Wicked month

Who was it said 'August is a wicked (in the old sense of wicked) month'? - Edna O'Brien did for sure, but someone must have been there before her. But no, you don't have to take the word wicked literally in Granny's case. If she was spending her August being a wicked lady the wickedness would be of the crone not Mata Hari type; no seductress Granny, these days (a relief really; seduction is such hard work.) Aren't fairy tales ageist though? The bad fairy in the Sleeping Beauty is always the crone one....only the good fairies are young and beautiful. On the other hand ...think how boring a life Sleeping Beauty would have had, but for that diabolic crone. No cooks covered in cobwebs, let alone beautiful young men impaled on thorns: no story come to that. There are definite virtue in cronedom. The merits of old age - such as they are - don't begin and end with bus passes. And Granny should know.

But if not wicked she has been idle mostly - yet another way of handing her life to the devil, of course. Though she did spend some far from idle days walking the baby about to give her mother a break and cooking a lot for the freezer to give both parents a break. The food was/is delicious - but not half as delicious as the baby, who is not of course for eating - Granny isn't that kind of old crone, after all. She is besotted. Naturally she is besotted. And she wished the baby well not ill, for all the good that does, this being real life not fairy tale.

Otherwise she has been sitting in London doing practical things in a desultory way and - for the past three days - watching the Olympics - all those amazing aesthetically or athletically well-drilled Chinese. Every Olympics she gets into gymnastics....how can people do such things with their bodies: AMAZING. And there as usual are the dear Brits doing well enough but not quite to medal standards despite the commentators' hype.

So how is a blog to get going in all this? Fat chance. Nor will things improve. Granny is off to Edinburgh tomorrow. She may or may not get to a computer over the next ten days. Beloved is running a robot in the Bookfest. Fun should be had by all. And a lot of culture. Beloved goes free because of his robot. She is not, so travelling up by bus: because it's cheap. Oh the joys of old age.

Wild cackle. She's hooking her nose and chin, hoiking up her broomstick, wishing the baby more useful - even wicked - qualities: wickedness does have its uses sometimes. AND THEN SHE'S OFF!!

PS. Go and see Man on Wire. Not just rivetting, a work of art. As is its tightrope walker. Really.