Today's little bit of Esperanto:
Ni ne havas varman akvon. Hieraux la pipoj por varma akvo krevis, inundanta la kuirejo. Dum du tagoj ni lavas en malvarma akvo - krom unu ocasio, kiam mi brulis akvo en la kaldrono kaj usis gxin. Sed la akvo estis tro varma, kaj mi brogis mian manon. Ga!
(We don't have hot water. Yesterday the hot water pipes burst, flooding the kitchen. For two day we have been washing in cold water - except for one ocasion, when I boiled some water in the kettle, and used that. But the water was too hot, and I scalded my hand. Gah!)
There are dozens of plumbers in the phone book, and none of them can start work till tomorrow.
I can remember the rules for converting verb transitivity, but I didn't know the words for "kettle" and "scald" without looking them up. So, I've joined some mailing lists for beginners (komencantoj) to get some practice - Esperanto 102 was useful last time I brushed up. Esperanto-l is the mailing list mirror of the soc.culture.esperanto newsgroup, which is quite active.
Before I forget, this is a masters degree thesis, but is essentially a textbook of Esperanto grammar.
This afternoon was spent helping out with the arrangements for Dunkan's funeral. It will be on the 5th of October, a completely nonreligious and somewhat unconvenetional service in one Portsmouth's two unitarian churches.
I'm not clear on the finer points of unitarianism, but it seems to be the kind of impersonal pantheism that's functionally indistinguishable from spiritual atheism. If you believe the universe is holy but that it doesn't love or punish you, you're a unitarian. Or a humanist - there's probably an abstruse difference.
We'll be carrying placards instead of wreaths, and the coffin will be painted white with red polkadots. It will be carried to the stage to a song by the Sex Pistols, and possibly The Pogues. My job is to take care of the music, and be a substitute speaker if one of the proper speakers doesn't turn up.
Dress is - of course - casual. Donna would like C to come along - actually, she said "Your lovely manfriend is absolutely welcome to come". For some reason, C thinks being invited to a funeral for someone he didn't know is bizarre. Dunkan would have liked him - they could both talk surrealist nonsense for hours.
Actually, C now reads this blog occasionally. Hello C. I'm writing a song about you.
It looks like Dino will be a daddy. According the breeder, Millie looks to be "in whelp" - impregnated, gravid, preggers.
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I'm sorry for Dunkan. I had read your post of the day you got the news. I suppose he would be around your age, wouldn't he?
ReplyDeleteHeavy days happen, just like the light ones, and all the others as well.
Sorry, Captain, I'd rather not go on writing. Death has had a powerful influende on me and my life in the last decade. A few close friends just died «on me» (excuse me for this expression, but that's how I still feel about it), one after another, almost one and a half year apart from each other.
(Thanks for the links. They're precious)
Bye