Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet You're on my mind, to put it mildly. Glad you've read a couple of my earlier blogs. Have a hug! 🤗 Just remember you're my dear Miss Landau, always and forever. Love, James P.S. My email address remains unchanged.

Dear Juliet I'm sorry, and I think I can only say that the best thing to do now is have a good cry. I think I once advised that the best thing is always to let the emotion out and not to bottle it up. That still stands. In the circumstances, I'm going to revive something I was originally going to let lie fallow. Namely, here are my phone numbers if you really need to talk: This is my smartphone number: 07572 889840 And from America: Either, it seems: +44 7572 889840 (holding the 0 on a mobile keypad apparently produces +) Or, from a landline: 011 44 7572 889840 My own landline number is: 01952 460825 And from America: 011 44 1952 460825 It's getting towards 11.00 pm here, so I don't think I'll be on Facebook much longer. However, I am a good listener. Anthony Head was a great actor and a good man. The world is the lesser for his loss. I wish I'd known him. I also said it jokingly earlier, but now I'm serious. I think you need to take a break and breathe eas...

Dear Juliet I'm very sorry about Anthony. I'm just back at the flat between calls. I'll do a longer post later, but please be reassured that I'll be here if you need to talk or to read whatever inadequate words I can find. Love James

Dear Juliet I was going to try not to talk about Point Lobos again today, but my subconscious just bluntly said it thought you needed three months off, twelve hours of sleep a night, and a lot of calm and quiet in a cloistered environment. Apart from the partridges, I have to admit I think it's on the right track. Anyway, I know that's probably not achievable in the real world but I thought I'd better mention it. I hope you're okay today? As I must also have mentioned, I've now got the tickets for the Globe Theatre and the Golden Hinde. And for an epic finale I'm aiming to destroy the British government this time round. So after the book launch 15th-16th, I'm back in London for SoA Southwark and the Globe 18th-19th. These are the exact dates when the Makerfield by-election takes place. Andy Burnham, the man who would be king (or at least PM) is standing there and, if he wins, will most likely force a leadership contest. The polls open on the 18th, the result...

Dear Juliet I was going to write more about Glenfinnan today as I felt I'd already said as much as I should say. I was also slightly unsure why I was feeling so relaxed and even unemotional about it all... Then I remembered one of the original philosophical bases of Drusilla's Roses , itself reaching back to the time I'd first read about it ca. 1980 and before that to 1952, when it first appeared in print. In John Steinbeck's East of Eden . In it, Lee (the Trasks' Chinese cook, housekeeper and scholar) queries the translation and meaning of God's order banishing Cain from Eden for killing Abel: In different versions of the Bible, it appeared that God either promised or ordered Cain to conquer sin. The exact meaning was unclear, so Lee went to the Lee family HQ in San Francisco and asked the great scholars there to try and extract the definitive meaning from the original Hebrew in order to work out exactly what God said to Cain. And what they came up with was th...

Dear Juliet I had a big literary thought (or rather remembrance) earlier. The blog post I've written about it is only just about done. I want to recheck it but have to go out to work now so I don't have the time. So if it's okay, I'll look it over later tonight or tomorrow morning and it'll be ready for you then? I hope that's all right. Are you okay today? Love, James