tight as a coil of twisted wire

[hawkwing_lb]

Books 2009: 50-51


51. Anthony Price, October Men.

The fourth 1970s spy novel I've read by Price. This one involves the adventures of David Audley in Italy, North Sea oil, Soviets (of course), and government bureaucracy. Quite good.

It's a little odd to read these, really. They're a window into a very different world. I've never lived when Russia was The Enemy (111!!) of freedom and democracy (such as they are), despite Ireland's pathological screwed-up neutrality. They're just another (sort of European sort of Asian sort of in-between) nation, albeit one a bit more bellicose, corrupt and repressive than one might wish (though much the same might be said for the US). So it's rather fascinating to watch Cold War era paranoia in fiction.


non-fiction:

52. Josef Wiesehofer, Ancient Persia, London and New York, 1996.

One of the standard introductory works to the topic. Arranged broadly chronological, with each different dynasty divided thematically into discussions of military, social conditions, evidence, etc. Rather dry, and perhaps a little pedestrian. But I know a bit more about Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanians than I did before.

---

The physiotherapist says the only thing wrong with my shoulder is the fact that the muscles were tight as twisted wire and knotted to boot. After a half-hour of torture, she gave me some stretches and instuctions to try to drop my shoulders, not hunch them. I'm cleared to exercise and climb again, though I'm leaving any restart of the training plan until tomorrow.

The cat should come home on Friday. By then we should know whether he'll last out the next few weeks.

I also need to start seriously thinking about packing my rucksack for my month-long Archaeological Adventure. See if everything fits.

Comments

[saoba.livejournal.com]

Re: shoulder. Try setting a timer and once every hour or so stop, take a couple of deep breaths and roll your shoulders forward five times, backwards five time, repeat. Or stop, deliberately pull your shoulders up high and tight, hold for a count of five then breath out and relax them. You'll usually let them drop below where they were being held before.

Re Russia: back in the Cretaceous Age or thereabouts I was in my senior year of high school and we took a senior trip to New York City and Washington DC. One day they took us on a tour at the United Nations, which was pretty interesting. Then they brought us into a conference room and we got to have a little 'yay for the UN' talk from a memeber of a delegation.

I've always suspected there was a rotation and every morning somewhere in the building a secretary said 'It's our day to do the pep talk to teenagers' and a UN delegate said 'Make Ivanovich do it, he's really getting on my nerves.'

So- room full of teenagers who, once this is over, get to ride the buses back to the hotel and have three hours of 'on your own' time before dinner and the Radio City Music Hall outing. Add one lower level Russian bureaucrat. Have a member of the US delegation suggest that while we are all thus safely corralled the chaperones might like a quick coffee.

Russian gives his set talk, only half noticing there are no other adults in the room. Finishes talk, looks at watch, announces there is time for a few brief questions.

I suspect he meant questions about the UN.

I further suspect he had not fully internalized the fact this was not a bog standard group of American teens, but a mix of American teens and exchange students from all over the world.

I am absolutely sure the kid from Norway asking him a question about Russian nukes was not on the game plan. Nor the followup from the Spanish kid about the failure of the communist system as practiced in the Soviet Union.

Yeah, it got a little tense there for a bit.

It was the first time I was ever called nekulturniy. He turned a very funny color when the Danish kid asked him to spell that so we could ask our teachers what it meant.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice about the shoulder. It sounds useful.

Oh, my. That certainly sounds like a most interesting Q&A. Did the Russian actually answer the questions?

[clarentine]

It was the first time I was ever called nekulturniy. He turned a very funny color when the Danish kid asked him to spell that so we could ask our teachers what it meant.

Ha! Oh, that would have been fun to be a part of. Poor junior Soviet diplomat. *g*

[clarentine]

I also need to start seriously thinking about packing my rucksack for my month-long Archaeological Adventure. See if everything fits.

Isn't the rule something like, if it all fits, you're not taking enough? *g*

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Usually the rule works out to "If it all fits, you've taken too much." :P

[clarentine]

"If it all fits, you've taken too much luggage." ;-P

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Yep. :)