“I want to live a fable” — A quote at the front of Annie Ernaux’s novel, “Getting Lost”, apparently from an anonymous inscription on the steps of the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Ernaux was just awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature this year — 2022. No doubt Bibliophiles around the world have focused their attention upon this little-know French author; but that she would choose such an inscription to begin her novel, says much. For — do we not, all? Do we not all want to live a fable? The fox and the grapes — the fable which is the origin of the phrase “sour grapes.” A fox spies a bunch of grapes high up on a branch and wants them badly. The lion and the mouse — A lion catches a mouse, who begs to be let go. The tortoise and the hare — who wins, in the end, and what does it teach us? And many others — of fables we learned as children, and the one’s we have learned from the lesson of hard knocks. If not a fable, then at least a fairytale. We read fables and fairytales, and expect that life must — or should — reflect the life we are about to lead. How about — the fable about the ants and the grasshopper? The former, busy about getting ready for the winter; the latter, playing the violin and living a riotous life; and in the end, what is the lesson? For Federal employees and U.S. Postal workers who suffer from a medical condition and need to file for Federal Disability Retirement benefits through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under FERS, you have no doubt...
Nigel Farage faced criticism after falsely claiming that five men arrested on suspicion of terror offences near RAF Fairford were Iranian agents who arrived via small boats. Counter Terrorism Po...