Charlie Chaplin and Richard Herring

I’ve discovered Richard Herring over the last two weeks. He’s currently presenting a series on Radio 4 about objects we’ve grown to hate, like Hitler moustaches and, this evening, hoodies. Last week he talked about the BNP getting seats in the European parliament because people didn’t bother to vote, like happened in France with Mr Le Penn. He talks a lot of sense and he sent me looking for the speech from the end of The dictator by Charlie Chaplin (so that’s where Hitler got his moustache from). Here is the text.

Self-ascription

Dom emailed Rob and I simultaneously asking us what the word self-ascription means. I couldn’t find self-ascription, only ascription in the dictionaries and I must admit to not being sure at all as to what self-ascription means. I presume it’s from a psychology paper she’s reading at the moment.

Any ideas?

Forever Autumn

I was waking up one morning as this song was being played on the radio. It was the first time I heard it and now it always reminds me of that special time half way between sleep and waking.

I hope that your autumn is as beautiful as this one.

Candles and stained glass

As part of our trip into town this morning, Rob and I went to look around Saint-Sauveur church. For about 10 years the church was closed to the public while it was being restored. It was worth it. It certainly does look much better than I remembered it. We always light a candle if we visit a church or cathedral, thinking of our fathers and relatives who are no longer with us. I also think of the living too, there seems to be need among my blogging friends at the moment.

Part of the restoration included the stained glass windows. I love stained glass. They are each opposite a pillar and the sun was shining in through the windows as I turned away from the area where the candles were. The colours and patterns from each window were reflected on the pillars. It was beautiful.

Some local history

I must write this down before I forget it. Remember the old man I helped one day when he felt ill? His name is Robert and it’s quite a time since we had a talk of any length. Today we started to talk about the war. He was 14 when the Germans arrived and took over the village. He’d just finished school and had been awarded a new bicycle for being a good student. The Germans took all of the good bikes, so he dug a hole on the courtyard behind his house, wrapped up the bike and buried it so they couldn’t find it and take it. When the soldiers went to the beach for a swim (they used to skinny dip apparently), he and his friends used to go down and cut the tyres of the bikes so they would have to walk back to the village. I’m sure that they got up to other tricks too. To get to work at the boatyard Robert had to ride an old bike with hard tyres, sometimes he told me people used hose pipes wrapped around the wheels.

On the day that La Rochelle was liberated he heard the church bells ringing so he sneaked into the village church and rang the bell. The German HQ was only across the road so he disappeared pretty quickly after doing that.

Life was very hard for the villagers. The men were taken away to labour camps and the woman, children and elderly had to manage the best they could. There was hardly any food. As soon as he could, he joined the French Navy. He was in French waters for a year or so, which was a ‘comfortable’ job after the war and then they sent him to Indo China until he finished his five years duty. It was a much harder life and he was ill while he was there. On one of his train journeys from base to base he met the girl who was to become his wife, their first two years consisted of exchanging letters

Coming back to France in the early 50s wasn’t easy as there were no jobs, so he became a gendarme and worked his way up through the ranks to Major – he came back to the village to retire.

That’s what I remember from what he told me.

Art is Truth

This afternoon I collected my new glasses. The frames are black and inside the right arm is written “Art is Truth”. I didn’t notice it when I was choosing them, but it’s the kind of detail I like.

I haven’t managed to find who or where the quote is from. Is it the same as ‘The camera never lies”?

Something to make you feel good for the weekend

I went to visit a site to see some great pictures of how a girl got her revenge. Then there was a video at the bottom. It is very slow to load which will give you time to find a huge box of Kleenex before you watch it.

Go here

Okay, so the first was a hoax, but the second wasn't - sorry