BeeB'd

That's beeb with a d.

Just listened to a request of mine played on Radio 3 Requests programme!

Not only did it sound good - my name was on the lips of Emma Kirkby!

I can die happy.

Dame of the British Empire, voice of unrivalled clarity and singer on so much of the music in my possession she is almost an obsession.

Mrs K. even got the ultimate accolade - a South Bank Show about her.

Not bad for someone who started out as a schoolteacher just singing for pleasure.

And greatest thing of all - she's never sung Verdi!

Today is also:

•1613: London's Globe Theatre burns down when a theatrical canon is fired during the play 'All Is True'.

which I could say reflects another 'burning obsession' of mine, Shakespeare!

Fortunately the modern Globe hasn't burnt down - its touring company is going to make an appearance in Timisoara on July 10th with Romeo and Juliet and then in August I am off to see The Merry Wives of Windsor, done alla Soap Opera, at the rebuilt Globe in London.

Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Romania, BBC, Radio 3, Shakespeare, Emma Kirkby

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Rain

Went to get a couple of essentials from 'THE MALL' - a bottle of wine, refill for the anti-mosquito machine and bread. When I got there it became apparant that it had rained in the night - more than rained if the amount of mopping-up, closed shops and dripping ceilings were anything to go by.
Strange, how, in the modern world, a nice new shopping centre is built with a level below ground level and still can't keep out the water.
Well, maybe not - it is Romania and despite the epidemic of floods the country seems to be experiencing, no one seems to think before hand about the likelihood of flooding in any particular place.
Mind you - it must have been wet. I have a vague memory of getting up and closing a window at some stage - and of seeing flashing lights: But I was dead to the world. No international news headlines mind you - but, hey, it is Romania and no one would notice.


Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Flooding, Romania

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Not so shock-horror

(or animal magic)

Wimbledon again - although I found it hard to concentrate on anything yesterday (encountered Margarita whilst watching the Germans' luck dump the Turks and she had an effect).

Was trying to think what animal Nadal reminded me of - he certainly prowls and walks the line like some caged animal - was thinking of a lion or tiger - but he showed a sense of humour yesterday which 1) He should do more often and 2) I don't associate with cats.

He's big and has ripply muscles - tigerish ... but the personality - tart. sharp, explosive - but 'naughty-boy going to get away with anything eyes'.

Too intelligent to be Don? Got the power though - and the sense fun.

Anyway - he powered through.

Not so Sharapova. I have to say I am not a great fan of the Russian miss ... too:

if you know what I mean.

(Not distracting from her tennis - she has been good and hope she returns to form - just, well, personality.)

Sadder was Roddick going - but what a dreadful performance - over-tired?

Not quite as old as that one hopes - and back to rut next year!

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The Screen's Green

... Wimbledon has started.

Not that this picture gives any indication of the intenseness of the green - the contrasting white of the players and the lines, or the sheer lift knowing summer has at last arrived and all is well with the world.

Bring on the strawberries and champagne (well, strawberry ice cream and fizzy plonk).

I'm watching Federer playing with (as in cat with mouse) Hrbaty at the moment - pictures delayed as Romanian TV, for some inexplicable reason, thought a local girl getting trounced out in the first round was more important.

Technorati Tags: Summer, Tennis, Wimbledon. Romania

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Babel, Kosovo, Orwell and Kadare

On This Day

• 1389: Ottoman sultan Murad I defeats the Serbs at the Battle of Kosovo, a key event in Serbian national history.

The BBC.

Strange the banging together of ideas and thoughts - and lessons.

I was doing a 'conversation' session on Wednesday - based (at the request of one of the participants) on a set of programmes from the BBC Learning English programme, Talk about English.

The series (excellent) is called, 'Who on Earth are we?' - and has a basis in the idea of culture and how it affects communication.

We started to examine the idea of stereotypes and got on to the question of what stereotypes people thought there were about Romanians. Our discussion moved into the topic of religion, never very safe at the best of times.


Life got a little warm, but not too heated - the biggest issue being over the peaceful nature of the Orthodox religion in Romania.

I decline, at this point, to address that.

After the discussion, I thought about posting a few comments on the effects of religion on the 'cultural identity' of people.

However, seeing as I regard statements in the English classroom as more confessional than those delivered to your average psychiatrist (at least you are concious of what you are saying on the couch, and in some control of the language you are using) I decided against it - and preserved the integrity of Babel, once again.

However, the issue has been simmering - and when, today, the Beeb pop up with the Kosovo Battle - it spills over.

Take a look at this choice piece of writing:

On June 28, 1389, a mighty battle was fought at Kosovo Polje. It pitted the Serbian defenders of Christ's holy cross against the invading Ottoman Empire (Turkey) adherents of the Muslim crescent moon.

This is from a piece from 'Truthmedia' - welcome to 1984 'newspeak' in reality.

I think the idea of combining crude nationalism and divisive religious views can find no better expression (I also guess the writers of this 'truth' wouldn't even notice they'd done it).

I've blogged before on nationalism and patriotism - on the difference between loving the state and loving the land.

Unfortunately, religion has been dragged in on the side of the state - and that leads to an intensification of conflict.

It doesn't have to be - the English (after beating each other to death and burning a few people) finally settled to a religion which, at its best, fitted the land: Anglicanism is a now dated celebration of getting on with the farming and not messing around with the harvest.

It's whole principle is the reduction of religion to being servant of the people, not the other way round - and if the sate is going to be involved (and, boy, is it involved in the Anglican Church!) it is only to make sure the religion stays firmly in it's place - Sunday morning, and a couple of rites of passage.

God and you are friends on personal terms - you don't need a man in silly clothes to interfere between you - and the buildings are nice too.

Not so I'm afraid with other nations - they take their gods far too seriously - look at the state America gets in!

And don't forget, that is a place which believes in the separation of religion from the state!

Newspeak!

If there was to be a 'new-speak' in Orwell's totalitarian world, there must have been an 'Oldspeak'.

Fortunately, Kosovo has managed to produce an adherant to Oldspeak as well as countless adherents to the destruction of words.

Ismail Kadare

You may, or may not have heard of the Albanian author - he has something of a reputation.

For the purposes of this little excursion, he wrote perhaps the sanest book on the events in Kosovo over 600 years ago:

Three Elegies for Kosovo.

