Definitely need to think of some snappier titles for these posts. Back to working at the library today as Mark seems to be better. had an email from Artichoke, the people who ran the Plinth project, asking me if I would like to talk to some women’s magazines about my experience. I said I would.
Working on my stories today. Some of them seem very lame indeed, and all of them need lots of work. The radio play is stuck at the moment – but when things are going well I get a real sense that it all works together. Not feeling terribly inspired today tho. Tired.
Have you ever noticed how few indoor seats there are? If you want to sit and have a packed lunch without getting rained on, there are not too many options.
Reading a book called “Mezzanine” by Nicholson Baker. It is something I read years ago and nearly bought for Mark, even though at that time we weren’t together. It concerns the minutiae of life, the things we all notice on a subliminal level but don’t pay attention to, such as the nature of the hole in which you insert your straw in a cup of take-away coffee; and what happens to plastic straws when inserted in a cup of fizzy pop (not a problem I ever have to contend with) and how they have designed them to fit exactly into the lid so the straw doesn’t bob up and out of the drink.
I call it Proust for shoppers.
I am also reading Proust again, first in the English, then in the French. I only have one volume in the French – in fact, it turned out to be the second part of volume 5, La Prisonniere – and it starts, bizarrely, in the middle of a paragraph. Took me ages to find it.
Took Mark ages to find the book, too. It was my Xmas present last year.
I love Proust. If I had a second life running alongside the first, I’d use it to read Proust, and write all my responses to him. And write down all the quotable stuff. Actually, I’ve found you begin by writing the odd sentence and end by copying it all.
That’s all folks! See you next time on the Muppet Show.
