tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68452442024-03-18T08:43:38.342+01:00The Subliminal Mr DunnThe Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.comBlogger1718125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-11179809096108579922022-11-08T14:40:00.001+01:002022-11-08T14:40:50.043+01:00A Few Late Chrysanthedads<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No one person's experience of dementia is quite the same as another's, but the account given below, within the confines of a shortish article, is the closest I have come across to my own "story". </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It was in the summer of 2020 – at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – that I first noticed a problem. I was having difficulty speaking. It wasn’t a casual chat with my wife, Helen, or our two daughters, or my son who lives in the US, but a Skype or Zoom interview about international affairs with a TV channel. I can’t remember which one or what the topic was – probably the Middle East, my main area of expertise, or possibly Brexit. I felt embarrassed because I was less articulate than usual – “lost for words”, as the saying goes.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Apart from myself, I didn’t think anyone would have noticed, particularly as the interview involved an Arabic interpreter. Still, my slow response, and not being able to answer an entirely reasonable question in sufficient detail, were worrying. I hesitated about what to do. Finally, I contacted my GP, who was initially dismissive about my speech concerns. “You sound fine to me,” he told me during our phone consultation. Despite his reluctance, I insisted a few days later on being referred to a specialist at a nearby London hospital.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Covid restrictions and unprecedented pressure on the NHS delayed my first appointment by several weeks. Then, in late September 2020, with Helen, I saw a neuropsychologist, who recommended that I undergo a professional assessment. I had to wait a long time for that next stage.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Starting in February 2021, I went through a series of tests: my ability with words, short-term memory, drawing (copying shapes), speech. The results were mixed. The final assessment was that I was suffering from mild cognitive impairment</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> MCI is a condition that causes memory and thinking problems, affecting between 5% and 20% of people over 65. It is not a type of dementia, but for many people it is an intermediate stage leading to the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. That word, “dementia”, I found extremely upsetting and negative, so Helen and I began to refer to it as “degeneration” or “the D-word”.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I also underwent an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan of my brain. The result of that was that I had “normal” deterioration for my age. (Back then I was 67.) In retrospect that misleading assessment was simply a lack of expertise. Scans are pictures that always need to be interpreted by a specialist. When I later saw a neurologist, privately, at Queen Square in London (the most renowned centre of neurological research in the UK), his conclusion from his own scan was unhesitatingly that I had frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), though, again, not yet dementia. That was in August 2021.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Advertisement</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Helen was aware of all this, of course; our daughters and my son less so. But close friends didn’t notice my speaking difficulties for several months. Nevertheless, I told them what was going on, as I was getting increasingly anxious to explain myself. The specific medical term for my speech problems is primary progressive aphasia. I talked a lot less than before as I was scared of sounding inarticulate. I was also, obviously, worried about how this strange illness might progress. Uncertainty about the future was the worst thing about it.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pre-Covid, I belonged to a gym. In May 2019, while doing laps in the pool, I noticed an unusual tightness in my chest. It wasn’t too painful but it was definitely there. I had what my cardiologist later described as a “tiny” heart attack and had to spend two nights in the Royal Free hospital in London.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was then a bit overweight, so I adopted a fairly rigorous exercise routine to lose some pounds and get fitter. The gym shut in March 2020 because of lockdown restrictions. In mid-May, Helen and I were walking on the Ridgeway in the Chilterns. It was a lovely sunny day but the clouds suddenly began to darken and it started raining torrentially. We walked quickly back to the car but I slipped in the mud and fell flat on my face, injuring my nose badly. Helen screamed. The question (asked largely in retrospect) is: why didn’t I put my arms out to break my fall? Was that an early sign that something was amiss?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Advertisement</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once I recovered, I continued running and exercising. But in January 2021, I fell over again – while walking on a pavement near our house. I fell on my face, exactly as on the Ridgeway, injuring my nose and chin. I failed again to use my arms or hands. I wasn’t too badly hurt this time.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I got my FTLD diagnosis the following August, my neurologist (a keen runner) and the brilliant NHS team from the Neurological Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) in Edgware, north London, all encouraged me to keep exercising. I usually ran, albeit slowly, for 40 minutes every other day and when I got home would do 15 minutes on the rowing machine and some stretches. I bought a Fitbit and became fixated on achieving my daily goal of 10,000 steps, running and walking for one and a half hours – about five miles.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But then in late November I fell over while running on the pavement. My nose was fractured, my chin and face were bleeding and I was concussed. Luckily, the daughter of an old schoolfriend was passing with her husband and child. She helped me up, took me to her parents’ house nearby and called an ambulance. It arrived surprisingly quickly and took me to the Royal Free. That, it turned out, was a landmark event. Afterwards, I did – reluctantly – stop running. The main reason was that I didn’t want to add to the stress that Helen was increasingly under. I also wanted to avoid falling.