OCCUPIED COUNTRY

School's Out

The past two days have seen me acting the 'typical male' and staying in my bed for most of the day with only my 'severe bout of *flu*' for company. Apart of course from the medical concoctions, radio and books. Yesterday I finally finished the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. A remarkable achievement to produce a popular children's book that is so anti-church in all its forms. How he gets away with it I'll never know. Good job it was Christianity he picked or he might be holed up with Salman Rushdie right now.

After that tour-de-force I set off with David Nobbs on the story of his life so far. A superb, easy read that is one moment hilarious and the next......a bit like his novels really. I was quite amazed to discover that he'd been raped while still a young man. The humour shines through though. It's a great gift to have to be able to make people laugh. Boy did he succeed with me. On describing his fascination with the Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies of the late 50s/early 60s he says:

The two stars weren't bad either. Doris Day playing a virgin and Rock Hudson playing a macho heterosexual - that was acting.

After, it was more Nobbs so to speak as I began to reread 'Second From Last in the Sack Race', Pratt of the Argus' and 'The Cucumber Man' in an omnibus edition.

I hope this life-threatening illness deserts me before the weekend as Dearest and I are off for four days to Nice. I can't imagine promenading down the Promenade Des Anglais would be much fun with gallons of snot pouring out of me.