When Adriel leaves me at home by myself, as she has done this week to attend a friend's wedding, I adopt the lifestyle of an indulgent bachelor.

Instead of squeezing in a run before breakfast, I sleep straight through to mid-morning. Instead of going in to the office, I read on the sofa in my underwear until I'm hungry, at which point I fry an egg in the pan that's still sitting on the stove from the day before.

Eventually I shower and get dressed (perhaps even going for a jog first, though only if I feel like it) and make my way to the library or the Roundel. After all, there are other enticements for going out.

For example, I usually buy an interesting bottle of whisky to keep me company at home (often I sip some while reading in my shorts). This time I got a signatory cask strength bottling of Glen Garioch 1988, aged 16 years. It is less exciting than other cask strength whiskies I've tasted recently, but it is still turning out to be a good companion.

I also make sure to always have a pipe with me when out of doors. Normally I bring it out for special occasions, but when I'm in indulgent bachelor mode just making it out the front door before dinner seems reason enough to light up.

There's one other recurring pattern I'll mention: when Adriel leaves, I major in a film director she's not likely to go for. We watch Tarkovsky films together—she got me started on him in fact—so it's not that she doesn't go for good films that can be hard to watch. But it would be hard to both find time to watch several Coen brother films back to back, and still harder to work through Bresson's career in two consecutive evenings. (Both have been my diet on past occasions.)

She wouldn't go for David Lynch for somewhat different reasons, I guess. My director this time may appear to fall in this class, though I've found him more, uh, edifying, if that's the word. This week it's been Stanley Kubrick.

Dr. Strangelove is an amazingly easy film to watch for something filmed in 1964, thanks largely to the comedic efforts of Peter Sellers. I'll try to talk Adriel into watching Eyes Wide Shut with me at some point, too, but will feel the need to explain myself. Kubrick thought it was his best film, and many seem to have been disappointed that the nudity wasn't as titillating as hoped, two facts which taken together probably indicate that the film is worth watching. One helpful article I found analyzes the film from a sociological rather than psycho-sexual perspective, though I would want to add that for those who don't think the institution of marriage is obsolete the Hartfords's "Victorian" mores are a relevant point of interest.

Tags: Personal