washing

 There is a grey plastic rectangular basket full of washing, still damp, on the floor in the hall. The basket would be needed to collect the dried clothes on the line in the attic, but it is still full of wet clothing from yesterday.

It is still quite early in the day, take the basket upstairs with the wet washing and hang it carefully on the line. It takes a while, but at the end of the process the grey plastic basket is empty. Start to take down the trousers that had been carried up on Monday morning, now dry and cold. Fold them a bit in order to save space in the basket. Then there are two hoodies, both clean now. A blue one and a red one. But first, take down all the socks and underpants, small things that have to go into the bottom of the basket.

Cover them with the hoodies, and go back downstairs. Put the basket at the end of the bed, take out the two hoodies and hang them on the back of the door.

The wife is still asleep, the son and the cat are active.

The son brings in a cup of coffee, that is the third one today

day's dose

Five to eleven in the morning, twenty four hours later, climb the stairs to the doctor's practice. Just press the door this time, it is open. There is no need to make noise.

Inside, the assistants on reception duty look up, and one waves the patient over. Explain that the blood pressure monitor installed and started yesterday has to be removed today. Today they are immediate and fast, a young woman leads the way into one of the side rooms in the practice.

Take off the jacket, take off the shirt.

The trainee removes the pressure band from the arm, unwinds the tube that runs over the back and over the right shoulder, and takes the small device out of the pocket on the web belt. Then the web belt is undone and put onto the table with the other parts. The written notes are asked for, and the measuring device is attached to the computer and the data transferred.

In the waiting room there are few other people, sit there and wait until the doctor calls.

In another room the doctor interprets the data, and advises as to the necessary medication, sixteen milligrams a day.

It is because of increasing age and weight 

this is all rather depressing

this is all most depressing

Thank the doctor for her time.

Go home, take the other eight milligrams to make up the days dose.

twenty four hours

 there is no need to get up early today

not at all, just to write the reminder of an excuse, and to send it on with email.

To the place of work.

you used to have to telephone,

now a one-liner will do, and it is probable that the supervisor will have forgotten by next week.

Take the pills, take a shower,

The son has left for school already.

Get dressed, the doctor's appointment is hours away.

Sit at the table in the corner of the bedroom,  read a book on the computer. A book to kill the time.

The cat puts an exploratory paw onto the jeans clad knees, then she digs in the claws and jumps up. Stroke her back and her head, she purrs as a sort of assent. Move the hand down towards the tail, the tail starts to switch back and forth, the purr goes quiet. Move the hand back up to the head again, the tail calms down and the purr starts up again.

Around this time, the wife wakes, and the cat turns her head to look. The wife and the cat observe each other across the room.

When the wife has got up, and dressed, the cat jumps to the floor and follows her into the kitchen.

Put on the socks, this is easy to do now that the cat has gone. Shoes and jacket, also the overcoat. A short discussion on lockdown politics with the wife, and then leave for the doctor's practice.

The receptionist at the doctor's asks whether it has been raining, looking at the wet brown jacket. 

Say that it has, quite heavily.

That is why the jacket is wet, and the hair is soaked too.

She is an observant person, who just wants information.

A young man puts his head around the door of the waiting room later, and directs the way to a side room down the corridor. He say that the shirt must be taken off, assume that applies to the jacket too. Hang them both on a hook behind the door,

The man straps a tube to the bared left arm, puts another tube over the shoulders so that it hangs like a necktie, and fixes a device to the waist with a web belt. 

He hands over a piece of paper and says that that is to be filled in hourly.

For the next twenty four hours.

minimal day

 forgetting that the alarm clock was switched off yesterday morning sleep half awake waiting for it to sound today.

Then the son's alarm clocks go off, and realise that it is late, and that there is a need for hurry.

The cat hurries in and wants to have a morning cuddle.

That will not work. There not being the time any more.

Sorry cat.

But then the son makes noises with a can of cat food, and the cat is distracted and has lost all interest in  relaxing on the warm human knees as it does almost every day now.

Get dressed in a big hurry.

and leave the house.

At the bakery, the woman takes one look and says "salami roll". She has got the idea now, make a joke about her being able to read minds.

A day of nothing.

Not yet. There will photographs to make later. at work, at ten. There is still plenty of time to get to work and to make a cup of coffee there.

But today is not a good day.

