Pre-Departure Blues: Tuesday, June 18th

When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a communist. -Helder Camara, archbishop (1909-1999) 

P, bridge works for me on the 26th if there is room for another novice player. Kerry and Tia would come by for potluck if that is in the offing. Kerry wont play cards that evening except to cheat for me - you wont notice her standing behind my partner. What may look like baseball signals is really just a nervous twitch. 

Bard does not work for us on the 27th -- Tia's Grade 5 graduation night and we are doing something special for her. We would love to join you any other night that works for you guys. Don't make yourself crazy trying to accommodate us -- I know your dance card is pretty full so attend the 27th if it works best for you.  W

Alas, Horatio, you Dolt!

Foist and foimoist, bridge with the card sharp/cheat is fine. I assume Tia Maria will be purloining malt as we play so the terrorista turned mule is more than welcome as well.

27th of June was never an option for Hamlet, rather it is Friday, 28th. Let me know if that date is acceptable and I'll book tickets, four, (4), I assume. Cheers, Laertes.

Patience Claudius, Lest you thinketh me not worthy, I am onto the sisterhood to get an answer on this generous offer on Friday, was it the 28 January...Backeth to thee shortwith, Rosencranz 

Claudius, yes to Hamlet on Friday the 28th. Thank you. R-z And yes to four to Hamlet -- assuming you and C, me and K. R

 
Dear Polonius!

I booked four tickets, ($27.50 each as I donated $2 to Bard. They don't charge a booking fee and this was suggested donation.), M 63, 64, 65, 66, for Friday, June 28th at 8:00pm. If you'd like we can have a bite to eat here and then either stroll over or press some Freeloader into chauffeurtude. If that works for you and Kerry, we can chat about fare domani, between One No Trump openings!

Went for a very pleasant "stretch" ride this afternoon. Left about 2:00pm as I had decided I'd just do about half of lasterday's distance. Thought that the Seawall might be crowded but I suppose the blustery, coolish wind kept many away. At any rate, it turned out to be rather a nice, sunny outing and knowing I only had to do three loops, I quite enjoyed the relative shortness of the ride. Most difficulty I had was with car drivers in the parking lot at bottom of PPH, dithering about which spot to pull into, blocking most of the roadway until a committee decision was made! Other than that it was almost a carefree ride although the Canada Geese seemed fiercely intent on jaywalking whenever I came across Mom and Dad and their, by now, Teenagers, in numerous spots around the park. Note to Self: Remind Big Al to mount a holder for a machete where water bottle usually sits. Think a bit of "loppage" might solve this nagging problem!

Back at the Heartache Terrazzo with 65.3 K over 3:08:18, AVG 20.8 KPH, MAX 57.2 KPH, so very happy with "maintenance" run! Ride domani? Perhaps Robo Man can be enticed away from his slide rule and watering can. Cheers, Il Conduttore!

Guildenstern, 

thanks for doing the book-age. The dinner beforehand sounds great assuming we have  a sitter that can accommodate. Jack Reacher would find something significant in the seat numbers. 

Yes, I would like a ride tomorrow and would prefer a morning ride if the weather cooperates and the timing is amenable to the pelotonians. W

Hi Ophelia and Laertes!

Just let us know about dinner beforehand, once you have sorted things out with sitter, and I'll arrange for the poisoned chalices, should they be required.

With respect to riding on the morrow, I'm at your beck and call, fiery, hot-headed One, (Don't you know Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, you absurd, tragicomic clown?), so let me know your wishes that they may be my commands! Cheers, Il Imbibatore, The Ghost of Lattes Unbedrunken!

Hi Randy, great to hear all your news.  You would be a great Dean of the International College, but think you need to ask for more money.
 
Great that Nick remembered you and Ruth and rewarded your loyalty. Sounds like Miranda and Adrian are having a productive summer. Will they be joining you in Vale?
 
We are off to England on July 10th and won't be home again until Oct. 19th. Will probably house sit again in LA over the Thanksgiving American holiday. You should join us.
 
Summer finally starting, great to get some warmer weather. Hope the Spurs win tonight, Lots of Love to you all, Corinne                                       Guy: Did you know that,

“The difference between a healthy person and one who is mentally ill is the fact that the healthy one has all the mental illnesses, and the mentally ill person has only one.”
Robert Musil

Maybe Mr. Musil was a patient of Freud cloaked as Anna O? 

By the way, did N send you back to the store to buy the flypaper? --Kurt

Thank you for the the insightful quotation Kurt.  Here's another that I wish to formally propose for adoption by the NRBC as a motto, to be placed in its coat of arms once said coat is designed:

“The secret of a good librarian is that he never reads anything more of the literature in his charge than the title and the table of contents. Anyone who lets himself go and starts reading a book is lost as a librarian...He's bound to lose perspective.”
― Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities

Now that I realize Musil was the author of "The Man Without Qualities" I am sure he was included in that modern European literature course.  I seem to have a vague memory of a couple of friends at the time raving about what a great novel it is. 

In answer to the questions from some of the other members, the flies are so far flourishing and no, N has not sent be back out to buy flypaper. I am relatively certain that this does not reflect her re-appraisal of my competence.  Guy 
 

Dear Flypaper Guy!

