03 November 2005

30 VITAL STATISTICS   I was born on Christmas Day. The only sport that I play is petanque, sometimes known (erroneously) as boules. I am virtually innumerate, able to manage only basic addition & subtraction. My favourite single malt Scotch whisky is Lagavulin, distilled on the island of Islay. Amongst my favourite poets are R.S.Thomas, Philip Larkin, Amy Clampitt, Peter Redgrove, John Burnside & Diane di Prima. I am an only child. I am a radio ham. My calllsign is G0 EUV. I can send & receive morse code at a rate of 12 words a minute. I once played to a capacity audience in the Royal Albert Hall. My favourite contemporary playwright is Harold Pinter. In 1985 I compiled a dictionary of Anglo-Romani. Had I been a girl my given names would have been Charlotte Mary Ann. Stanley Kubrick once gave me a kitten. I support Watford Football Club. I am opposed to capital punishment. I believe that happiness is an overrated goal in life. My favourite word is ‘propinquity’. I was a school refuser. I have no religious belief, but I do have a sense of a spiritual dimension. One unconsumed ambition is to traverse the United States by car. In the early ‘70s I auditioned Elvis Costello as keyboard player for my band & chose someone else. My all-time favourite piece of music is Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. I have never drunk a cup of tea or coffee. If I had a motto it would be Camus' phlegmatic statement, Il faut croire Sisyphe heureux. I weep every time I watch Brief Encounter. I have no earlobes. (Demonic or Vulcan ancestry has been suggested). My most prized possession is a Washburn acoustic bass guitar. I’m not afraid of death, but in latter years I have developed a morbid fear of contracting a fatal disease. I have a profound mistrust of & dislike for authority structures. Self-regulation underpinned by a sense of personal responsibility represent the ideal for me. Where I would most like to be at any given time: The Tinner’s Arms, Zennor, Penryth, North-West Cornwall Foden’s Cottage, Ros Rua, Bertraghboy Bay, Connemara, Eire Upstairs at Lalor’s, Temple Bar Square, Temple Bar, Dublin, Eire E.J.’s Luncheonette, Amsterdam Avenue, New York City    On my tombstone I shall have inscribed Yeats’ epitaph: Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by.       11:06:53 PM    Mmm? []

© Copyright 2005 Dick Jones. Last update: 02/12/2005; 23:05:30.