Things have started to go wrong badly.

out of order

27th of october,-020

So normal the day, There is nothing to say.

get up from the bed to the sound of the alarm, turn it off

it off, go to the Bathroom and take a shower.

and shiver back to the bedroom, in the dark

in the corridor over the loose flagstones.

They need to be fixed sometime. That is another

thing that needs to be done.

A fresh tee shirt, pants and socks. Yesterdays shirt and trousers will do.

sit down to look at the news on the computer.

The cat takes possession of the knees.

For a while, pet the cat.

Then put it down, put on shoes and go

to the kitchen.

Make coffee, same procedure as yesterday.

go back inside, the cat jumps onto the knees again.

Later say goodbye to the meanwhile-risen

son and leave the house, remembering to

put on the face covering mask.

It is just another day today, like every

other day.

spillage

24th of October 2020

Lift the lid on the coffee maker after turning it on, to see if there is any water

in the plastic water tank. The tank is nearly empty, fill a plastic bottle at the tap and then fill the reservoir with that. The reservoir floods, overflows, now there is water on the

table. Clear the table, use a teacloth to wipe up the water.

Now that the machine has warmed up, make a cup of coffee. The clocks have been set an hour later, it is light outside. 

There is a basket full of washing in the hallway, still wet from the machine. Take it upstairs, and hang

it up in the attic by the illumination of the skylights there. The cat sits and watches, perhaps she d.es not know what to make of this.

Downstairs again, the son is awake, and he has made a mess, he had heated something for breakfast and it had overflowed. He tries to wipe it up, but he is too lazy to get a bucket to wring out his cloth into. So he runs back and forth between the hob and the sink, leaving a trail of drops on the floor.

Spend some time showing the young teenager how to use a bucket and a cloth effectively.

The biggest problem is the explanation to the young man that even simple things need to be learnt.

distant swan

The car has it's space by the drainage canal's lock, the door to the flood gates that would allow excess water to inundate the fields in the case of the river Isar having too much water. The river is bordered by dykes, earthen barriers on either side of it's path through the flat marshlands by Moosburg. 

Moosburg means something like the castle in the bog.

There is a beaten path on the top of the dyke a target for walkers. Today, instead of a Sunday walk in the park, decide to take a walk here, in the morning fog. There are some dead trees here, they have been destroyed by the beavers, they have had the bark eaten off them and their barren trunks are standing pale against the grey foggy background.

Walk along the path, take pictures like any good tourist out to hunt some meaningful picture for his expensive equipment.

Take a picture of a tree stump standing against a grey sky.

Take a picture of a some magenta fruits against the yellow and brown leaves everywhere.

Take a picture of some grasses by a pool of water,

A woman and her dog come past, the dog, a terrier stops and looks curious. He has a bandage on his left forepaw. Say hello to the dog, which wags it's trimmed tail in reply.

And start to talk to its owner, a woman with white hair, she asks whether the subject of the photo was the  swan.

It is true that there was a swan in the pool of water. But it was too far away. 

It would have been a white speck in the background.

Talk about all kinds of things, dogs and photos, her hobby is photography.

Then goodbye, we go our ways.

soot

 It is early, and all but for the cat are asleep. The tricoloured cat is lodged on the knees clad in black jeans, and instead of going to work, read the internet, read a novel.

The cat likes the warm knees, for whatever reason. She likes to have her head scratched by the blunt human fingers too. Human fingers running along the contours of her chin are a delight, going by the tone of her purrs.

And then, she loses interest. Jumps to the floor, and wanders off into the kitchen. The son has made noises, and there might be something to eat. Cats have their priorities.

Put on the white plastic imitation croc shoes. They are for work in the house.

In the corner of the sitting room there is a stove, and it has not been drawing properly. The wife presumes a blocked stovepipe. Spread paper on the floor, to catch the soot. and carefully pull the pipe away from the stove, and then away from the connection bent pipe in the wall. Trying not to tip it or anything, lay it down on the paper. Then remove the bend, twisting carefully, The more horizontal piece after the bend has more soot in it, just lying there. Next door, in the kitchen, there is a final piece connecting to the chimney. This is near horizontal, and it is well filled with soot.

Wrap the three pieces of pipe in paper, and carry them downstairs to the back yard. There is a bucket here, and the soot can be emptied into that. Fold up the paper and bring it forward to the waste paper bin, it and the marks of soot will be recycled. The son is already clearing up the stairway, there had been a spillage through a small rip in the paper.

