Sunday, May 29, 2016

Sidetrack no 1

I am becoming more and more convinced that it is the sidetracks in life that are really important. It is not all those plans you make (it is good to make them to give a direction but they never really work out) but it is the sidetracks. The unexpected. The funny or shocking. Those are the ones you will remember.

So here is a slight sidetrack. For whatever reason our youngest son has taken an interest in Egyptian mythology. I think it started with the Sphinx but I am not sure and to be honest I don't care. Any interest in anything not being watching TV is good from my point of view.

So we have a cat named Scruff (as she looked a bit scruffy when we more or less catnapped her from a friend) that is, well, kind of special. I guess most cat lovers say that. And (sidetrack) I was not really a cat lover before Scruff.

Now I am having long discussions with Eric over Bastet, the cat goddess of the ancient Egypt. I claim Scruff is Bastet in reincarnation and Eric, rather naturally, claims she is not an Egyptian Goddess.

Verdict still out there.

Sidetracks. There will be more to come

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Internet life is sometimes strange and take you places

Since internet really started taking off with first email (I remember when I had an account and in the area of like 5 people to email to), mailing lists, then blogs and now "social" networks you occasionally get some really strange "path crossings". Just like in that thing we on internet call "IRL" (in real life, case you did not know).

I have since around 1998 been a member of a somewhat loosely knitted community of "Swedes living abroad". It is kind of amazing, I remember a very odd event when I was locked in an office with a person who was trying to pretend he was from the police. The rest of the staff had gone to fetch a proper police officer. Being the one I am I was online and chatting and immediately got posts like "I can call the Embassy, do you need help, are you OK".

It also gave me the opportunity of celebrating the famous new year 2000 in Australia, hours ahead of most of my friends. And in good company for sure.

But to get to the point, we discuss all sorts of stuff between us. And somehow (this was years ago) I got into a discussion with a lady about a certain Lindsay Kemp who taught David Bowie miming and dancing around 1967.

To which I get the reply "yes I knew them both in those days, used to visit the place they lived quite often. Lindsay was so in love he tried to commit suicide when David left". Well hit me with a hammer or something. OK I was 6 years old or so at the time when that happened and Kemp was more famous than Bowie (am not even sure he had changed his surname yet) but even so.

And now Kemp has confirmed that story:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/24/lindsay-kemp-destined-for-stardom-david-bowie-kate-bush