The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio

If last month's near miss was a close-run thing, the possibility of The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio receiving no further enhancements for two whole months in succession is positively unprecedented. With last month's article having been written and the final twenty-six minutes of June being wisely spent, this will happily be avoided, but a quick glance at the bottom of the Table of Contents reveals that we may soon be faced with a traditional chapter's worth (chapters in The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio traditionally contained eight articles, until there was a change in the law); I say, we may soon be faced with a traditional chapter's worth of interludes. Thus we may be breaking at least some new ground and making the unprecedented precedented.

But if these stylistic concerns are of no interest to you, let yourself be satisfied (since we are now entering the final twelve minutes of June) with the knowledge that I have on the 17th June taken the final exam for my Approaching Literature course, with the prospect of approximately seven study-free months ahead of me, during which I will be embarking on my grand career, to continue with my studying as a 'real-life', doing it how 'everybody' studying with the Open University does it, part-time student. More positive activities (since it is doing words in which many of you delight) include my joining MusicBrainz to begin contributing my vast musical knowledge to its archives; my acquisition of Tortoise's new album, Beacons of Ancestorship, their first album of original music for five years; and the less active activity, as far as I am concered, the Wimbledon Championships, in which I am whole-heartedly supporting our one and only hope, Andy Murray. On a final dour note, there still has been no sign of my mystery girl.

Word of the Week

Flit

flit /flɪt/ v. & n. —v.intr. (flitted, flitting) 1 move lightly, softly, or rapidly (flitted from one room to another). 2 fly lightly; make short flights (flitted from branch to branch). 3 Brit. colloq. leave one's house etc. secretly to escape creditors or obligations. 4 esp. Sc. & N.Engl. change one's home; move. —n. 1 an act of flitting. 2 (also moonlight flit) a secret change of abode in order to escape creditors etc. [ME f. ON flytia: rel. to FLEET⁵]

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

P.S. With great fortune, the article has been published at the time of "Tuesday, 30. Jun, 2009 – 23:10:37". We were in serious danger of slipping over out of June and into July (the exact time now, as I go back to edit in this postscript) being "Wed Jul 1 00:05:43 BST 2009", according to date, but we can thank a glitch in the system, or perhaps a newly updated method for dating our published articles, that we don't have a gaping hole in the archives. A very big thank you to (either of) them!

With great speed and dexterity, I manage in the dying throes of this May 2009 to save The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio from a fate to which it hasn't succumbed during these last two years. The danger of its happening is regrettable, but since my nature prevents me from unncessarily burdening those I dearly love, the reasons for it will not be forthcoming.

The important thing here is that something has been said, and when that state most fitting for the recollection of powerful emotions is attained, we can continue as we were.

Let's just tie up a few loose ends before I start to recount my travels in Dubai and Goa. William Wordsworth, in the Preface to his Lyrical Ballads, defined poetry as, 'the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquillity', and with a month of acclimatisation to home behind me, and the powerful feelings in a state to be recollected, the chapter to come promises to be one worth remembering.

But of course before we do go on, let me tell you about this! I've done two assignments since returning, and, considering that for the previous four I'd achieved 74, 74, 72 and 72, what you suppose I got for these most recent two? If you're mathematically inclined and a connoisseur of patterns, you may suppose 70 and 70 would be lovely, if improbable, marks; and, if so, I'd have to give you a virtual pat on the back and type, 'That's it! That's exactly what I got!' So I hardly need reiterate that ... (comes a voice from below) 'If you hardly need reiterate it, don't! Christ, these bloody upstarts! They can string a few words together, and suddenly reckon themselves to be writers, allowing themselves to write reams and reams about the same damn things! You've made the point: move on!' So I shall.

(With only fifteen minutes until the final episode of The Wire I must get straight on to the Word of the Week. No time to mention anything else. See you in the next chapter...)

