364 - The Magical Realism of Prophets and Trees

"Into My Arms" was on the doormat when I got back from Cambridgeshire yesterday.

I'm looking forward to asking Estelle to sign it for me. It's a privilege to read a book written by a friend, especially a secretive friend. Estelle decides carefully what she will share. But I have the feeling that even readers who have never met her, will feel the thrill of emotional intimacy shared in the leafy whispers of this book.

Meantime, I've enjoyed the magical realism of three episodes of Mackenzie Crook's Small Prophets sitcom this week. Two episodes at my parents house got me hooked and I paid for the series on Apple TV.

It was confusing - I couldn't just subscribe to Apple TV to watch it, I had to buy it as well because I don't have a TV licence. And once bought, I couldn't watch it on iPlayer - only Apple TV. I hate the rigidity and hostile policing of the BBC TV licensing system. I want to pay for short subscriptions, or for a series, or for a one-off film. I don't want to be tied in and threatened if I accidentally watch iPlayer for 0.01 seconds.

All that was worth it! 

What is so beautiful about this show is the poignancy of the ordinary. The flower lamp in the Care Home and the boy cycling idly around the cul-de-sac. Everything is momentous.

I could relate to the neighbourly hatred of THE WILD (harmless insects and lovely plants). My last neighbour instigated the paving over of our front garden, soon after I moved in (I wasn't consulted). I tried to save the red rose above our door, but it was sheared to a stump and never grew back.

Apple TV also offered up Pluribus, a sci-fi story of the human race become one. Every single human person knows everything that has ever been known. A child can fly a plane.

Are the magical spirits in Small Prophets an exploration of AI genies? Are the sci-fi humans in Pluribus an exploration of what the world might be like if AI robots proliferated and replaced humans?

Into My Arms defies automation, and delves into the connectedness of nature and humans.

All three stories seem to illustrate hidden, deeper communications and connections. They all care for the tiny creatures.