Another Montalbano,
and the normal wonderful escapism. I think I enjoy the books more than the
series, even with its beautiful locations and the pratfalls of Catarella.
'Raising Boys' was more parenting advice, and of course I'm the parent who
neglects their children to read a book on why it is important to pay attention
to your children. . . .
I've just had
another letter published in The Guardian. I think it's my 5th. One on the US
Constitution happily preventing a Schwarzenegger or Kissinger presidency, one
on the Hay festival (May 2009), one on the morality of private education
(October 2009), one on David Davies' choice of a song condoning drug use on
Desert Island Discs, and now one more on
sloppy writing:
I saw nine
tautologies in your article (Has M&S gone too far with its pre-cut
avocado?, G2, 27 April). Every time I read “pre-peeled” or “pre-diced” I
shuddered, and by the sixth paragraph a nervous tic had developed. A
“pre-peeled banana” is a peeled banana. A “pre-sliced avocado” is a sliced
avocado. “Prepared sandwich” would be bad enough; it’s obviously been prepared,
as it exists. To go one stage further and call it a “pre-prepared sandwich” is
just pre-preposterous.
David Sawyer
Woking, Surrey
It was pointed out the next day on the letters page
that 'nervous tic' is itself a tautology. . . .
It's a pretty good
hit rate, I think every letter I've submitted has been published except one,
which was about the names of the tube stations at the western extremities of
the Piccadilly Line. There had been a discussion on the letters page about tube
station trivia (the only tube station that contains none of the letters in the
word 'mackerel'? St John's Wood), and how it was possible to go through 10
stations in a row all beginning with the same letter (Hounslow East-Hounslow
Central-Hounslow West-Hatton Cross-Heathrow Ts 1,2,3,-Heathrow T4-Hatton
Cross-Hounslow West-Hounslow Central-Hounslow East). I wrote in that it was
ironic given that locals like me were unable to pronounce the letter 'H' at the
beginning of words; ''Ounslow East, 'Ounslow Central, 'Ounslow West. . . '
