You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today and then one day you find ten years have got behind you (Pink Floyd)

Wozza eating a luverly sundae

Wie geht's?

Christmas is within sight, again. Thought I'd take a trip back in time for this post - back ten years in fact, to 2015.

Where were you and what were you doing in 2015? [or: Who were you? and, Where were you going? if you prefer]

Can you tell where I am in that photo? A hint? Think Anaheim. The happiest place on Earth. Got it?  

Yes, that's right - Disneyland. The full post is here from 2015.

I can recall this time vividly because we'd flown to Auckland and on to LA straight after junior prize-giving at Woodford House. We were heading to the UK for Christmas. That was good actually - like a Band-Aid - rip it straight orf.

Anyway, back in 2025, it's nearly holiday time - time to break out the Christmas jumper again. I thought I'd wear it to prizegiving on Friday, but it doesn't really go with my pink hood. What to do? What to do?

Mention of the jumper reminds me of talk this week in the clubhouse (the Tier kitchen where all the cool kids sit, a.k.a. the maths and English staff). Somehow, chat centred on Love Actually and other Christmas movies.

[BTW our Purdzilla family hardy perennials are: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation; Die Hard; About A Boy; Love Actually; It's A Wonderful Life; The Grinch; Polar Express].

The general consensus was we each miss a northern hemisphere Christmas - one that makes sense. Wistful, meditative even, it was (rare for mathematicians but part of the DNA of English teacher types).

Oh, before I forget - here's a picture of my Christmas jumper in case I chicken out on Friday:

I hope my readership approve of this post. It has food, a festive theme, even has a Christmas tree, Die Hard, a Christmas jumper, and the happiest place on Earth without any mention of Dickens. Actually, he wrote a cool Christmas story, didn't he?

Love and peace - Wozza

Jade Purdy Day!

Mature, self-assured and happy

Jade by Jade

Wie geht's?

In our family tree, November 28 is Jade Purdy Day.

Jade Purdy Day started back in 1991 (you can read all about that special day here). Ever since that auspicious day, 34 years ago, I have instant flashbacks when November 28 arrives each year.

Not only that day each year, but every day - I am exceedingly proud of how JMP has developed into a confident, beautiful, intuitive, feisty, strong, very serious person.

 

Happy birthday DLG!

Love always and forever - dad

I wonder how it happens that when I am work, work, working here, all alone in the summer-time, I smell flowers (Jenny Wren in Our Mutual Friend)

Jenny Wren and her father (Mr. Dolls)

Wie gehts? 

What's that syndrome called when amputees still feel their limb as if it's still there? Phantom Limb Syndrome maybe? [Ha! I just searched it up and that's exactly what it's called!]

Having finally finished Our Mutual Friend yesterday, I am experiencing a hybrid condition called Phantom Dickens Syndrome.

I've been living with John Rokesmith, Bella, Lizzie...and Jenny Wren (to name four of the book's many characters) for some weeks now (I started it October 6) and suddenly - they've gone!

Over the last couple of days, I've reached for the phantom book and it ain't there. Phantom Dickens Syndrome.

Speaking of Jenny Wren: McCartney's song is a cousin of Blackbird (it's done in a similar style). The wren is a small bird in England and Jenny Wren is a character from Our Mutual Friend - so it's a nice play on words.

I think I now understand why Macca was fascinated by this character. Jenny is a young innocent girl but is also quite worldly (she has layers - is mature and self-assured). She creates a way of tolerating her father's alcoholism by reducing him to a child and treating him as such, and although she is physically challenged (John and Paul would have called her 'crippled') she manages to find love right at the end of the novel with Sloppy.

Her resilience and optimism are traits that I admire. She's sometimes not seen and so is often on the periphery looking on - again - things I can relate to (I like sitting at the back - in the outer rim, observing).

I'm with Macca; I like Jenny Wren.

Love and peace - Wozza

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

Wie geht's?

Tis the season to be jolly!

This might be a record for us - it's still November, but we spent a couple of hours putting up our Christmas decorations yesterday.

The reason for this sudden festive spirit? We have an open home today and we figured - why not. 

The large Christmas tree certainly adds a cozy, homely atmosphere to Maple Grove. No doubt, potential buyers will immediately be able to see themselves snuggling up at home by the tree while the snow piles up outside, and the fire's warm glow bathes them in earthly delight.

