The UK has now recorded more than 100,000 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test. To put that in clearer terms, the capacity of Murrayfield Stadium is 67,000, so that’s one and a half Murrayfields.
I have nothing more to say tonight, nor do I think music is appropriate.
Thinking and researching more on self publishing today; it’s a useful displacement activity to divert from the work of actually writing anything. It’s also something of a rabbit hole. You quickly run up against various gurus who make their money in part from advising other poor suckers what to do. One of the first things that struck me is that their self-help stuff is seriously over-written. Whatever the value of their advice, you have to struggle from a torrent of words which seem to correspond to classic ‘catch and reel in’ sales techniques.
At the core of it is a statement of the often-forgotten obvious: it’s fine to write whatever you want, but if you want to sell it you have to write something that someone will want to read. I like to think I do that, but it is a useful thing to be reminded of nonetheless.
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Dominion, the company that makes voting machines, has been raising defamation actions against people who said that their products had been designed to enable the US election to be ‘stolen’ from 45. Their complaint against Rudi Giuliani was issued today. They’re suing him for $1.3billion. The complaint (103 pages of it) can be found here (opens PDF) and it’s a lively read. Giuliani responded by saying:
another act of intimidation by the hate-filled leftwing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously.
Casting Dominion as some species of ‘hate-filled leftwing’ actor is pretty desperate, I think.
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Music: It’s Burns Night. My daughter mentioned his Merry Muses of Caledonia which she appears to have discovered independently. I’ve already posted a song from that collection, so here’s Dick Gaughan : Now Westlin’ Winds
It was -6°C when I got up this morning. The views across to the Pentlands from the front room were spectacular, and I was happy to go downstairs and settle in with a book and a coffee and peace (I was the first up). By just after lunchtime the temperature was around 3°C and for the first time in a few days I went out for a walk. I usually walk at night when there are fewer people around, but there’s something to be said for being able to see any patches of ice in daylight.
It was only a half hour walk, but it was good to get some fresh air and stretch the legs a wee bit. As I write this, it is back down to -1°C and set to be cold again overnight.
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Both Germany and France are requiring their citizens to wear better quality face masks in some situations rather than rely on the cloth ones most of us have used for the duration. Kirstin spotted that Scottish Government is considering doing the same thing, so I ordered some online earlier to try and get ahead of the rush if the recommendations change. I went looking to see if I could do better than the dodgy cheapies on eBay and Amazon, and I did, but the corollary is they’re not cheap. On the other hand, I haven’t been out spending money this month anyway.
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I spent the afternoon looking more seriously at self publishing. I’m trying to be systematic about it, as though (jargon alert) I was putting together an Options Appraisal or a Project Initiation Document. As I’d quite like to have some physical copies to hand, including some to give to beta readers and my mum, there will be some initial costs incurred, including a proper cover design. Also, I currently have two completed books plus another that I’m soon to revise. A plan is required.
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Music: an old favourite: Rockpile : When I Write The Book (credited to the band but a Nick Lowe song, I think).
Weird dreams overnight, made weirder by part of my sleeping self being aware that the dreams were weird, and getting weirder, and trying to move onto something else. Perversely, I felt better this morning than I have for a while, and I haven’t napped at all today. I suspect an early night tonight, though preferably without strange dreams.
When I got up, I checked to see what the temperature was, thinking about a walk. It was -4°C, so I decided against it. Activity was at a minimum for most of the day; instead I read and then finished the job of editing the more recently written parts of the work in progress. I need to type them up, but I’m happier with it now. Fingers crossed I can get on with the story.
***
Not much else to say, really. My youngest daughter said earlier that she checks the blog every day, in part to see if I mention her. So I just have.
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Music: shall we have some Bert Jansch? Yes we shall. January Man. The song is by Dave Goulder, whose original, unaccompanied, version has mutated somewhat in the mouths of half a century of guitar-slinging folk singers. There are plenty of versions out there, but Bert was the first I heard perform it.
Oh the January man he walks abroad in woollen coat and boots of leather
The February man still wipes the snow from off his hair and blows his hand
The man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring
And hopes for better weather
The day started well with an excellent episode of WandaVision, made all the more enjoyable for a quick peek at online reaction from fandom, seemingly upset that things aren’t being spoon fed to them.
Current reading
Lunch followed, and I settled in to read my book, but was promptly overwhelmed by an urge to nap. This was nothing to do with the book, which is enjoyable. I’ve quipped here previously about the urge to hibernate, and some days that feels very real.
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Just as I was writing this, our Prime minister and his advisers gave a news conference. 1401 more people have died. To put this in context, in Australia there have been 909 deaths attributed to Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. Also, they made the suggestion that the Covid-19 lineage first discovered in Kent might lead to marginally increased mortality. This news was first leaked to the Sun, which makes a change from leaking it to Robert Peston, I suppose. There is no hard evidence that there is an increased mortality, just a possibility at the upper end of the confidence level, so I guess they only announced it because it would inevitably leak (or in case they’re accused of suppressing it when the inevitable public enquiry comes along.
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Back in the day, I was a big fan of Babylon 5. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did get into it I was hooked. To the best of my recollection it was shown here late at night on channel 4, and often I had to set the VCR and hope I’d recorded it. Later, I bought the DVDs which I still have. Even now, thirty years later, I can watch it and enjoy it, though it would be nice if there was ever a proper restoration for Blu-Ray (there won’t be though).
Anyway, there was a hardcore of characters who were constant throughout it’s five seasons, one of whom was Delenn, initially introduced as the Minbari ambassador but assuming a more significant role as the series progressed.
Delenn was played by Mira Furlan, who died last night. RIP
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Music: the theme and incidental music for Babylon 5 was by Chris Frank, who oldies like me will have likely first encountered when he joined Tangerine Dream in 1970. The early Tangerine Dream albums, which are my favourites, were highly experimental and influential, and, in my view, heavily influenced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Largely because of their championing by John Peel, they became unlikely stars for a while, their washes of sound appealing to an audience who either got what they were trying to do or found them an accompaniment to getting stoned in bedsits and student digs up and down the country.
Their sound changed, and after the fabulous Phaedra, they released Rubycon, which is the last of their albums I normally play, usually at as high a volume as I can get away with. Rubycon consolidates their approach with this line up of the band (Froese, Baumann, Franke). On both of parts 1 and 2: they start with washes of sound, not a million miles away from Delia Derbyshire’s music, then sequencers kick in and melodies and textures are developed, all based around the ever-shifting sequencer patterns. Part 2, with its evocation of WW2 bombing raids, remains unsettling.
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