And then- The metal sweeps brush for cleaning the pipe is nowhere to be found. Search high and low, it is not where it should be.

After half an hour the meanwhile-risen wife finds it under the stairs, she had left it there the last time the pipes needed cleaning.

The wire brush is on a long twisted wire, it can be pulled through the pipe, the first time a small cloud of soot, and the second time more rust than soot. Clean all the pipes this way, and wipe the dust from the outside with an old towel.

Then take the pipes back up to the stove and install them again.

And hope that the stove will now draw better, as it should

Imperial truck in the ditch

23 rd of October, 2010

Brake lights ahead, cars are slowing down.

Pull over to the left hand side of the left lane off the Autobahn, the cars and the trucks go

to the right hand of the right hand lane. This leaves a wide gap for the emergency vehicles,

And the traffic crawls on, at walking pace.

For almost half an hour.

There is fire brigade activity ahead, and the right hand lane is blocked. They have put up warning cones, and a red truck with blue lights on top has a sighn with an arrow pointing left. There are patches and skid marks on the road, a while farther on there are debris on the road.

Fargther on again, ther is a big articulated truck on it sde, behind the motorway fence. It has the words "Imperial" on it. And now it is in the ditch.

Stop staring, eyes on the road, the left lane is free now. Accelerate away from someone else's horror, who knows what happened here. There were many firebrigade people clearing things, and some staring at the truck.

After a while, the traffic picks up again.

The arrival at work has been delayed today.

mid September

22 nd of October, 2010

The steps to the doctors practice are in

a dark stairwell, added to the house during renovation work. They are dark concrete steps, there is only

artificial light. The first floor holds a dentists practice, the doctor is on the second floor.

Ring the bell, press the door, enter.

All of the personnel are kept behind plexiglass shielding now, all on account of the virus.

Explain the reason for the visit, and hand over the medical card. The young woman puts the card into a reader, then she miles, and says that she has the same birthday. Apart from the year, of course.

There must be a difference of about forty years here. She, the one born in the middle of September, sends the

patient to the waiting room. Hang the coat on a hook, and wait. People come and go, some sprightly, some really infirm.

Then the doctor puts her head around the door and calls. Follow her to her office, and take the seat as directed after she has sat down herself. Today is to hear the results of the tests

And there are no clear answers.

2 pins

21st of October, 2020

Align the camera, the edge of the distant object in line with the close object. Then turn the camera so that the objects are no longer in the centre of the cameras field of view. Now the two objects are no longer

aligned. Pull the camera back on it's guide, until the two objects align again.

Twist the camera back again, pan it.

The objects remain aligned. Touch the

camera, and the mounting screws cannot

hold the twisting motion, and it droops forward. Lift the lens back to its original position, tighten the mounting screw more.

That holds, but now the other mounting screw has twisted. The same problem, only a

horizontal hold this time. Tighten everything.  Now the first adjustment is off. So-

start again.

After the second failure, take the camera

mounts down to the machine shop. Instruct the friendly mechanic to install two small pins, one to look into an available hold on the camera, the other to fix the

two mounts. This will take until tomorrow, but then there will be no problems with having to do everything twice.

Not anymore.

M PH

Tuesday, 

October 20 2020

and the little black car is surrounded by dull grey fog, the kind of fog for which this area by the river is famous for. Strain the eyes to see the rear lights of the vehicle ahead. 

Think.

Then lean forward, twist the light knob one click. A red light on the dashboard goes on, it says that the fog lamps to the rear have lit up. Who wants to be invisible to some big mercedes car that might be following.

The motorway is clear again, accelerate

clear of the big truck that is racing

on to Munich.

Cruise on down the highway, the Autobahn, keep the cruise control on.

Then it is foggy again.

The brake lights of the vehicle ahead light up. Brake hard, then harder, feel the brake assist come on, buzzing underfoot. When stopped, the Munich plates of the car ahead

are really close. H-PH and some numbers.

Pull over to the right, those in the left hand lane pull to the left. Leave the road clear for emergency services.

uneccessary jacket

 Mon, 19th of October

There is actually work to be done today, pictures to edit, climb the circular stairs around the stairwell enclosing the small copy of Foucault's Pendulum .

It is swaying dagonally, but this does not mean much anymore, as it has been stopped due to student interference so many times.

