It’s been a quiet couple of days and I haven’t left the premises except to walk the dog. Did I mention that Ben had been to stay this week? If not, it’s a bit late, as he went back to his new home this afternoon.
I did want a rest and I must admit that I’m pretending not to see a job that I really must do (a matter of writing a couple of letters and filling in some forms) but I’m finding inaction a bit of a drag. I’ve dusted both days, and that’s just silly. Though I have found the corners that my cleaners overlook. It certainly shows why I keep busy, though, wouldn’t want to have to resort to that too often.
I had an email from a dear friend today, apologising for not having replied earlier to my last, but he doesn’t get to the computer very often – it was the clearest possible hint that he prefers proper letters. Yes, that’s all well and good, but I hate writing letters by hand. For one thing, I do it so rarely that my handwriting is terrible and my hand aches after a few minutes and for another, typing gives one a record. I wrote to my friend Sheila in Atlanta before Christmas and, when I had her reply, I couldn’t remember what I’d said. I’m afraid I typed the next letter, explaining both matters (awful writing, lack of memory of what I’d said to whom) and I can only hope she didn’t mind. I know already that my pal would hate that. There is no way to please both of us.
Having a dog in the house had its effect: I forgot to lock the door last night. I don’t mind being alone in the house, but I do make sure I lock the doors and put the alarm on.
Oh, I know what I meant to ask you. They’ve been dramatising Little Women on Radio 4Extra recently and now they’ve moved on to Good Wives. What I wonder is, am I the only person who finds Jo deeply annoying? I never liked her when I read it as a child and I don’t like her now. Yet traditionally, girls are supposed to identify with her and I don’t know why. She’s rude and ungainly on the grounds that she abhors girliness, but being just plain rude isn’t feminist. I don’t like any of the girls much, but Jo is certainly the worst.
I was bitten by a mosquito or similar insect last night, on my cheek, which is swollen and painful. I have put on some anti-histamine cream – or rather, I did that this morning – but what’s with biting insects in February? If it happens again, I’ll have to start using mosquito repellent again, as I did a couple of months ago when I couldn’t catch one of the little beasts.
I read Little Women and also the sequel Little Men many years ago . Jo really was irritating and bossy, how did Marmee* ever handle the emotions/behavior of her daughters? Can’t remember if it was Amy or Beth that was my favorite.
*and what kind of bizarre nickname is it for a mother to be called Marmee, anyway?
Sorry, i have not read the books you mention.
But I see “Schnacken” / mosquitoes already flying around and can already use an antihistaminicum because some pollen seemingly are around. Incredible.
Beth was the one who died, which was oddly totally accepted – considering the father was a doctor, you’d think he’d have tried to cure her. A girl at school used to call her mother Marmee, once she’d read the books. I don’t think I ever got as far as Little Men. Once Jo, despite all her protestations of independence, married that peculiar German man and was completely dominated by him, I lost interest entirely.
American books written for teenage girls, set during and after the American Civil War, Mago, I’d be surprised if you had read them. I’m sorry you suffer from hay fever, that’s something that hardly affects me.
Thank You for clarifying – “Gone with the Wind” ad usum Delphini.