I am more than pleased to learn that by by Musil's definition I was more than a "good librarian", "excellent" perchance, as I never read anything more than the title of the books in my charge! Sometimes the odd dust jacket blurb but hardly ever the table of contents.

Furthermore, I suggest we contract Natalia to design the NRBC coat of arms. Her expertise with CAD should allow her to knock off a few drafts to choose from. We could argue about their merits instead of discussing the book in question, an alarming, growing tendency I have noticed over the past few meetings. Something which obviously needs to be nipped in the bud!

As for your relative certainty regarding Nancy's appraisal/re-appraisal of your competence/incompetence, I think you are whistling in the dark, my dear deluded friend. The Still Waters of The Sisterhood Run Silent, Run Deep. Ignorance is Bliss, as Thomas Gray wrote in 1742 but Ignorantia Juris Non Excusat, as my Learned Colleague well knows, is no defense against the slings and arrows of Outraged, Flypaper Craving Females! I rest my case. Cheers, Il Conduttore!

Although Musil may have had it wrong.  Apparently Tanglefoot fly paper came from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Easy enough for a between the wars Central European to confuse with Canada I suppose. 

G and The Exterminator, I'll be going to see the indecisive Dane on opening night in late June with N and some her pals, so won't join you.   But I hope you enjoy it and look forward to comparing notes.  

By the by, if you're interesting, I'm intrigued by a new play at the Planetarium by Kevin Kerr and Electric Company.  Jonathan Young who plays  the Danish prince and Kim Collier who directs him in that show are part of Electric Company and long time collaborators of Kerr, but have of late been doing other work, mostly based in Toronto.  In any event the Kerr piece involves time travel, memory, and toys with the Convergence or whatever that coming artificial intelligence event is called that those geeks at Google and such are into.

Patrick, in that vein, are up on Google's world library project?  So many more books not to read! Perhaps we can work on a way to sabotage it so our non reading choices will remain more limited.  Let the robots do the reading say I. Cheers, Guy                                                     Hi Flypaper and Company!

Sorry you won't be joining us in Denmark but thanks for tip about Kevin Kerr and Electric Company. Sounds fascinating and am looking forward to seeing Jonathan Young after what you wrote earlier.


Not overly familiar with Google's digitizing project, (10 million titles so far!), but know they seem to have run into some pretty significant copyright issues. I am also a tad cynical about the fact that this conversion is being done for the "good of society", according to Santiago de la Mora, head of Google Books for Europe! That being said, I'm actually in favour of such undertakings even if it means that we now will have to read all of Musil's work! Perhaps The NRBC Secretary, pro tem, can schedule this discussion while I'm cycling along the Canal du Midi. Not that I don't want to read his entire oeuvre but Jack Reacher is pretty compelling when on the road or in the air or on the water!  Cheers, Il Exterminatore, in perpetuum!

Hey, dear Patrick! Thanks for the good wishes! Sorry, I'm always late to answer, but my LinkedIn and Gmail sometimes get neglected for a while and it takes me some time to catch up with all the backlog! It's been a super busy few months, I traveled a lot, but had an amazing time and learned a great deal.

Even if we manage to meet up at one point in September, I really don't want you to worry about our accommodation, my vacation time is not yet confirmed and unfortunately I don't know if I will be in a position to take time off until the last minute, so I never book in advance. I'm pretty sure we'd be able to find something within driving distance of you, or at least meet up for an afternoon if circumstances allow us.

Also, as it seems with my new responsibilities, I might be needed here - we took on some new employees and they have a 3 month trial period in which they need to be taught and monitored - so my vacation plans for the entire year have changed a bit - I needed to have a week off last week so I can take over for the next two weeks as other seniors are off.

Anyway, keep me posted about your plans and I will do my best to try and connect with you and meet up while you are in Europe. - Greetings from sunny Zagreb!

Hi again, Morana!

Thanks for speedy response. Glad work is going so well. Don't worry at all about timing, should you decide upon coming to stay. Place can accommodate up to ten people. I don't expect that many at any one time so I am sure you an your boyfriend can be "squeezed" in on short notice, unless, of course, you would prefer to stay on your own. Anyway, keep in touch over the course of the summer and we'll see how things unfold. Cheers,Patrizzio!  

Hi Janet and Eyob and family!

What great, grand good fortune that we were able to reconnect after more than 25 years or so! Thanks, Janet, for being the catalyst which made the gathering possible. As well, thanks so much for the wonderful photo gallery and more than delicious desserts.

Of course it was nothing short of marvellous to meet your charming, charming wife and lovely, lovely daughters, Eyob. As Janet has already mentioned, thank you Shewa for the scrumptious quinoa salad. (Alas, I regret not keeping any!!!) The gorgeous flowers remind us, everyday, of your and your daughters' radiance, truly. On a more sober note, I trust Selam and Aminat have foresworn the use of cell phones now!!!

Thank you all, from Cora Lee and I, for the happy, happy evening. Thanks, as well, for the good wishes with respect to our coming trip. I do hope we will all be able to meet again, once back, and continue where we left off. A few short months, not long, long years this time! In closing, I do apologize for not writing sooner but it was a very full, busy weekend and I'm still trying to catch up. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!