Art

Back to art school earlier in the week, finding my way with thick, brightly coloured paints that came out of bottles.

An impression of the foxes having fun with the outdoor compost heap. For which see, for example, reference 1.

Yesterday's update on the foxes was that they are still active, but very subdued. Moving the drain cover to the higher position is being held in reserve.

An impression of a highly desirable detached residence in a much sought-after area. The only catch being an infestation of bugs and worse. But the agent is able to advise on pest control.

And thinking of agents, I am surprised that, given the long months without proper rain, they haven't managed to kick off another subsidence panic, like the one we had about 25 years ago. Party time for surveyors and underpinning contractors.

Sticking with monsters large and small, but moving onto abstract expressionism, sometimes called AbEx in these pages. See, for example, references 2 and 3.

PS 1: in the margins of this post, I have been reading of troubles at a non-Ivy-League establishment called Akron University in northern Ohio. It seems that, hit by falling rolls, falling funding and one thing and another, they have laid off more than a hundred teaching staff, with holding tenure being no protection. Some of them have been re-hired, on much worse terms, as casuals. Troubles which it seems are hitting plenty of other places. But the Akron website at reference 4 still looks bright and cheerful enough.

PS 2: I wonder if the University Police at Akron have some funny status, like the proctors of old at Cambridge or the Canterbury Cathedral Police of only a few years ago. Not thought necessary where I was. Although I do remember our hall of residence being visited by a very senior police team on account of a complaint about wrongful arrest for drunkenness; a team who appeared to be taking what little I had to say very seriously. The silly thing was that I had been both noisy and drunk, and had evaded capture, while the complainant managed none of these things. Quite unusual in those days to bother to plead not guilty to such a charge, attracting a fine of perhaps £1. But then, he went on to be an accountant for what is now PWC. For Canterbury see reference 5.

PS 3: big day today in that I had occasion to use a cheque book for the first time for about a year: there is still the odd time when cheques are convenient, if not essential. I find that I can still write with a biro and hopefully my signature still passes muster - but it must be a pain for banks to have to keep it all going. All in aid of a correspondent near Dorking.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/foxhole-one.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=abex.

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/search?q=abex.

Reference 4: https://www.uakron.edu/.

Reference 5: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/search?q=canterbury+cathedral. Ask for police.