Personal Blogs

After half a century

I’ve never forgotten how we met then

Waiting at that bus stop.

That new road, it's dual carriageway on both sides.

Tonight such an odd wind blew

The doors resisted closing.

They whinnied and cried at their latches.

The leaves in the gutters scuttled restlessly.

They blew off and threw themsleves back again.

The trees creaked and cried out.

They squeaked like ghosts.

The chimney pots seemed unaffected, although

They must have known.

Tonight such an odd wind has blown.

B. How did you taste?

These beautiful crocuses are out unusually early. Perhaps winter has not been so cold after all, or perhaps the purple slate we put down has absorbed more sunlight and warmed the soil.    

Crocus seems to come from Latin and Greek, κρόκος, in turn borrowed from words in Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic that mean saffron. Crocus is modern but the OED says Old English had croh, although I haven't found a source for the word.

All my life I've been laughed at. I grew up on the wrong side of the cracks.

Q. What’s the difference between a dresser for storing clothes, and a comedian's underwear?

A. One is a chest of drawers and the other is a jester's drawers.

"I love your solitaire diamond", said Tom admiringly.

I used to work for this particular company. Then I moved to one that didn't give a monkey's.

I used to breed German shepherds. But there's no demand for shepherds anymore. Especially German speaking ones.

Basalt: often associated with Attery

Beryl: risk of head cold

Dolomite: US purchasing power

Gneiss: gnot gnasty

Gold: often in head

Granite: woolen garments produced by older female relative

Marble: wife of Parble

Quartz: two-pint bottles

Salt: often associated with battery

Slate: time for bed

'Synchronicity' is the idea that events can happen at the same time because of a deep principle of the universe that depends, not on cause and effect, but on meaning.

To be clear, I don't think it is real effect. It was put forward by Carl Jung (who I think believed in a collective unconscious that somehow makes us all part of a greater whole) and later adopted by others, among them Arthur Koestler, who wrote in The roots of coincidence about (the details are from memory) meeting someone at a bus stop. A clear winter night, and Koestler pointed out the constellation Orion. The man said his name was O'Ryan, and showed the back of his hand, with seven small moles that looked exactly like the constellation.

A few days ago I came across an article about synchronicity in a journal published by the Royal Statistical Society. Its main idea, I think, was to explore whether statistics could be used to examine claims for synchronicity.

Shortly after that I was looking at the cartoons of Gustave Verbeek - see earlier post - and this reminded me of an odd experience I once had. 

Here I feel a little like a Victorian literary character, sitting in a club, saying “You must make up your own minds Gentlemen, about this true story that once happened to me.” And then I would puff reflectively at my cigar before beginning.

'I came across Verbeek first in the 25-year long column written by Martin Gardner in in Scientific American, until 1979. I was an avid follower all that time, but couldn’t get a copy every month, sometimes the newsagent would have sold out.

One night, passing through Kings Cross station, seeing a W.H.Smith shop - here's the important bit -

I knew I should visit the shop and buy Scientific American, and it would MENTION ME.  

I did and it did. My hero Martin Gardner had referred to a small article I had written. I had absolutely no reason to expect this, we had never corresponded, I had no information about what his next topic would be, I am not famous and this was the single work of mine that he ever mentioned.

But I have never forgotten the feeling I had at the time, that this was destined.’

They were playing chicken.