This Part Done
29 March

We've got the first part of this extended project done. The ceilings in all three bedrooms are now sorted.

And it feels good to have the workmen out of the house. They've been as good as they can about keeping things clean and tidy but it's just good to have the house back for ourselves and to be sleeping in our own room.

Somewhere in the middle of this, we had Phil for a meal. Which all went very well. As well as the usual good food and conversation, he also helped with moving a wardrobe from one room to another and helpfully pointed out that the large cracks in the corners of the rooms are very reminiscent of all old houses - I mean no irony in this; Ross will tell you that I get quite uptight about these matters and so an outside perspective is quite useful.

Anyhow, doing the back room on its own took less time than the front two room and so by yesterday, Wednesday, the work was done and the men were gone. Nutkin is very pleased with this news, although it must be said that he has been less of a wuss about strangers in the house than he has been in the past. Jemima, as usual, has just been a social tart. Her sense of curiosity about what has been going on in the rooms has outweighed any sense of nervousness about strangers.

As relaxation, I have managed a number of delights.

Firstly, I have now finished reading A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon - he it was who wrote The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time. It's always a problem reading a novel by an author after you have read something excellent by them. Expectations are high. The chances of disappointment are high. This book did not receive good notices when it appeared. I loved it. It's very different from The Dog and that is to be commended. I liked all of the different voices of the family members. I liked the fact that their lives were believably chaotic. I liked the fact that things sort of worked out because, for the most part, that's what they do in life. I liked the fact that, as secrets became revealed, each time family members found that other people had gone through exactly the same sort of experiences. It was an excellent read and Ross thought so as well.

I caught up with Notes on a Scandal starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. This is the story of an older woman who befriends a younger woman and covers up for the fact that the younger woman has had an affair with a student at the school at which they both teach. Or more accurately, it is the story of an aging lesbian who psychotically manipulates stupid people into positions where they are forced to do her bidding. the narrative is far fetched and implausible but the acting makes it riveting cinema. Film noir for the new millennium.

We've also just finished watching the thee part documentary polemic The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom. It's by Adam Curtis who was also responsible for The Century of the Self and The Power of Nightmares.

Part of the thesis of the programmes is that modern political theory is based on a view that all human nature is selfish and that this view was supported in the 1960s by modish mathematical theory including games theory. Part of games theory included the following scenario

You steal something. You want to sell it to someone. They agree to the purchase but, because it is stolen property, they insist on special arrangements. They will leave the money in a designated spot; you will leave the stolen goods in a designated spot. At that point, you will each ring each other and go to the other place to collect you reward. The problem is - do you trust the other person?

Within the mathematics of the theory, the only way that you can ensure that you emerge from the situation on an even situation is to cheat and retain the stolen goods. If you do and the other person has also cheated, then you haven't lost anything. If you do and the other person hasn't cheated, then you have the goods and the money. If you don't and the other person hasn't cheated, then you have the money and they have the goods. If you don't and the other person has cheated, then you have nothing.

It comes down to - do you collaborate or compete?

However, despite the theory, when they tried the game on ordinary people, most actually collaborated. There were only two categories of people who behaved rigidly in accordance with the mathematical models, psycopaths and economists.

Even so, the game is already skewed because you, yourself, are in the game as a thief and you are interacting with other criminals.

The dispiriting thing was how the series then linked this with our current target-led quality control in the Public Services and how the targets themselves produced skewed behaviour.

Still, it was good thinking stuff and, though you may never agree with everything Alan Curtis says and/or may feel that he takes one small idea and expands it to destruction, the programmes are at least television with some thought behind it.

We're also getting ready for gardening. We've been off to Lady Green nursery and have purchased all sorts of plants - agastache, mimulus, centaurea, heucherella. I have no idea how any of these will turn out but I am looking forwards to finding out.

Just a quick note. Petrol prices are creeping back up again. Locally, they had been as low as 86p per litre since autumn of last year. Now, suddenly, they are up to about 91p per litre. Why? Well, the budget will have accounted for some of it. The hostage situation in Iraq may well have prompted speculation on the world's money markets. But I think that it's the petrol companies cashing in on the fact that Easter is approaching and many more people will be taking a drive out into the country.