Letter to Rebecca #24-14

The big clear-out, a devilish crossword clue, and futuristic art

In which Terry talks about maps, the weather and the female:male ratio on courses, amongst other things

Yo, Rebecca

Thank you for your letter. Before I get started, I thought you’d like to know that I’m having a big clearout at the moment. For example:

Minty, by Terry Freedman

That should save us a few bob¹.

Now on to your letter.

Street art? Don’t make me larf!

Your response to my comment that Elaine and I had been photobombed (see below) by two completely random strangers was to say that we’d been featured in street art. I have to say I feel much better about the experience now.

Photo by Jim Holden

My most treasured memory in this regard was the graffiti I saw scrawled on the bus stop near the school I was working in at the time. I was pretty strict². One day, I’d had to take my car in for a service, and so had to take the bus. When I alighted I saw these poetic words in thick black permanent marker over the bus timetable:

Hitler Freedman must go.

Ah, those were the days.

Summer daze

Your comment about the weather made me smile. You said:

The weather has improved in these parts since your letter arrived. Summer is here, and I’m hoping it sticks around for more than a couple of days.

July weather is now, it seems to me, back to normal: sunny days interspersed with torrential rain. Elaine remembers sitting with her parents in the car on the seafront eating fish and chips, watching the rain cascading over the windscreen and as far as the eye could see. My own holidays with my ancestors were spent, quite often, walking around in raincoats seeking shelter in a café. So I see all this as a good thing really.

Music in nature

Thanks for sharing the clip of someone playing a clarinet along with frogs and other creatures leaping about. I can see that it’s clever, but I wonder how the animals experience it, and whether it interferes with the messages they’re (presumably) giving out. Sorry to be a party pooper, but I prefer just the sounds of Nature when I’m in Nature.

Circular tube map

I hadn’t heard of the circular tube map. It looks quite attractive, and I think one would make a great gift to someone you don’t like. I mean, it would be a miracle if they managed to find their way around London with one!

No doubt you know that the tube map we’ve come to know and love is designed like a circuit diagram? It shows the stations in their relative positions to each other, but is not accurate geographically. Thus stations that appear to be a long way from each other may, in fact, be quite close. I discovered this a few years ago when I decided to get the bus instead of the train. By doing so I cut the journey from 45 minutes to 15. In fact, since then I’ve walked it, and that took only half an hour.

I remember trying to work out how to get from A to B using street maps for outer London, in pre-internet days. The lines and stations shown are geographically accurate, and trying to work out which line goes to which station was enough to make you turn grey. Part of the problem, of course, is that many of the lines and stations are near the standard tube map ones, but often don’t intersect, so every journey is a logistical nightmare!

Crossword clues

Your crossword clue was quite challenging. Thanks for confirming that I had the correct answer:

Disapprove of PM interrupting cheer from the back (8)

We’re looking for a word meaning disapprove of. To get it we have to think of a word meaning “cheer”, reverse it (because of the instruction “from the back”) and then put the letters “PM” inside it (because of the instruction “interrupting”).

Thus we get:

Hurrah —> Harruh

Putting PM inside it we get:

Harrumph.

Very challenging. Now it’s my turn.

This one was in The Times recently:

Grasping leg shown by sailor with sex appeal, you may be this! (7,2,1,3)

Good luck!

Othello, and tech issues

Yesterday I attended my course on Othello. When the tutor went to show us a clip from a film, the technology decided to storm off in a huff. It reminded me of the time when, ten minutes before I was due to run a large-scale training session with over a hundred teachers on how to use the internet, the borough’s wireless system packed up. Fortunately they managed to get it up and running in time. That would have been interesting!

Oulipo, or writing with constraints

I’m sure you’ll enjoy The Penguin Book of Oulipo. It’s very informative, and contains numerous examples of Oulipian writing. A few days ago I bought George Perec’s Life: A User's Manual in a second-hand bookshop. I’ve tried reading it before and couldn’t get on with it. But as this was in pristine condition and half the price of a new copy, I thought I should give it a whirl.

Futuristic London at night

I was amaazed at how accurate this is. Here’s a challenge: can you identify the main London landmarks?

Picture created by Pixlr

And finally…

There are five people signed up to my blogging course on Sunday, and they are all female. I’ve found that on every literature course and writing course I’ve been on, or taught, the number of female students far outweighs the number of males. Why do you think that is? I look forward to hearing your theory.

To anyone reading this missive, you can see the whole archive here. Rebecca should reply next Wednesday, so make sure you don’t miss that by subscribing to hers.

Thanks for reading!

1. For non-Brits, a bob is the nickname for an old shilling, which was worth twelve old pence. But when we converted to a decimal currency in 1971, the shilling became a five pence piece. I hope that’s all perfectly clear.

2. This fact is relevant.