So much is happening here in London that if I do not blog every day I get behind. That is happening at this moment.
There is that saying: Truth is stranger than fiction, a Mark Twain quote, is most apt for my life.
“1) Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
2) It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction must be credible.
3) Truth is stranger than fiction. It has to be! Fiction has to be possible and truth doesn’t!
4) The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.”
Yesterday I was sitting in the lobby of my hotel after a complete failure at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (more about that later). Suddenly, I looked up and there was an utterly handsome man – utterly – in a dress with a scarf around his head. But it was not a usual dress and it was not a usual scarf. He was a Sultan and he was wearing the garb of his nation. I could not help myself and went over and commented about his handsomeness. He was accompanied by an aide or two. He definitely looked the part and he had a name tag around his neck which did have the word Sultan upon it. I do get away with a lot because I am 76 – I throw caution to the winds and say what comes to mind. He seemed quite pleased – and his aide (who must have been blind) called me beautiful. I showed them my blog on my phone (I cannot find my blog cards at the moment).
I was utterly blown away but this awe deepened when I Googled Sultan. My goodness gracious me, they are Royalty. Wikipedia told me: “Sultan, pronounced [sʊlˈtˤɑːn, solˈtˤɑːn]) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning “strength”, “authority”, “rulership”, derived from the verbal noun سلطة sulṭah, meaning “authority” or “power”. Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost full sovereignty in practical terms (i.e., the lack of dependence on any higher ruler), albeit without claiming the overall caliphate, or to refer to a powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The term is distinct from king (ملك malik), despite both referring to a sovereign ruler. The use of “sultan” is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular king, which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
In recent years, “sultan” has been gradually replaced by “king” by contemporary hereditary rulers who wish to emphasize their secular authority under the rule of law. A notable example is Morocco, whose monarch changed his title from sultan to king in 1957.”
I was most impressed, to say the least. Then I also read that a Sultan could have more than one wife. Hmmmmm. I do not like the heat so living in his country might be uncomfortable, but what if I were the London wife??? I clearly have a vivid imagination BUT I did meet him, converse with he and his aide and showed them the blog on my phone. It is impossible to reach me through the blog but just in case I did email Chris, my blog master, to tell him that if a Sultan called, to put him through. Hahahaha
I spoke to people at the hotel about this encounter and said that I had never met Royalty before, this was a first for me. So I have met (and befriended) someone with a great deal of money but never Royalty. There is a first time for everything. Little did I (or anyone) know the repercussions of taking on a blog. What is a repercussion? Its synonyms are: consequence, result, effect, outcome, by-product; reverberation, backlash, ripple, shock wave; aftermath, footprint, fallout. Its shock waves and reverberations have been immense, actually too huge to even contemplate. I do not owe my income, my ‘wealth’ to the blog, that income is derived from my work as a lawyer at the County of Marin. But this strange, rather esoteric, life style is all due to the blog. It gives me confidence and daring – people try to use me and my blog and end up being used and/or transfixed. Esoteric’s synonyms? Abstruse, obscure, arcane, recherché, rarefied, recondite, abstract, difficult, hard, puzzling, perplexing, enigmatic, inscrutable, cryptic, Delphic; complex, complicated, involved, over/above one’s head, incomprehensible, opaque, unfathomable, impenetrable, mysterious, occult, little known, hidden, secret, private, mystic, magical, cabbalistic; rare involuted. ANTONYMS simple; familiar.
Now I have an abstruse, rarified, enigmatic and inscrutable life style. One that is unfathomable and mysterious. It has served to alienate me from former friends, family and jealous women. But I cannot go back, I do think about it, but I cannot. On that serious note, I shall end.
Today is a lazy day. Brian will come this afternoon for a work out and knee therapy but that is the only thing planned for the day. I am rather peopled out and require some solitude. When recovering from knee replacement surgery I had solitude for weeks and, looking back, it was quite good, rather fulfilling. But here I am out in the world – meeting Sultans. The photograph is of the lobby of this hotel.