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My speaking has got a lot worse since I first noticed the issue. “Lost for words” is no longer an adequate description. I now speak incredibly slowly. I find it physically difficult – and have to make a deliberate effort – to speak at all, though it is better in the morning than later. It is incredibly frustrating. Family, friends and neighbours have, sadly, got used to it though I have had to stop giving TV and radio interviews (a significant chunk of my freelance income) and also any public speaking, of which I did a good deal. My comprehension and ability to write, using a laptop – so far – do not appear to have been affected. And I am still addicted to deadlines.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But difficulty with speech was not my only problem. Like 90% of humans, I am right-handed. My right hand started to feel weak, especially my fingers, just before the neurologist told me I had FTLD, while my left hand stayed strong. That provided another clue. In late February this year, my NHS consultant Prof Paresh Malhotra, a well-known researcher, told me that I also had features of corticobasal syndrome (CBS), in which parts of the brain begin to atrophy or shrink. CBS is an even rarer condition that can be part of the set of problems making up FTLD. A key element is a growing inability to use one side of the body. The underlying diagnosis can only be confirmed, however, in a postmortem examination of the brain. So, actually, I will never find out exactly what is wrong with me.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">FTLD most commonly affects people aged between 45 and 75. I was 68 by this point. Life expectancy is on average six to eight years: so we know (roughly) what the future holds. But not in detail: people with CBS tend to die from pneumonia, blood clots in the lungs or choking fits. I would have preferred to drop dead from a massive heart attack than face this grim, limited future. I would also like to know more about the final stages of this devastating condition. Helen doesn’t want to know. It is also financially necessary to know. How long will we need a carer to help me get washed, dressed and protect me from falling – or if I do continue falling (which seems highly likely), to help me get up from the ground? We are now exploring our options. Will it make sense to move me into a specialised care home at the end of life? It’s so weird to have to think about these questions, but it is our new reality.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am extremely ignorant about the underlying causes of my condition. Happily, it does not appear to be hereditary or related to lifestyle, but simply bad luck. A few months ago, I found myself needing to shake a plastic bottle of nasal spray before using it to tackle the constant dripping from my nose (another symptom of my illness). I managed without any problem to do it with my left hand. But my right hand was useless. I cannot clap any more, either. In recent months my right leg and foot have become very weak and I have fallen over many times. In late April and early May, this happened four times in 10 days. In mid-June, I fell over backwards in the kitchen. In July, it happened twice in two days. Thankfully, only once did I have to go to A&E.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don’t want to whinge endlessly, but this is a life-changing illness: I have been driving for half a century, but I noticed before summer 2020 that I had become more cautious, hesitating at junctions or roundabouts. My neurologist recommended that I undergo a voluntary driving assessment, which I failed last November. So I can no longer drive.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I can’t do the gardening or cook any more, which I used to enjoy – and which increases the burden on Helen. Shaving or cleaning my glasses has become very difficult and getting dressed or undressed takes ages. I can still just about shower, but having a bath has become impossible because of the weakness in my right leg. I can’t write by hand – even sign my own name – which I find very strange. I am constantly tired. In recent weeks I have started to feel completely disabled. My right leg, foot, hand and arm feel almost useless.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For a short period until this spring, I looked normal, which was baffling to strangers who had not heard my speaking difficulties. This Valentine’s Day, we were having dinner in a local Iranian restaurant. I noticed several other diners looking puzzled when Helen cut up my kebab. Now, using a walking stick and limping heavily make it clear to anybody that there is something seriously wrong with me. It has made a huge difference, with even drivers being helpful in allowing me to cross roads. After one of my recent falls on Hampstead Heath, I called out to an older woman to assist me. She had a bad back, but shouted to a passing cyclist to come and get me up. He did. And that kind woman then walked me home.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is currently no cure for FTLD – thus my (private) irritation with friends and acquaintances, who haven’t seen or heard me in person, and write to me: “Hope you get/feel better soon.” Drugs may help to reduce symptoms related to memory and thinking. Other medications can reduce the physical symptoms, such as muscle stiffness and jerky movements. But I have not been prescribed any of these – only an antidepressant that may improve symptoms to some extent. I have become passive and apathetic – whether from the antidepressants or from the disease, I do not know. Bizarrely, I often giggle uncontrollably, which is embarrassing, or worse – if drinking tea or coffee – makes me choke.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have found physiotherapy helpful. The physio taught me exercises personalised for my needs. Theraputty (therapeutic modelling clay – I love the name) I use to slow down the growing weakness in my right hand, squeezing it frantically. But speech and language therapy has had a less positive effect.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Practical items installed in our house by the NRC occupational therapy team include rails on the stairs, in the toilet and shower, and on either side of the front door. I have a metal frame on my side of the bed that helps me lie down and turn over. And they set up a contraption that raises the sofa in our living room to make it easier for me to stand up. They also ordered me a wheelchair, which is staying, for now at least, covered in plastic, in the garden shed.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not everything is negative: my friends and family have been amazingly kind and supportive. Literally as well: because I fall over so often I need to hold on to their arms while out walking. Helen’s friends have helped her, too. One neighbour invited me to join a small local book club, where the host of the session chooses a book title and provides supper for the participants. I appreciated the offer but I replied that I didn’t have much to contribute given my speech issues and inability to cook. I may go ahead and try it once or twice. I also belong to a walking group of old friends and neighbours, but I am going to have to stop taking part in that soon.