Comments on A wayfarer’s notes: Back in the rain

You did mention it Paul, some while ago. But worth...

2008-06-15T17:16:00.000+01:00

You did mention it Paul, some while ago. But worth mentioning any number of times. Some people have poor memory, which rules out certain things. We have to do what we can with what we've got, I guess!

It's interesting, the relationship between memory ...

2008-06-10T18:44:00.000+01:00

It's interesting, the relationship between memory and creativity. For some it seems stronger than others.

Wordsworth's definition of poetry, I think in his preface to Lyrical Ballads, was "emotion recollected in tranquility."

But did I already mention this?? I can't remember!

Yes Ghetu, the travelogue: at least we know better...

2008-06-07T12:33:00.000+01:00

Yes Ghetu, the travelogue: at least we know better now than to go on such a trip. I had never been on a "packaged holiday" before, and K had never been to another country before - apart from Jamaica and UK, so there was nothing to lose. But I tried to convey some of the aspects that made us squirm.

Davo, I hope your night "off" has not left you wit...

2008-06-07T12:29:00.000+01:00

Davo, I hope your night "off" has not left you with too much of a hangover. And I'm glad you have the facilities to post some interesting stuff. The photos on your latest one convey a lot!

it's a unique travellogue (at least, as far as i h...

2008-06-07T12:21:00.000+01:00

it's a unique travellogue (at least, as far as i have read).
"alleged fruit juices" -- lol

Vincent, am having a night "OFF". Do not wish to s...

2008-06-06T16:16:00.000+01:00

Vincent, am having a night "OFF". Do not wish to sully nor contaminate your beautifully written posts.

Why did nature give us the capacity to be aware of...

2008-06-06T16:06:00.000+01:00

Why did nature give us the capacity to be aware of ourselves, but be alone in it and to be conscious of that fact too? Maybe it is just an evolutionary mishap, like an appendix or wisdom teeth.

Fascinating concept .. perhaps the underlying notion may well be that god is .. erm .. the sum total of the consciousness within planet community? nah perish the thought. Rome rules.

of course you can use this collage of clichés, my ...

2008-06-03T21:27:00.000+01:00

of course you can use this collage of clichés, my dear, and anything else that takes your fancy.

"We had stuck a pin in the map, and taken a chance...

2008-06-03T20:24:00.000+01:00

"We had stuck a pin in the map, and taken a chance. Every traveller takes a chance. Life is a journey. The rolling stone gathers no moss but still, the context of our travels is no more than the prepared canvas on which we must paint our own picture."

SO lovely ... can I borrow it - hoard it away w/ my quotes for use another day??

Yes, Hayden: "& Co" is everywhere in England, pron...

2008-06-03T06:59:00.000+01:00

Yes, Hayden: "& Co" is everywhere in England, pronounced as you say. Accountants' firms, partnerships of solicitors . . .

Or a joking use to mean "that gang" as in "Bush & Co"

I visited Shakespeare and Co on my first trip to P...

2008-06-01T20:11:00.000+01:00

I visited Shakespeare and Co on my first trip to Paris, in '94. My Parisean girlfriend met me there, and with a quick word and a wave to George, led me upstairs to look around. I was struck by the dished wooden stairs, a bit awed over the many well-known writers who wore them away over the years.

My friend was then publisher and editor of a lush art magazine and well wired into the

20box and Petrichor: I don't know. I thought lonel...

2008-06-01T09:14:00.000+01:00

20box and Petrichor: I don't know. I thought loneliness was an individual choice. I see others huddling together for psychological warmth: certainly in the Costa Del Sol.

Petrichor, your question assumes that an earlier question, the God-question, has already been answered in the negative. In any case, I don't see it as a mishap. What I do see as a tragic mishap is the elevation of

Why did nature give us the capacity to be aware of...

2008-06-01T08:15:00.000+01:00

Why did nature give us the capacity to be aware of ourselves, but be alone in it and to be conscious of that fact too? Maybe it is just an evolutionary mishap, like an appendix or wisdom teeth.

We all are lonely travellers on a lonely planet we...

2008-05-31T13:23:00.000+01:00

We all are lonely travellers on a lonely planet we just pretend that we have some company... :)

Jim your comments are magnificent. The one beginni...

