Bits and pieces

In Istanbul I had bought myself a little notebook for jotting down ideas and things; fits into my purse and also doubles as a shopping list sometimes. Not sure that it is ideal writing notes in it whilst sitting in the front row of a concert.....Found the following note of 20 January:

According to an article in the Independent, mental health is helped by birdsong. Research has shown that people who had lung operations needed less pain relief and were far more relaxed. The name of the person describing the research? Dr Bird. He is medical adviser to Natural England, a countryside agency.

An article in a German woman's magazine tells the story of Plinius the Elder and his 'Natural History'. He suggests hollowing out goat dung and fills it with vegetable seeds, before planting it - which is supposed to give them a great start in life. I can just see it... sitting in the Italian sunshine of an evening whittling away at your goat dung, with a glass of red wine by your side. Someone should tell the Rwandan farmers (though my horticultural education suggests that the poor seeds might be a bit overwhelmed by all that goodness).

Another article in the same magazine mentions a Spanish guy who travels to performances of Verdi Operas all over the world. Wow! Now I can understand people doing that for Wagner (I can't really understand that...) since there are not that many of those expensive and long performances around, but Verdi? The Vilnius Opera House alone has four of his operas in their current repertoire; everyone does Verdi! How does the guy cope?