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Helen and I have adopted the principle of enjoying life while we still can. In March, we spent a fortnight in Venice: friends generously let us stay in their apartment two minutes from the Grand Canal. The only problem was getting on and off vaporetti. But I had to use a wheelchair – for the first time – at both airports as I now find it hard to stand still, especially in a queue.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Given my increasing speech difficulties I have begun enjoying listening to music by myself – classical, folk and pop – much more than previously. Headphones and Spotify prove very useful. I also listen to podcasts a lot. Walking and talking are fundamental human activities that I can no longer do easily, so I focus on other things. I have become obsessed with loading and emptying the dishwasher. It’s about all I can do now to help in the house. I can’t multitask; I have to focus on the matter in hand. It is hard to ignore the increasing realisation that as my brain is shrinking, so is my world.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It should be clear to anyone reading this that Ian is reporting from the frontline of his illness with the same clarity and detachment with which he reported for decades from other trouble spots. I find his detachment – and his courage – extraordinary. Sometimes, I wonder how much the antidepressants the neurologist put him on are contributing. I do not share his detachment. I have done the freaking out and panicking for both of us.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When you have been blessed to be happily married for as long as we have, an illness like Ian’s afflicts you both. There was a long initial period of denial – maybe a year – before the crushing realisation came that there was something seriously wrong with him. For months, we all thought he had become withdrawn and gloomy because he was depressed. The Covid lockdowns were enough to make anyone depressed – especially someone used to travelling the world. But you can’t keep kidding yourself for ever and a day (or a night) finally comes when you realise with awful clarity what is wrong.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After an initial period of blind terror – I had (correctly) identified Ian’s illness on Google months before his formal diagnosis – I discovered a tough, no-nonsense side of me. I preferred myself before. Now I am quite capable of discussing Ian’s risk of death from aspiration pneumonia due to his swallowing difficulties without crying or without my voice shaking. I dislike this capacity in myself: sobbing would be a more appropriate response.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This illness is a beast, like a mythical dragon I cannot slay, but I am going to fight, alongside Ian, for as long as I can. I asked a neurologist once whether the partners of all patients with Ian’s type of illness become horrendously bossy. He answered politely: “Helen, I would not say you were horrendously bossy,” before pausing and adding simply: “Yes.”</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Most painful is watching Ian live through the slow torment of losing his abilities one by one. His walking is slow and unsteady. It will get worse. It takes him more and more effort to talk. Not being able to write by hand any more or zip up his jacket or knot his laces all seem relatively minor compared with losing the basic abilities to walk and talk.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Equally painful is how an illness such as this changes your relationship. For many years, I had a handsome foreign-correspondent husband who lived in a perpetual hurry, rushing to catch planes and to file his copy to a relentless deadline. He is still handsome and I still love him very much but, in some ways, he has changed beyond recognition. He moves slowly and cautiously, afraid of falling over. He speaks painfully slowly and, when we go anywhere, I have to allow extra time. Of course, I have been angry and frustrated; this slow-motion life is not what I want in my 60s. But, eventually, you learn to accept that this is how it is, the anger recedes and there is just sorrow. Ian has become disabled and I have become – I refuse the word “carer” – the person who looks after him.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I do not want to give the impression, though, that there is nothing but misery. We still have good times. In fact, the knowledge of Ian’s illness, the fact that it is progressive and that there will be an end in the coming years, has made us both determined to make the most of now.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is hard to explain how this can be so, but the good times now seem better than they were before: the happiness is more intense – and Venice on our last trip was more bWe relish every moment we get to spend with our children. They are young adults now, but watching their father go through this has been horrendous for them. Our younger daughter decided to get married a year or two earlier than she was intending so that Ian would still be able to walk her up the aisle. (He did.) Our elder daughter and her husband have taken on much more of a support role than I would have wanted for them at this stage of their lives. My stepson brought his six-year-old daughter over from the US so that Ian could spend time with his grandchild. (Ian’s speaking difficulties barely register with a small child.) Watching our children’s lives move forwards as they build their futures is our greatest comfort. They have also commented on how much more sweet-natured and mellow their father is in this new slowed-down version of himself. He takes pleasure in things he never had time for before when he was always rushing: music and nature and the infinite minutiae of north London streets.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-family: sans-serif;" /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We have also had the opportunity – not granted to everyone – to plan for what remains of our future and even how I will organise my life after Ian is gone. It is desperately sad but there is considerable consolation in deciding on this together. I hope that writing this may help to raise awareness of these rare neurological conditions and deepen understanding. So little is known about what causes these illnesses. There are no treatments for them. But, faced with this grim reality, we have chosen to carry on dancing – until the music stops.