Cross the covered bridge with the round porthole -shaped windows, take two lefts and go into the office.

Start the computer, start the coffee maker, hang up the jacket.

Start to edit the pictures, compare the similar ones, always just select the best. Work through the pictures, shading where necessary, leaving things be when possible. Straighten the crooked ones, take care that the focus is good.

In no time at all it is half past eleven, it is time to go to the canteen, to the café.

Time for a panino and a cup of coffee.

It is a clear bright day, the trees are losing their coloured leaves. It is not so cold, the jacket would not have been necessary.

artistic spider

Sanday, 18th of of October

There is a leaf, fallen from a tree, hanging in the centre of the path, at eye level. It is supported on an invisible thread, it is suspended.

How did that happen? Surely not on artistic spider.

Take a picture, why not? It is hard to use the rangefinder for focussing, but it works.

The park is in early autumn mode,

some trees are covered in their coloured leaves, others are just green.

As every Sunday, there are many

people taking their walk. Families trying to control their children.

A young girl is dressed in full waterproof rain gear. On a grass slope she lies down in the wet grass and, with squeaks of excitement, rolls down the hill.

When she gets up, all the waterproof clothing is glistening and shimmering with the wet. Her

hair spilling wildly from her hood and the delighted face, it would

be a lovely picture.

But it is one that got away

evil Saturday morning

 up early and nothing works. 

the head is sore, it is like a hangover, but this cannot be, the last alcoholic drink was a year ago.

The head buzzes and the throat is sore, the back aches.  And all are asleep, apart from the cat.

She is wandering about, sniffing at things. She likes to bite electrical cables, but without much success, she is still alive.

Go to have a long hot shower, but it does not really help, other than being good against the cold air, and maybe the stiff back too.

Return, a slice of toast and a cup of coffee. Read about Trump, see that it took a woman to put him in his place. They can either have a president or T. Possibly a difficult choice for an American.

This does not reduce the pain in the brain, it is nothing.

A shivery cold starts, why does this happen on the weekends?

The son wakes up and makes another cup of coffee.

That is kind of him.

in the dark

Waking in the dark, discomfort, hear the sound of rain falling on the skylight in the kitchen. A shower. Of rain. Outside.

Get up

Walking in the dark, cannot bother to put the lights on, open doors, walk the corridor

Light on in the bathroom, do not want to miss the bowl.

And afterwards, brush the teeth.

It is late today, return to the bedroom, take out fresh underwear from the bottom drawer in the wardrobe.

Yesterdays shirt and trousers will do,shirt will do as well. This is the thin end of the wedge, the start of the slippery slope.

But it is late, and it is necessary to save time.

Sit down, pull on the shoes. The cat comes over, jumps up onto the lap.

Waste the time to stroke the cat.

The purring cat instead of the cleansing of the refreshing shower.

The cat gets down.

get up, jacket on and then think of the son, he was up late last night, and last weeks trauma of his first time late for school in seven years stilll in mind go on  and knock on his door and open it.

He is sitting on a chair looking annoyed.

"Just getting dressed"

"Oh"

"I AM AWAKE"

"Ok"

"Have a nice day"

4 men in orange overalls

Thursday, October is 2020

Four men operating hand driven pulleys

in the big hall of the reactor. They are all wearing orange jumpsuits.

The mobile crane in the big hall needs to be repaired. and they are rattling the chains through their pulleys, and the beam of the big crane is lowered slowly onto the cradle prepared for it. It is going down so slowly that it is impossible to see it move, but if you look away for a minute and then look back you will see that it is lower than it was.

Take pictures of the men working. And when the great metal Thing has been lowered onto its cradle the one man explains the material being used to replace the worn parts.

When the steel plate has been rolled in the steel works, each sheet recieves a number.

Each sheet is tested • Each sheet is

numbered. The numbers are logged.

The parts for the machine are cut from the sheet, each part is numbered. And written into the log. All of the engineers charged with inspection sign the log.

This is atomic science, and mistakes,

faulty materials, undisclosed origins are

verboten

vanity stamps

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

There is a small picture on the  computer, a stamp

designed as a vanity  stamp for a punk rock band to decorate some postcards that it had made

to advertise itself. One of the members of this part-time            band comes into the office,

he wants the stamp                             printed on self adhesive vinyl.