(Amazon uk)


Technorati Tags: BBC, Kosovo, religion, Timisoara, Romania, Babel, USA

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Murray Moan

You know, some people just don't get it do they?

Murray (Brit - meaning not English) - plays tennis (sometimes), and moans a lot.

Pulled out of Queens - thumb hurting - disappointing on clay (disappointing all over) but upset the mandarins at Wimbledon don't rate him higher.

Whoops - they've ranked him way above where I place him in the game.

Watching Queens last week you notice there are the winners and the players you like watching - some do both (Federer) - others do one (Nadal) and others do the other (Gasquet).

In fact, 'the frog' is well up on my list of young players I'd prefer to watch in preference to the moaning Scot! Tennis stops being a sport and starts to become grace, art, dance when some players play.

So much for nationalism!

The other favourite to watch in the male game is Roddick - American. But that's because he's a gentleman.

Murray would not notice one of them even if it bit him.

Technorati Tags: Tennis, Wimbledon, Gasquet, Murray, Roddick

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Regrets

Shakespeare didn't play cricket.

Mind you - he does seem to know a thing or two about Women's Hockey:

But the RSC Stratford Residents don't seem to have noticed.

Technorati Tags: Cricket, Shakespeare

I just want to point out:

Romania has a hamster:

Not everyone believes me when I tell them this - but check it out for yourself: Wiki; ITIS; and something European.

Interestingly enough - range is not known, but there are a pair living in my attic in the village.

Technorati Tags: Romania, Hamster, wildlife, ROMANIAN HAMSTER

On This Day ...

• 1549: The Protestant 'Book of Common Prayer' is introduced, sparking a Catholic peasant rebellion
  

Not the most interesting of thngs, you might say - and a pity the Beeb had to turn it into something violent - but have you any idea of the significance of the thing?
The very language you are reading, the language I speak, Shakespeare and all that ... all have at least one root in the Book of Common Prayer.

For starters - it was in Latin. Henry was breaking from Rome not from religion - although it didn't stay in Latin for long .. 2 or 3 years: Then the book got seriously important.

The book is basically a handbook - a how to run a religion/church program.

It also says how to get born married and dead the right way.

It is the words which accompany all the seriously serious events of life -

DEARE beloved, forasmuche as all men bee conceyved and borne in sinne, and that no manne borne in synne, can entre into the kingdom of God (except he be regenerate, and borne anewe of water, and the holy ghost) I beseche you to call upon God the father through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteouse mercy he wil graunt to these children that thing, which by nature they cannot have, that is to saye, they may be baptised with the holy ghost, and receyved into Christes holy Church, and be made lyvely membres of the same.

Look at that for a sentence! And listen to the words ... doesn't it echo - forget Big Ben - hear tiny baptism!

The sin - you are born in sin! Fortunately, the little screaming bundle, whose welcoming words these are, couldn't understand - but that is only a temporary thing ... this is in English, it would soon be able to understand - and religion decends to the people.

Or how about this one:

DEERELY beloved frendes, we are gathered together here in the syght of God, and in the face of his congregacion, to joyne together this man and this woman in holy matrimonie, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in paradise, in the time of mannes innocencie, signifying unto us the misticall union that is betwixte Christe and his Churche: whiche holy estate, Christe adorned and beutified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galile, and is commended of Sainct Paule to be honourable emong all men; and therefore is not to bee enterprised, nor taken in hande unadvisedlye, lightelye, or wantonly, to satisfie mens carnal lustes and appetites, like brute beastes that have no understanding: but reverentely, discretely, advisedly, soberly, and in the feare of God.

Big breath needed ... and words I know, not exactly in the text above - but close enough.

And a final one - really final:

I COMMENDE thy soule to God the father almighty, and thy body to the grounde, earth to earth, asshes to asshes, dust to dust, in sure and certayne hope of resurreccion to eternall lyfe, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall chaunge our vile body, that it may be lyke to his glorious body, accordyng to the myghtie workyng wherby he is hable to subdue all thynges to himselfe.

Important book that one.

Technorati Tags: Religion, BBC, Book of Common Prayer

Reith 1

This year's Reith Lectures on China are called:

Chinese Vistas

and it's a good title.

When I think of the fantastic 'rolls' of art - Vista is gooooood!

Professor Jonathan Spence - the gentleman with the un-enviable task of talking about what must be one of the most contentious issues the Lectures have ever dealt with, did good, in my eyes.

20 mins of quick Confucian Ways - not an attempt to look at the philosophy so much as to put Confucian thought into the context of Chinese History (and world history too).

It was clear.

Original Confucius; developed Confucius; rejected Confucius; and resurgent Confucius!

Pity the BBC revealed a degree of suspicious political posturing in its choice of questioners - and sheer daftness with the Left footer contribution (at least the 'Proddy Dog' asked relevant).

A great sense of wit in the answers though.

Technorati Tags: Reith Lectures, BBC, Jonathan Spence, China, Confucius

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Rieth is back!

For those who love intelligent talk:

R4Choice: The Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas 03 Jun 08

the 2008 Reith lectures - subject, China.

There is also this on Tibet:

Tibet, the story of a Feud

Both downloadable for a limited time.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Reith Lecture, China, Tibet

On This Day

1098: The First Crusade captures the strategically important city of Antioch after an eight month siege.

1940: The last ship of 'Operation Dynamo' leaves Dunkirk, completing the evacuation of 338,226 Allied troops.

Both from BBC.

The first:

The siege of Antioch, as part of the Crusade has a lasting consequence in present day attitudes on both sides of the Muslim/Christian divide.
We continue to play out the battle and the siege and the war and countless lives still get spent.
Celebration of the victory (even in an apparently innocuous 'On this day ..) can do nothing but fuel the bloodshed and hatred.
Why not find an example of good relationships between the Muslim and Christian world?
What was happening on Sicily at this time?
Well, one thing was a fusion of culture a live-and-let-live policy which led to a massive outpouring of building and other cultural activity which serves as a model for latter generations to follow.
There are countless examples of good relations between the two 'cultures' (although, as Sicily shows - that itself is something of a challengable statement - not the good relations, the TWO: Orthodox christians and Catholic christians certainly don't seem to live in the same world - and divisions in Islam show too).
The renaissance is very much a product of the interaction of merchants and traders, princes and clerics from both sides of the divide - and the wonders of Southern Spain under the Muslim world were never really repeated under its christian conquerors.
You doubt this - ask the Jews whose oppression got far worse under the Spanish christians.

