Between the southerly dips of Arctic air and the march of Nor’easters,
this winter is leaving us buffeted between waves of frigid temperatures and
snow and freezing rain. Phil’s prediction was surplus to requirements: We
didn’t need a extricated rodent to tell us that we were in for another six
weeks of winter.
Acclimatization comes surprisingly quickly. People were walking
around in light jackets and sweaters the day after last week’s big snow. Temperatures
were in the mid-thirties. Indeed, at the bus stop on Friday morning, I thought
I could have worn my fingerless gloves and been quite comfortable.
It is
perfect weather for knitted goods. My Nomads Hat keeps my head quite toasty.
Scrolling through saved patterns, I found the Simpliworsted Gansey Mittens
& Neck Warmer by Geoff Hunnicutt for Skacel. I used Cascade Eco+ in
Lavendar Heather colorway on size 8 dpns to create a very tight fabric. This
was a quick knit. Next time I knit this pattern, I will make the cuffs longer.
I managed
to capture post breakfast photos of Toupie this morning. He demolished a can of
food formulated for indoor cats overnight, so I expected he wouldn’t have been
as hungry this morning. Wrong! He settled down to the bowl and finished half of
the this morning’s can. After mounting the bookcase for a session of face
washing, the food coma set in:
I listened
to Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thurbon. If I had unlimited resources and
unlimited time, this is the journey I would take. It is rather dispiriting to
think that war and political unrest makes such trip almost impossible these
days, but on the other hand, hasn’t it always been so. What makes the Silk Road
so intriguing is its endurance despite the constant transformations from
migrations, ecological changes, war, the rise and fall of polities. Travelogues
are not something I find enjoyable, but as always, it is the writing that draws
one in. Here the Shadow of the Silk Road succeeds.
I also
finished listening to The Jewel in the Crown, the first book of the Raj Quartet
by Paul Scott. I had read the quartet in the 80’s and 90’s. It struck me on
listening how such disparate characters are clearly drawn and through the
narration of these characters; the plot is moved forward despite the fractured
narration. What particularly impressed me was how well he captured how much of
the Indian’s time, thought, and effort was spent in dissecting, analyzing and
developing strategies to deal with the British. Not just in the political
arena, but in negotiating the minutiae of everyday life. I understood the
criticism of a younger Indian relayed by one of the narrators that too much
time and effort was spent by Congresswallahs under the Raj on politics when that
time and effort should have been spent on learning how things worked or on
building the practical competencies to run the economic and social engines of
the nation that emerged after independence. In short, those in the independence
movement let the British determine how power would be negotiated when real
power is self-sufficiency and that means having the local/indigenous competency
to manage the social and economic infrastructure.
This
resonated with me because I see as a lesson to be learned for all peoples who
lack access to institutional or political power. That the primary focus is on gaining
access to political power is on that power—elections, policies, etc., not on developing
competency that puts people in the position to be the locomotives of
implementation. Once the political access is gained, the engines underlying infrastructure--that
is the real bulwark of power—never changes or changes much more slowly because
the focus on competency comes after the focus on political power.
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