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Michael, the second installment has been mediated by knowing that I was early, late and inadvertantly on time (last night) in birthday communications. Keep in mind that e-mail composition on a BB is real handiwork, no pun intended.
It may be that this is the substitute for letters, at least from England. So, my first realization, from visiting the Army Museum not far from Sloane Sq., where I stayed, is that the British have had much more experience in the mid-East and Iraq than the US has ever had. (This is different by the way from the Imperial War Museum which is much bigger.)
There are loads of old photos and memorabilia here, including scout cars and turbans, from their 1915-17 expedition in Mesopotamia and the British capture of Bagdad. How were we so arrogant to think we could maneuver there with so little sense of history? Ironically, the reason our flight is delayed is that Pres. Bush just flew in, they announced, pushing all flights back. I wonder if he could learn to pronouce “Mesopotamia.”
The play “Relocated” is a somber reflection on murderous acts of a German contractor, whose basement dungeon included his children and their children (whom he also fathered), all to “keep them safe”, he said. The distinction between reality and other conditions gets blurred, as does the acquience of his wife and girlfriend to his deeds. This theatre, the Royal, is known for its cutting edge work, and hosted Tom Stoppard’s “Rock and Roll”. “Relocate” is Stoppard with a much blacker heart. You would appreciate its grimness.
As I mentioned to Diane, this drama is “gobsmacking”, which means here, I’m told, “startling”, from the words “gob” or jaw, i.e., smacking one’s jaw unexpectedly.
Now that’s a word George can pronounce.
Until the next event. Found something also for you and Matt. Best, Mark
Isn’t it strange though, given the Brits’ wide experience in the mid-east, that they heartily supported Bush’s misadventures there?
Comment by rakkity — June 16, 2008 @ 1:07 am
Perhaps they missed that good old-fashioned imperialism and were happy to see someone carying its torch …
But we don’t even tend to learn from our own mistakes — there’s certainly no reason to think we might learn from those of others. Dubya don’t do history.
Comment by el Kib — June 16, 2008 @ 11:18 am
But they didn’t support the invasion, only lap dog Tony did. There were massive demonstrations in Britain against Bush’s War, and in one poll before the attack Bush was seen by a third of the Brits as a greater threat to world peace than Hussein. The people, obviously, had it right.
Comment by michael — June 16, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
More like Mess-O-Potania.
Comment by Jen — June 17, 2008 @ 10:09 am
Yes, the Brits learned more quickly about mess-opotamia than US citizens did.
Comment by rakkity — June 17, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Did I miss the part where you followed up on jadpanther/jagdpanther?
Unrelated good news: it turned out that although the light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming train, it missed me and rushed on past.
Comment by Jennifer — June 17, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
Do extrapolate Jennifer, dear.
Comment by Jen — June 19, 2008 @ 9:34 am
I feel like I know what Jennifer meant. Many of my colleagues seemed to think it was lovely coming to the end of the school year early this year, but I felt like it rushed up and just about ran me down. I guess it didn’t help having 2 graduations and a wedding in a three week period, complete with houseguests of unknown genders and packing and unpacking and luggage to be weighed, trains and planes to catch — none of them mine — and leaving of boxes for indefinite periods (or to be shipped later-but-soon by yours truly, and too heavy for one person to carry alone into the UPS store) …
I notice I’ve left out entirely the type of stuff which is why I write anonymously; what administrators, students and parents put teachers through at the end of the school year. I would come home from school and my partner would want to know a little bit about why I was stressed, and after half an hour of non-stop brain-dump I still wouldn’t have finished explaining even one situation; each was so complex. (And it would turn out that half-an-hour’s-worth was more than my beloved partner actually wanted to know.)
Of course, maybe Jennifer meant some other type of situation entirely.
Comment by Peggy — June 20, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
Do extrapolate, Peggy dear.
Comment by 'nifer — July 9, 2008 @ 8:23 am