As many of you know, I have been on an extended writing retreat recently. While this is generally a lonely endeavour, there have been moments of intense non-manuscript-related joy which I would like to share with yall. Here is my list of ten things I came to love while writing my book:
1. Derek Walcott’s new collection of poetry, White Egrets. If you thought there was nothing new to say about the drizzle, read this. If you had lost faith in poetry, read Joshua Mehigan, and this.
2. The BBC’s new Sherlock Holmes series. High on local London flavour, gay innuendo, and quick thinking. Forget James Bond.
3. The trinity of late-night entertainment: the elephant of surprise, the margarine of error, and the sauce of entertainment.
4. The fact that someone in Berlin can yell “Hinsetzen, Fotze!” at a young woman who is blocking his view of a television screen at a WorldCup public viewing event and not get reprimanded.
5. Finance Minister Matthöfer’s retaliation (video at around 3:00) when he was attacked by the leader of the 68ers in a talk show.
6. 
A song about cloning beans, gnus — and you.
7. The following response: “First, you are drunk. Second, this is not a waltz; it is the Peruvian national anthem. And third, I am not a woman; I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima.” Read here what this was the response to.
8. Bach’s French Suite No. 2 in c minor. The opening Allemande is one of the most erotic pieces of music ever written …
9. … rivalled only by the beginning of Saint-Saens‘s second piano concerto.
10. And finally, watching someone dressed up as Lord Nelson walk across the cricket pitch outside the house. “History is now and England,” as they say.
PS: The book will come out in February. Stay tuned.
- Foto of the elephant of surprise by exfordy.
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