Word of the Week

Pattern

pattern /ˈpæt(ə)n/ n. & v. —n. 1 a repeated decorative design on wallpaper, cloth, a carpet, etc. 2 a regular or logical form, order, or arrangement of parts (behaviour pattern; the pattern of one's daily life. 3 a model or design, e.g. of a garment, from which copies can be made. 4 an example of excellence; an ideal; a model (a pattern of elegance). 5 a wooden or metal figure from which a mould is made for casting. 6 a sample (of cloth, wallpaper, etc.). 7 the marks made by shots, bombs, etc. on a target or target area. 8 a random combination of shapes or colours. —v.tr. 1 (usu. foll. by after, on) model (a thing) on a design etc. 2 decorate with a pattern. [ME patron (see PATRON): differentiated in sense and spelling since the 16th-17th c.]

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

Second (half) hope, dashed: 15th April 2009.

It's a funny old experience being admired, and one with which I am less than well acquainted. I mean, we move about the place catching glimpses of our fellow people, their expressions, gait, the people they're with, and although we cannot ourselves feel alone and unobserved in the environs of a busy railway station, we are not so vain as to suppose anyone to be looking on us, simply looking on us, let alone looking on us with anything like the admiration with which we find ourselves looking upon that rare person who takes our eye and sends our heart cascading.

Trying to remember the face of the girl who wanted my phone number last week, I entered Piccadilly Railway Station at exactly the same time as I did last Friday and headed over to see the big board indicating that the 19:18 to Hadfield will be leaving, as it did last week, from Platform 1. Seating myself to wait where I'd first seen her - her flowing blonde hair, rather - I hoped she would be making the same journey so I could apologise for my earlier rash behaviour and give her the address of this blog, so she could have a read and see if she wouldn't be put off me entirely.

She didn't appear, however, and the small glimpse I had of her face and smile before boarding our train last Friday must satisfy me for some more time yet.

Word of the Week

Glimpse

glimpse /glɪmps/ n. & v. —n. (often foll. by of) 1 a momentary or partial view (caught a glimpse of her). 2 a faint and transient appearance (glimpses of the truth). —v. 1 tr. see faintly or partly (glimpsed his face in the crowd). 2 intr. (often foll. by at) cast a passing glance. 3 intr. a shine faintly or intermittently. b poet. appear faintly; dawn. [ME glimse corresp. to MHG glimsen f. WG (as GLIMMER)]

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

Studying Profusely (ongoing, until complete)

In just a fraction of the alloted time have I completed all of the studying for the previous block (and an accidental one week of the next) in my course, Approaching literature, and yesterday made a sparkling start to the assigment, TMA05 - 'A discussion of the ways in which narrative method and the perspective from which the story is told are used to address the theme of female marginalisation in patriarchal society, with reference to Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl''. Still this is the priority until completed, when I'll have some genuine time to contact my friends after being on my travels, to mix these recordings I've done with Yarema to put on OurSpace, and to get the website into a visitable state. Ah! and to sort out all the photos we took in Dubai and Goa to put on a DVD for Stan.

Kikujiro Coincidence (some evenings ago)

Would you believe that when Kikujiro first asked little Masao to suggest two numbers to bet on at the races, the first two numbers to come into your head, both Masao and I suggested '6 and 3'.

Electric Fences (over the following days)

An interesting development since coming back has been that our dishwasher seems to be on its last legs, and keeps tripping the electricity, rendering the downstairs sockets unusable (and unturnbackonable) until the system has cooled down a little.

Also on the subject of electrical failures, I managed to screw up the Linpus Linux Lite installation on my Acer Aspire One, inspiring me to upgrade (here is a proper usage of the word - I have in the past been advised to 'upgrade' from Fedora 8 to windows xp, in order to 'keep up to speed' with somebody else's ancient systems); I say, this destruction of LLL inspiring me to upgrade to Fedora 10. Beautiful Fedora 10 'Cambridge'. XFCE is the desktop environment of choice, with the thin panel on the left hand side to compliment the widescreen display. SLiM has been chosen to manage my logins, and Fluxbox is a thought which keeps occurring, for future installation and even less power consumption (if using less RAM equates to using less electricity).

