"Laissez-moi manger mon gâteau"

 

 

Ebay informed me that a recent order had arrived at the post office, and so I rushed in, only to be greeted by this notice on the door. The post office closing up for lunch and closing early "due to staff shortages"? If the post office, a sinecure of a job if ever there was one, can't attract staff, what hope is there for the rest of them?

 

Read a preview here

 

Perhaps it was appropriate that the book I had come to collect was Niall Ferguson's "Civilization", because by the time our bloated welfare state, which gives far too many people at government's expense a lifestyle which in years past they would've had to work for, finally implodes, there won't be much left of our "civilization". Of course, the rot sets in at an early age when children regard free education as a chore rather than a privilege, and when they leave school having learned neither any dicipline nor even the three R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

But back to the other "Civilization", the book which is a derivation from the TV series, in which Niall Ferguson explains the six 'killer apps' which allowed the West to dominate the Rest: competition, science, property, medicine, consumerism and the work ethic. What are we left with?

 

Competition

Science

Property

Medicine

Consumerism

Work Ethic

 

For me it's all over bar the reading about it. I have been an adherent of Max Weber's idea of "working to live" and have practised my German Protestant work ethic and thrift all my life, and it's their world now.

 

 

To paraphrase a certain French lady, "Laissez-moi manger mon gâteau".

 

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Is there something he's not telling me?

 

 

For the time being at least, I'm through all those medical proddings my German-born-and-trained GP, Dr Ziergiebel, M.D.,FRACGP, FRCS A+E Ed., MRCP U.K., MRCGP U.K., DFFP, JCCA Accredited GP Anaesthetist, Senior Lecturer ANU Medical School Canberra, had meted out, and I have a ten-page Health Assessment Summary to prove it. Deutsche Gründlichkeit!

Remember Lieutenant Columbo and his "Just one more thing ..."? Just as I was leaving his surgery, Dr Ziergiebel, Columbo-like, asked me, "Just one more things? Have you considered completing an Advance Health Care Directive?" Seeing my blank face, he handed me a two-page form and suggested I read it, sign it, and have it witnessed by two other people.

As I retreated down the hallway clutching the document, I thought I heard him humming "This Old Man ..." Is there something he's not telling me?

 

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Yes, we do have Gutscheins !!!

 

 

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in" steht am Eingangsbereich des Café Riptide in meiner (k)alten Heimaststadt Braunschweig. Es ist ein Zitat des legendären kanadischen Singer-Songwriters Leonard Cohen.

Vielleicht soll dieses Zitat die Kunden auf das 'Denglish' vorbereiten dass sie üder der Thecke erwartet: "Yes, we do have .. GUTSCHEINS !!!"

 

 

Deutsch ist nun 'mal eine hochflektierte Sprache und man kann nicht einfach ein plurales 's' wie im Englischen an ein Hauptwort hängen, obwohl die Leute im Café Riptide es so machen. Ich schrieb ihnen:

 

 

Und bekam dann auch bald darauf diese "augenzwinkernde" Antwort:

 

 

Yes, I do "verstehe", Franziska! Die deutsche Sprache ist am Absaufen.

 

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"The dog it was that died."

 

 

This film is arguably the most beautiful adaptation of any of W. Somerset Maugham's many stories. It is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter, a middle-class doctor, and Kitty, an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and takes her along.

 

Read the book online at www.archive.org

 

I usually get a bit prickly when I see a book cover depicting a scene from the film which quite obviously was made after the book, but in this case I take issue with the film which does not include the three most important lines in the book, namely, when Walter on his deathbed quite clearly speaks the words, "The dog it was that died" [page 165], and when Kitty, after his death, asks Waddington, "Tell me, is 'the dog it was that died, a quotation?" [171] and again ""What did he mean by saying: the dog it was that died? What is it?" [page 172], to which Waddington, knowing the implied meaning but hiding it from her, finally and non-commitally, replies, "It is the last line of Goldsmith's 'Elegy'." [page 172].

 

An Elegy On The Death Of A Mad Dog by Oliver Goldsmith Good people all, of every sort, Give ear unto my song; And if you find it wondrous short, It cannot hold you long. In Islington there was a man Of whom the world might say, That still a godly race he ran— Whene'er he went to pray. A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes; The naked every day he clad— When he put on his clothes. And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree. This dog and man at first were friends; But when a pique began, The dog, to gain some private ends, Went mad, and bit the man. Around from all the neighbouring streets The wond'ring neighbours ran, And swore the dog had lost its wits To bite so good a man. The wound it seemed both sore and sad To every Christian eye; And while they swore the dog was mad, They swore the man would die. But soon a wonder came to light That showed the rogues they lied,— The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died!

 

The mad dog is, of course, Walter who, embittered by his wife's infidelity, takes her to cholera-stricken China in the hope that she will take ill and die. When he catches cholera instead, he dies with the quotation "The dog it was that died" on his lips. That was the punchline of Maugham's story and the film missed it completely - or perhaps it didn't want to overload its audience with anything too literary.

If you love Maugham’s work and you haven’t read this one, you should. If you have never read a W. Somerset Maugham book and want to dip a toe in the water, "The Painted Veil" may be a good book to start with.

 

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Do you know about RunPee?

 

 

The inspiration for RunPee came after watching the 2005 Peter Jackson remake of King Kong — a 3+ hour long movie. By the end of the movie we were in agony with the need to pee. So much so that we couldn’t enjoy the ending. All I could think was, “When will this ape die so I can go to the men’s room?” [continue to read the article here]

 

 

The RunPee app gives you several Peetimes of 3-5 minutes in each movie when you can run and pee. Afterwards, it gives you a synopsis of each Peetime, so you will know exactly what you missed while you were gone. What will they think of next? Go to the bathroom for you?

The good people at RunPee, a family business consisting of Dan Florio and his wife Jill and his mother and sister, watch over 150 movies a year to find the best Peetimes. They already have over 1,900 movies on their database, and more are added every week. I'm not taken the piss when I tell you that there is no other databse like this in the entire world.

 

 

I first became aware of RunPee while watching "The Reverend and Mrs Simpson", a 2023 drama film about a German war bride named Anna and her son who face prejudice in England after her husband abandons them. It's a moving story, beautifully told and played by the central characters, and with plenty of Peetimes -- although what I like to know is if they have considered developing a RunPee app for senior citizens?

 

Why buy this when you can get RunPee for free?

 

 

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P.S. I've just checked: "Waiting for Godot" is ONE long Peetime!