Several days past uncertain weather, rainy & sometimes hot. Most of the wheat & barley now cut & stacked. Children picking more or less ripe blackberries two days ago.
Saw a white owl two nights ago – the first in about two years. Also in the distance another bird probably a little owl.
Horse-chestnuts full-size but not ripe yet. Hops about the size of hazel-nuts. Yesterday went to the Zoo* again. Another litter of lion-cubs, which are a bit bigger than a domestic cat & spotted all over. Those born just a year ago are about the size of a St. Bernard dog. The ration of meat for a lion – I suppose its only meal in the day – seems to be about 6 or 7 lbs.
The Sardinian mouflon sheep¹ has a large udder like a goat & would probably yield a pint or more. I notice that the zebra’s hooves, at least the front ones, are quite perpendicular, but those of the ass-zebra hybrid are like those of a horse. The hybrid has very slightly larger ears, otherwise so far as the shape goes almost exactly like the zebra.
*ie. near Maidstone [Orwell’s own note].
¹A wild sheep found in the mountains of Sardinia and Corsica but, by extension, any large, wild, big-horned sheep.
And:
August 11
11 August, 1938 by orwelldiaries
This morning all surfaces, even indoors, damp as a result of mist. A curious deposit all over my snuff-box, evidently residue of moisture acting on lacquer.
Very hot, but rain in afternoon.
Am told the men caught another snake this morning – definitely a grass snake this time. The man who saw them said they had tied a string round its neck & were trying to cut out its tongue with a knife, the idea being that after this it could not “sting.”¹
The first Beauty of Bath apples today.
¹See note 2, August 9 1938.
Yawn!
I fully expect to incur the wrath of David Newquist for saying his idol is boring. Sorry, Nuke, but George's diary was pretty mundane. But blogging's loss was apparently novel writing's gain.
Cross posted to Kansas Watch and South Dakota Watch.
Todd Epp
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Reader Comments (3)
Orwell is not by any means my "idol." Many other authors might serve that role, if I much involved in citing favorites. What I find remarkable about Orwell is his prescience in portraying the the political appropriation of language that we are experiencing in current times. "Blogging" gives us daily illustrations of gross distortions of language in a state of political servitude.
As for the diary entries: the ones you reproduce are from his personal diaries and reflect the kind of recording of mundane incidents of the kind many writers make as keys to the memory of daily experience. In September, entries from his political diaries will be posted. They represent a different genre of personal records and are quite different in content.
I channel George Orwell for a moment.
"Dear Diary. I had two donuts and some chocolate milk for breakfast today. Not the healthiest but sure tasted good. I wonder what the nice man David Newquist is up to today? Wow, Sibby and PP sure don't get along. I heard some birds by my window this morning before I arose. Looks like a warm summer day.
Oh, and Big Brother is watching.
Sincerely,
George Orwell"
It all depends what you mean by "boring" :
http://gatwickcity.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=631&start=0