Random Jottings

I love this photo sent to me by my daughter in an e-mail. For those of you who don't know it is a display of coffee pods in the in the Nespresso World shop near where she works in London. For an addict of coffee like me it looks like a dream world! I hope I can get there one day.

 

 

The nature of female friendship

 

 A couple of days ago I read an article by Anne Chisholm who is a biographer and critic,  in which   she lamented  the fact that the release of the letters from Iris Murdoch to her friend the philosopher Philippa Foot had been greeted by the media with a range of sensationalised headlines claiming that the 60 year friendship between them was in fact a lesbian relationship.  The main culprit was of course the Daily Mail.  It is quite obvious from the letters that Iris and Philippa were very close friends, but,as Anne Chisholm  points out, there is absolutely no evidence that it was a physical relationship except for one brief episode where both women clearly decided it was not what they wanted.  The letters often speak of their love for one another. This  in no way indicates that there is is a physical relationship and I do not know what it is that prompts this sort of speculation  other than that normal ways that newspapers finds to sell themselves.  Speaking from my own experience I have a very close friend myself. She been my soul mate for nearly 30 years and I love her dearly. I now live abroad and she remains in the UK .  When we speak or write to each other we always at our conversations or cards and letters with the words I love you.I am happily married and have been for 37 years and she is happily married.  Nobody finds our behaviour strange! I must point out that I am in no way comparing myself with minds as brilliant as Murdoch and Foot! I merely wished to refute the suggestion that female friendship must always of a lesbian  nature.  

 

Iris

                                                                                           Philippa

 

 

If anyone wants to read the article it can be found at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/06/iris-murdoch-enduring-love-affa

 

 

Kitchen cabinet?

I am aware that I have not dealt with the Cabinet reshuffle carried out by our dear Prime Minister last week.  The reason for this is that I found it so incredibly uninteresting that I had nothing actually to say about it.   The only remotely interesting  thing was the dismissal of Justine Greening as Transport secretary as it will be interesting to see now if we finally get a third runway at Heathrow.