No selfie

Yesterday, while biking down the hill that goes past Girls College - which naturally I try and get through as fast as possible, I gracefully swept through the intersection of this terrible roundabout and got hit by a German driver who, by all rights (and by rights I am largely speaking of the NZ Road Code) should have given way to me, but hadn't. I made a split second decision to try and get around her which sort of paid off in a "at least you didn't hit the side of her car and damage yourself" sort of way, but also led to me sliding and hitting the concrete on the other side. The result was a curious levity, as if I could glide inconsequentially through life, sliding on the bonnet of her good fortune. As it was, thanks to not having any real muscle mass, I managed to leave not a trace. The woman's hands trembled because she had that survivors guilt thing, she also had that "she was in the wrong thing" but I ended up relieved more than anything that she was okay. I didn't get her number but she got mine. She didn't call to replace the bike tire that she ruined, that lies in this tangled mess outside my front door. Talking of tangled messes. Television has hit a slump with the end of "Show Me A Hero", essential watching if you hadn't tried it yet. No HBO drama has captured the cultural apex that was Yonkers in the halcyon days of the early nineties, but David Simon- creator of The Wire, knows his way around an ensemble cast/Bruce Springsteen soundtrack. I enjoyed this so much that I watched "Generation Kill"; same guy, but set in the early days of the Iraq Occupation. It is pretty good, but needed more Springsteen lightly evoking the nostalgia for an era before the internet and my wrist aching from being smashed into the concrete with force. In other television news, "The Last Man On Earth" is passable, although painted with overly broad strokes - like that Trainwreck movie. I have started on Archer, which is another animated show, now that Bojack - which totally redeemed itself in Season 2 with the episode with the boat, is on hiatus and Rick and Morty doesn't seem to be bringing out a new episode ever. Only film I have seen recently has been "Straight Out of Compton" which was fine. Ice Cube really comes out as the winner in this update of Disney's Camp Rock, but set in South Central LA rather than a camp with teenage girls and boys singing about their feelings. Books on the other hand, we have had a little upsurge since America and have chopped off "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" by Jon Ronson, I think everyone would like that. It is likable. I have a great book on Soviet Architecture that I am reading at the moment, but also read "Delight" by JB Priestly, and I have seriously reappraised my high-ish opinion of him, formed largely from that "English Journey" book. Mads enjoyed "Americuh" and I read this informative, but somewhat unnecessary, history of Krautrock: "Future Days". Oh also have a book on the Greek crisis which is quite good, can't remember the title. We also have RDOC staying at the moment. I am also alive.