</span></span></p><p><br style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: large;" /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-10281362838692843532022-11-08T10:42:00.000+01:002022-11-08T10:42:19.500+01:00Life Is A Question Of Choices<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Such is the maxim proudly proclaimed on one of my many T-shirts. There, the challenge was to select the right golf club for a particular shot. Nowadays, the choice is between thinking and doing. I cannot, for example, think and walk at the same time. </b></span></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-92154450115237057592022-11-08T10:22:00.000+01:002022-11-08T10:22:12.905+01:00Bewildered But Not Bewitched<p> <b><span style="font-size: large;">Assorted ravings from now on, team! </span></b></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-78100018380163864922022-04-24T16:43:00.001+02:002022-04-24T16:45:31.057+02:00The Subliminal Mr Dunn Decides To Improve Himself<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's never too late to get to grips with philosophy, although where I come from it never figured prominently in the school or university agenda. The nearest we got to it in my time was something called Political Thought. Anyway, I thought it was time to tackle the heavy stuff, i.e. the philosophers themselves, and I chose a French book called </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Les Philosophes Expliquent Pourquoi</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, kindly given to me by Rénald.<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">I started off with Schopenhauer, Kant and Nieztsche but gradually found myself taking a greater interest in their lives than their thoughts, just as I have always been more drawn to the history of art than to art itself. In other words my trivial turn of mind has always steered clear of the heavy lifting.</span></span></h2><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-20839895883965858032022-04-24T16:03:00.001+02:002022-04-24T16:03:30.233+02:00Famous First Lines<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley Central again.</span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-7285571121915852942022-04-10T15:19:00.000+02:002022-04-10T15:19:30.794+02:00Opt In-Opt Out There's a lot to be said for donating your brain to scientific research but in my case there was a slight misunderstanding . I thought Opt-In was the default position; in other words medical students could not eagerly dissect your body unless you had expressly agreed to it. But I was mistaken and that is how the world discovered engraved upon my heart the immortal phrase "Full English Breakfast". <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-33649222794085737472022-02-24T16:49:00.000+01:002022-02-24T16:49:08.076+01:00That Nice Mr Putin<div class="Ar Au Ao" id=":2xs"><div aria-label="Message Body" aria-multiline="true" class="Am Al editable LW-avf tS-tW SOFC tS-tY" g_editable="true" hidefocus="true" id=":2xo" itacorner="6,7:1,1,0,0" role="textbox" spellcheck="false" style="direction: ltr; min-height: 279px;" tabindex="1"><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family: garamond, times new roman, serif; font-size: large;">Don't worry, there's no more where that came from. Instead, I go back to the time when I first had intimations of what the future held in store for me. In the two years before retirement, i.e. about 2008, I felt on good form and was seriously thinking of continuing to work for several years a a translator. Then, all of a sudden I started to find the work more and more difficult, and on several occasions actually had to abandon a contract in mid-flight, something I had never done before. Pretty soon, retirement couldn't come soon enough.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family: garamond, times new roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family: garamond, times new roman, serif; font-size: large;">The next warning sign came when I had to give up my very onerous responsibilities as the point-man for writing and distributing the newsletter for the River Rats. After that, it becomes difficult to trace the sequence of events. I do remember it was in 2012, I think, that Anne and I spent a week with Smoc and Mike in Trégastel in Brittany. Shortly after that, Anne was struck down with cancer and the next year was a torrid time for her.In her usual extraordinary way, she had bounced back by the end of year. As far as I can judge, my dementia problems started in about 2015, and I think I must have been diagnosed at about this time.</span></div></div></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-5911486654413266412022-02-21T14:16:00.000+01:002022-02-21T14:16:52.431+01:00Lewy Body At Large<p><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">What I take away from the previous article is the fact that a bilingual person can hope to live an extra four years compared to a monolingual person - a bonus to the typical 6 to 12 years vouchsafed to this hapless soul from the moment of diagnosis. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span id="m_3547608398071571324gmail-docs-internal-guid-79c7d8ee-7fff-0687-24cc-67a5b869c07a" style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">I know this is in <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.18" role="menuitem">rather</span> bad taste but, as one demented person to <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.19" role="menuitem">another</span>, it would be interesting, if not <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.20" role="menuitem">nrecessarily</span> nice, to know, how much longer I have to live - that is if I really do have lo live. The bald fact is that someone with my particular brand of <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.21" role="menuitem">dementia</span> may be expected to live for 6 to 12 years as from the moment of diagnosis but this is so vague as to be virtually meaningless. For example, how far down the road was I when the initial diagnosis was made? Was I already foaming at the mouth? Did I have to make a <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.22" role="menuitem">conscious</span> <span aria-haspopup="true" id="m_3547608398071571324:x6.23" role="menuitem">effort</span> not to keel over when walking? Should I take into account my age, my general state</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black;"> of health, my memory (currently standing at 0 RAM), my deafness, my violent mood swings </span>and, on the positive side, my bilingual status (see above)?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-77441450349901242422022-02-19T15:49:00.000+01:002022-02-19T15:49:30.873+01:00More Where That Came From
