I have decided to carry on with the general pattern of taking an official day off each Tuesday. The first week was a bit different but yesterday was the sort of thing I have in mind. I did some reading - Moby Dick and a book by Matthew Parris called Fracture which I managed to finish. It arises out of his Radio 4 series on Great Lives. In it he endeavours to argue that one key to greatness is some sort of early fracture - not that the setback guarantees anything but it can often begin there. Parris is aware what a sticky wicket he has chosen to bat on but he has a good stab at it. Part of the problem is his inability to define greatness or genius. His whole method is on a hiding to nothing as in the end it is God who judges people and the world's ideas of greatness seldom mesh with his. It makes for an interesting book, however, as we dip into the lives (mostly the early parts) of a diverse set of people including Edward Lear, Abraham Lincoln, Coco Chanel, Freddie Mercury, Marie Curie, Frida Kahlo, etc. I made a note to myself that I must check out Ashley Cooper Seventh Early of Shaftesbury.
I found time to read the paper and do the puzzles as well as getting a take away coffee and a sandwich for lunch. In the evening I watched a bit more of a documentary on Welsh history fronted by Huw Edwards. I enjoyed the section of Hywel Dda, Rhodri Mawr and just before about which I know next to nothing. After that I watched the final two episodes of Serpent a dramatisation of real events. Inevitably some of it is rather murky and caution is urged but it was quite a series
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