Ransen's Blog

A strange thing happened when I switched on the TV to watch some sport recently. For a minute I just saw this, a flat defintely 2d shape, with no relation to reality: It was not a problem with the TV, it was a problem with the visual processing in my brain. For a few seconds it had failed to recreate the image at the bottom of this article. I was reminded of the bloke referred to in the title of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver Sacks. The patient had no apparent optical/physical problems. He just could no longer interpret the signals coming into his brain from his eyes. When he got up to leave he grabbed his wife's head, thinking it was his hat. The shapes no longer made any sense. There was a signal processing failure. And that is what must have happened to me, very briefly, because what I was looking at resolved itself into this, in the end (scroll down): (Snooker and rugby, the only two sports I watch.)

The handle of our teapot had an accident. I delayed ordering a new one, though I do love the design and feel of it. So, in the meantime, I got used to making the tea with the broken teapot, cupping the scorching body with my hands. Eventually I did order a replacement and for days I forgot that the new teapot had a handle and held it awkwardly, as if it didn't. In Italian there is a saying: "chi va con lo zoppo impara a zoppicare" A rough translation is "he who hangs around with people who limp, will learn to limp himself." But I had learned to limp all on my own . And I wonder in what other areas I've learned to limp when I'm perfectly able bodied/minded? (The teapot, by the way, is a Ulster Weavers 6-Cup Susie Bone China Teapot.)