Wild civility

You will immediately grasp that the title of this blog is taken from Robert Herrick’s poem ‘Delight in Disorder’ and is thematically appropriate: I have finally purchased a new laptop and an additional 24-inch monitor.

Delight in Disorder
by Robert Herrick

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribands to flow confusedly;
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.

My two new screens are wider than their predecessors. If I could find my tape measure I would give you a precise measurement, but for now you shall have to deal with my approximations: the laptop is one centimetre wider, while the second screen is at least 12 centimetres wider.  As I survey these horizons, I feel as if I could conquer the world.

Wonderful, right?  Marvellous: I am all tuckered out acceding to requests for username and password, and somewhat bemused by the wishes of a colleague for a ‘smooth transition’.  This is definitely much worse than moving house.  I think the picture of this orchard the morning after heavy rain is a good illustration of the wantonness of my file structure.

Tempestuous undergarments aside—and a slowness in my fingers finding the new locations of the arrow keys and delete button— I suppose I could congratulate myself on the seamless transfer of Trados to the new system (and wax lyrical on how beautiful the bilingual view looks on the 24″ monitor), although I do have a ‘careless shoe-string’ or two in the TM department, and shall have to perform all sorts of simulations to see whether in fact I am ‘ready to translate’.  How funny! I am always ready to translate. Give me a pen and a piece of paper!

©2017 Allison Wright