Transport Lottery (last and this Friday)

Have you noticed that the trains (at least around Greater Manchester) have taken a nose-dive in their user-friendliness ratings? The conductors, ticket checkers and shop attendants (and, we must assume, the modestly hidden train drivers themselves) are all as friendly, if not friendlier than they ever have been, but the times of the trains have been shifted so as to make it fairly awkward to make journeys more than one leg long. Nevertheless, I've had a reasonable amount of luck with them since my return. Last Friday, upon undertaking my first train journey since being oversees, I'd got to Hazel Grove Railway station at about bang on 17:31, with the train due to go at that time, asked the gentleman in the ticket office if I'd missed it, was told not and that I could go and try to get it, ran over the bridge in state not too dissimilar from desperation and found the conductor on the platform next to the train, waiting for me to board. Getting to Piccadilly for the next leg to Guide Bridge was less lucky because the intended one was cancelled, leaving a half-an-hour's wait. Getting back from these damn rehearsals (two, since returning) has been pretty unlucky, too. Both times I've missed the intended train from Guide Bridge, forcing me to go for the bus (the 219, if I recall), and then it's been hit or miss whether I've picked up a train from there to home. Yesterday worked out to be a mixture of both bad and good luck. Bad luck because I got to Platform 10 for the 21:52 just after the doors had closed, with the next and last one to Hazel Grove being at 23:10. Sodding that for a burden, I went for the 22:20 to Stockport, and then, after learning from the taxi drivers that it'll cost a whopping £10 to take me from Grand Central to the Fiveways, (here's the good luck) I walked through Grand Central itself to the A6, saw a 192 (which I was heading for) setting off homeward from the stop, got right to the A6 and there was a 199 waiting for me. I hopped on and asked the lovely driver if she could take me to the stop just before Mill Lane on Buxton Road. She knew the one I meant, and ten minutes later, let me know we were there, and I was soon home.

Unlikely Cassanova (yesterday evening)

But earlier in the evening, while I was still at Piccadilly Railyway Station on my way into Ashton, I had something of a small adventure. After sorting out my toileting and getting a Twirl from Sainsbury's for 49p (Daniela could keep the penny), while meandering my way to Platform 1 for the 19:18 to Hadfield, turning the corner onto the platform proper, I heard a voice slowing receding into the distance saying 'Excuse me', to me! thought I, and turned around to see what was up. Three girls were sitting down, and as I advanced, the middle one said, 'Could she have your number?' indicating her friend to my left. The request was declined (not for any personal reasons you must understand, my darling!), and off I went with us all on amicable terms. A few minutes later it turned out that they also were getting on the 19:18 to Hadfield, and after exchanging grins with my admirer we boarded (separately), and they all lived happily ever after.

Cricketing Confusion (last night)

Some late night hilarity, as I discovered that England won the first ODI in the West Indies, after the Windies going off for bad light while being one run behind according to the Duckworth Lewis System. Nice.

Word of the Week

Coincidence

coincidence /kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns/ n.

1. a. The fact or condition of being coincident; the occupation of the same place or part of space.

b. (with pl.) A case of coincidence.

2. Occurrence or existence at the same time; simultaneous occurrence or existence.

3. a. Exact agreement or correspondence in substance, nature, character, etc.

b. (with pl.) An instance of such agreement or correspondence.

4. A notable concurrence of events or circumstances having no apparent causal connexion.

5. Of persons: Agreement or concurrence (in opinion or sentiment).

6. Falling together, conjunction blending. Obs.

7. a. Physics. The indication of the occurrence of ionizing particles in two or more detectors simultaneously (see quot. 1958). Also attrib. Cf. ANTI-COINCIDENCE.

b. Computers. Equivalent signals received simultaneously in an electronic circuit; the reception of such signals. Also attrib.

Definition courtesy of the OED Online

Let us see if we meet again.

