Friday, January 30, 2009

Start Weekend Off - Shopping - Cold again !

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Yesterday evening's talk by Brian Davis was entertainingly different. As you can see from the pictures on the left his Magic Lantern is an impressive piece of kit.

As Brian pointed out, in the old days, the operator would be a travelling entertainer who had to carry the projector, plus slides and ancilliary equipment on his back and from town to town on foot. Please click here if you would like to read a little more about the history etc.

Our lecturer brought some of the original hand painted glass plates which would be used and several could be made to move. In pre Movie and pre Television times these must have seemed Magic indeed. He also brought and projected some early photographs and, as always, these were good.

The weather today is still cold, 39F with a 6mph SE wind. Our cavity-wall insulation must have kicked in because this morning, before we went outdoors, it seemed much warmer.

We had a thorough 'shop' at both Lidl and Morrisons because we seemed to have been putting it off so it was like provisioning a ship. Indeed we remembered to buy some citrus fruit against the risk of scurvy.

The picture on the right is a 'Minotaur' by the sculptor Johnny White. The picture was on a card received by Bob from an old friend of his. The link is to the only site I could find and I hope I've got the right chap because I don't know his work at all.

I think it is probably right because there are stylistic likeness to the pieces shown on the web-page and the glorious Minotaur on the right, beautifully photographed from a low angle showing the haughty nature of the beast and other characteristics to demonstrate male lust.

My responses to your previous comments

Yvonne ..... As Rob says below your comment, the capacity of the stadium is 6,500 so Kate Thornton's 10,000 was a little bit of slack reporting.

As you say, a wonderful evening and thanks for taking me ! Clang ! I really thought it was a joint gift to us both, and there's me muscling in on your birthday present. Those vanishing brain cells again !

Rob ..... Thanks for the definitive info on the Arena and the Panthers.

Re harumpf ..... This proved elusive. Even my Shorter Oxford fell short. My http://www.etymonline.com/ however produced the following -

Whether those elderly reprobates were actually looking 'sulky' in Mansfield Museum only you can tell. I think a more current meaning is -

An expression of disdain, disbelief, protest, or dismissal; a huff, grunt, or snort; To dislike, protest, or dismiss; An expression of disdain ...

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harumph

'Huff, grunt, snort and disdain' would be about right. I can see them in my mind's eye because you chose precisely the right word. Especially if there was a magenta cast !

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A quiet, keep warm, and have frequent lie-downs is called for tomorrow. Especially Y because the lurgi has her in its grip. My cough and catarhh is much better but Y is getting worse. After our mammoth shop today we don't need to go out. We have milk and potatoes so we shall survive ......

Quotation time ..........

"The eyes of strangers
Are as cold as snowdrops ..... "

Philip Larkin

A bit of YouTube with the poem An Arundel Tomb read by Larkin himself !



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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry I missed yesterday's blog entry, the show looked such fun, and with the bonus of a reasonably comfortable seat, that has been my concern of late. It puts me off cinemas and theatres.....

Magic Lantern - when I was evacuated the Vicar had one and used to do shows in the Vicarage, I was entranced by the moving ones. I wasn't very old, about 4, and not familiar with the cinema.

The Minotaur is fantastic.....

Do hope Y feels better tomorrow, at least you are provisioned come snow or frost, though I don't expect you feel like cooking/eating much?