If the events of Antioch are distant and apparently minor to my world (although attitudes to Muslims in Romania and misunderstanding of Islam make me hesitant to make so bold a claim), Dunkirk is different.

The first thing to understand is a deep emotional commitment I feel to the events - my father was at Dunkirk - if the evacuation hadn't happened, the chances of me being here at all would be very limited.
In books like 'Atonement' I experience a connection with those characters who experience Dunkirk which is difficult to describe and impossible to explain - this is not history - it is my life.
But for the purpose of this post, that is not the issue.
Relations with Germany are: Why have the British and the Germans managed to go through two World Wars banging away at each other and still come out (comparative) friends?
I think part of it is acceptance of an essential common humanity - acknowledgement of and focus on what is the same, and common economic progress.
(The American film industry certainly thinks there is no difference if the number of British English accents given to Germans in their WWII films is anything to go by).
Russia however seems hell bent on the 'crusader path' - constant showing on the t.v. of WWII films with evil Germans and heroic Russian children who inevitably get slaughtered by the wicked Nazi. Commemoration of victory over the evil German is enshrined in the national calender - Victory Day.

A time to let go ...?

Technorati Tags: Islam, Antioc, Russia, Germany, England, Romania, BBC

Today ...

On This Day

• 1879: Eugene Napoleon, the last heir to Napoleon's dynasty, is killed fighting for Britain in the Zulu Wars.

Anyone else out there find this one fascinating?



Mr Nappy was French - not only that, a Bonaparte - and fighting FOR England (would say Britain, but get real, Celts of the world just love subservience - their natural position).

Apparently he got a spear in the thigh and another in the left shoulder.

Great stories and conspiracy theories instantly jumped to birth - not much changes does it?

Not only did the poor chap get disembowelled (all that garlic must have been a nasty shock to the Zulu) but he gets the final British indignity of burial in Chislehurst! Now that is really 'suburban' - but very bourgeois I suppose - and one does associate the tacky Bonapartes with jumped-up shop keepers.

Considering the relationship between the English and the French - and what must be one of the deepest seated antipathies in history - what the blazes was the man doing in the armed forces of Her Britannic Majesty?

Mind you - it was bumping off a few natives so maybe it counted as a hunting trip?

Technorati Tags: France, England, Zulu

Early Summer

Just before bed last night I got the full effects of what the English call the Lime Tree: The sweet, heavy smell, almost intoxicating, certainly oddly refreshing, but suggestive of excess - edging towards cloying.

Linden it is known as in other parts of the world - the Romanians call it Tae (or Tee, or Tei or some such unspellablity) - but letting you know, in an unsympathetic to nature, practical way exactly what they do with it.


There is a sort of poet from Romania called Eminescu (bad late Romantic) who wrote:

Pătrunză talanga

Al serii rece vânt,

Deasupră-mi teiul sfânt

Să-şi scuture creanga.

While softly rings

The evening's cool wind

Above me the holy lime

Shakes its branch. (translation: M.G.Jiva) on Wiki

No accounting for taste.

Technorati Tags: Romania, Tilia, Timisoara, Lime Tree

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Bad day ...

Looking for something to rabbit on about, searched 'This Day in History - not a lot ... then I came across this ... a couple of times:

May 31, 1678 in History
Event: Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes

Distincly odd I thought ... could have sworn the woman doing that was a bit older. So searched - and, yep, as Wiki will inform you, Anglo Saxon (feisty women in those times).

Seems there was a bit of a revival in 1678 - and for some reason it has been a popular subject since:

The BBC manages to give a linked event:

1076: The execution of Waltheof of Northumbria ends the 'Revolt of the Earls' against William the Conqueror.

Not too many people seemed happy with William the Bastard and the consequences of his take over. Nice to see the BBC getting it right.

Does the mis-date really matter?

What has me ranting is the inaccuracy being promoted - the misinformation! A big danger of the web - as I said, several sites blindly quote the 'FACT' of Gidiva's ride on this date.

Another, more serious as far as I am concerned, is this ...

May 31, 1859

Big Ben goes into operation in London

The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high St. Stephen's Tower, rings out over the Houses of...

and that is from the History.Com who you'd think would know better!

Big Ben is a bell!

Technorati Tags: Lady Godiva, BBC, Big Ben, History

Knife Crime

1593: Leading Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe is stabbed to death in a pub brawl in Deptford.

Tragic for the English Stage, not much fun, I imagine, for Mr Marlowe himself.

This is supposedly an 'unusual event': A cover-up story for re-branding Marlowe as Shakespeare; for removing a distinctly colourful young man with extreme views on a number of sensitive issues (religion, politics and sex) and turning him to a quiet, gentle scribe.

I think events in the UK at the moment might give a clue as to the very usualness of the events.

If the newspapers are to be believed (Independent, Economist, Guardian), violent crime in the UK is actually going down. What is rising is the number of young men being killed or seriously wounded through knife attacks.

Taking a knife, to a pub, and getting into an argument when you are drunk can easily cut off a very promising career.

That was as true for the first Elizabethans as it is for the second, modern generation.

Technorati Tags: Marlowe, Knife Crime, Stabbing, Deptford

55 today

1953: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary become the first people to climb Everest, the world’s highest mountain.

There are some achievements which are just plain 'Great' - I think this was one. I believe both of the men involved are now dead - but deat is not going to take away the determination and guts they showed in getting to the top.

I wish a few of my students showed the same determination, forethought and planning in their ascent up the English Language.

Technorati Tags: English, Mt Everest, Tenzing Norgay, Edmund Hillary

In Black and White ...

Meet Mr Nasty:

That thing is a Magpie, Pica pica to his friends - if it has any.

There was a bit of scuffling going on in one of the trees just outside the kitchen window last week, which turned into a full scale screaming match: Two Magpies were being attacked by a couple of ring necked doves. 'Something up,' I thought at the time. The Doves were vigorous, but ultimately unsuccessful.

I've noticed this week that two of doves come and eat at the breakfast table (my window sill - where I drop seed in the morning for them).