Hold onto your horses. I'm back from a wonderful visit to Dubai and Goa, but finding myself three weeks and one assignment behind with my studies I must devote my time to that. Once I've caught up with my course there will be much to tell, much to remember and much to love.

My dear old reader,

Over three and a half years since its inception, through the multitude of plots and exploits of the motley cast of characters, the narrative thread of The Life and Times of Miblo del Carpio is to very shortly change direction and pursue a course entirely other from its history extant.

For an historic journey, previously barely mentioned in a cautious effort not to tempt that devious Fate (if indeed she does exist to be tempted), is to be begun tomorrow: I set out in the afternoon to Mossley where my grandparents live, to pass an interval of one day there, then on the Tuesday morning will my uncle Stanley arrive and out we fly from Manchester Airport at 14:05, passing through Doha in Qatar at 00:05 local time, and arriving in the early hours of the morning over there to spend two weeks with our family in Dubai. Whence we then go on to a place of some importance in my family history: for four precious days we will visit Goa in India, the birthplace of my grandparents.

Lest Fate be in the mood for being tempted, here I stop, and when you next hear word from me I will be breaking free of this cocoon in which I've lain these many years, and flourishing my wings anew.

Word of the Week

Metamorphosis

metamorphosis /ˌmetəˈmɔːfəsɪs/ n. 1 a The action of process of changing in form, shape, or substance; esp. transformation by supernatural means. b A metamorphosed form or state. Obs. 2 A complete change in the appearance, circumstances, condition, or character of a person, a state of affairs, etc. 3 a Biol. Change of form in an animal (or plant), or its parts, during post-embryonic development; spec. the process of transformation from an immature form to a different adult form that many insects and other invertebrates, and some vertebrates (e.g. frogs), undergo in the course of maturing. Also: an instance of this. b Biol. (chiefly Bot.). Evolutionary change in the form of an organ. Also (Bot.): change of one type of organ into another as an abnormal process, as in staminody or petalody. Also: an instance of such change. Now rare. The use of this sense in botany was influenced by Goethe's Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen (1790). c Histol. and Pathol. Change of form in a cell or tissue; growth or repair of tissue. Now rare exc. in fatty metamorphosis n. accumulation of lipid in the cytoplasm of cells, esp. of the liver. d Chem. and Biochem. A chemical reaction, esp. one involving catalytic or enzymatic action; a metabolic change; metabolism (esp. catabolism). Obs.

Definition courtesy of the OED Online

Were it not for your articles on the subject, Monsieur Walrus, the appearance of the word 'Phorm' on Wikipedia's article about them may not have been entirely enough to dissuade us from signing up with TalkTalk.

But it did take some serious-ish research to discover this piece of intelligence: the lovely girl who came bawling her wares revealed nothing about Phorm, naturally; TalkTalk's website avoids the word like the plague it is; and I haven't had the heart to navigate around the toxic site of Phorm itself to see if their information corroborates that found on the Wikipedia Article.

Perhaps unwisely, my parents, who had upon the girl's appearance called me over for what assistance I could offer, registered an interest with them, upon which the girl - let us say 'salesperson' - apparently (for I had since retired to the kitchen after giving what advice I could) asked to use our telephone in order to register the interest with the company, and went on to give their bank details to the other salesperson presumably sitting in TalkTalk headquarters, upon the information that bank details are only required to check that the owners aren't 'blacklisted' or thing like that.

I think the moral of the story is to be ever-vigilant, and to always do ones research before so much as offering a salesperson a crisp. These people will do anything they can to squeeze as much money out of whatever information they can gather. Protect your information - nobody else will do it for you.

Word of the Week

Thank

thank /θæŋk/ v. & n. —v.tr. 1 express gratitude to (thanked him for the present). 2 hold responsibility (you can thank yourself for that). —n. (in pl.) 1 gratitude (expressed as heartfelt thanks). 2 an expression of gratitude (give thanks to Heaven). 3 (as a formula) thank you (thanks for your help; thanks very much). [OE thancian, thanc f. Gmc, rel. to THINK]

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary