Miranda & Voltaire

I don't watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. I can't watch the spiders, that big one that they have between shots (the camera zooms in and I freeze). And I find it undignified eating insects unless you are actually starving. I happened to glimpse the quite awful not really a doctor Gillian McKeith, in the opening episode. I believe she has been pretending to faint. I do watch Miranda, though always forget it's on. I like the all too knowing nods and winks to seventies' comedy. And she is funny. Also enjoyed, on Monday, The Essay, Radio 3, on Voltaire. I listened in the dark with my eyes shut and a cup of Earl Grey (which I stopped drinking for years, it gave me a headache, but I recently restarted and remember how much I love it). I quite often sit in the dark and silence with a cup of green or black tea, just to completely rest my senses. I never take milk (in tea or coffee) and I hate herbal tea. This episode of The Essay had extracts from Candide, one of my favourite books. I still have my well-thumbed copy from uni, 1982. It is pink with a yellow trim, faded now.