Strange - there'd only been one, and I wondered what had happened to the other - then the penny dropped (too much Agatha Christie?) - one had been sitting on the nest all the time - and the Magpies had attacked, and killed the chicks.

There are two again because the youngsters are dead.

It's good to see them back - but 'Raw in Tooth and Nail' as someone said.

Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Nature, Death

Shakespeare, Fishing and Crap

I suppose I ought to be interested:

A food joint in Mexico I believe ...

but named after ? Could it be this:

Which just happens to be a fishing rod called 'Crappy Hunter'

Made by, you've guessed it:

Untangle that lot if you can!

Shakespeare




Technorati Tags: Crap, Fishing, Shakespeare

Lizards, thunder and an insect bite

Why I love Romania:

You know the summer is on its way when the weather turns muggy and noisy, the first insects start to bite and there is a scuttle across the path in front of you where you just manage to catch the impression of a four legs and a tail.

The lizard, a small one, shot in front of me yesterday as I took my mid-day constitutional beside the Bega, in between the heavy strained storms which manage an intense rainfall for a short time but really don't contribute much to the soil.

The insect bite has been there irritating away for a couple of days - on the hand in a lovely position - really scratchable. It has a less accessible sister on the back, above the left shoulder blade.

Technorati Tags: Timisoara. Romania, Animals, Insects

Even More Crap!

Look at this for a lot of Crap:



That is the biggest recorded catch - from Thailand.

I was reminded of crap when I was listening to this weeks episode of In our Time
which deals with the Library at Nineveh.

Apparently, the priestly fashion around that time (Nineveh) was to dress up as a big fish.



now - I thought the English were a bit over the top with regard to fishing, but that is ridiculous.
Could be where we get the name Ninny I suppose. - or why the were called ASSyrians.

Technorati Tags: Fish Priest, Carp, Crap, Assyrian, BBC

Gigi the Baptist!

For those of you wondering if Romania will ever escape corruption - this is a story to follow:

Did he didn't he?

Gigi the GaGa is a nasty piece of work if only half of what is written about him is true - check out his Wiki entry.

Not knowing the man personally, I couldn't say - but the president of the country seems very friendly with him.

Technorati Tags: Romania, Corruption, Football

Big Fish

Some things are just irresistible:

Cris, having made the ultimate confusion - was talking a lot of crap!

Why, of all the words to mix up, do the English call the fish Carp - and nearly everyone else in Europe, Crap?

Big fish = lot of Crap!

Funny.

Technorati Tags: Fishing, Crap, Carp, Danube

Remains of the day ...

So small one could hardly see it: Yet, enough to fester. In the thumb of the left hand - a splinter from of teasal I think - possibly a briar. This morning, swollen and black headed. When I squeezed, puss - and the smallest of black splints topping the mixed red and grey. Even, although this could have been imagination, the smell of rottenness.
Even a day in heaven has its remains.

Aches and pains

... after doing the lightest work back at the farm.

A great day yesterday - Cris, Oana and Lucas (Cris's brother) dragged me back to 'Wild Pig Forest' to clean up - which they did whilst I pottered and pretended.

Place hasn't looked too good recently - what with break-ins, weather and resident spiders.

Now liveable again.

But the real kick was just being there - cuckoo in full annoyance, nettles raising their heads and bumps, road rendered prat-fallable after the slightest of showers.

And being with people I love doing something with a visible result - the cleaned and cleared black-current bushes say more than a thousand rich gifts.

A much too rich, rather fine white wine helped, of course.

Technorati Tags: Romania, Sistarovat, akf

BBC again:

DEBATE: Should the UN impose sanctions on Zimbabwe?

Hitler - 'peace with honour' (and holocaust);
Cambodia - 'killing fields';

It's 'their' problem.

Trouble is, sanctions sounds too much like do nothing but appease our consciences - whatever sanctions are applied will have next to no effect in a country already bankrupt.

No man is an island - and no nation either.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Zimbabwe, opinions

Basic Instinct

An inevitable consequence of exile, self-imposed or otherwise, is the occasional twitch of what I think is best to describe as 'pro-patria-ism'.

In my case it manifests as, 'it's nice, but it's better in England.'

Which is odd - because there isn't an ounce of serious nationalism in my bones (maybe it's hidden in the blood?).

But then - musing further, I am aware of a distinction between patriotism and Nationalism ... but, until today, I wouldn't like to distinguish between the two - even though I knew the difference - one I had, one I didn't.

Today I have had a gleam.

I was sat by the Bega (doing a lot of that recently) sunning myself and listening to a string quartet - by Bliss. It was English. I could never in a month of Sundays tell you why - but that piece of music could not be anything other than the product of someone breed in England (birth is not a pre-requisite). Around the same time, a bird 'gave-it-gip' - and that was English too.

The doves on my window-sill billing and cooing in the morning are nice - but distinctly not (my) English - the bloody blackbird who dawn-choruses at some unearthly hour, is; the sparrows here are not quite urban enough to be English: The Scots pine in the park is - the oak, not quite - it's not English oak, its leaf is not quite right (it is actually a Turkish oak), its acorn perverse in shape.

Around this time it dawned - patriotism is about place - it is the place where you grew, the place which supported; the resources and riches; the shelters and the exposures: Patria is the environment your brain processes and patterns in the same way (and at the same time) as it processes and patterns your home language.

You have as much chance of escaping your patriotism as you have your mother tongue.

Shakespeare tapped in to this in Richard II - The John of Gaunt speech ... he lists the physical. Maybe my performance of this earlier this week at the British Library lay dormant 'til the combined forces of birdsong and music released it; maybe the poem itself has added the glue which cements the connections.

And it's to Shakespeare I first turn for the second half of the 'understanding': Henry V.

As it was St George's Day, and as I was in the mood for fireworks, I included both the 'patriotic' speeches Henry gives - but they are not, I now realise, patriotic - they are Nationalistic.

They are 'band of brother', all together now, we're a special 'breed' speeches - they appeal to the unity of men (and it is a masculine thing). It is an appeal to work together, to hunt, to co-operate; the team spirit. The nation as social unit.

As such, I suspect it has its roots far less deep in our psyche - maybe less deep, but still remarkably powerful.

There is a strong element of attack and challenge in it - of beat down the other. It is an instinct which you find both on the football pitch, and in the crowd watching the game - and in the pubs on the Costa del ... whatever.

It is a transferable instinct though - you can change allegiance: A necessary thing I suspect when groups of hunter-gatherers had to split and separate, to move for mating purposes, to join for the big hunt, but stick to a smaller family group in winter with resources scarce.

I can't avoid my patriotism - the sight of a cloud's shadow passing a patch of green is going to spark memories of the moors of the Peak District - and the chill that goes with it, or the sky lark high above; a sparkle on the Bega will re-awaken smells and sounds of a much dirtier, industrial Manchester ship canal; a glass of cold beer cannot but result in a dull ache - a longing for a firm hand around a cool glass of Boddington's.

I can transfer my football team allegiance - Poli-Timisoara's results are far more important to me than any English team (although 'the blues' do retain an allegiance - but that I suspect is linked to the Manchester-patriotic in me).

Technorati Tags: England, Patriotism, Nationalism, Shakespeare, Timisoara

Shakespeare's 444

And a photo I've posted before on Shakespeare Experience (another of my blogs). This is my first public performance in a Shakespeare role - and it's responsible for the infection I've never really recovered from.
Strange the consequence of exposure at just the right moment.
I remember this production so well - and the ease with which I approached Shakespeare's work after having this exposure is hard to explain - not ease in understanding - ease in expectation: Faith in myself and an ability to connect with great literature in a way which was personally significant, if not original or profound to a wider audience.
There are also a number of people in the photo i will never think of as anything other than good humans - no matter what time or necessity has forced them to do.
Shakespeare's birth/death day has nailed to it for me - and I suspect others who have encountered Shakespeare's works through a school performance - a little bit of magic.

A kiss

and a cuddle (for the secret Miss Terious in Moscow).
Green sprouting things, goose poo, burnt offerings and sweet red dictator's.

Hi Ho; Hi hooo

(It's back to work we go).

One more week than Easter (yep - Orthodox here).

Romanians, of course, are a penny short of a pound (slightly mad): They follow the Roman date for Christmas and the Greek date for Easter - meaning a really long gap between.

Which is why the thoughts of a needed holiday seep in.

Yesterday was the equivalent of 'Palm Sunday' - lots of people attacked the willows by the side of the Bega and carried them off to sell by the doors of the churches. Inside the broken fingers and limbs of the poor trees were blessed and then taken home: The cracked willow (?) duly shed tears in the form of fluffy snow seeds.

As the fluff accumulated it took on the look of powdered frog spawn - a central core with the surrounding jelly space - but totally without the heaviness.

The frogs'll be croaking soon.


Technorati Tags: Romania, Timisoara, Spring, Religion

God hookers ...

and God's prostitutes.

It's the sort of thing you'd expect clean shaven, short haired, All-American youth to be doing.

As I innocently sat listening to my mp3 player, basking in the sun (no comparison to beached elephant walruses allowed) on one of the red park benches by the side of the Bega, two elderly gentlemen approached - I'd noticed them as I arrived and had them dismissed as innocents out for the air in their gentle decline to '... sans everything .'

Then I spotted the leaflets - secretly rolled, but ominously healthy apple green, curled, serpent-like, in a liver-spot-speckled hand. The owner of the claw looked to the other man who quickly started on the subject of the glorious sun ...

For those unused to being pounced on in this fashion, the sun is a sure give away - in whatever training camp for God-pushers these two had trained, they'd obviously taken the short course ... 'Start with the Sun - everyone likes the sun ...'.

But they'd misjudged their Eve!

"Sorry," - innocence itself said - "I don't speak Romanian ..."

Training camp came to the fore, ... he continued .. 'glorious day', 'wonderful sun' ...

I gave the puzzled look of the well practised foreigner, "?"

Mr Claw, cracked - "He's speaking foreign .."

Silence.

They looked at each other, hesitated - training camp I am sure had said don't give in so easy, but nationalism and a deep ethnic insecurity bites deeper - they toddled off, side by side, upstream to search for a more reliable punter.

On a normal day, I'd have not smiled (almost chuckled) at the discomfort of the elderly - but it really was a glorious day . and the soundtrack to this 'God-experience' foreplay was Dunstable ... Quam Pulcara es.

I am, in case you haven't guessed, as deep-dyed-in-the-wool an atheist as it is possible to get: I have the 'spirituality' of a stone and the only sole I posses is under my feet. But if anything would hook me to the smallest smidgeon of belief in deity, it would be the music of the Mediaeval cathedrals and monasteries.

Technorati Tags: Timisoara, God, Hookers, Early Music, Romania

Truely awful customer service

When I think of bad customer service I usually think of Romania 10 year's ago - but it hasn't disappeared:

curturesti

For those lucky people who don't know this bookshop - don't go there!
I've tried several times to get books from the place - and, despite the very nice people behind the counter (always polite) nothing gets done. I've wanted two books which I am assured are in Romania - and are being sent from the Cluj shop, via the Bucharest shop to the Timisoara shop.
Week after week - no sign.
I was in this week - talked to the nice man behind the counter - said I really need the books soon (I need them for work) and he said he'd told head office the books were important - but they "didn't care" - I could cancel the order and buy elsewhere.
Now, if there was anything hard about the task, or the books were difficult to get - or obscure I might understand - but they are the set texts for the CAE examination (The Pelican Brief and Lucky Jim) and, one would have thought, fairly standard - indeed, with half an ounce of intelligence, one would expect the bookshop to be ordering several copies in order to satisfy the heavy demand expected for the books before the December examination .... but no,

"they don't care!"

Remember folks:

carturesti

The Bookshop that Doesn't Care:
About Profit, Customers or even it's Reputation!

Technorati Tags: Romania, Timisoara, Bad Service

They flee from me ...

who sometime did me seek.

(Link)

Felt a bit like that this week:

Was at the tram stop and saw someone from the university who once was very friendly - she wanted something then - this time she saw me, turned and hid behind her umbrella (in such an obvious panic there was no discretion at all) - then, to cap it, she walked the friend she was with along to the far end of the stop.

Now, apart from the fact I had seen her already, and, at most, being English would have nodded hello,it was not the subtlest of actions and reflects badly on the earlier friendliness.
It also caused me to think of Wyatt's poem - for which I thank her.
It is a good poem.
The trouble is - the poem then made me think of all the other people in the town who seem to be avoiding me.
Or is it paranoia?


Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Me, akfarrar, Wyatt

One swallow ...

might not make a Spring - but TWO DO!

Walking home from work (a little bit of aggrandisement there) I sat by the river for a few minutes listening to some music and summoning the strength to walk .. when I saw the two swallows dog-fighting over the Bega.

Lifted the spirits no end.

Timisoara in a normal spring is a beautiful place - there are few cities to compare, and the sight of the swallows was all I needed to spot more and more of the emerging green power.

Well, not just green (although there are few greens like the green of willow weeping into the flowing river) - this year purple and its shades seem to batter the eye.

The Magnolia is generally over - but last year the authorities added a lot of new bushes to the riverside park and they are just emerging in wax-like flames. The flowering cherry too - bright purple pink.

Blood of the sacrificed Winter King.


Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Spring, Swallows, Romania

Black Dog

Just watched an episode of 'A Picture of Britain' and came across something I didn't know - Churchill went through serious periods of depression - he called them, 'Black Dog'.

He used art and painting as a way out (not that the art was any good - although a certain patriotic rump will want to lynch me for that).

Interesting to think bad art from Churchill saved Britain from another artist!

Also interesting to think he was able to control his depression using his 'muse'.


Technorati Tags: Churchill, art, depression

Should the Saudi arms probe be reopened?

It should never have been closed.

As long as 'national interest' is used as an excuse for corruption there is no moral high ground on which to stand.

The racist "it's the way these people do business" is only slightly less offensive than a British Prime Minister objecting to corrupt practices outside the UK.

Hypocrisy smiling all the way to the Bank of England.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Corruption, Saudi Arabia, UK

Another BBC reject ...

So, China wanted the Olympics purely for "sporting" reasons - nothing to do with self promotion and super-power status.
The torch relay was invented for the 'Nazi' 1936 Olympic Games - as a way of promoting German 'ideals'. And this time it tours the world for purely sporting reasons?
The Athletes (at least the western ones) are not going to make a fortune out of sponsorship when they get a Gold?
Get real please.

Technorati Tags: bbc, china, olympics

A little bird ...

told me!

The match between my local football team and another across the other side of the country had one of those Romanian Football ref.s - you know the sort - corrupt, deeply, deeply corrupt.
What is horrifying is everyone knows it - and no one does anything about it:
Count the yellow cards, count the distribution - look at the video: Clear as Day.
He'll be ref. for another match this weekend.

Romania has no chance until the people in power do something about this sort of behaviour.

Forget the politicians - we know they are corrupt - but if sport at this level is so overtly bad, what chance society?


Technorati Tags: Romania, football, corruption

Ostritch?

Or just wanna-be RICH?

I suddenly remembered me of a fairly well known English athlete who I saw on the TV during the 'torch relay' through London saying - "Keep the politics out of the Olympics."
OK, I thought at the time - but you really are stupid ... then, yesterday, I overheard a discussion on CNN - about why China has a great many 'western' countries by the 'short and curlies' ... economically.
And almost side by side, in it popped - Money: Of course, all these 'doing it for the sport', 'for the honour', 'for the glory' athletes are really in it for the money (not so for many events in the Olympics - but they never get to speak on the TV).
So Paula - keep you hypocritical views to yourself.
When the Chinese government spokesman openly redeclares war on any protester in China - and basically threatens them with extinction, I loose all of the great sympathy I have for China and its people.
When a rich athlete tries to stick my head in the sand and pretend this relay and the holding of the games in China is not a political event, I say - I hope you sprain an ankle and loose lots, and lots, and lots of sponsorship.


Technorati Tags: Olympics, CNN, Economics

Frisco Fiasco

Good to see the Mighty Olympic Cttee with knotted Knickers!

The torch relay was a propaganda tool of the Nazi government - they got it right: China has really messed up.

Who said history repeats itself?


Technorati Tags: Olympics, China, Nazi Germany

BBC e-mails!

Cor bli'me!
Send off an email to the bbc radio 3 programme, Through the night (to the address on their website) and get a barrage of email back - all automatically generated.
The first was a piece of insurance saying the bbc didn't get the mail!
The rest were repeats saying they got sooooooo much mail they couldn't answer it all so don't be disappointed (especially when they didn't get it in the first place!).
And if you want to complain, this is the address you complain to .....
(I just bet they send a mail saying they didn't get that either.)

By their Library, you shall ...

..know them.

Thank you to Shakespeare Geek for the link.

How typical of the Telegraph and it's readership is this?
(Rhetorical)
Very - bit of standard, bit of soppy romanticism and bit of nonsense.
Noticeable not a single Shakespeare play.
But I don't think there are any plays on the list.


Technorati Tags: Books, Newspapers, Shakespeare

Funny old day

Just back from the ballet - 'Stars of the Bolshoi' the advert said - and it was right (OK, maybe upcoming and fading in equal proportions - but stars who glittered none the less).
I haven't enjoyed a Swan Lake as much as tonight's since being in Moscow.
What exactly they were doing in Timisoara I won't even try to guess - and the stage only just contained them - but they danced well, there was a professionalism about them which should surprise the locals and they didn't insist on the curtain-calls.
Still, from London Street fighting, through a really good (sporting) football match to the ballet - all in one day: Am I having final flash before mortality?


Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Ballet, Bolshoi

Proud to be English!

I can't often admit that - but today, as I watch the Olympic torch fight its way through the streets of London, I shout it from the Roof-tops!

It's a beautiful example of the British being 'Mad as March Hares' - Snow this morning, so the weather didn't help - and protesters 'alla the suffragettes' throwing themselves in front of the horses running the flame.

A few idiots went too far - fire-extinguishers could have been dangerous - but the photo-opportunities, the world-wide TV coverage, the chattering commentators swarming around the event can do nothing but highlight the human-rights issues China refuses to budge on.

Interesting no one is mentioning the first time the flame was carried - For the Nazi Games of 1936.


Technorati Tags: Olympics, China, Human Rights

The Admirable Roddick!

I cannot but be pleased - my smile is almost as broad - if not as deserved or deeply felt. Whenever Mr Roddick wins I feel a victory for sportsmanship and effort, for hard-work and journeymanship has been achieved.
He is the schoolboy hero lost to modern schoolboys (through their own fault I must admit).
Someone should deify him before the shine tarnishes.



