Miscellaneous thoughts about anything, either topical or not, that arouses my interest.
There are some old friends I haven't heard from for several years. I'm not sure how to react. They may of course be dead. On the other hand they may just be disinclined to keep in touch. In case that is so I'm reluctant to bother them with frequent messages, as that would be rather like stalking.
I've decided to continue to send my annual letter at the end of the year, but not to send any other communication unless I hear from them first. I recommend that policy to others.
On tonight's news a reporter said that a new King of the Zulus had been 'coronated'. In case any readers of this blog are not native speakers of English I point out that the relevant verb is to crown,so the King was crowned. The process of crowning is called a coronation
I have been neglecting my web site for the last couple of years, but am now trying to bring it up to date. So far there has been little change to the pages on the site, though I have corrected a misdirection that sent people to an out of date version of the Index page However several pages are being extensively revised off line, so there should be more to see in a few weeks time. Meanwhile the principal symptom of my activity may be less activity in this blog. For that I apologise
We usually commend both freedom of thought and freedom of speech, without realising they often conflict.
Thought is usually most effectively conducted in silence. Speech, on the other hand cannot be silent and commands the attention of anyone in hearing range, whether they are interested or not. Those speaking to someone else usually expect the one addressed to respond with a comment on the same subject, without considering the possibility that that individual might at the time have been thinking about something quite different and prefer that the train of thought be allowed to proceed without interruption.
When demonstrators repeatedly shout slogans of just a few words that seems to me a sort of assault on the minds of anyone else in hearing, makibg it very hard for anyone nearby to follow any significant train of thought.
This time it was for flue. I'm not quite sure when I started having flue jabs, but suspect it may have been in 2003. Once I started I haven't missed a year, suggesting that the last jab may have been my 20th. When the total gets to 25 it will be a bit like a silver wedding. Shall I have a party?
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