Find the file on the computer, not so easy, and save it'into a print                      able file format. Put the file into

the printer's hot folder and watch as it dissapears, get up, leave the office, forget to put on the required mask, go back into the office, hook the mask over the ears and leave the office again. Lock the door.

go along the long corridor, passing all of the other offices with their open doors.

Some people turn to see who is passing, others do not.

At the end of the corridor there is a stairway on the left hand side, go downstairs, and walk along a second corridor. There are people singing in the labs here, young

people enjoying their work. Stop at the doorway numbered one seven two five.

Press the button on the black door remote until the lock squeaks. This is the room with the big printer. The file is in the local computer

now, in the rip-software, waiting to be processed

Make the adjustments, put vinyl, 

(self-adhesive), into the printer's take-up roll, and print    thirty six vanity stamps.

high visibility

Tuesday 13th of october

The building site in front of the office window

is in constant development now. They are

digging a vast hole in the shape of the building,

they are going to have two basement levels.

Around the edge of the hole the ground has been injected with concrete and metal supports in

the previous weeks. There are colossal areas of earth to be moved, and two yellow diggers are filling twenty-five ton trucks with it.

When there are no trucks to be filled they dig and scrape, and move earth, making great heaps of it. They are like children on the sea

side, just the scale is different.

The men who are working away at the

edges of the pit are all wearing high visibility safety clothes, and white hard hats.

They are all very busy , all working in small groups. One of them starts a small chain saw, and he and his colleagues start to trim red-painted wooden planks to make a safety fence.

Sit in the office, there is no work to be done.

mondays

Monday, 12th of October

the trees at the end of the terrace in front of the

cafe have turned yellow and orange, as their

leaves give up their chlorophyll, dry out and

die.

It is a sad thing but it is nice to look at.

This is the last year at the university.

This will be the last time to enjoy Autumn look

with its bright colours

and cold winds,

Enjoy the big cup of coffee, courtesy of the crazy bean, the trade name of the man who runs the place. The café is increasing

in popularity, it is the only place not

specialising in take away. And the

coffee is good, so are the panini. He

does pizza too, which goes down well.

The girl that he has employed to do the service is wearing doc Martin style shoes with a short skirt and tights.

The stockings are black with white spots

on them. She has topped it all with a

grey hoodie, and her regular serving

apron.

It all looks like Mondays, it is Monday.

a couple in the park

 leave the duck pond behind. The ducks were making an unusual noise this morning. They were all quacking loudly, all in the water of the pond, it was lie some kind of contest. Other birds started as well, geese honking, peacocks calling, and a crowd of birds hidden in a bush twittereng. The cock started making noises as well, not really crowing, but a sort of rhythmic clucking. 

Leave the birds to their symphony. It may have had something to do with morning feeding time, it may just have been 

spontaneous.

The park is quiet, there are groups of people walking, mainly in pairs, older people mainly. A woman passes,  walks ahead. The path ahead leaves the shade of the trees, there is a grassy patch there brighter in the grey light, she is a silhouette there for a few minutes.

a nice picture.

Well why not. Just wait, there will be more people passing. A couple approach, let them pass. Let them wander on, untill their silhouttes are clearly picked out against the green grass.

Take the picture.

A voice from behind says well done, a nice picture. 

Do not know what to reply.

not a word-

 A right hand turn into the big parking lot of the hardware suppliers, a big shop, part of a huge chain. A "Baumarkt", a building market, where almost any fixture for the home can be bought. The only criterium is that the firms buying prices are miniscule, their selling prices low, and their profits enormous. Quality is mentioned in all of their adverts, but quality is actually a problem.

There is a parking spot free, park the grey car there. Lock the vehicle and enter the huge store. Go to the gardening and outdoor section first, but they do not have any corrugated plastic covering there. Go to the other end of the huge building, there were the wood is, all the overpriced and badly dried laths. There is a section there with all kinds of plastic coverings, transparent, opaque, hard, hollow, patterned

and corrugated. The corrugated plastic sheets have been put into a  shelf vertically, corrugations running from top to bottom. And they are impossible to remove singly. There is nobody in attendance here, so remove the plates that are jammed against these vertical sheets of transparent corrugated plastic. Now it is possible to remove a single sheet.

Carrying the sheet of plastic go along the corridor between the tall shelving, insulating materials on the left and -

On the right, down on a pallet on the ground, there are shorter pieces of the corrugated plastic. This would save cutting the big piece, and three shorter pieces would even be cheaper than one large piece. Carry the large piece back to it's troublesome place in the shelf, and take three pieces from the pallet. They are just one metre square each, and they are blue. Blue is not a problem. See that they all have a price tag and go on to the checkout.