Struggling to find words might be one of the first things we notice when someone develops dimentia, while more advanced speech loss can make it really challenging to communicate with loved ones. And understanding what's behind these changes may help us overcome communication barriers for someone with the condition.<div>When Ebrahim developed Alzheimer's Disease, for example, he'd been living in the UK for many years. Gradually his fluent English faded and he reverted to his mother tongue, Farsi - which made things tricky for his English-speaking family who were caring for him. Two decades on,his son, the journist and author David Shariatmadari, seeks answers to his fathers experience of language loss. What can neuroscience reveal about dementia, ageing, and language changes? Why are some aspects of language more vulnerable than others - and importantly, what are the best approaches to communicating with someone living with dementia?</div><div>David reflects on archive recordings of his Dad, and speaks to a family in a similar situation to theirs, to compare the ways they tried to keep communication alive. And he discovers there are actually clear benefits when it comes to dimentia: jiggling two or more languages can delay the onset of symptoms by around four years. So while losing one of his languages posed practical difficulties for Ebrahim, it's possible that by speaking two languages in the first place, he was able to spend more valuable lucid years with his family.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><i>If you change English for Farsi as my mother tongue and French for English as my second language, the circumstances described above correspond exactly to my own situation.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>More to follow.</i></div><div><div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-41848960373668191192022-02-12T16:37:00.001+01:002022-02-12T16:37:08.967+01:00From The Inside Looking OutAfter a month or two of reading the novel which made Jonathan Frantzen's reputation but whose name, it goes without saying, I've already forgotten, I am about a quarter of the way through his latest book called <i>Crossroads. </i>Both books carry the unmistakable hallmark of the author's extraordinary insight into the wellsprings of human action, but whereas I found the former very funny at times, the latter is striking me as sadder than before. At the same time I am acutely aware that the change is entirely within me. The world has become a darker place for me in a very short lapse and it has little to do with physical problems or outside circumstances. It is, I'm afraid, nothing more or less than the inexorable onward march of dementia. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-54318119558168885142021-11-11T17:03:00.001+01:002021-11-11T17:03:58.713+01:00Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?You must be joking.<div>Who wants to be a billionaire?</div><div>I might have done once</div><div>Who wants to be a trillionaire?</div><div>I'm tempted but...</div><div>Who wants to be a quadrillionaire?</div><div>I do 'cos all I want is CASH - lots of it </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-38367650125789625752021-10-31T10:29:00.001+01:002021-10-31T10:29:48.002+01:00Many Start But Few Finish<p> </p><header role="banner" style="background-color: #fdfdfa; border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="entry-title instapaper_title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #0a0a0a; font-size: 13.2px; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><br /></span></span></h1><h1 class="entry-title instapaper_title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #0a0a0a; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">I</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> make no apologies for re-posting this article, the thrust of which rings as true as ever today.</span></i></span></h1><h1 class="entry-title instapaper_title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #0a0a0a; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></h1><h1 class="entry-title instapaper_title" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; color: #0a0a0a; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Why is it that we have no trouble reading a book, whether in paper or electronic form, but find it so difficult to get through to the end of any other form of text on the web? The phenomenon is well described in this very funny article by Farhad Manjoo of Slate. I have only included the beginning because, as he himself says, you won't finish this article.</i></span></span></h1><h2 class="entry-summary" style="border: 0px; color: #737373; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.35; margin: 0px 0px 0.0455em; padding: 0.3em 0px 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></h2><ul class="entry-meta" style="border-color: rgb(215, 215, 212); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; color: #8d8d8d; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.09em; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 1.8em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.9em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><li class="byline author vcard first" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline;">by</i> <span class="fn" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">FARHAD MANJOO</span> </li> <li style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <time class="updated" datetime="2013-06-06T19:03:00" pubdate="" style="border: 0px; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JUNE 6, 2013</time></li></span></ul></header><section role="main" style="background-color: #fdfdfa; border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="entry-content instapaper_body" style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="figure-wrap" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><figure class="lead-image" style="border: 1px solid rgb(212, 212, 212); box-sizing: border-box; clear: left; float: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 1.2em auto 0.5em; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.2em; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I’m going to keep this brief, because you’re not going to stick around for long. I’ve already lost a bunch of you. For every 161 people who landed on this page, about 61 of you—38 percent—are already gone. You “bounced” in Web traffic jargon, meaning you spent no time “engaging” with this page at all.</span></span></figure></div><div class="body parsys" score="253.75" style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So now there are 100 of you left. Nice round number. But not for long! We’re at the point in the page where you have to scroll to see more. Of the 100 of you who didn’t bounce, five are never going to scroll. Bye!</span></div></div><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">OK, fine, good riddance. So we’re 95 now. A friendly, intimate crowd, just the people who want to be here. Thanks for reading, folks! I was beginning to worry about your attention span, even your intellig … wait a second, where are you guys going? You’re <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tweeting</em> a link to this article already? You haven’t even read it yet! What if I go on to advocate something truly awful, like a constitutional amendment requiring that we all <a class="entry-content-asset" href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(215, 220, 223); border: 0px; color: #9c0001; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">type two spaces after a period</a>?