Technorati Tags: Tennis, Roddick, hero

Spring Cleaning

Been fiddling with my other blogs.

Bit like Spring cleaning I think - a good scub over and sort out the look. Nice and fresh for a new year.

One I am pleased with is my Book Review blog: Books Reflected.

I soon realised I actually ended up using one of the templates I had been using on one of these other blogs - and had brushed away in a previous cleaning session.

Strange how things go around isn't it?

Also managed to add to it a new bit of "interconnectivity" (a word the dictionary just does not like). There is now a very attractive 'From my Library' box for people to click away at.

All Jolly good fun.

Spring is in full flow outside too - there is a big difference this year from last.

Despite the colder winter (or maybe because of it) a lot more of the trees have flowered - and the smells are distinctly primeval!

I especially like the blast of yellow we are being hit with at the moment - daff.s amongst the lower growing things, forsythia higher up and a wonderful firework of a bush with pom-poms of yellow about the size of an old half-crown.


Technorati Tags: Timisoara, Spring, Blogs, Library Thing, Internet

Connect

Bit of a windy day.

Been shopping.

Strange how one sorts one's thoughts as one walks - and I was thinking, amongst other things, of the way the internet is being used to communicate; Far from isolating people, as had been suggested in some places, connections are being forged all the time.

Take the Shakespeare community - we've started responding and 'thinking' together in a way that is rapid and enhancing.

The shortness of the blogs is good too - a quick thought to stimulate - a bit like the way I do a Sudoku in the morning to get the intellectual juices flowing.

Not that things are necessarily instant - ideas pop up several weeks latter sometimes.

And now there is the blog to ling blogs and 'Carnival' - thanks to the Shakespeareans for this one!


Technorati Tags: Shakespeare, internet, community, connect

Eurovision

I have a habit of starting the day with music.

Next to the pillow, apart from the book I'll have been reading before going to sleep, and the glasses I no longer can see close distances with, is a portable disc player (and nowadays, an mp3 player too).

This morning I put the earplugs in of the portable - and pressed the 'go' button.

I'd forgotten what was in the machine - I've been using the mp3 exclusively recently.

It turned out to be Charpentier's 'Te Deum': Good loud and distinctly irreligious.

Being half asleep, a strange thing happened - i had visions of the screen of an old Black-and-White TV screen with the Eurovision logo.

The 'Prelude' from the piece was the music used to introduce all Eurovision broadcasts (still is I think).

And there was a distinct feel a pyjamas and warmth and sitting on the settee.

It was a fleeting feeling - the screen being predominant.

That space - when the mind is totally free to wander - between waking and sleeping, had thrown up something from deep in my past - the feeling as much as anything else.

Now, I wonder why I like that tune so much?

Blogger is easier

to use than the other free Blogs.

I've been experimenting with this 'add-on' and it is difficult to set up connections with some of the other blogs - and I have several scattered around hyper-space.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is Micro-soft: Nothing new there. No way the thing seems to want to let me connect.

I like the way i can add tags and things without too much trouble.

Technorati Tags: Technology, Blogs

Oh Brave New World (2)

What I don't believe is that I am blogging away here on a new download which enables me to drop a comment any time I want - just with a click on the bottom of the page.

Scribefire! - a Firefox add-on.

Something I wanted to mention but hadn't got around to doing so was my finally getting to transfer the images from my mobile phone to the computer.

Seems the system can't handle the photo though!

Added it after -

a lovely picture of my hand just after the operation.

Barking!

Etymology:

Middle English berken, from Old English beorcan; akin to Old Norse berkja to bark, Lithuanian burgėti to growl

And more growl than bark I must admit: Babel to berken.

Delivered a booster unit to some B1 students and ended up growling and barking at them. Now, Craig over in the comments of Shakespeare Experience suggests I will go mad if .... sorry old bean, too late, milk spilt, cat licked it and now had kittens.

I wonder sometimes at my antics in the classroom - and M&M still pay me.

But, to be colloquial, "Bugger that!"

Doctored again :- re-scanned and the waters are receding, but have not yet de-parted. More weeks on Ibuprofen.
However, my poor weak frame has decided to whimper a little. Bit of poor drumming on behalf of the 'old ticker' (isn't English a colourful language?).

Been Beta-blockered!

Ah HA! Real illness at last - says my vanity (and all is).

'Half a tablet of the lowest dose purchasable,' declares the doctor from Bran (talk about ego demolition jobs).

My mother's chastity is in question - did she milk the milkman and bastardise me? Am I not a true Farrar? Is it any wonder i go rabid in front of the jetsam and flotsam washed into the classrooms I prowl?

Only a Game

What, with the strange sleeping patterns induced by excess of leisure, I happened to be 'watching the football' - odd language, English.

Romanian (football, and language) I'm afraid (shows how bad the TV choice is over here).

The referee was hit on the head by a flying object in around the 70th minute: There is no doubt of that - several (thousand) repeated showings highlight the fact.

Response of the man who owns the club (Rapid) - a set up.

The repeated showing also show a number of items on the pitch - being moved off by his own players and his own players (well, the foreign ones) waving and shouting at the fans (Rapid) responsible.

“No – NO! a set up” – spies and second-columnist Steaua (opposing team) supporters amongst our loyal fans – the referee was paid to throw the match.

The referee is clearly ‘hit’ – no doubt: Not a single official of the Rapid team has apologised; instead, without exception it seems, they are pleased.

This is Romanian football.

Also telling is the two day storm still blowing – as the owners of the clubs vie for position on the TV – show after show with a range of Rapid owners and others ‘slagging-off’ the referees.

Does no one here see?

So, the referee stopped the game – not straight away, after he goes to start it again and more things are thrown onto the pitch.

Rapid, and its fans are, hopefully, going to loose not only the match, but also the right to a live audience.

The Rapid players, and management and owners physically attacked the referee as he tried to leave the field –

But the referee is to blame.

Interesting to note, over in the UK, managers (including that of the national team) are setting up the conditions for disciplining any player who shows decent!

Sometimes I wonder if I am living on the same planet.

Anyone who Had a Heart!

