Ave Maria’s, I particularly enjoyed the Grieg, Poulenc, Holst, Górecki and the Rachmaninoff as encore. Contacts: a Zoom with Marie-Laure on 22.1 and a phone conversation with Marlow & John the same day. Events: Prashant Singh and then the physiotherapist Amy Banning at the Chelsea Westminster Hospital on

18.1 and Amy again on 16.2 – both saying that I have been recovering well from the hip replacement surgery; the Sloane Club Members’ Event on 13.1 with Elizabeth and Sonia on ‘Planning for 2022’; Soteria on 16.1; Moot on 19.1 with Father Frank Gelli on Julius Evola; an interview by Adam Barralet and

Tamara Von Forslun on 19.1 for Spirit Talk Australia Radio (STAR); blots on 29.1 & 27.2 – with me speaking spontaneously during the first on the telluric-gnostic divide between religious types; and the first half of Shirley’s funeral online until the transmission broke.Meals: dinner on 20.1 at the Sloane Place Hotel with Gin and Sylvester, dinner on 29.1 at Gowlett Road with Gin, Rix, Sylvester and Annie; dinner on 10.2 at the Sloane Club and the Members’ Event with singer/guitarist Mike Davies (during which we noticed that our lovely

Abi is pregnant – she then telling us personally), dinner on 18.2 at ROSL with Patrick & Sue, dinner on 23.2 at the Sloane Club with our overnight houseguests Pavel & Teresa, dinner on 1.3 at Balans Soho for Pancake Tuesday and the Roman New Year, and a 5:2 dinner chez nous with Gin on 7.3. Reading: Jean Echenoz’ Ravel, a novel; Roberto Calasso’s Ardor with

which I disagree with his Brahmanic (though he calls it Vedic) exaltation of the Brahmanas and their transcendental ritual philosophy, the Sophia Centre Press’ Skylights: Essays in the History and Contemporary Culture of Astrology (edited by Francis Clynes) and for which I wrote a review, and now (just beginning) Roger Nichols’ Poulenc: a biography.

For the rest, Richard & I got through our February nefastus fast from the 5th to the 16th. Our five-day epagomenal carnival was a bit non-carnivalesque – due either to our age or being too busy or both. I did manage to complete my chapter on ‘Religion and the Environmental Crisis’ for the forthcoming Sustainability, Ecology, and Religions of the World (IntechOpen). And finally Richard’s UK passport arrived in the post on the 27th of January. Eventually, but only after some prolonged worrying, his American passport and naturalisation certificate were returned as well. But he is now a British national.

My realisation during this last period of time is that the purpose of life – at least my purpose – is to contribute as much as possible to the universe from the aura of one’s personal happinesses.