Good reading for those sick like dog

The old feeder has been stricken with a nasty case of the common cold. When the barometer hit rock bottom yesterday morning, I thought my head would bust open. With no liver, I can't take even an aspirin. Home-made chicken soup, gallons of it, supplemented by turkey carcass soup seems to soothe if not cure the miseries. Heaven forbid the bird flu gets here, there will be no relief.

No sooner than the foot feels walkable, than I walk out in public and catch the first communicable disease around. Anyhow, this nasty cold has given me the opportunity to re-read one of my favorite books. Originally titled The Kraken Wakes, Out of the Deeps by John Wyndham, the 1953 sci-fi presages such current TV series as Surface and Invasion. Wyndham also wrote the book that inspired the sci-fi movie classic Village of the Damned. Another book by Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids was also adapted into a (not so good) movie and a rather better BBC TV serial version that adheres more closely to the book.

Wyndham has been criticized as being, "the master of the middle-class catastrophe", but I find his works well written and fun to read. It is worth noting that Mr. Wyndham raises the question of the British gun control laws in Out of the Deeps. He is highly critical of the government which invariably seeks to deny its citizens the means to defend themselves, even in the face of a 'middle class catastrophe'. An unusual stance for an Englishman, but I guess they can't all be pantywaists. Shades of the hurricane Katrina gun grab.

The old feeder isn't completely well yet, but I'll try to ease back into blogging a bit. Time for more chicken soup.