The Rookery
Aug. 10th, 2021 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipI have found a name for my new home; The Rookery. I was toying with the idea of Alamut, after the famed fortress of Hassan-i Sabbah. But at the fifth floor, it is hardly high enough for an eagle. Tim Bradshaw made the sensible suggestion of "The Nexus", based on a description and photos, which also captures the idea of a pivotal connection point of information. In a sense, I have combined the two and have come up with The Rookery. It is appropriate in its height, it has the surrounds of other towering buildings (Southbank is a New York precinct of Melbourne, I've decided). Of course, unlike the traditional rookeries of London, the buildings are sufficiently well-made that they can't be really considered slums. But here's a quirk; after capturing the public attention through novelists such as Charles Dickens and Charles Kingsley the rookeries became "a site of radical activity..." of "literary-criminal notoriety" from which emerged "as symbols of a developing urban counterculture" (Richard Maxwell, "The Mysteries of Paris and London", University of Virginia Press 1992). Now, that's the sort of "nexus" I can live with.
The Asylum was a pleasant, indeed beautiful, place of retreat. The Rookery will be a supply nexus for the frontline; once we're out of Lockdown #6 of course. It was fascinating walking along the deserted riverside on Friday night, normally a hive of activity. It is nevertheless such strategies that have kept us away from the disasters that are sweeping southern Asia that I have recently written about. I am especially concerned about Thailand; if the current rates of infection continue, already resulting 100x the number of cases and deaths compared to January 01, they will be at 3500x by the end of the year. Yes, that is a quarter of the population infected and a quarter of a million dead. Whilst I thoroughly suspect there will be a breaker somewhere along the line for numerous reasons (population density issues being one of them), at the moment I am trying to ascertain what is the best front-line charity distributing vaccines to the poor of the country because it is the poor that suffer worst with their poor public health-care. I think it might be UNICEF or CARE Australia. Happy to take other suggestions.
It seems almost impudent to discuss my personal home-life under such circumstances, but I will do what I can from where I am. I am pleased with myself in managing to arranging my furnishings, emptying what must have been well over a hundred boxes into the shelves, and getting settled in within a week. I am also pleased with the FTTB Internet that was activated this morning; twice as fast and significantly cheaper than what I was paying at The Asylum. I must confess, however, as much as I am increasingly growing to love this very comfortable home environment, I still feel the absence of a certain awry co-pilot. Yes, it was almost five months ago, but often enough my mind imagines their presence with all the scholarly resources they need at their disposal, and more. And yes, this is a scholar's home and a home of distinction (if I may appropriate Bourdieu). It is so peaceful, which even the cat will confirm; I am reading a Zola novel (Le Ventre de Paris), listening to Debussy's Arabesque and Clair de Lune, whilst sipping an Armagnac. I tell you, it's a brutish life; very cheap to those who know how to access it and very expensive to those who don't.
The Asylum was a pleasant, indeed beautiful, place of retreat. The Rookery will be a supply nexus for the frontline; once we're out of Lockdown #6 of course. It was fascinating walking along the deserted riverside on Friday night, normally a hive of activity. It is nevertheless such strategies that have kept us away from the disasters that are sweeping southern Asia that I have recently written about. I am especially concerned about Thailand; if the current rates of infection continue, already resulting 100x the number of cases and deaths compared to January 01, they will be at 3500x by the end of the year. Yes, that is a quarter of the population infected and a quarter of a million dead. Whilst I thoroughly suspect there will be a breaker somewhere along the line for numerous reasons (population density issues being one of them), at the moment I am trying to ascertain what is the best front-line charity distributing vaccines to the poor of the country because it is the poor that suffer worst with their poor public health-care. I think it might be UNICEF or CARE Australia. Happy to take other suggestions.
It seems almost impudent to discuss my personal home-life under such circumstances, but I will do what I can from where I am. I am pleased with myself in managing to arranging my furnishings, emptying what must have been well over a hundred boxes into the shelves, and getting settled in within a week. I am also pleased with the FTTB Internet that was activated this morning; twice as fast and significantly cheaper than what I was paying at The Asylum. I must confess, however, as much as I am increasingly growing to love this very comfortable home environment, I still feel the absence of a certain awry co-pilot. Yes, it was almost five months ago, but often enough my mind imagines their presence with all the scholarly resources they need at their disposal, and more. And yes, this is a scholar's home and a home of distinction (if I may appropriate Bourdieu). It is so peaceful, which even the cat will confirm; I am reading a Zola novel (Le Ventre de Paris), listening to Debussy's Arabesque and Clair de Lune, whilst sipping an Armagnac. I tell you, it's a brutish life; very cheap to those who know how to access it and very expensive to those who don't.
