Today was in hiding as the sun is quite fierce and I was feeling indolent. I made the mistake of having a rather large breakfast, of the crab with chilli and herbs from last night, with added egg and broccoli to slightly temper the heat for an breakfast. It didn’t really temper the heat, but I feel like my tolerance has improved.
Also did some good stretching this morning. I’ve been very stiff the last few weeks, particularly around the hips and lower back, as the work arrangements have not been ideal and I don’t do well with computer posture at the best of times. I’d had a few false attempts during the last couple of weeks, but this was the first time it felt satisfying rather than dispiriting.
I ventured out for coffee, which was pleasant, and now they don’t even bother to wait for me to place my order and just ring up an iced latte in glass not plastic please. My usual spot in the garden was free, though curiously other seats were taken – usually on the hot days I am the only one there. But it’s a nice green garden in an area where there is no public greenery. I sat longer than usual, reading my book – Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World. I enjoyed it, though there is something that doesn’t sit right with me about his books. One is an unsettling recognition that his writing style is very similar to my own though of course in the Nobel winner rather than the anonymous never-published blogger league, and another is the very careful construction. But the character was very good, and his voice reminded me a bit of my grandfather, who was not a Japanese painter of (beware spoiler) the nationalist school, but was a Pakistani bureaucrat in a time and place where undoubtedly his hands were not always clean. I think I will have an Ishiguro season. I am enjoying my current way of reading multiple books by the same author or from the same place, or listening to several podcasts on the same topic.
There are always very fancy sports cars parked in the cafe’s parking area. I’ve never paid them much attention, as it’s a fairly wealthy area, and a high-end, expensive cafe, but now I wonder if there is some other reason, like maybe related to photography or a showroom or something. They are often different cars, I think – though of course I have never paid attention, but I’m quite sure I’ve never seen today’s bright yellow before.