It's been a while. I've been away, and busy, but I'm still here, and thinking. If there are any new readers, welcome, sorry to have neglected you. You - well, the blog - are in my thoughts every day now. "I must tell BLOG that," I think. I guess the thought is as good as the action, but of course, it's not. So here's a little quicky: Shortly after Angelina Jolie made world-wide news with her announcement, Brad Pitt dropped a newsy item I saw on TV. He has prosopagnosia. well I didn't know he had it but I know what it is and I know how to spell it. Oliver Sacks has it; so do I. Prosopagnosia is face blindness, the inability to remember a face. You know the line, "I don't remember your name but your face is familiar." Well, if you can't remember the face, the name is no use at all. This weakness can be very embarrassing. After Bill and I moved to Stratford, everyone wanted to meet the new administrator of the Festival and there were lots of parties. At one party I went up to a woman and said, "Hello, I'm Betty Jane Wylie," and she said, "that's the third time you've told me this week." Oops. I didn't remember her face. It can be worse. I was negotiating with a new publisher about a book and the managing editor and publisher took me to lunch, so our meeting lasted over a couple of hours, long enough, you'd think, to learn a face. Later, I talked to the editor over the phone and then when I met someone in the hallway of the company's office, I referred to talking to so-an-so and she said I am so-an-so. I hadn't remembered her face. Oh dear. I simply lack the ability to face-map. There's a poem by C. Day-Lewis (father of Daniel) that begins: "Different living is not living in different places/But creating in the mind a map." I cannot create in my mind a map of the faces of the people I meet. I have to wait until I meet a person several times, or else until I am horribly embarrassed by my disability. So if you see me on the street and I don't speak to you, forgive me. Next time, maybe.

This is a parable. (I love parables, which makes me, I guess, a parabolic thinker.) I have referred to this tale in one of my books but it's not likely you'll ever see it., so I can repeat it. Once upon a time there was a poor baker and his wife who were having trouble making a living. One sad day the baker told his wife that they'd reached the end of their bin. "Tomorrow will be our last day," he said. "We have no money for supplies" A beggar came along asking for shelter and though the baker and his wife had little spare they took him in and shared what they had with him. In the morning, the beggar thanked the couple saying before he left, "Whatever you do first, that you will do all day." There wasn't enough flour to bake bread. The baker decided they would make a few cookies for a sick little girl down the street. Passers-by were lured into the shop by the fragrant aroma of the cookies. The baker and his wife were too busy to serve them, so the customers helped themselves and left money on the counter. The supply of flour never ran out, nor did the people eager to buy. By the end of the day, the baker and his wife had enough money to keep their business going. A rich grocer across the street watched this activity all day wondering what had happened. He asked the couple for their secret. "No secret," said the baker. "We took a beggar in for the night and in the morning he wished us well and was gone." The grocer decided that he and his wife must find that beggar and reap a similar reward for their bounty. They found the ragged man quickly enough and rushed him home for a hasty meal and a bed on the floor. When the beggar left in the morning, he said to the couple, "Whatever you do first, that you will do all day." And with that he was gone. "Wife," said the grocer, "we have to get ready for all the customers. You sweep the floor and I'll count the change in the till." And that's what they did, all day long , unable to stop to serve customers who left in disgust.

WHATEVER YOU DO FIRST, THAT YOU WILL DO ALL DAY.

I didn't get started right this morning and I remembered that. What next?