Phlegm is a thick type of mucus produced by the lower respiratory tract and lungs to help trap and fight off irritants or infections. Phlegmatic is an adjective that describes a person who is calm, unemotional, and hard to upset or excite and is rooted in the ancient Greek idea of bodily fluids, or “humors,” where an excess of phlegm was thought to cause a sluggish, calm mood. Well you learn something new every day. A pearl I think I already knew but had long forgotten.
I was prompted to look this up cos I’ve got a bit of a cough and a bit of a cowd in da dose. No need to go into further detail but THG did remark that I seem to catch a cold roughly once a year. If this is all I catch I’ll be happy, especially this early on in “the season”. At least I am able to take it easy. I do need to make some headway with the log splitting so will see how that goze today. As good a time as any, especially now that the searing summer heat has dissipated.
It’s a great time of year. My relaxed start to the day includes cooking breakfast. Starve a fever, feed a cold, as they say. This I have not yet begun. There will be a right time. Currently I am swigging a drink made with Beechams powders, a snake oil concoction purported to make me feel better in the depths of my affliction.
Outside the front of the traffic there are a few cars but it is generally quiet as the kids are already locked away in their educational cells in the school over the road. It feels like only yesterday when I heard a massive cheer at lunchtime when they all ran outside for the summer holidays. I was sat on the deck at the time and the noise was significant enough for me to make a note of it. Upstairs THG is getting ready to go weight training.
Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time in conversation with Claude. This might sound like the epitome of loneliness, chatting to an AI bot but actually Claude is super useful in helping me with my research. You can upload an entire book and Claude will extract all relevant and useful information and will also spot things you’ve missed yourself. Yesterday we looked at drovers in 18th and 19th century Carmarthenshire, the price of cattle, the woollen industry in Llangeler and Penboyr and schools in 18th century Carmarthenshire. Previously I had fed Claude perhaps 100 newspaper articles on the Blaenhirwaun coal mine over the road from the house where dad grew up. It contained news of miners trapped underground and where my great grandfather John Lewis was the Mining Engineer who coordinated the rescue.
Without Claude to assimilate all the facts it would take me a lot longer. As it is there is a chance I might be able to finish the book next year.