</span></div></div><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wait, hold on, now <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">you guys</em> are leaving too? You’re going off to <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">comment</em>? Come on! There’s nothing to say yet. I haven’t even gotten to the <a class="entry-content-asset" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_graph" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(215, 220, 223); border: 0px; color: #9c0001; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">nut graph</a>.</span></div></div><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I better get on with it. So here’s the story: Only a small number of you are reading all the way through articles on the Web. I’ve long suspected this, because so many smart-alecks jump in to the comments to make points that get mentioned later in the piece. But now I’ve got proof. I asked Josh Schwartz, a data scientist at the traffic analysis firm <a class="entry-content-asset" href="https://chartbeat.com/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(215, 220, 223); border: 0px; color: #9c0001; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chartbeat</a>, to look at how people scroll through <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slate</em></span> articles. Schwartz also did a similar analysis for other sites that use Chartbeat and have allowed the firm to include their traffic in its aggregate analyses.</span></div></div><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Schwartz’s data shows that readers can’t stay focused. The more I type, the more of you tune out. And it’s not just me. It’s not just <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slate</em></span>. It’s everywhere online. When people land on a story, they very rarely make it all the way down the page. A lot of people don’t even make it halfway. Even more dispiriting is the relationship between scrolling and sharing. Schwartz’s data suggest that lots of people are tweeting out links to articles they haven’t fully read. If you see someone recommending a story online, you shouldn’t assume that he has read the thing he’s sharing.</span></div></div><div class="entry-content-asset" style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">OK, we’re a few hundred words into the story now. According to the data, for every 100 readers who didn’t bounce up at the top, there are about 50 who’ve stuck around. Only one-half!</span></div><div style="border: 0px; color: #080808; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">***</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #080808; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;">October 2021</span></i></span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.55em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #080808; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;">I would like to complete and add my own </span><span style="color: #080808;">experience</span><span style="color: #080808; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;"> to the article but this, for reasons explained above, will have to be the subject of another post.</span></i></span></div></div></div></section></section><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-10642873476420678342021-10-30T14:46:00.002+02:002021-10-30T14:46:57.907+02:00The Trains Bust<p> </p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">Or as we say in undemented English <i>The Brains Trust. </i>The brain has been much in my mind recently as I struggle to come to terms with a brain that is functioning at about 5 to 10% of its usual rate.I wish I could do something about it, but unfortunately I can't. I can write this entry in my blog but it would take me perhpas 10 minutes or more to wprk out what the date is today!</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-10834986920222677552021-10-30T14:46:00.001+02:002021-10-30T14:46:30.691+02:00Extant But No Longer ActiveNoted extant logger Barnaby Capel-Dunn was born in 1944. He Has been logging since about 2005 but was active only until about 2015.<div>Publications: The Subliminal Mr Dunn (ongoing); Of No Fixed Adobe; We're Hiring! (Memoirs)</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-71557571208115126422021-10-07T14:16:00.000+02:002021-10-07T14:16:01.252+02:00Pandora Papers<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 30px;"><i>The headlines thundered: Jordan’s king amassed $100 million in concealed property including homes in Malibu, London and Washington. An alleged mistress of Russia’s leader managed to covertly buy a luxury residence in Monaco. The Czech Republic’s prime minister, an anticorruption crusader, secretly acquired a French Riviera estate. </i>(New York Times)</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 30px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 30px;">There is only one thing worse than the stories of billionaires throughout the world, buying influence, avoiding tax, money </b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 30px;"><b>laundering</b></span></span><b style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 30px;"> and generally engaging in criminal activities.</b></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="color: #333333; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 30px;">It is the utter failure to do anything about it.</b></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-46854975082044595712021-09-28T17:22:00.001+02:002021-09-28T17:22:35.132+02:00Where Eagles Dare to Tread<p> </p><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you do, ladies and gentlemen.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> My castaway this week is the well-known blogger and all round dogsbody, Barnaby Capel-Dunn. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Barnaby, you are probably best known, if at all, for The Subliminal Mr Dunn which down the years has become a byword of quality of sorts.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Barnaby, you are allowed to take one luxury with you, in addition to the Holy Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare, to accompany you on your desert island.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Roy, do I really have to choose either of these books? As a Catholic, I can hardly be expected to take an interest in the Old Testament, can I? As for Shakespeare, after having him shoved down my throat at school, I really don't want to start all over again. On the other hand, I am loth to cause any bother, so I'll go along with the Bible and Shakespeare so long as you promise not to fob me off with th e-book format as the BBC is too often wont to do these days. