lifestyle – Page 17 – don't confuse the narrator

gender agendas

I’ve mentioned to several people recently that I don’t seem to have many ideas for new writing, and although I know it’s only a small sample, their reactions seem to clearly support the idea that men and women use language for different purposes.

From the women there have been vague sympathetic noises, general clichéd reassurances that the tide’s bound to turn, and reminders that it’s not the first time I’ve complained of lack of ideas.

The men, though, have offered ‘solutions’.
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costumes and customs

Years ago (in our world before digital cameras, hence no photos) we were asked by a friend to make a costume for his son for the school carnival celebration. I don’t really know why he thought we would be good people to ask, but clearly as bar owners he and his wife had little free time for handicrafts.

He gave us a cardboard box and told us what the costume should be, but the details were up to us. Several rolls of aluminium foil later, and with the addition of such details as stick-on dollar signs, a coin slot and tray, and a dangling electric plug, we had created a rather wonderful one-armed bandit that won the prize for best costume.
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bonnets and bobbles, Tam o’ Shanters and tassels

In Ávila
the church towers all wear
Tam o’ Shanter storks nests

Actually, it’s not just the churches; any tall roof may sport a heap of sticks at a rakish angle like a French beret or a Scottish tam.

Except, of course, when the whole building roof or dome appears to be the bonnet and the nest is just the toorie – the bobble on the top.
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excuses

It’s been longer than usual since the last blog update and I was wondering what excuse to make. I wasn’t sure whether to say I’d been too busy or just not had any ideas. Then I remembered the notes I made the other morning while I stopped off for breakfast in the hotel bar in the village.

The TV was on – is there a bar in the whole of Spain that doesn’t have a television on all the hours the place is open? – showing some kind of morning magazine programme. Although the sound was on, there were three other people in the place (that includes the barman) and the conversation – jumping back and forth between the farthest corners and behind the bar – was sufficiently loud to drown out most of what was going on, but I managed to gather some of it.
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not so dusty

I like to start the new year with a clean house, but as I was away for several weeks from mid-December this year, that annual ritual went by the board.

Ever adaptable, I’m now looking at the Chinese New Year – January 23rd – as a spur to domesticity, so, in tribute to the Water Dragon, I started cleaning last weekend in the downstairs living area.

Like most of the women I know, I’m quite good at the lick-and-a-promise type of cleaning that can transform a room in five minutes when you suddenly realise the in-laws are due at any moment.
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