Back on Grid!
Twelve days of Roman ruins, women’s cricket [The Ashes], and Indian food in Birmingham, London, Bath, and Chichester with oldest son.
Turns out cricket is a Very Big Deal [some of you already knew that] and The Ashes is an England/Australia rivalry dating back to the 1880s. Here’s a link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes
And to Lord’s where the London matches are played:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s
As arcane as cricket lingo is to American ears, it’s not at all hard to get into once you know the basics. Here’s one more link:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/
As to Roman ruins: It was my second trip to Bath and besides the Roman baths, it’s a swell place to practice being a flâneur [great French word going back to Old Norse, “to wander about with no purpose.” But we also hit two un-touristy Roman sites in West Sussex, Fishbourne and Bignor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbourne_Roman_Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bignor_Roman_Villa
I have a thing about mosaics hidden in the ground.
New reading/writing/list-making posts coming in a few days. In the meantime: We’re up to 59 subscribers thanks to you earlybirds. What if each of you scared up one more? Too lofty a goal? I think not. Here’s the thing: passing on what I’ve stumbled onto in a lifetime of reading gives me a big hunk of satisfaction, and helps fight off the demon of pointlessness [that last bit too melodramatic? Yeah, I thought so, too, but I’m leaving it in].
Check back soon.
New subscribers: Scroll down to this Substack’s first three posts to get the gist of what I’m up to here.
Ongoing Projects:
a) Shelter from the Storm:
Here's the concept: Each of us has a small cache of books we know and esteem that even other readers like us likely don't know—our discoveries, books we feel a special need to keep out of the clutches of oblivion. I invite you to recommend one.
The details:
One per subscriber [for now].
Tell us why, in one sentence.
When there's enough for a list, I'll post.
You can have your name attached, or not—up to you.
b) Birth Year Project: A standing invitation
You supply your birth year [in a comment]; I'll respond with a short list of books published that year—the popular/well-known titles first, then some books I'd recommend. If your year's already been used, fret not; I'll do a fresh one.
Extra credit: You read one of the books (ideally one you're unfamiliar with), then tell me what you thought. If we get enough of these, I'll aggregate and post.
Interesting that you say cricket isn’t too hard to get into! The common consensus among Australians (those who don’t religiously watch the sport, that is) is that it’s incredibly boring for spectators. Sounds like a good trip and good to have you back!!