talking sense to the senseless

Granny still 'under the weather' (where DOES that silly phrase come from? Suppose you are sitting on a hill and over it? Silly question. Too bad). Will point you merely at comment in Guardian by Seumus Milne which echoes what she has always felt, that it was Tony Blair's war set Brits up as target, rather than any real yearning - among the misguided bomber boys also the victims of lying leaders - for some universal Muslim caliphate. And to a very good full well-rounded piece by Mark Gamon. It's a relief when you've been swimming around for a week in mental soup to find someone giving it an identifiable taste -if not turning it into vichysoisse. (She doesn't expect answers you understand. At this point it's the quality of the questions that matter.)

How about this. The bus service here is lousy. Everyone is expected to have their own transport. Granny and Beloved's Toyota truck and (very) ancient 5th-hand Mercedes are typical. To get from the south of the island to the main town, on the at most 2 buses a day, takes 2 hours as opposed to the half hour normal for anyone under their own steam. There are no obvious moves to improvement here. The bus company has decided instead to upgrade the bus stops - not only do all now have neat little shelters and seats, they have been given names. This is easy enough where the stop is in the centre of a village; on the outskirts or in the middle of rural land imagination seems to have been called for. The one nearest to Granny and Beloved's regenerated farmhouse is called 'Calvario' - Calvary - for some reason she can't quite fathom; OK it's a windy spot; but not that penitential. Weird.

One more thing. A discussion by Melvyn Bragg et al on BBC Radio 4 this morning- on the philosopher voted the greatest by his listeners- concluded with the delicious statement that the best Marxist of all was Margaret Thatcher; who also believed that there was no longer such a thing as society and that the only real individual motivations are economic. (Well she'd know wouldn't she? Look at her dad, look at her marriage to Denis; look at Mark. Don't think he backed those mercenaries on behalf of the local African populace; do you?) Granny does hope she was listening. Alas, most probably not.

Granny will now retire to her sofa, clutching the little bag of frozen beans to her sore neck, with a good book. (Alan Sillitoe's Man of his Time) in case you're wondering; somewhat the worse for wear for having been dropped in the hot tub yesterday, during another attempt to sort out her aches. She can also recommend Siri Hustved's What I have Loved. General malaise is good excuse to catch up with her reading. Not that she needs much excuse.

"Surely you haven't finished that book already?" asks Beloved. Most likely, yes she has. So what next?