Thanks to a comment from "Pat" I found and listened to a song by John Denver, "Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days Are Stones". She responded to my complaints about a day that had turned out to be a frustrating obstacle course. I like John Denver but I didn't know that song. Pat says she keeps a little bowl of pebbles with "diamonds" scattered among them, sparkly beads. Rhinestone buttons would be nice. That's a lovely idea, thank you.

I keep thinking of a line from that Rogers & Hammerstein song, from The King and I: "If you become a teacher/By your pupils you'll be taught." Not that I'm teaching you anything with my blather, but Pat has taught me something.

I think I stagger along from stepping stone to stepping stone (different kind of stone), clutching at signposts along the way to guide me or at least cheer me on. I'll give you another line, this one from Marshall McLuhan. He said "the price of eternal vigilance is indifference." I think he was referring to the Red Telephone, the one that was supposed to ring when World War Three was imminent - or something. McLuhan thought that the people assigned to be on the alert for the phone would get tired of being so tense and would gradually slump into inertia or indifference. That's a small price to pay, actually, and I don't think it's true. I think that the price of eternal vigilance is eternal vigilance. You can't ever let down.

"Don't give a inch." I think that's from Ken Kesey but I could be wrong. I often am. Still, it's another signpost to spur me on my way.

On my way to where? I guess I'll know when I get there. In the meantime, I'm on the look out for pebbles and rhinestones.

Years ago, one time on a trip to London, I went alone to a play - don't remember what play but it was a comedy. The whole audience burst into laughter at one character's line about using a Pifco. I didn't know what that was. I asked my neighbouring seat-mate, a stranger to me, what a Pifco was. She leaned over, very close, and whispered, very discreetly, "It's a small electrical appliance," The brand name stood for the thing. That doesn't happen often, not to stick, and Brits do it more often.

They say 'corn flakes' for all cereal. They say 'Hoover" for vacuuming and also for devouring food ("I hoovered it up"). I guess the closest to that usage is in Newfoundland. When a Newfoundlander says fish, he means cod. All other fish are identified by their names.

Some brand names make it into a generic identity but it doesn't always last. Xerox used to mean photo-copy, no matter what brand was used. Not any more. Thermos is still, I think, in wide general use but vacuum flask or bottle is competing with it. Kleenex used to be king but there are lots of other brands, including generic ones, that are identified as facial tissues, including those cute little purse packs labelled SNIFF or with Xmas greetings on them. (Does anyone, except perhaps the Queen, remember handkerchiefs?) Oh, and then there are Post-It Notes and Scotch tape, both from the same company, and they have stuck, if you'll pardon the expression. I'm wondering if the indefatigable rabbit is beating out other batteries. Product recognition must cost a fortune.

Is Coke synonymous with a soft drink, a thirst quencher, a happiness symbol? Okay, what about water? Are we going to start identifying water with the safest, cleanest potable liquid we can find? buy? Oh my.