Alphabet associations - I

[Nick Armstrong]

Turandot?

Curses!! My rambling progress to an answer beaten by the bloke in the flat cap



Your "U", anton old fruit ... as long as we are both right. I must do an Anna and go offline instantly (i.e. probably in about half an hour... )

[antongould]

Curses!! My rambling progress to an answer beaten by the bloke in the flat cap

Sorry about that My Learned Friend - nice of you to do the Anna's thing - I think U deserve it after your trip!

[Nick Armstrong]

Sorry about that My Learned Friend - nice of you to do the Anna's thing - I think U deserve it after your trip!

No, no, no.... 'tis all Urs...

[Flay]

No, no, no.... 'tis all Urs...

Very well done to both of you! No doubt Calibs is exhausted after his travels, so in spite of his wonderful dollop of Tesco's Finest coleslaw, I award the U to anton.

<phew> glad that's done with. I'm off early in the morning. Eurostar here we come....

[Flay]

And in answer to Anna's question.... Yes, but it wasn't my doing, and no, I can't afford it. I just have to follow orders, others' arrangements which Mrs Flay has embraced.

So please lend me a fiver...

[antongould]

A quick U for the night owl and/or the early birds

Dennis Russell Davies
Eliot Feld
Michael Tilston Thomas

[Nick Armstrong]

Very well done to both of you! No doubt Calibs is exhausted after his travels, so in spite of his wonderful dollop of Tesco's Finest coleslaw, I award the U to anton.

<phew> glad that's done with. I'm off early in the morning. Eurostar here we come....

Splendidly smooth journeys this week, what a magic-carpet ride it seems. I love the Eurostar. Hope you have an excellent time. Make the most of the George V ! (I've only ever peered over the threshold.... )

PS: For the possible interest of those who haven't been: here are some of the highlights of the PL visit this afternoon....

Poulenc's modest tomb shared with his niece:





Someone still lights a candle for Rossini:





And Anna...

You may well be in Père Lachaise Cemetery but I reckon it's Jim Morrison's grave, not Chopin's you're next to!

No actually: here it is...



Rather moving in the gathering gloaming... though unilke the last time I was there (about 25 years ago) no music playing. I recall nocturnes emerging from someone's battered old tape player last time, but it was silent today...

[amateur51]

Lovely pix Caliban, many thanks and bon voyage Flay.

For some reason I found Poulenc's tomb rather touching - he's someone I need to read more about.Was there any activity around Oscar's place, Caliban? My guess is that Gertrude Stein's would be largely undisturbed - her stock has diminished even with Woody Allen's recent advocacy

[Northender]

I've only visited Père Lachaise twice.

The first occasion, in the mid-1980s, was the culmination of a chain of musical discoveries that started when I heard 10 CC's 'I'm Mandy, Fly Me'. I was particularly struck by a graffito on JM's headstone (which, if I remember, was unenclosed and much less tidy then) which read 'Jim: I am a Polish hippy. I have hitch-hiked three days to visit you here.' Genuine or not, that inscription stayed with me.

The purpose of the second visit, some three years ago, was to explore the cemetery at greater length and also to 'introduce' my wife to JM. As we stood by his plot - assuming that he really IS there, of course - a remarkably attractive, well-dressed blonde lady aged - I would guess - in her late 30s or early 40s walked up, threw a single red rose onto the headstone and left without further ado.

These two incidents suggest, at least to me, that the mystique that surrounds Jim Morrison's death will never fade completely. Ironically, when I listen to recordings by The Doors, I generally find that the most interesting passages are those in which he is not singing.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures, Caliban. On my recent visit I discovered, and was deeply moved by, the memorials to the concentration camp victims and deportees.

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks Ammy and Northo.

Was there any activity around Oscar's place, Caliban? My guess is that Gertrude Stein's would be largely undisturbed - her stock has diminished even with Woody Allen's recent advocacy

I didn't have time to go via Oscar's or Gertrude's places, nor Jim M's in fact. I got there about 5pm and come 10 to 6 old peaked-capped functionaries start blowing whistles to get everyone out by closing time at 6...

Of course the candles and Polish flags round Chopin's are heart-warming to see, but also the neglected ones are rather more poignant and moving. A few plots away from Fred. C along the same alley is poor old Cherubini... not a flower, not a candle, getting a bit damp and mouldy...

For some reason I found Poulenc's tomb rather touching - he's someone I need to read more about.

[Anna]

Thank you Cali for the pix. One of my passions has always been graveyards and funeral monuments so they were lovely to see. I hope one day to get to Brookwood Cemetery.
(Did you also take any of patisserie? )

[Nick Armstrong]

Thank you Cali for the pix. One of my passions has always been graveyards and funeral monuments so they were lovely to see. I hope one day to get to Brookwood Cemetery.
(Did you also take any of patisserie? )

Thanks Anna but no 'page 3 patisserie' shots I'm afraid... although in fact, en route to the GdN and just by the Pere Lachaise métro, I did call in to a boulangerie for a baguette to import for supper back home, and sank my gnashers into a rather strange-tasting pain aux raisins. They had two kinds of religieuses, I noticed... but I had no time to take their pictures

[Northender]

Thank you Cali for the pix. One of my passions has always been graveyards and funeral monuments so they were lovely to see. I hope one day to get to Brookwood Cemetery.
(Did you also take any of patisserie? )

Have you read Andrew Martin's 'The Necropolis Railway'?

[mercia]

A quick U for the night owl and/or the early birds

Dennis Russell Davies
Eliot Feld
Michael Tilston Thomas

sorry, no obvious U has leapt out at me yet

is U a place ?

[antongould]

no it's a question Rob