I’ve been really tired today. I think it is all the walking in the evenings catching up with me. It isn’t so much the distance–not that long ago I’d run it daily at lunchtime, sometimes twice–as the cumulative effect on my relative unfitness. I feel not unlike I used to the day after climbing a Munro, something else I haven’t done for a long time. I had a decent nap this afternoon, but I think an early night is what’s called for. I went out briefly earlier to get a little fresh air, but that’s it for the day. It’s also colder than it has been for a while, and it’s raining.
Twitter for beginners
I took time earlier to look back on some of the stuff I’ve been writing here. There was more repetition than I thought (and, also, there was more repetition than I thought) but I found it interesting, given that I usually write these posts the end of the day without much editing. I don’t usually go back and change them either unless I see something obvious in the grammar or sentence structure.
One thing that did strike me is that I’ve been somewhat contrarian in some of my thoughts as compared with the reporting I see, and certainly compared to the frothing ferment that is Twitter, and might be considered more defensive than would be expected of the Prime Minister and First Minister, neither of whose parties attract my vote. I think it’s worth saying that isn’t because I’m a convert to their causes or because I don’t think errors have been made.
My general view is that there’s too much of this going on:
I think scepticism is essential and justified at all times, but I think cynicism is corrosive. Broadly, I see way too much cynicism online, which is quite a contrast with the humanity I see all around me. I know that, in the end, neither are accurate representations of the whole, but I prefer to amplify humanity over cynicism.
I read a couple of interesting things online earlier: a useful analysis in the New York Times of testing and where we’re at scientifically as opposed to politically; and a piece in The Atlantic on the general situation. It has an American focus, but is relevant here, too, I think. I find this stuff a useful corrective in many ways to the surface level discourse I see all around.
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Music tonight from the Grateful Dead in 1974, the era of Jerry’s ‘Wolf’ guitar and Phil’s Alembic ‘Mission Control’ bass. Every Deadhead has favourite songs or song combinations, and when the Dave’s Picks archive releases drop through the door, the things I hope for are an exploratory Playing In The Band, which they once expanded into a truly magnificent near-47 minute jam in Seattle in 1974 that goes into 70’s Miles Davis territory, and Chinacat Sunflower/I Know You Rider. This is the latter from 1974 as featured in The Grateful Dead Movie and tells you everything about the band and their audience in that period. Note the number of women and children in the audience.
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