Freedom is an empowering concept, isn't it. And, not just human beings, but every living thing, will always choose freedom if it's somewhere out there, and if they begin to feel they can get some, for any number of motives.
It's not said too often, but perhaps the most common motive is to get away from stupid companions, like this recent confession in the local Onion News.
For prisoners, the desire to get out of prison is strong too, but here, a little discretion is sometimes equally important, every bit as much as the care taken in the planning.
But here again, just as in prison, careful planning is of the essence, and this is how my back looks after the meticulous "brainstorming session" we have in bed this morning, which kind of speaks for itself, we feel !
Awwwwww, what could be a better morning than this! Even the sun comes out, and the breeze isn't cold, even - a bit of a shock horror development for Malvern, to put it mildly !!!!!
"Unsettling" - that's a good "u-word", isn't it. And tonight, presenter Sandi Toksvig asks the panel what kind of things they find particularly unsettling.
Tonight's panel also seems to find robots creepy, especially if there's a whole group of them with the same face.
So, even after all the talk, the jury appears to be still out on this one.
We step out of the house, and I edge myself into the front passenger seat in my special "safe angle of flexion" way, needless to say! Lois is driving, of course - I'm not allowed to drive till the middle of May.
Wowee! I haven't been out on a jaunt like this since my birthday last month, so about 4 weeks. Prior to my hospital operation at Redditch in the first half of April, Lois and I were advised to stay as much clear of company as we could for a week or two, so as not to contract any infections ahead of my operation.
we set off, with the 700-million-year-old
Malvern Hills looking on approvingly in the background
We get to Clive's Fruit Farm. I sit down at one of the outside tables with a few other local old codger couples, while Lois goes inside and puts in our order for americanos and cake.
I sit down at a table in the courtyard with the other
old codger couples, while Lois goes inside to put in our order
While she's inside I can watch the occasional loose hens, straying across the courtyard and going into the café in search of coffee and an intelligent conversation, which is nice. And today I feel a oneness with these "clever hens" that I've never felt before - yes, we've all "chosen freedom" today.
a stray hen (left), maybe disappointed to discover that the other hens
in the coop are "maybe not the smartest cookies in the jar",
and "longing for a half-decent coffee", strolls across the courtyard
and into the café, which is nice!
And before we leave the Fruit Farm, Lois chooses some plants to put in our flower bed here at our house in Malvern, after we get home, including cyanothus, verbena, aquilegia, rosemary, choisia, hosta, fuchsia (?) and all that kind of malarkey.
14:00 And in bed this afternoon for "nap time", we brainstorm where to put which plants. I don't like to say it, but my back is beginning to look like a bit like a pin-cushion. Memo to self: let's just use paper next time!
Plus it's cumbersome having to do it in front of two mirrors, so that I can see what Lois is suggesting, to put it mildly!
But YOUR ideas about where to stick our shiny-new plants are very welcome, as always (on a postcard, please, as usual !!!). [Don't tempt me ! - Ed]
21:00 We round off the day and wind down for bed with a look at "QI XL", the comedy quiz.
One thing people find unsettling, it seems, is if you use a toilet-cleaning device in an unexpected way, even one that's just come out of its packaging.
But when it comes to people, what sort of people do we find the creepiest? Luckily it turns out that there's already been a study on this, which is helpful.
Again we are reminded how history remembers what great men say, like Freud triumphantly defining women's "penis envy", but at the same time history conveniently forgets great women like Karen Hornney. In 1920's Germany, psychoanalyst Hornney postulated that women don't secretly want a penis, but they desire the power that comes with having a penis.
And Hornney added that men, on the other hand, have an intense envy of a woman's ability to be pregnant, give birth, suckle etc. Men feel empty as a result of their inadequacy in these areas, and are forced to look for success elsewhere, she said. In other words, it's uterus envy or womb envy that's "the biggie", when it comes to driving human achievements and progress generally.
QI XL regular Alan Davies disagrees, however.
But what do YOU think? Answers on a postcard please!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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