Thud-ub ... thud-ub .... thud - u...b

No - not quite gone 60s ga-ga: Just had 'one of those weeks'! (and I'll allow myself that exclamation mark - I am on an exclamation mark diet - noticed a tendency to exclaim a lot - so restrictions apply.)

First the medical bits - did a run around on Thursday and Friday after several weeks of really under-performing - dizziness, low energy and breath shortage.

Went to the Doc - she twiddled a bit, sent me to the Doc next door, a heart specialist - beauty of being with a clinic - he twiddled a bit and sent me off to another, bigger specialist - and she charged me a lot of money to put a sonic thingamajig (technical English for something or other) on me, after making me lie on my LEFT side - seems sort of ritualistic to me.

Pretty pictures made - just like having a baby I suppose - and the result (apart from sclerosis of the aorterial (?) valve - nothing to worry about - and the expected, considering I'm English and have that awful English breakfast at least three times a day - talk about stereotyping! (allowed) fatty deposits on the tubes - how is your cholesterol level by the way?) ... is Pericarditis - instant reference to every medical source on line.

Not going to die today. Might in a week or two if the damn thing doesn't go away - so, what is the fantastic treatment - nurofen.

I ask you (deleted !)

Nurofen (Another deleted two !)

For those who don't realise, nurofen is the sort of thing you take for a headache the morning after. How degrading - I've a hangover of an illness.

Not impressed either with my body, or with the Doctor's obvious lack of theatrical sense - how can a Farrar only have nurofen?

She did throw in a need for an x-ray (in case of TB) but that was poor compensation for the damage done with such a piddling treatment.

And, NO, I didn't even show anything wrong with the x-ray.

Overall, a most unsatisfactory encounter - to be repeated in two weeks when this Daughter of Dracula extracts another wapping great fee to see if the waters have departed.

(Actually she was brilliant but that is nowhere near good copy.)

Shortly before the Doc I met up with Sebastian - who is a modern man and has changed his totally unreasonable Romanian surname into a really, really, totally unreasonable Romanian surname by adding his wife's to his own.

He's also got a baby - and talks about it.

And sends pictures over the internet - of the baby.

(Notice - not an exclamation mark in sight! - damn, delete that.)

Anyway, he paid for the strong coffee I had just before going off to have my heart examined (one has to help along the diagnosis some how).

He also mentioned his wife had been chatting away to Tudor Cretu - an old Shakespearian (as in former pupil of Shakespeare High School, Timisoara). His wife does something in television. Tudor Cretu?

Why? - Tall kid, went to be a teacher (deserved all he got in that line) bit 'head in the clouds' - journalist?).

OOOOhhhhhh - apparently he's turned poet and novelist! (! allowed.)

Instantly I remembered what a sensitive and civilised child he was - and then readjusted and re-remembered I'd have kicked him quite happily on several occasions.

If the child is father to the man - he has just the right personality to make a good novelist - it's never the really nice ones who make it - you need to have been a bit of a pain in the first place.

Good luck to him - especially if he can write.

(And he mentions me in his television interview - so can't be all bad, can he?)

Un-British

Improve your Britishness by doing something very un-British?

I've lived and worked in several countries where they do this sort of thing - mostly former Eastern-Block and former communist - and can assure you, as a Brit, it really is the last thing to do.

The casual assurance of one's Englishness (in my case) and commitment to 'standards', could never have developed through formal means - you need bread in sausages, Ice Cream made from hydrogenated pig fat and bitter to do that.

(More BBC)

And one they've not published:

What is China's game?

But surely - the Olympics is totally unpolitical which is why the athletes are asked to give up their right to free speech in order to not upset the hosts?

Why does any country participate and spend a lot of money on training competitors etc but for the love of sport and individual triumph?

And surely London bid for the Olympics purely for humanitarian reasons - the chance for those poor athletes to see a free and beautiful city?

China is just participating in the 'norm'..

Sporting Madness

I have to say – I am, by no means, ‘Sporty’.

Picture my surprise then at the time I spent watching the damn thing yesterday – a large chunk of a tennis match; almost the whole of one football match and several serious chunks of a second.

Andy Roddick is one of those people you are free to admire – he is not squeaky clean, he needs a shave now and then, and he perspires: He is, however, the perfect ‘English’ gentleman – something he denies occasionally.

Roddick goes out to win, happily demolishing any opponent mercilessly: But you just know he won’t cheat. I can’t think of a single other tennis player I would be so sure of saying such a thing about (although I suspect one or two others might fit the charge).

He won in Dubai yesterday through effort, coming back from a set down, with a steely determination and a glint of charm in his eye. You just want to shake his hand and say, “Well done.”

Not so with the football.

I watched parts of two English cup matches and, although the results were glorious in there unexpectedness, I really can’t say I enjoyed the victories.

The Man Utd game was a disgrace – I didn’t want United to win, but I didn’t want them to loose through such atrocious, unfair refereeing. A hollow victory for Portsmouth. The ‘game’ stops being a game when the rules are abused in such a blatant way – it’s one reason why most Romanian football matches are unwatchable.

Barnsley won – and that is magnificent! The underdogs break through, again; the fairy tale continues.

Saddening is the reaction I feel – more delight in Chelsea loosing than in Barnsley winning.

What a state of affairs when such a spirited and uncompromising effort as the Yorkshire teams takes second place to the defeat of the southerners.

White and Working Class

Two responses to the BBC:

Has the Sun stopped publication?

Is the media not dominated by sports coverage?

Is the high street emptied of pubs?


Do the conservative party still not promote 'traditional' values?


Goodness - maybe time to come back to a more mature and civilised England!

and:

Born in Wythenshawe - in Deepest White Working Class Manchester - I got an education (state - local comprehensive onto provincial university) so that my voice and opinions were worth listening to: They have been.

So too have the opinions of a lot of school colleagues who followed a less 'exalted' route (eg the girl who worked at two jobs and studied at night school).

Learn to articulate, do something for yourself, get opinions not prejudices and maybe such a silly discussion wouldn't happen.

Timeless!

I wonder what the moguls at Microsoft were thinking of?

My poor old computer couldn't cope with the leap year - it lost a month, flipped to the end of March and then went into 'daylight saving' routine.

Got a bit of a shock when I looked the time this morning - had to go and have a lie down!

Bit like the tradition of being the only time a woman can ask a man to marry her - ?

Bloody stupid traditions!