2008-05-30T06:13:00.000+01:00

Jim your comments are magnificent. The one beginning "I like rain" is a symphonic variation on my original post that enhances it greatly, showing that the effect I try to achieve in my writing (to set something off in the reader with a life of its own, the reader's creation and not the writer's) does work, at least in one reader.

For there have been many writers---I'm not the only one--

Scot, thanks for that clarification about the mott...

2008-05-30T05:59:00.000+01:00

Scot, thanks for that clarification about the motto. It does seem original then: it all traces back to George Whitman, for he understands himself to be that angel in disguise. Which explains a lot. He is in some respects unlike a normal human being. That was my experience, unmodified by meeting him again briefly in '95, and everything I have read about him. It would take more space than I have

Tim, no actual cat. More like Schrödinger's cat, a...

2008-05-30T05:51:00.000+01:00

Tim, no actual cat. More like Schrödinger's cat, as in Douglas Adams' first book of Dirk Gently: a quantum cat. And as for the hotel breakfast, we felt it to be less rational & friendly than you describe. I suspect a kind of racism, as if these English of the more stolid class go to the Costa Del Sol to recreate an ideal England on foreign soil; a new colonialism. They did not expect to find an

Fantastic! I have to say, I'm a bit confused. Di...

2008-05-29T22:21:00.000+01:00

Fantastic! I have to say, I'm a bit confused. Did you or did you not find a cat locked up in your house upon returning?

I can commisserate with you on the part of the hotel breakfast. Working in the IT industry, I've done my share of hotel breakfasts... just as you say, the people muddle about trying not to disturb one another or even catch each others' gaze, as if such would bring

VincentI have been to City Lights many times and m...

2008-05-28T12:40:00.000+01:00

Vincent
I have been to City Lights many times and my daughter while studying in London jumped over to Paris and found the bookstore--she went back a couple of times and spent a few hours in there. She loved it. She brought me a Beat poetry book with the Shakespeare stamp on it along with bookmarks with the caption--"be not..." I hear an American in Paris might be one thing, but I hope to

Monday, this holiday you might be pointing too, he...

2008-05-28T05:57:00.000+01:00

Monday, this holiday you might be pointing too, here is more Fellini..

Just so happens that, without my control, I was taken on this day of expected crowds in the home improvement shops, I was taken there by a friend.

And as I read the last post before this one, 'sconce' popped into my head, what did it mean I wondered.

Just an aside to the wonderful postings here

I like rain. I like writing like yours in the rai...

2008-05-28T05:50:00.000+01:00

I like rain. I like writing like yours in the rain it seems! I just finished reading this post, your last paragraph, again the last paragraph, took me on a little adventure back into my past, Fellini, fond memories of hours of watching and wondering, I couldn't even remember his name, had to scroll thru a list of Directors, found Bergman whom I was fond of, but Fellini is who this post, and

Scot, i have just noticed that the motto of your b...

2008-05-27T20:00:00.000+01:00

Scot, i have just noticed that the motto of your blog, "Be not unhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise" is also written on a wall inside Shakespeare & Co. Was it from there that you obtained it? If not, do you know from whence it originates?

Scot, yes - it was hard to find on the Net a photo...

2008-05-27T12:47:00.000+01:00

Scot, yes - it was hard to find on the Net a photo of George as he looked in '62: a brooding Sean Penn could play the part. His own bedroom was the front upstairs room of the shop and I had to avoid bumping into his girlfriend in the mornings. the kitchen was a corridor linking the back and front bedrooms. The squat toilet was plumbed into the shower enclosure next to the fridge - the most

fascinating trip--of course--George Whitman jumped...

2008-05-27T12:18:00.000+01:00

fascinating trip--of course--George Whitman jumped out--

yes, we graze in the vulgar savannas. And I didn't...

2008-05-27T09:42:00.000+01:00

yes, we graze in the vulgar savannas. And I didn't want to sound snobbish in this piece. Or imply any status as a writer. George Whitman in those days stipulated that only writers could earn the free bed in his shop in return for a daily task. Mine was mopping the floor, cleaning up the shit and piss his large dog used to leave on the tiled ground floor overnight. After I'd been there a couple of