Tuesday 3 November 2009

Z wary, all gingered up and listing

Zedoary is the only word I can find starting with Zed. Sorry. It's rather like ginger but with a bitter aftertaste and is also known as white turmeric.

Actually, I really like bitter tastes. You know that stuff you paint on a child's nails to stop biting? My mother tried that on me, several decades ago (obv) and I licked it all off. It wasn't so much that it tasted good, but that it was intriguing. It's like those smells that are so peculiar that you can't resist another sniff to see if it reminds you of anything else yet. Or is that just me?

Right, shall we move on...

Today, I went to visit Dave. He did visit the doctor and I'll let him tell you about that tomorrow. It took me a few minutes to find his house - I *almost* remembered how to get there (I've only visited him at home once before, when I also had the pleasure of meeting the charmingly suave Rog, and was shown Lily's plastic box which she travels in for hygiene reasons. I didn't meet Murph, a loss which I still lament). The turning to his road was nearly hidden by overgrown bushes, so I overshot a bit.

Actually, I nearly funked the germ thingy and didn't knock, but I was brave in the end, and was glad I did. Poor lovely Dave - he's looking quite thin and in need of much cake.

After that, I went on to a funeral in Norwich. The chap who'd died was only 46 but had been a dedicated smoker of various substances, most of them tobacco, for many years, and lung cancer got him. It was, I think, the third totally secular funeral I've been to (not all the religious ones were Christian) and was moving and very personal. Not saying more there, of course, there's a loving family to whom it's private, but I'll tell you the music, because we've been talking about funeral music elsewhere (blogwise, I mean, brought on by the clergypeople who find some secular music hard to deal with at a somewhat religious ceremony).

As we came in - Rock the Casbah - Rachid Taha
While flowers etc were put on the coffin - Feeling Good - Nina Simone
While people were sharing memories - Chaconne - Bach
As the curtains closed - Sheena is a Punk Rocker - The Ramones
As we left - Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones

I hardly knew him, but he had dear and lifelong friends. 'Bye, William, a lot of people will miss you.

17 comments:

Z said...

I carefully lined up that list, but did Blogger take any notice? Pah.

Zig said...

I always get muddle with secular and non-secular and which one means which, a bit like flammable and inflamamble which seem to mean the same.

Zig said...

inflammable

although inflamamble looks interesting doesn't it?

Z said...

Secular is not religious. And flammable and inflammable do both mean the same thing, which I think is really interesting. Even more interesting is cleave, which means cut apart and join together, depending on context. Isn't English splendid?

I enjoy the sign to the local Swim in Poo. I hope it won't be replaced any time soon.

martina said...

I thought for sure the title would be Z is for Zounds.

Gia Fernandes said...

Wow! You reached the end! And thanks for teaching me a new word - zeodary. I hate the bitter taste btw.
Hope your friend Dave feels better soon.

Gia Fernandes said...

Sorry, zedoary!

lom said...

poor Dave, hope he gets well soon

Dave said...

So does Dave.

Z said...

Just calling me Z seemed a bit of a cop-out. And I learned a new word too, Cloudcutter. When I next come to India (where it grows) I'll have to look out for some. It's a root, so I suppose it's sold ground like turmeric.

Me three, LOM & Dave.

Rog said...

I went to an inflammable cramation once.

It's a bit cold for the overgrown bushes in Dave's neighbour's gardens to appear though.

Rog said...

PS Congratulations on getting through the alphabetti spaghetti.

Sarah said...

NO don't feed him cake..... (heartless)

I played football on the top of a mountain in Morocco to *Rock the casbah* once, I blame the wacky backy.

Z said...

Cheers, Rog.

Oh Sarah, but he needs cake to build up his strength. And 'Rock the casbah' was surprisingly good as a welcome to the crematorium. Would have been rubbish in a church though. You'd need a live performance there.

sablonneuse said...

The white turneric sounds intriguing - apart form its name. I use a lot of the yellow stuff but have never seen zedoary. It wasn't in my dictionary but according to the BIng translation service it is zédoaire in French.
Hope Dave gets well soon, with or without the cake.

Z said...

I looked it up in a Scrabble dictionary and then for the definition online!

Unknown said...

I'm intrigued by the white turmeric, crossing my fingers for Dave, and hoping my memorial service is nearly as interesting as the one you spoke of. Thanks for giving me so much to think about, Z.