Three things from DAH. Free every Friday!
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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. Oh, so qurious.

First up this week, Queues …  
Waiting. I sometimes think it's the main thing I do. DAH in the queue, waiting for … whatever. A call coming in, or a shoe dropping. In her book, The Man in the Queue, Josephine Tey had her murder victim stabbed to death while queueing ... And nobody noticed (until he was on the ground with a silver dagger stuck in him). I trust that will not be me. Immediate circumstances may confine me to a queue, but I look forward to once again being an agent of action. I'll avoid the buffet queues and wait for my individual order to arrive at table. I won't keep checking my watch. I won't cast baleful looks at the servers. I will converse with my companions, confident that I don't appear to be waiting for anything. 

Second up this week, Questions …  
I don't often ask questions. Oh, "where would I find the Marmite?" while in the market … I do that. Today I emailed a group of friends querying them about what tickets I should order on their behalf. This was both practical and necessary. Those sorts of questions are unlikely to inspire snarky retorts or instant argument. I know that I'm often an aggressive speaker. Questions and answers from me may feel confrontational. So I'm careful. I avoid the rabbit hole down which questions can become dinning debate. My mother blamed my participation with the high school debate team. "You question and argue all the time now!" she stated, at regular Intervals. But I suspect the debate team channeled my natural tendencies. Having written those words, I'm liking being someone who might ask challenging questions. I'm thinking I shouldn't stay quiet.

Third up this week, Quindecillions …  
In the USA it's 10 to the 48th power: a number equal to 1 followed by 48 zeros. In Britain it's 10 to the 90th power: a number equal to 1 followed by 90 zeros. I've never used this number, nor do expect I ever will. But it reminds me of an eternal debate with my parents. One billion in the USA is 1,000,000,000 (a thousand million). But in Britain, until 1975, one billion was 1,000,000,000,000 (a million million). My parents and I questioned and challenged one another about this difference. I no longer recall the details of our debates. But I am struck by the fact that we so often debated the meaning of one billion. Why? I suspect it's because my mother and I enjoyed a friendly argument. My father didn't. It was a bonus of such arguing to witness his increasing annoyance. Families are weird. 

A British book, but procurable in the USA … I ordered it from Blackwell's in Oxford. Free shipping to the USA! And usually better prices on British published books: 
An A-Z of Pasta, by Rachel Roddy
Such a fun and useful book, published in 2020. Author Rachel Roddy is a British food writer based in Rome. In this book she writes about 50 pasta shapes, with recipes and photos. Her subtitle: Stories, Shapes, Sauces, Recipes. Nigel Slater (a cook who writes) comments: "Every story is a little gem -- a beautiful hymn to each curl, twist, and ribbon of pasta." I've found myself searching for new shapes in the market. Such fun!

And a bit more:

I Have Changed The Numbers On My Watch 
by Brian Patten

I have changed the numbers on my watch,
And now perhaps something else will change.
Now perhaps
At precisely 2a.m.
You will not get up
And gathering your things together
Go forever.
Perhaps now you will find it is
Far too early to go,
Or far too late,
And stay forever


And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …  

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.