You'll be long gone, dead and away, but that'll be a diamond someday

[sovay]

Despite the necessary excess of mask-wearing involved in retrieving a prescription from the pharmacy in Davis Square, my afternoon was actually going all right until a dude on Highland speedwalked into me. Obviously it would have taken too much of his valuable time and resources to widen the distance between us in any appreciable fashion, so he tried to speed up and walk past me. He sped up and walked into me. So I came home and basically lit myself on fire. "I don't want to die because some dude refused to understand personal space," I fumed to spatch as I piled clothes into the hamper. "Is that the motto of the age or what?" Have some links.

1. Courtesy of sholio, a tale of amorous snails: "Pictured: the lesser bastard."

2. I got name-checked in this review of Brian McNaughton's Tide of Desire (1983), an erotic Innsmouth novel I had in fact not known existed. Shame about the ending.

3. I love this T-shirt design. It would be relevant after a pandemic, too.



I know this tree on an adjacent street is not a hawthorn, but something about the skeletal tangle of branches combined with the white blossom made me think of Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree (1977) the first time we passed it a few nights ago in the rain: "And a white bone will prevent them, and a flying may-tree will save them, and only the horn can stop the wheel."

Comments

[cynthia1960]

I'm sorry you were endangered by a walking pile of male entitlement.

[sovay]

I'm sorry you were endangered by a walking pile of male entitlement.

Thank you. I'm still rather upset. Up till then I had had a nice walk, a successful curbside pickup from the pharmacy, and an impulsive side quest to see gaudior and rushthatspeaks.

[wpadmirer]

I love the white flowers on that tree! Flowering trees are so nice.

[sovay]

I love the white flowers on that tree! Flowering trees are so nice.

I'm really glad to have several in our neighborhood. There are some daffodils growing by the foot of the white one, which makes a pleasing contrast; I just couldn't get them in the same shot without losing the storm-whirl of the branches.

[kathmandu]

Wow, that shirt design is very Reverend Mord.

And *hiss* at that man who bumped you.

I've mostly seen people behaving much better than he did.

[sovay]

Wow, that shirt design is very Reverend Mord.

I had to look up Reverend Mord, but I'm glad I did.

I've mostly seen people behaving much better than he did.

Thank you. I mostly have, too! Hell of a moment to pick, dude.

[sholio]

AARGH. What an awful person. I'm sorry.

The juxtaposition of flowers and bare branches is really an evocative image!

[sovay]

AARGH. What an awful person. I'm sorry.

I hope he was healthy, and I get that maybe he just panicked about sidewalk space, but his case of douchery might be incurable.

The juxtaposition of flowers and bare branches is really an evocative image!

Thank you!

(And truly, thank you for the snails. "Pictured: the lesser bastard" has been cheering me up for hours. I keep hearing it in the voice of Richard E. Grant as Withnail.)

[selkie]

It is a shame it is currently unarguably inadvisable to EAT THEM.

[sovay]

It is a shame it is currently unarguably inadvisable to EAT THEM.

It's such a waste of meat.

[choco_frosh]

You could just shank th (oh wait, that requires spending more time within 2 meters)

Uh...polearms?

[sovay]

Uh...polearms?

Since my bow and arrows are in Lexington, we may have a winner.

[selidor]

I reread The Dark Is Rising this Christmas, and the foreshadowing of elements in Silver on the Tree is remarkable. I'll have to read that one again when I get the omnibus volume back (it's currently in a box I won't see until after lockdown). May-flower is a great restorer of the soul.

[sovay]

I reread The Dark Is Rising this Christmas, and the foreshadowing of elements in Silver on the Tree is remarkable.

I haven't read them all in years, but perhaps I should. I remember them patterning beautifully, even if I have never liked the memory element of the ending. They are among the books not in storage right now.

May-flower is a great restorer of the soul.

I shall hope it works as the folklore says.

[nineweaving]

That is a glorious tree.

A fabulous T-shirt.

And an over-testosteronated careening waste of oxygen. Bastard.

May you see another eighty springs.

Nine

[sovay]

May you see another eighty springs.

*hugs*

We are doing our absolute best. I hope it's within our control.

[gwynnega]

ARGH. I am so sorry. A guy bumped into me a couple of weeks ago as he attempted to pass me from behind, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. He did apologize, but the only reason I didn't yell "What part of six feet away don't you understand?" was because I was afraid that would make him get closer to me again.

[sovay]

He did apologize, but the only reason I didn't yell "What part of six feet away don't you understand?" was because I was afraid that would make him get closer to me again.

I'm glad at least he apologized!

[cmcmck]

All too many cyclists and runners aren't getting it either!

[sovay]

All too many cyclists and runners aren't getting it either!

People have been better about it than not around here, and now this guy.

[sillylilly_bird]

Just ordered a shirt - it's absolutely fabulous!

Polearms are a fantastic suggestion btw.

[sovay]

Just ordered a shirt - it's absolutely fabulous!

Oh, excellent!

Polearms are a fantastic suggestion btw.

choco_frosh is an excellent person for historical weaponry. He once provided a bollock dagger to open a durian with just because he was carrying it at the time.

[mrissa]

You are very restrained for not kicking that dude repeatedly in the shins, but that would have meant more time in his company, I suppose.

[sovay]

You are very restrained for not kicking that dude repeatedly in the shins, but that would have meant more time in his company, I suppose.

Thank you. I . . . really did not want to be around him. I'm not even sure I yelled, I was so startled. I'll have to work on a more reflexive "WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE."