Buena Vista masterpiece

I slept much later than usual this morning. Like the weather, sometimes my wound condition give more trouble than usual and then I need more rest as well as exercise, but this robs me of time to do extra things. Once I was up and running and in my study looking for something, I was struck by the  the need to clear some shelf space in my study where some books are in double rows, and sort out my library. I started weeding out books of passing interest acquired decades ago, some in French, from our Geneva days, and ended with several kilos worth of books to dispose of. 

I still keep lots of books for occasional reference despite habitual recourse to the internet nowadays. Sometimes it's quicker to grab a bible commentary, prayer book  or text from something of special interest from a shelf than it is to trawl through scores of irrelevant search entries. But there are still a lot of books which are a waste of space which I have to decide about. Before I get there, how do I dispose of such a weight of literature which would be of no interest to any charity shop (once they re-open), or second hand religious book seller?

I walked in the park before cooking lunch, and another after supper to complete my daily distance, hoping this will leave me less stiff and tired. My lower back is still vulnerable, and if my legs are stiffer  in the morning I have to take extra care when getting up that I don't inadvertently repeat the notorious nerve trapping movement which first got me into trouble.

My sister June sent me a DVD copy of the Wim Wenders and Ry Cooder documentary 'Buena Vista Social Club' made in 1999, about the making of the original album of that name. It's a masterpiece in the musical documentary genre. The album was the fruit of the interest Ry Cooder took in Cuban music over many years previously. It seems that June had two copies in her library. I wonder if she bought one to give me ages ago and the forgot to send? As I was much comforted during my Ibiza lockdown with this and many other recordings by the Buena Vista stars in my phone's audio library, I was delighted to receive this. 

The movie has been on telly over the years but I've never seen all of it. This evening, I watched it in bed on my laptop. I was pleased to find how much of the Spanish spoken I could follow without subtitles. Older Cubans speak fairly slowly and clearly, plus the Duo Lingo series of comprehension lessons in story form uses a range of accents, Latin American as well as Iberian, which is improving my grasp of the spoken language.