Debrief.

Who was the bloke in the Bible who was allowed to see the Promised Land but told he couldn’t enter? Was it Moses? I don’t remember. Well, whoever it was, I know how he felt. It isn’t very nice.

*  *  *

On a more positive note, I just discovered that one of my YouTube comments in defence of Stevie Nicks’s singing got five likes. That’s at least three more than anybody else’s. Success at last. It isn’t much consolation.

*  *  *

I’m just listening to the whole of Fleetwood Mac’s album Tango in the Night on Youtube. It reminds me of a warm summer’s evening spent in the grounds of St Briavel’s Castle youth hostel in Gloucestershire, some time back in the 90s. There was a group of young teenage school kids having a disco, and an American woman standing next to me said: ‘Your young teenagers are so mature. At that age, ours are still children.’

Chinese teenagers, on the other hand, are more than just mature; they’re evil. The first thing Chinese girls learn is how to make damn good thumbscrews. The second thing they learn is how to convert their eyes into flame throwers, and it’s a skill they hone with age. If you’re lucky enough to be the sort who can ‘handle anything as long as it’s true,’ you might hope to escape with a mere singeing rather than a comprehensive melting. I take ‘evil’ back; let’s call it ‘assertive.’ It’s actually rather invigorating, as long as you realise that you’re down here on terra firma for the experience, not for some cultural definition of success or the pursuit of conviviality.

Do I continue to revere the Priestess?  I do.

*  *  *

It’s been both an enlightening and invigorating couple of days. Thank God for Whyte & Mackay Special, I say.