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-31294581261150160822021-09-24T15:05:00.000+02:002021-09-24T15:05:27.500+02:00Psalm Sunday<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Santiago de Compostela, ora pro nobis</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saint Joseph of Arimathea, ora pro nobis</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-bbf92299-7fff-2df7-137d-a704bad85739"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saints Peter, Paul and Mary, ora pro nobis</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where Sheep May Safely Graze, ora pro nobis</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Massed Bands of the Household Division, pray for us</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">North Rhine-Westphalia, pray for us</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-42039582381893598022021-09-24T14:57:00.000+02:002021-09-24T14:57:08.051+02:00British War Aims<p> <i>Established on the eve of the Normandy Landings</i></p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">To ensure that the NAAFI regains a footing in Western Europe</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">To make Britain a land fit for biros</p><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">To chase the Nazi jackboot from British coastal waters </p></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-22031758359729624392021-06-05T12:12:00.002+02:002021-06-05T12:13:09.114+02:00RESPECT!<p> </p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">What I have read recently, or am reading at the moment</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><ul style="font-size: large;"><li><i>Jill,</i>Philip Larkin. Recommended by Michael Leary of <i>Orange Crate Art </i> fame. </li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;">A most extraordinay</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> book, not at all what I was expecting, indeed far better than what I was expecting.</span><br /><ul style="font-size: large;"><li><i>The Anti-Death League, </i>Kingsley Amis.</li><li><i>My Enemy's Enemy</i>, Kingsley Amis, etc. etc.</li><li><i>The Life of Kingsley Amis, </i>Zachary Leader</li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;">The contrarian in me is drawn towards his books where the comic impulse is less to the fore.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>After the Fall. Being American in The World We've Made.</i> Ben Rhodes. </span></li></ul><span style="font-size: large;">If his conversation with the team of </span><i style="font-size: large;">Americast </i><span style="font-size: large;">is anything to go by, I can look forward to a treat from Barrack </span><span style="font-size: large;">Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser.</span><br /></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><ul><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Great Mistake</i>, Jonathan Lee. Sample</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>In Memory of Memory</i>, Maria Stepanova. Sample</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Moon Tiger, </i>Penelope Lively. Her masterpiece.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Perfect Happiness, </i>Penelope Lively. Sample</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Twitter and Tear Gas, </i>Zeynep Tufecki.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Dutch Girl, </i>Robert Matzen. The early life of Audrey Hepburn. Sample</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>An Officer and a Spy, </i>Robert Harris. Sample</span></li></ul></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-79025875993740101872021-05-29T10:24:00.000+02:002021-05-30T19:49:49.577+02:00Of Pens and Pencils<p> One of the nice things about losing my memory is that I'm not quite so interested in the truth any more. Having said that, I think that what follows is a pretty good approximation to this elusive truth.</p><p><br /></p><p>Like many of my generation, I started off using a quill and an ink well. I suppose if I scouted around I could probably dredge up one of the weekly letters I was forced to write home to my mother from school, but I don't feel like doing that just at the moment, so my first surviving record of original writing is a diary I started keeping when I was fourteen. Analysis reveals the use of a fountain pen, possibly a Parker 51, given to me by my dear sister but unfortunately lost fairly quickly, and an obvious predilection for Waterman's blue washable ink. Looking back now, from a time when I can scarcely write a sentence without having to correct, adapt or rephrase something, I am astonished to see how few crossings-out there were. Most remarkable and alarming of all was the way my writing style changed COMPLETELY and almost beyond recognition from one week or month to the next. Indeed I think it was only when I got to university that I settled upon the handwriting which has been mine ever since.</p><p>Pencils: I was at one time very keen on propelling pencils but otherwise only took a limited interest until the day when I had to provide and impose pencils with the right graphite hardness for exam purposes. Should I issue HB or 2B pencils for the multiple choice part of the exam?</p><p>2B or not 2B, that was the question.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-91757554067549682012021-05-13T16:09:00.001+02:002021-05-15T10:12:38.578+02:00Proust and Beyond<p> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Following an internet outage earlier in the week leaving all but my smartphone out of commission, I came across Marcel Proust’s masterpiece </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">A la recherche du Temps Perdu</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">. I had downloaded it several years ago but then had to abandon it in the middle of </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Swann’s Way</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Returning to the fray, I needed to get my bearings again.The first thing I noticed on my tiny Kindle was that the estimated reading time was all of 122 hours… I was reading the book in the original French and was intrigued to learn that the English translation is now </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In Search of Lost Time </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">which has the advantage of being closer to the French text. This is a recent change introduced towards the end of the last century, but I still prefer Scott Moncrieff’s original rendering of the title as </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Remembrance of Things Past</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">***</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Concerning the word “text” mentioned above: Before the printing press there was handwriting, and before handwriting? Words had to be “weaved together in a fine and delicate fabric”. The Latin word for fabric is </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">textum</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 19pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">What about the word “slave? </span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 17pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">It derives from Slav. In medieval wars many Slavs were captured and enslaved, which led to the word Slav becoming a synonym for an enslaved person.