During song practice a squirrel crossed over Queen Street towards my side on the wire. There’s nothing unusual about that but this one stopped at the point where the wires change direction and just sat there for about ten minutes before heading west. It had seemed reluctant to pass over a certain connector on the wire.
I was trying to read Milton’s “Paradise Lost” but I felt sleepy so I took lunch a bit early. I had crackers and old cheddar and then took an early siesta.
I read the first three books of Milton’s Paradise Lost. The first deals with Satan and his minions being cast out of heaven into hell. In the second Satan discusses with his main officers their options. One says that they should return to wage war against god, even though it would be futile. Another says they should hope for a pardon. Another talks about turning Hell into their own heaven. Satan finally says that he’s learned that God has created a third world and he’s decided that he will personally go there to undermine god’s plans for them. The rest tells of Satan’s journey out of Hell. At the gates he meets his own daughter, who it seems to have once been the beautiful Athena but was transformed to a monster in exile. He is also confronted by Death, who turns out to be his son by Athena. Satan’s daughter lets Satan out and he flies through the upper level of hell, which has been ruled by Chaos long before Satan arrived. Chaos doesn’t stop Satan from leaving. In the third book god sees Satan making his way to Earth and discusses it with his son. He knows that Satan will corrupt human beings and so he already plans on what can be done to save them. God’s son volunteers to sacrifice himself to save mankind. At the beginning of the fourth book Satan disguises himself as a minor angel from heaven and gets directions to Earth from the Angel of the Sun. When Satan gets to Eden he finds it is surrounded by a wall, which he jumps over.
For dinner I heated a burger and had it on whole grain bread with a beer while watching the penultimate episode of Interpol Calling.
In this story judges that presided over Nazi war trials are being assassinated with explosives. The killer always warns them first to let them know they are sentenced to death, even telling them the time and place of their execution. The first judge dies in his car in downtown New York while the killer pulls a switch and watches the explosion on TV. Duval recognizes that the only connection between the judges that have received letters is that they were at the Nuremberg trials. He goes to the Spandau prison asking for a released prisoner who is an explosives expert and finds that Karl Haussman was released a month before. He had been a booby trap genius who developed remote controlled exploding tanks. The next judge who receives a warning is Mottier in Paris. The police occupy Mottier’s apartment and screen it thoroughly. But while Mottier’s wife is shopping Haussman poses as a store employee and offers her a present for her patronage. Interpol checks her parcels but finds nothing wrong with the fancy pen and notebook holder she’d been given. Haussman explodes it from his car Mottier is killed. Duval is certain that Haussman plans on killing the next two judges together. Zelnikov from Russia and Lord Ruskington will both be attending a conference in London. Haussman buys a hunter’s duck decoy and rigs it up. On the day of the convention he stops a police motorcyclist for directions, knocks him out and takes his uniform and vehicle. He is able to ride directly into the site of the convention. He places the duck in the river and sends it by remote control towards the bridge over which Zelnikov’s and Ruskington’s car will pass. Duval notices the police bike through binoculars and the duck. Borrowing a rife Duval blows up the duck before it reaches the bridge. Haussman drives away. Still dressed as a cop he stops a sport scar and knocks out the driver. Duval sees he is in shirtsleeves in the winter with the top down and goes after the car. Haussman crashes upside down off the road and the car explodes with him in it.
I finished my required reading of Paradise Lost before bed.
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