What is Labyrinthitis?

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Labyrinthitis/

I was scared to death when I woke up yesterday morning at about 5.00 am with my vision spinning, nausea and sweating. I later found out from my GP son Philip that it was labyrinthitis, something I knew very little about at the time. It struck totally without warning and was very scary.

I spent yesterday in bed, the head spinning episodes were practically non-stop and very debilitating, I was often sick and couldn’t keep fluids down, and this was often associated with sweating.

I’m really pleased with my recovery today, I expected another day in bed. I’ve been up and about, eaten some food, drunk plenty of fluids, and no longer have the nausea or sweating.

The condition usually improves on its own. There is medicine, but I was advised only to have this if it got worse or I didn’t get better.

Having experienced it personally I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But hopefully, if you get this in the middle of the night you won’t panic like I did. Click on the link above to find out more.

Coronavirus Pandemic Second Wave

It’s been announced today that a second wave of COVID-19 is hitting the UK. Now I’m neither an optimist nor a pessimist, I’m a realist. Sadly, we need to prepare for a very difficult winter with the complications of Brexit thrown in for good measure. We need to brace ourselves and hold tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Yes, it’ll be tough, but I feel we can get through it if we support and have consideration for each other.

Jimi Hendrix Spotify Playlist

I write this on the 50th anniversary of the tragic death of Jimi Hendrix at the age of 27. We can only begin to imagine what he might have achieved had he lived. His Electric Ladyland double album is considered to be his finest studio work, and I regard it as one of my personal influential albums when I was growing up. I remember being blown away when I first heard Hendrix playing on the radio, I’d never heard anything like it before, it was an epiphany for me.

I recently curated a Spotify playlist with an album’s worth of his music, tracks I consider to be his finest works, and which I hope comprise a satisfying whole. The order of the tracks has been chosen carefully, so the playlist is best listened to in the intended order. I’ve never been a fan of shuffle play. Anyway, I share it with you, enjoy it loud!

I envy not in any moods (Tennyson)

In Memoriam A. H. H. 16. I Envy Not In Any Moods

I envy not in any moods
The captive void of noble rage,
The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods:

I envy not the beast that takes
His license in the field of time,
Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;

Nor, what may count itself as blest,
The heart that never plighted troth
But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

The Solitary Reaper (Wordsworth)

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate’er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o’er the sickle bending;—
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Only love (Ian McEwan)

Only love and then oblivion. Love was all they had to set against their murderers. Ian McEwan.

Tuesday 11 September 2001 (or 9/11 as it has become known) is a day permanently etched into all of our memories, and much has been written about the terrorist attacks on that day.

I’m not going to attempt to add my thoughts on this anniversary, but simply to point you to one of the best pieces written about it then or since.

This article by Ian McEwan was published in The Guardian on Saturday 15 September 2001.

LibreOffice: A Free Office Suite

The best free office suite just got even better as LibreOffice 7 was released recently. It’s the nearest you’ll get to Microsoft Office without having to pay a penny, and the latest version is even more compatible to it than previous versions.

LibreOffice includes several applications that make it the most versatile Free and Open Source office suite on the market: Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector graphics and flowcharts), Base (databases), and Math (formula editing). Source.

So, if you don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office and like to use software installed on your computer (rather than in the cloud) this might be for you. There’s also a portable version that you can run directly from a USB flash drive.

Note: I currently use both LibreOffice and Microsoft 365 (as Microsoft Office is now called) because a subscription to the latter includes OneDrive cloud storage.

77 Million Paintings (Brian Eno)

During the five years I lived in Wallsend I was looking for this, but could never find it. I finally found it after moving to Norton in July this year following my retirement. What is it, you ask?

Brian Eno is one of my heroes. He’s a creative, a musician, a thinker, an innovator, an artist, a music producer – someone with a finger in many pies, who always comes up with something new and meaningful.

What I was looking for was 77 Million Paintings (released in 2006) – a book, a digital art computer program and a DVD. It was an evolutionary work in Brian Eno’s exploration into light as an artist’s medium and the aesthetic possibilities of generative software. This piece utilises the computer’s unique capacity as a generating processor to produce original visual compounds out of a large quantity of hand-painted elements, along with similarly produced music. I’m pleased I finally found it.

The release consists of two discs, one containing the software that creates the randomised music and images that emulate a single screen of one of Eno’s video installation pieces. The other is a DVD containing interviews with the artist. The title is derived from the possible number of combinations of video and music which can be generated by the software, effectively ensuring that the same image/soundscape is never played twice. Wikipedia.

Aeolian Motion (Phil Johnson)

This morning I took Freddy with me to do some jobs in Stockton-on-Tees town centre, but we also had some fun and did some sightseeing. Freddy got soaking wet in the fountains and had to walk back to the car in wet shorts and bare feet, fortunately there were some spare clothes in the car. You can see the photos here.

We also had a walk along the riverside, passing a striking piece of constantly moving public art entitled Aeolian Motion (Phil Johnson). It was erected in March 2001 as part of a regeneration plan for the area and was inspired by the endless flow of the river and its rich history (see plaque below).