Danskcolin: Sunday December 1st 2024 "Are YOU a 'martyr to your back'?"

Are YOU a "martyr to your back", my friend"?

Most of us are, aren't we. And yet, in the Onion News print edition this morning, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel indicating there might be light at the end of another tunnel, which is a step forward, to put it mildly! And guess what, the medical profession has "broken its silence" at last, and the cure turns out to be something that Yours Truly has been suggesting for absolute ages, like, a billion years, even more, probably!!!!

What are the chances of that happening, eh?!!!

I wonder.....!

Yes it's ordinary common sense, really, but doctors are saying, possibly for the first time, that there might be a cure for back pain some day - they haven't quite figured our what that cure is, but imagining that a cure exists is the first stage, isn't it, so quite an achievement to have made it this far (source: Onion News). The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step, as age-old Chinese science also advises.

"So make it so!", as the great Picard used to say on Star Trek, amongst his many other wise so-called "Picardisms" (!).

just ta few of the celebrated "Picardisms" of Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart).

Back pain - yikes! And stories about it are coming up literally by the, like, billion a day, aren't they: they're almost becoming "legion", or thereabouts!

Yes, back pain, back pain - oh dear! And Lois, my medium-to-long-suffering wife, has certainly been complaining about her back this week. Most Sundays I drive her to her church's two Sunday Morning meetings, held in a village hall just outside Tewkesbury, which is a half-hour drive from our new-build home here in Malvern. Today, however, because of her back issues, she's going to stay home and take part in the meetings online.

There's one poignant result of this for me this morning, however - I'm at home to hear the message from my old friend "Magyar" Mike's grandson Stephen, that Mike died at his home in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, last night. Mike, a great lover of Hungary and Hungarians, had been my friend for 32 years, and Lois and I had many times travelled to Hungary and other continental destinations with Mike and his wife "Magyar" Mary over the years.

flashback to 1994, and my first visit to Hungary with my friend

"Magyar" Mike, whom I had met on a local WEA "Hungarian

for Beginners" course in Cheltenham. Here we're showcasing

our second hand "Excellent Worker" medals from the Communist

era, which we had bought at a flea market in Pécs, Hungary

I had first met Mike by chance, in 1992, when I wandered into a local Cheltenham WEA evening class "Hungarian for Beginners", out of curiosity more than anything, and I happened to sit next to Mike.

The room where the course was held was absolutely "packed to the aisles" with local college lecturers eager to learn the language - somewhat surprisingly, to put it mildly, as it's one of the most difficult languages in Europe for English-speakers. The reason for the packed classroom was because these lecturers' college, Gloscat, had a close relationship with a college in the southern Hungarian city of Pécs, and exchange trips or "junkets" were one of the "perks" of their jobs - what madness !!!!

Trips with Mike were never dull, to put it mildly. Here he is - typical Mike - pretending to be a patron of sleazy Pécs nightclub, the Madame Pompadour.

So sad news this morning, although Lois and I are comforted to know that Mike's grandson Stephen was with him when he died, and that the two were watching a football match on TV, Arsenal playing West Ham. Football was one of Mike's many passions, so it's nice to know he was having fun when he finally, in his late 80's, "slipped away" from us.

the football match between London clubs Arsenal and West Ham,

on one of the Sky Sports channels last night: kick-off was

at 5:30pm and Mike died at 7 o'clock, Stephen says, so he would

at least have caught most of it before he "slipped away from us"

Rest in peace, Mike!

20:00 We settle down on the couch. Lois particularly wants to watch "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", the 1999 film of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice musical, on the Sky Arts Channel, starring Donny Osmond and Joan Collins amongst others.

It proves to be an enjoyable couple of hours, with some nice songs, which I intermittently doze through, but Lois is critical of the film because it changes the story from the one given in the Bible, as she points out. Especially as regards the shenanigans between Joseph, played by Donny Osmond, and his Egyptian boss's wife, played by Joan Collins.

As you'll know, young Joseph, his father's favourite, gets beaten up by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. He is bought by a wealthy Egyptian man named Potiphar, who actually really seems to like Joseph, but the problem is that Potiphar’s wife likes Joseph too. She becomes obsessed with Joseph and is constantly sexually harassing him, trying to get him to go to bed with her.

Joseph's new boss's wife, "Mrs Potiphar" fancies Joseph

and is constantly trying to get him to go to bed with her

"Mrs Potiphar" eventually becomes annoyed that Joseph keeps turning her down and just attacks him. The musical never has Potiphar’s wife explicitly accuse Joseph of raping her or attempting to rape her, but heavily implies it by having her push Joseph out of bed and cower away from him, or having her immediately run to hide behind her husband Potiphar when he storms into the room, having heard the suspicious noises.

Who raped who, however? Did Joseph rape Mrs Potiphar, or did Mrs Potiphar rape Joseph?

Internet pundit Lady Geekgirl has commented that the musical is actually giving us "a rare example of a male rape victim. We see Joseph constantly sexually harassed by his boss’s wife until finally she forces herself on him, after which he is then accused of raping her and sent to prison. Sadly, this is the reality of many male rape victims—not necessarily the false accusation, but the experience of sexual harassment and assault, the lack of belief about what actually happened to Joseph, and the lack of belief that men can even be raped."

So, the jury's still out on that one - not literally - the case never came to court, apparently, as far as I know. Ancient Egyptian law was a bit "spotty" on sexual harassment cases, I believe. But perhaps we should be told? (Postcards only please, as per usual!!!).

21:00 We go to bed on the last programme in Alan Cumming's celebrity travelogue series all about Scotland's Poshest Train.

It's been an enjoyable series, although we're a bit disappointed that this has been a pretty standard "celebrity travelogue". It's been lively, informative and a great advert for Scotland's tourist attractions, but it hasn't had the cheeky humour we used to see from its shamelessly "camp" presenter Alan Cumming, when he was doing his "The High Life" sitcom a couple of decades ago.

There have been lots of interesting stories to pick up on, however. Who knew that Irish missionary St Columba, who first brought Christianity to Scotland, left behind as his monument an old ruined abbey on the island of Iona, an abbey that has now been restored and is being run by a pro-gay Christian group, of all things?

They're known as the "Iona Community", a movement dedicated to the mission of "pursuing justice and peace in Scotland and beyond". And they are championing a cause close to presenter Alan's heart, as we hear: