Trials and tribulations

Waking up with random phrases rolling around in the brain is a fairly common occurrence. Some profound insight, or the solution to an intractable problem that blazed so brightly at 3am fades to a charcoal smudge of words. The fug of gradually-emerging-from-sleep is spent turning over the shape, the impression of it, to find what, if any, significance clings on. Sometimes it feels like this is the most productive part of my day. [I'm for sure more of an owl than a lark (it's a real thing, honest) but mental processing power seems waaaay more acute in the 10 (15, 20?) minutes that occur between waking and the horror of opening eyes and flumping out of bed.]

fresh brain, ready for harvesting

A recent morning's conundrum was 'trials and tribulations'. It's a vaguely annoying phrase, but is it just tired alliteration or a legal doublet? A rabbit hole of examples was duly fallen down; 'infangthief and outfangthief', 'toll and team' and 'sac and soc' (matron) were new ones on me. These exist for the sake of precision, although they may now be pleonasms (yes, I learnt a new word and am thrilled to be finally able to use it). What other techniques could we employ to have greater clarity in our language? Borrowing ideas from other languages to describe a concept that English doesn't have a word for is, of course, excellent fun. However, introducing a new expression into the lexicon produces a bell curve of appreciation over time: 'oh, what a novel observation, how interesting' at the beginning, 'yes, I understand exactly' at the end and 'my, aren't you a tedious, bandwagon-clambering wanker' in the middle. E.g. hygge (although it is debateable whether anyone *really* understands the definition). I recently stumbled upon 'uitwaaien', a Dutch concept that has no direct translation, but means something along the lines of 'going outside and mindfully experiencing the wind blowing on you and consequently reducing your stress levels'. Sort of like getting a breath of fresh air, but with more letting go. I wholly concur with this ... up to a point ... coz, man, some days too much buffeting can make me really grumpy.

Not for nothing do Dutch cyclists refer to the wind as 'the invisible mountain'

Delight of the week: Three Bean Salad Podcast, episode 'Rome'. Benjamin Partridge and Mike Wozniak (both of Beef and Dairy Network fame – swoon) join Henry Paker in bringing their razor-sharp minds to an analysis of listener-suggested topics. Joyously, some slight tangent led to the creation of 'the Pomidou Section' wherein they transparently wrangle over how the hell to construct a podcast. Conclusion on the Eternal City; Nero, 'such an absolute prick'. Every day's a school day, kids.

Art snippet of the week: a recollection of Alexander Calder informed today's project. 'Serious playing' seems like a good description of his approach. An example to try and emulate.

Tot straks!