Yes, it's 30 degrees and summer, but THAT'S how good the ambience is in our lounge.

Love and peace - Wozza

Animate London, with smarting eyes and irritated lungs, was blinking, wheezing, and choking (Charles Dickens)

Wie geht's?

Well the unlikely has happened. I've fallen for Our Mutual Friend. It only took 419 pages, but I finally got there.

What changed? It seems Dickens decided that enough was enough and revealed a major plot change amid a dramatic chapter titled 'More birds of prey'. Get this: a character that readers had been led to believe had drowned, was in fact alive!!

Suddenly John Rokesmith becomes a character I can hang my hat on. It turns out that he was John Harmon, who, through a complicated set of circumstances, survived an attempt on his life in the very first chapter. He then decided to disguise himself as Rokesmith to suss out people and watch events unfold. Genius!

Dickens also has shady characters like Mrs Lammle developing a conscience - yay - I can also root for her! I'm glad I persevered. The pay-off took a long time to arrive, but it did arrive.

His writing sharpens up noticeably as well from page 419 onwards.

The 24 year old Miss Pleasant Riderhood is introduced and described thus: 

She was not otherwise positively ill-looking, though anxious, meagre, of a muddy complexion, and looking as old again as she really was.

That last bit is superb. Looking as old again as she really was - she's 24 but looks 50ish. Wow. That short description provides everything you need to know about her 24 years - misused and beaten by her father (Rogue Riderhood) and being left fifteen shillings by her departed mother 'before succumbing to dropsical conditions of snuff and gin, incompatible equally with coherence and existence'.

I kind of gasp when I read brilliant descriptions like that.

There is new impetus to continue reading Our Mutual Friend, and you find me engrossed, having reached page 538.

Love and peace - Wozza

But the day will come, Jenny Wren will sing, when this broken world, mends its foolish ways (Macca)

Five dollars from the
Little Red Bookshop - bargain!

Wie geht's?

I continue to persevere with Our Mutual Friend. At the time of writing, I'm on page 354 (of 1,000). So, not even halfway.

The struggle comes from a lack of a strong plot. Little has happened in those 354 pages aside from various characters making appearances in a series of interwoven minor plots. That equals a certain amount of confusion. I had to consult my Dickens Encyclopedia a lot in the first few hundred pages - now, does that sound like a fun thing to do?

Clearly the novel (his final completed one) is about wealth and power amid the social classes in London of the 1860s. There is plenty of satire and biting commentary but by 354 pages I have found myself agreeing with E.S. Dallas who wrote in an 1865 edition of The Times that:

"On the whole... at that early stage the reader was more perplexed than pleased. There was an appearance of great effort without corresponding result. We were introduced to a set of people in whom it is impossible to take an interest, and were made familiar with transactions that suggested horror. The great master of fiction exhibited all his skill, performed the most wonderful feats of language, loaded his page with wit and many a fine touch peculiar to himself. The agility of his pen was amazing, but still at first we were not much amused."

Yes, some of the writing is extraordinary, and I continue enjoying Dicken's stylistic flourishes with the English language, but I wish there was a character I could root for and embrace.

Why do I persevere with what is quickly becoming my least favourite book of his? The same reason I started reading it.

Paul McCartney.

Specifically, I wanted to know why Jenny Wren (a character in Our Mutual Friend) fascinated Macca so much that he wrote a song about her. 

I don't know the answer to that yet, so I'll keep reading.

Love and peace - Wozza

I got a bad scratch fever, the cat scratch fever (Ted Nugent)

Photo by Alberto Bigoni on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Thankfully, this week saw off Guy Fawkes' night. 

Jerry especially hates the loud noises from the neighbourhood fireworks, and Laney has come inside early each night to curl up close to us on the couch for extra protection.

Poor Laney. She's had a traumatic few days, so she needs the soothing predictability of nights inside watching Hunted with us.

A few nights ago, I went to put her into her laundry bedroom as usual, and two things happened simultaneously that lead to a third thing happening.

First thing: the outside security light failed to come on and...

Second thing: a loud noise happened in the bushes near our back door.

Third thing: in fright, she attacked the person holding her - me - biting and scratching like crazy to get away.

Her frenzied actions meant I had blood dripping from a variety of wounds to my hands. Cat bites take ages to heal but the plasters are now off as the healing process kicks in.  

Love and peace - Wozza