An intellectual adventure

This blog is largely an apology for misleading you all.

Yesterday morning was largely spent reading about Vienna, in particular the Museum Quarter. While reading the chapter of the book I became aware once more of the inevitable Gustav Klimt. What also struck me is that he was from a somewhat earlier period than I’d suggested in my last blog. He was dead by 1918 so he could hardly have produced art with a typical 1920’s feel. Though I do still stand by my feeling that there is something Art Nouveau about the feel.

My first reaction was that he must have been revolutionary when he did his work, largely done from 1883 till his death.  Then it occurred to me I should have realised that this was the case. There is something reminiscent of the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec or those advertising Sarah Bernhardt, both very much turn of the century. The hairstyles of the female models were very much the big hairs of long hair put up of that period.

I’m forced, too, to admit there is something quite distinctive about Klimt’s work, which maybe marks it out for greatness. There is a distinctive voice in his work, even though I’m not entirely sure what to make of that voice. Maybe all will be clearer by the time we return to England from our Austrian holiday. This trip is certainly turning into an intellectual adventure already.

Dreams of Austira

The more I read about Austria, in particular Vienna, the more convinced I am that it will be impossible to avoid Klimt. His works seem to abound in every museum, art gallery & on the outside of many buildings.

My relationship with the works of Gustav Klimt is very sketchy. We did one year have a Klimt calendar, hanging in our hallway. At first I really liked it, but by the end of the year I was getting bored with the calendar. The pictures tended to end up looking very samey. A certain amount of gold leaf, people either singly or as a pair, a very 1920s feel.  I’m quite curious to see how I will feel by the time we return after the holiday. Will I be a convert? It has to be admitted that seeing original artworks can greatly affect your feeling about the artist. Reproductions rarely give you the same impact when size, scale & texture are reduced, if not eliminated, in the process of reproduction.

Meanwhile I’m also coming to the conclusion that Vienna is clearly a city that has something interesting around just about every corner. I see the old part is a UNESCO heritage area. I can understand why.

Meanwhile I continue to try to get on top of the exhaustion & pain created by last week’s endeavours. I retreated to bed not long after 9pm to re-emerge after 7am this morning. I keep feeling more on top of things in the morning to find my energy levels rapidly evaporating by mid-afternoon.

The Fox isn’t doing too much better. Now he’s doing his daily physio exercises he’s finding both hips are hurting even more. He’s persevering, remembering last time it was a case of feeling worse before getting better. We’re hoping that’s going to be the case here. And that he is feeling some improvement by the time we set off for Austria.

Still our hotel in the Lakes part of Austria is right by the lakeside so even if we don’t feel like going out we should still have a beautiful view to look out on when we take a break from our books or dig out the travel set of dominoes that we usually take with us. The scenery sounds spectacular to drive through even if we don’t feel up to getting out to explore much.

As you may have gathered we’re really looking forward to it. We’re even beginning to wonder if we should be thinking about another holiday to break up the long dark winter months.

Frustrations & a reality check

I’m slowly getting back to normal. You can tell when I’m overtired. I start doing silly things. So on Monday I breadcrumbed some cod for dinner & suggested the Fox might like to chip the potatoes while I did something else. “What potatoes?” he asked, "Where are they?" I then realised I’d totally forgotten to even peel any potatoes, something I normally do first thing in the morning before thinking of going online, jigging, disappearing into a book or whatever. I hastily peeled them. And that after I’d made a fool of myself ringing up the chemist about the wrong number of packets of pills I’d just collected to discover I hadn’t even had that item on my prescription so the new box I was opening was the second box from last month.

At least now my thoughts are becoming a bit more coherent. Though today I’ve not got anything to do towards the meal as the Fox has already prepared a Shepherd’s Pie ready for the oven this evening.

Yesterday we bumped into someone we hadn’t seen for a while. He looked well but is clearly frustrated. He is one of those brilliant minds that gets bored easily. Unfortunately he is once more out of work. Periods of unemployment seem to be the norm these days for so many young people. Gone are the days of a steady job that lasted for life or until you were ready to move on. He still must only be about 40, may even be still in his 30s.

Apparently he went for an interview in Kuwait. He arrived just in time for Ramadan to start. He found all eateries, bars, cafés etc. closed during daylight hours, despite the great heat. He ended up resorting to drinking water in his hotel bedroom as the only place he was able to get any refreshment. He concluded whether or not he was offered a job in Kuwait, he just couldn’t cope with the idea of living life like this on a daily basis. So now he looks on.

He did get to being on the next round of interviews at one company, to be told as they hadn’t been able to find another candidate to put through to that stage, he would have to wait until they did so for the interview. His reaction, & mine, was why not just offer him the job. But no, the usual protocols have to be followed, so he waits on & wonders if he will even hear again from that company.

All I can say is I’m relieved we’re no longer in the job market. Admittedly if I could be healthy I would prefer to be working than not working, even if it did mean the frustration of job hunting. However, I reckon, after being disabled for over 25 years now, a part-time wheelchair user for 20 of those years, I can’t imagine I’m suddenly, & miraculously, going to get well enough to work. If a trip to the hospital with the Fox where he did the exercises not me, & an afternoon visit from friends can knock me out this much, there’s no way I could cope with a job, no matter how much I may wish it otherwise.