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-63099365274517783662021-05-05T09:47:00.000+02:002021-05-05T09:47:55.656+02:00<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> I would like to start this entry in almost the same way as I started my last but one post. I don't think it's possible to get this far through life without asking yourself what you would do differently if you had your time all over again. Would you be content to make do with what is known as "real life" or would you rather be part of a long-running TV or radio series such as <i>Line of Duty</i> or <i>The Archers</i>? Would you rather spend your days in the company of interesting, talented and exceptional people or with the incredibly boring souls you are bound to meet in real life? Personally, I wouldn't hesitate a second.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The only danger with a life on screen is that you might become typecast, like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, or perhaps discarded all together. There are ways of avoiding this fate: many people would be surprised to learn that the actor playing Steve Arnott as a southerner in <i>Line of Duty </i>in fact has a broad Scottish accent in "real life", and of course Hugh Laurie has changed a lot since his days in <i>Blackadder</i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Changed, perhaps, but not out of all recognition, and that is why I would plump for a life on the radio waves every time. You see, just as nobody knows you are a dog on the internet, nobody knows you are a star on the radio. Ideally, I could spend my whole life on <i>The Archers,</i> and no-one would be any the wiser. And I wouldn't even have to learn my lines.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-19964738659705967612021-04-30T14:11:00.001+02:002021-04-30T14:11:59.387+02:00Fox Tells It Like It Is<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>It Pays To Increase Your Word Power with Fox News</b>: Slam, Rip, Savage, Lash, Rant, Unhinged, Shred, Fume, Crush, Blast, Hammer, HUMILIATE.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-3117686864437657862021-04-28T14:49:00.002+02:002021-04-30T11:02:33.074+02:00The Subliminal Mr Dunn Comes Clean<p> <span style="font-size: large;">I don't think it's possible to keep a blog for any length of time without revealing quite a bit about yourself. I mean if that were not the case you probably wouldn't be interested in keeping one in the first place. After all, the main point of a blog is to </span><b style="font-size: large;">share</b><span style="font-size: large;"> it with other people, unlike a diary where this is not necessarily the case. I therefore have no illusions about the picture that emerges of myself over the sixteen years I have been writing </span><i style="font-size: large;">The Subliminal Mr Dunn</i><span style="font-size: large;"> - a picture of a preemptive, self-deprecating cast of mind that drives my family to distraction.</span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">But here I run into a problem. On the one hand, I do not want to be too revealing, to push the bounds of intimacy too far. On the other hand, there are times, especially now than I am entering the home stretch, when I feel the urge to provide a fuller insight into the sort of person I really am.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">How to resolve this problem? I can go quite a long way down this road by referring to books, films, music, etc. But today I want to go much further and include a short story by a published writer that haunts me to this very day. I read it some forty years ago and have never forgotten it. It is, for me at any rate, quite beautiful and heartbreaking. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">It's quite a long short story so, first of all from a <b>practical</b> point of view, this is how you can quite legally go about downloading it free of charge. If you have ever had occasion to read a book online using the Amazon Kindle or Google Play Books app, you may have noticed that you can get an "extract" or "sample" of the book without having to buy the wretched thing. This is particularly useful in the case of a collection of short stories, as the sample is bound to include one or two complete stories! You simply go to the Google Books or Kindle site and do a search for the book in question.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">The book in question is called <i>Pack of Cards, </i>an early collection of short stories<i> </i>by that wonderful writer and Booker Prize winner, Penelope Lively. This extraordinary woman could not write a dull sentence even if she tried, and is equally at home when dealing with comic, acerbic, compassionate and elegiac themes. The story I have chosen is the first one in the collection and therefore guaranteed to be included in the sample. It is called <i>Nothing Missing but the Samovar</i>. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">I hope you like it but can well understand if you don't!</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6845244.post-31668992577793030882021-04-24T16:51:00.000+02:002021-04-24T16:51:42.347+02:00Pointless<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Pointless </b>is a British television quiz show with an interesting twist. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to four rounds of general knowledge questions, with the winning team eligible to compete for the show's cash jackpot. All questions used on the show are factual in nature, and are asked of a panel of 100 individuals in a pre-conducted public survey. Contestants seek to find correct answers that were given by as few of the survey subjects as possible ("points"). Each round is won by the team with the fewest points. "Pointless" answers, given by nobody, score zero points, the best score. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If you can follow that: Supposing you had to select a John le Carré novel hoping to elicit the lowest number of answers - what would you choose?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I have read all his books and I know my choice. I can almost guarantee I would get 0 points. What would your answer be - without benefit of the Internet of course?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type='text/javascript'>var _hl=_hl||{};_hl.site='328';(function(){var hl=document.createElement('script');hl.type='text/javascript';hl.async=true;hl.src=document.location.protocol+'//highlighter.com/webscript/v1/js/highlighter.js';var s=document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(hl,s);})();</script>
<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="15" onKeyUp="changeVal()" /></div>The Subliminal Mr Dunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05026560115807068974noreply@blogger.com5