Or so it is according to Dave Gorman. My wife and I are great fans of his regular series of TV shows. I’m inclined to agree with his assessment, although I would add that it is “lumpy”. In other words, the degree of goodishness can vary considerably.
I was moved onto this train of thought this afternoon, when I finally got into the garden and began to repair the ravages of winter. A short section of path had been damaged by tree roots, and the moss was invading the place like a kind of vegetable equivalent of the corona virus. Sometimes I fantasise about a final confrontation in our garden in the event of the human race being eliminated by some apocalypse, between the ivy, the moss and the bitter cress. It could go any way.
My musings on the goodishness of modern life were prompted by the morning’s experiences of communications technology. The Italian language class I attend has been suspended because of this wretched virus, and the instructor has decided to try to conduct the class as a video-conference. This is a brilliant idea, except for the fact that people like me have not the fastest idea how to do that. I retired from university teaching in 2001, and was well up to date at that point. My OHP slides (remember those?) were a joy to behold, and occasionally I would use a video-tape in class. That was about the limit of teaching sophistication at that time.
At the Italian class on Friday mornings she handles everything through the computer, hitting us with bits of Youtube and stuff. Things are fine when she has to do all the clever stuff and all I have to do is watch. Video-conferencing, however, is off the planet. I did try to follow the instructions, but having got completely lost I gave up. She has promised to send a blow-by-blow idiot’s guide before the next class. I know that it is probably so simple that a child could do it. Even so, it first has to be explained to the child. It will be good(-ish) when I get the hang of it.
Meanwhile, I press on with my attempts to get on top of calligraphy, with my wooden-handled dip pen. There is a long way to go yet before I can commit myself to attempting anything that could be made public, but I am enjoying the process. The results so far, however, as Dave Gorman would say, are goodish.