Funfare for the Common Man

We’ve made it to the end: Part 10 (of 10) of my August 2020 Challenge.  Where do we go from here? If you’ve missed any of the previous 9 parts, a recap: Part 1: A decade in quotations: Part 1 (of 10) of the August 2020 Challenge Part 2: My readers ask, I answer: Reader Mailbag, part 1 Part 3: We live in a haunted house Part 4: The Joy of Getting Away From It All Part 5: Looking for truth in all the wrong places Part 6: From the wilds of Western Ukraine to the wild 1970s Soviet Union: Yaremche v Tiraspol Part 7: My wife tried to kill me: [mis]adventures in the Carpathians Part 8: Why my language skills suck: Part 1 Part 9: Why I speak such lousy Ukrainian – even after 10 years in Kyiv So what comes next? First, a quick English lesson: the past simple versus the present perfect. This should be easy for most of you. Compare: This pandemic period was difficult. This pandemic period has been difficult. Are they both correct? No. In the first example, the use of the past simple – was ...

During my first year at university, in Boston, I went to a lot of gigs. I was really into Britpop at the time – Blur, Oasis, Suede and Pulp in particular – and they were massive in the UK, selling out decent-sized arenas. But the beauty of seeing them in America, where they were less popular, was that they played smaller venues of less than 1000 people, right at the height of their popularity. I loved it. I didn’t only listen to Britpop – I had my other [guilty? shameful?] pleasures, one of whom was The Offspring. I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit to liking them back then – this was in 1994-95 – but it could be worse. They weren’t (aren’t?) that bad, are they? Surely Nickelback, Matchbox Twenty and Blink 182 are worse, right? (at the time their big hits were ‘Self-Esteem’ and ‘Come Out and Play’) Anyway, they were far more popular than the usual British bands I went to see, and so were playing in a much bigger venue: the Worcester Centrum. My friend Simon and I – we went ...

“Having lived long, I have experienced many Instances of being oblig'd, by better Information or fuller Consideration, to change Opinions even on important Subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow the more apt I am to doubt my own Judgment, and to pay more Respect to the Judgment of others. The Opinions I have had of its Errors, I sacrifice to the Public Good.” (Benjamin Franklin, in his final remarks at the United States Constitutional Convention, 1787) Even though Franklin disagreed with much of the Constitution, he put his full support behind it. He realised in his advanced years, having accumulated over 80 years of wisdom, listening to others with an open mind, and not trusting too much in his own genius, that there were far greater considerations for the fledgling country than merely his own views. Benjamin Franklin is one of his history’s great statesmen. His autobiography is one of the most illuminating and r...

This is a direct nod to Barry Ritholz, one of my everyday go-tos for his Daily/Weekend Reads ( The Big Picture ). Though they are mainly and ostensibly about business and finance, there are very often some fascinating links to a wide range of articles about much else besides. I’m still ‘in between’ ideas for posts – I’ve got 3-4 bubbling away on the backburner – so for now, I thought I would share a few of my own random observations. Except that I have to be really pedantic and pernickety to start off with – these are anything but ‘random’. Arbitrary, perhaps, but more like inchoate. Or half-baked. But I’ve put at least some thought into them, and they are things that have been floating about in my head for the past week or two (or three or…) Here’s his full list: Ritholz’s Random Lockdown Observations I’ll quote just two of my favourites, one to get the ball rolling. ‘There are two kinds of people during this lockdown: Those who are having a bit of fun with it, and those with kids. No...