Wait until there is a space free, and then go to the scanning machine. Scan the one piece of plastic three times, press a button to confirm, and then hold the credit card under another scanner. A printer prints a docket, and then leave the building, go back to the car.

The whole complicated transaction without a word being spoken.

No greeting, no goodbyes.

No communication.

Not a word.

no update

Friday, 9th of October zoeo

Press the button on the black disk and the lock on the office door beeps. press the handle, push, and the door opens.

The office is in disarray, well, just a bit. But so what. Take off the jacket, hang it on a hook. Press the button on the computer,

listen to the gong, there is a picture of black and white fruit on tte screen.. And a bar moving to the right.

Remember that there is a graphic job to finish

Some type that needs to be raised a bit.

So start the other machine. It is running programs that will no longer run on the more modern computer. It is not worth updating the software. So the work needs

to be done on two machines.

The first machine has started. put in the password, press the hey. And the first message of the day is an update.

So: Press "Update Now", and turn

to work on the other machine.

Multi tasking,

venus

Thursday, 8th of October.

There is a bright star over The end of

the alley.

, a solitary star, the only one

visible in the light-polluted sky. Wonder

what it is, then astk the mobile telephone.

The application shows that it is Venus, and

that the sun is just under the horizon.

Venus is a planet and not a star.

Consider that a tesescope would show the

difference.

Venus, the goddess of love, wasn't it.

Put on the mask, go into the bakery.

Ask for a roll with salami on it

'It has to be made especially, it is

early, and they are still making the

days supply.

Pay, and wait for a short while.

The car has another car parked in front of it today, making it hard to start the day.

Drive back and forth, taking care not to shunt the other cars.

to think that today has started under

Venus' light.

early again

Wed, 7th of October.

Leave the town tunnel, it is dark, glaring headlamps to the rear. The lights

on the that car are styled like eyes with angry eyebrows, the car glares at all who dare get in the way.

Leave the headlights behind, the

traffic light ahead turns green and enter

the right lane.

after the last traffic lights the road

is free, there in oncoming traffic, but

no trucks ahead. Drive on, a steady

one hundred hilometves an hour. This is the limit of what is allowed.

The lights are dazzling, reflecting from the wet black road. When there are no lights, it is past pitch dark.

The motorway is busy, and the

traffic is not fast.

It is comfortable driving this morning

it is hard to see, but everyone on the

road is moving at a reasonable place.

Today.

resistances and volumes

 A bland building containing a bank on the ground floor and first floor, the rest is dentists and medical doctors. The stairwell is bland and clean, the floor and the stairs are granite and concrete. 

Climb the stairs, pass the banks rooms. There are sounds of demolition here, they are refurbishing, perhaps they are repurposing. Re something or other.

Another floor, and there is the doctors practice. There is a forgotten package at the door, pick it up and bring it to the counter. They say thank you, it had been overlooked.

The papers are all in order, the little plastic insurance card will do for the payment. All is dealt with, everything is signed, and that is it, go back to the waiting room. There is a book about Rubens there, the painter. It has nice colour photographs, but the black and white plates are not as well done at all. Somehow the contrast has gone all wrong. Read the commentaries, the titles, think about all these classical ideas to show women undressed, even being abused. But the paintings are so well done.

Go to the lavatory, as advised by the receptionists, make sure that the bladder is as empty as is possible.  It is a strange lavatory, with test bottles in the corner, and apparatus for the measurement of the urine flow in the middle of the room. Do what is humanly possible and return to the waiting room.

Eventually, the person doing the examination appears and asks for her next patient. Follow down the corridor, realise that the practice is much larger than had been previously thought. At the end of the corridor, a door, and a small windowless room. Receive directions as to which clothes should be removed and go into a small side room to change.

The examination takes over half an hour, chat with the doctor, feel the occasional discomfort as the machine measures pressure and quantities, resistances and volumes.

Afterwards, hear that everything is in order.

So there is nothing to do but to get dressed again, and to return to the receptionist.

And to make another appointment.

precipitate

Monday, fifth of October

ln

the dark, the bedtime program byat

Apple starts at sic, get up to turn it off before it

becomes to loud and disturbs the rest of the family.

