The Place To Be

Sitting in the garden on a cushioned deck chair, eyes closed, sun on my face and warming my body as if under a soft duvet.  I can blot out the sound of the passing traffic to hear small birds 'chimping' in the hedge to my left, the shrill call of the swallows as they sweep to their nests under the gable, the robin holding forth from the ornamental cherry tree and a blackbird responding from further afield, probably down by the lime trees.  A soft breeze ruffles the air and a dove coos.  Work seems miles and miles away.  The house is crumbling and the ivy and bramble winds through the garden threatening to choke back the areas that we have cleared and reclaimed.

But today is a day for ignoring it all and just sitting in the sun listening to the cawing, squeaking, chirruping, trilling, cooing and fluting of our garden birds.

('Chimping' is, of course, a made up word.  Which brings to mind this email exchange between my friend K's son, S, and one of his university lecturers.

Hi Sir,

I've been working through the lecture notes for Intro to Macro and they are very useful but in the Keynesian Co-ordination Failure section it says that "fiscal policy action 'uniquitises' equilibrium in output market". The word 'uniquitise' confused me and I haven't been able to find a definition online or in a dictionary - could you please explain what you mean by this?

Hi S

I made it up. It means ‘to make unique’. I like it.

Best,

J)