The Norrington Room Stole My Pension

For various reasons it became necessary this evening to look for something in the folder I stuff all the paperwork for my Blackwell's bookshop account this evening. And then, you see, the original reason -looking for an invoice for the purposes of my VAT return due next week- was swept away in the urgent need to organise that file (from which I actually need something about once every other year). And now that urge too has been swept away by two successive and horrible realisations, viz and to wit: I have had a Blackwell's account for almost 10 years (I became quite emotional* at the discovery of a batch of bills addressed to 142 Walton St).

During that time I have spent a quite disgusting amount of money there, in Broad St and latterly CharingXRd. And I buy books in other places quite often. No. I'm not going to say how much. Well, what do you expect when you give me an account somewhere like Blackwell's on, effectively "pay us sometime, when you've got a bit of cash" terms. (At least, that's what it was in the old days. No longer.)

The first is an oddly depressing realisation. Particularly when I come across invoices for books I could have sworn I bought, oh around this time last year, and discover that, no, it was around this time in 2000.

(I did find the invoice I was looking for in the end. For anyone astute enough to be wondering, it was something with a CD in the back and hence a VAT element.)

Had a fairly blue weekend. Found the order of service for Dad's funeral in the general clearup that preceded (and was necessitated by) doing the VAT return. Hence*. I was sure I had significantly more whisky at the start of the weekend...

*I have of quite a lot of strong drink taken.

Ratzinger Again

Jeanne d'Arc makes the argument why Ratzinger's past in the Hitler Youth matters. One of the best posts I've seen on this. The comments are well worth reading as well.

(ETA: purely to collect together my own thoughts and half-thoughts on this:
I argued in a comments thread on AJHall's journal that one can't demand people be heroes, and linked it with my thoughts while watching The Downfall. I certainly think the child Ratzinger's moral position was far less ambiguous than that of the naive Traudl Junge.

Australienne replied that:

Personally, I think condemning Benedict XVI for the bare fact of his membership of the Hitler Youth is not particularly useful. By this I mean Ratzinger = ex-Hitler Youth = morally doubtful Pope. BUT: the fact that his experience growing up in a totalitarian dictatorship has not lead him to condemn authoritarianism and intolerance, but merely demand unquestioning allegiance to *his* set of absolutes, is something that does trouble me deeply. Dictatorship of Nazi Part? Bad. Dictatorship of relativism? Bad. Dictatorship of conservative priests unwilling to acknowledge global situations and dismiss a large number of fellow humans as intrinsically moral evil? Fine!

Which is a very good point, I think.)