In the bathroom, decide to shave, dispose of

all the facial shagginess. Then the shower.

Half way through the shower the air dryer starts. A device that sucks the air in, cools

it so that the water will precipitate from the

vapour, and then uses the heat generated by this

process to warm the air up again.

After putting on the clothes for the day and

starting the coffee machine, sit down to read

the news. The cat comes over and sits on the

knees, a single leap from the ground.

and a few minutes later, she has to jump down

again. In the kitchen, the coffee machine is

ready.

Later, maybe four minutes, she jumps

back onto the knees again. Stroke her head,

she starts to purr. Perhaps she is a happy cat.

Sthe son comes in, sees the full cup of coffee and the cat. He smilles.

The cat opens one eyye. She is wary of the son, his movements are so abrupt.

flightless

Sunday, 4th October

The Top of the park was reached with only

one stop to sit and catch

heath. This may

be a sign of the acute breathing problems  

Up at the top of the park, the children

are friendly, say hello. The parents are

grownups.

In the small zoo at the

top of the hill there

are four young ostriches, or Rheas, or

Kiwis, who knows. They seem to be young

birds, flightless and they are all grey.

Still, they are taller than most of the

children

feeding them.

Find an apple that has not gone bad

yet under the apple tree, and cut pieces

out of it.. Feed these to these birds. They

have long beaks, but they cannot really bite.

When one takes hold of a finger, a mistake,

this does not hurt. It does not even pinch.

A peck might be different.

But the birds are not big yet, and they

are still young, fluffy and nervous.

cat curiosity

 Saturday,30 October 2020

Get up, no alarms, a quiet, silent Saturday. Make morning coffee, there is a baguette and coffee and salami for a treat.

Neither the wife nor the son have risen yet. Place the French cup full of Italian-style German coffee on a sheet of paper,  on the top of which blood pressure values are scrawled, the last entry last night. The blood pressure is too high, says the doctor. Last Week.

Now the notes have a dual purpose, they prevent the bottom of the cup marking the surface of the table.

Later, when the cup has gone there are rings on the page where the cup had been. There is also the pill there for, or against, the blood pressure. And also a pill to calm down the inner glands, pills that do not really work.

There is daylight (5200°K) from the window, and lamplight from the lamp (3200°K). Use the mobile phone to take the picture, the rings, the pills, and a small brush for the interstices of the teeth. Publish the lot to Facebook.

Later , take the clothes up to the attic to hang them on the line there. The cat is up there too. She is being full of curiosity.

Then she gets sick in the corner.

 teeth. Publish the lot to Facebook

black jeans

Friday second of October.

so little happened this morning, there is

nothing to remember. Be awakened

from sleep

that should have gone on longer,

 by the soundsfrom the tablet. 

Find the way to the bathroom in

the dark, leaving the watch on the table on the way.

There is no need to shower The watch, even though it

- is supposed to be waterproof.

Turn on the water in the shower, then realise

that a shave would be good. Turn off the water

in the shower, tum it on for the wash hand basin

wash the face with hot water, apply shaving

foam, and then wipe it all off again with the

two-blade razor.

Then take a shower.

Back in the bedroom, fresh underwear from the wardrobe, get dressed. Tjhe cat is fussing about, go to the kitchen and put out some food for her. She is not hungry.

Make coffem return to the desk, take the funny pills as the doctors had ordered. The cat jumps onto the knees with a happy purr. There must be something wrong, this is unusual.

Bt then, cats change with time too.

Read the news. First hicks and then t+mt. Surely there are more important things in the  world.

But the cat is happy, on the black jeans.

organ

Thursday first of October 2020

The man comes into the office, to explain

the problem. It has to do with the construction

and analysis of organ pipes. In a sectional

drawing things had been done wrong, and

now could the rough scan of the simple

section please be corrected?.

There is just no way, after JPEG and PNG

and a bad scanner have done their damage.

But what of it, an hours work and the sketch will be redone, after all it is only a systematic thing.

There is a long lecture on organ pipes, or the people who make them, and the things that have only recently been understood.

A vibrating column of air, reverberating turbulence, fascinating for those who can

get their head around it.

Then he peaks of his difficulties, he will go on holidays for two weeks. His wife has shingles, a virus of an old and nasty sort. The story goes on, the shingles have been exacerbated by chemotherapy. The man is worried sick.

But still, he talks about his pipes.