tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post175269444718299785..comments2024-03-17T22:38:03.242+01:00Comments on zmkc: Archibald Ormsby-Gorezmkchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-27979631758283266852011-04-22T19:30:23.902+02:002011-04-22T19:30:23.902+02:00"You wouldn't have to do this if you had ..."You wouldn't have to do this if you had an e-reader!" it told me a few months ago while I was packing books in boxes. "All you'd do is pick me up and walk out the door." But most of Christina Stead's oeuvre seems to be only available in hard copy, and the same goes for Proust's Jean Santeuil, and so many other things. It would mean I'd have all of Dickens on hand though, and that would be something.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-23500766181812101892011-04-19T22:55:01.610+02:002011-04-19T22:55:01.610+02:00Gadjo - is there anything more enlightening?Gadjo - is there anything more enlightening?zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-69313066647325839582011-04-19T22:53:45.835+02:002011-04-19T22:53:45.835+02:00An e-reader is sitting innocently in the corner: &...An e-reader is sitting innocently in the corner: 'Think how much I could carry around for you,' it whispers.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-72595244364715695872011-04-18T19:47:06.053+02:002011-04-18T19:47:06.053+02:00Definitely remove. Picking threads of cowl-cloth o...Definitely remove. Picking threads of cowl-cloth out of the teeth would take ages. As for the books, I stand and stand and keep standing, but that doesn't help when I know there's a reference in there that I want (eg, Archie), and I can't get to it.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-57084711375127135542011-04-18T07:33:14.015+02:002011-04-18T07:33:14.015+02:00Was it something I said?? The invitation to visit ...Was it something I said?? The invitation to visit us here in Cluj is still open, but I have to warn you that we shun the revisionist and teddy bear-orientated works of Betjeman in favour of something more enlightened.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-67371134597676881652011-04-18T02:25:08.034+02:002011-04-18T02:25:08.034+02:00Gadjo - I was planning to pop down on the train fr...Gadjo - I was planning to pop down on the train from Budapest one Sunday, but I might rethink my plans<br />Umbagollah - I'm concerned by the slightly culinary tone to your druid comments. I hope you'd at least remove their cowls before eating them (and how can you stand having your books in store for long?)zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-30052914827939572892011-04-17T20:10:47.096+02:002011-04-17T20:10:47.096+02:00I hope he was right about the molehills. The idea ...I hope he was right about the molehills. The idea of little baby round-cheeked druid skeletons snuggled underground in their cowls waiting to be excavated like subterranean oysters is too good not to be true. <br /><br />I've got Betjeman's autobiographical Summoned by Bells away in storage, and I know Archie shows up there as well, or at least I remember a line drawing of a teddybear on one of the pages. <br /><br />(After I wrote that sentence I searched for 'betjeman summoned by bells' and came up with this:<br /><br />Walking from school is a consummate art:<br /> Which route to follow to avoid the gangs,<br /> Which paths to find that lead, circuitous,<br /> To leafy squirrel haunts and plopping ponds,<br /> For dreams of Archibald and Tiger Tim;<br /> Which hiding place is safe, and when it is;<br /> What time to leave to dodge the enemy.<br /> I only once was trapped. <br /><br />http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2003/02/summoned-by-bells-excerpt-john-betjeman.html )Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-37735693057926412352011-04-17T18:20:02.551+02:002011-04-17T18:20:02.551+02:00Substitute 'dyrniki' for 'Aneucapnics&...Substitute '<i>dyrniki</i>' for 'Aneucapnics' and you've got it.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-90613883391907847442011-04-17T12:51:36.047+02:002011-04-17T12:51:36.047+02:00'Sometimes, when there was no pastor supplied,...'Sometimes, when there was no pastor supplied, Gadjo would preach himself. He went on for eight or nine hours, until the chapel was empty and only the Aneucapnics were left to listen to him.'zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-43710102961745040132011-04-17T08:51:07.311+02:002011-04-17T08:51:07.311+02:00Speaking as a Primitive Methodist myself, I have t...Speaking as a Primitive Methodist myself, I have to say that these people are <b>rubbish</b> - the surmons not nearly long enough and the pews not nearly hard enough. Now, Archie and the Society of Christian Old Believers of the Pomortsy Unmarried Confession, that's a tale worth telling.Gadjo Dilohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998278830936531990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-19958321315449904172011-04-16T23:22:11.114+02:002011-04-16T23:22:11.114+02:00Stephen, thank you very much indeed - and you cert...Stephen, thank you very much indeed - and you certainly don't need to worry about going on too long. I am going to search out that poem now.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-26803589309340064162011-04-16T18:01:57.814+02:002011-04-16T18:01:57.814+02:00For those who may wish to see more of Archie, Betj...For those who may wish to see more of Archie, Betjeman wrote a poem titled "Archibald," which bears the epigraph: "For Philip Larkin." The closing stanza (of eight) is:<br /><br />And if an analyst one day<br />Of school of Adler, Jung or Freud<br />Should take this aged bear away,<br />Then, Oh my God, the dreadful void!<br />Its draughty darkness could but be<br />Eternity, Eternity.<br /><br />Sorry to go on so long! Thank you for the Betjeman book.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-62417003471930415122011-04-16T14:22:10.475+02:002011-04-16T14:22:10.475+02:00"It was heavy flying and his brown paper wing..."It was heavy flying and his brown paper wings crackled". Let no-one ever criticise John Betjeman's poetry again.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-76121993937746544862011-04-16T03:31:27.590+02:002011-04-16T03:31:27.590+02:00That is unbelievably gorgeous.That is unbelievably gorgeous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-70361812637037064762011-04-16T01:59:53.270+02:002011-04-16T01:59:53.270+02:00What adorable illustrationsWhat adorable illustrationsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com