Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everybody and welcome to the new thread.

I put an autumnal photo of one of the many red squirrels running around at this time of year, but although it showed up fine in 'preview', now all I get is 'image error', so tant pis! I'll post in photos instead.

Wishing you good reading as always.

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everybody and welcome to the new thread.

I put an autumnal photo of one of the many red squirrels running around at this time of year, but although it showed up fine in 'preview', now all I..."

Thanks again for the new thread. I can see a squirrel running up a tree in the photo section.

Thanks for the new thread! Poked in the facility's little book nook, and looked at Reagan's journal notes. It was early in his administration, and he had to sack his first cabinet minister.

Al Haig puzzled his boss. Haig's knowledge of foreign policy and his ability to analyze difficult situations (one was the impending war between Britain and Argentina) were valuable. His suspicion of his colleagues and his "paranoia" (Reagan's term) about his position were not. Haig threatened to write a stormy resignation letter, then, after several drafts, toned things down. Haig told the public that there was a disagreement over policy. Reagan noted that the difference wasn't one over policy; it was over who was in charge.
I wonder what private notes will emerge in Britain years from now.

To @Robert: You ask about what happens when the French disagree? Naturally, there are regional accents, so it makes sense to learn either some more or less standard version - I guess the newsreaders on the main TV channels have something approaching that, just as we speak of 'BBC English' in the UK - maybe touched with a bit of the accent used in the region you live in or visit most often (Brittany in my case).

Early on when I moved to France, I saw several of the old B&W films written or directed by Marcel Pagnol - the Marseilles trilogy (Marius, Fanny and César) as well as a few others (Le Schpountz, La Femme de Boulanger, La Fille du puisatier... etc.) These were a wonderful education in the southern French accent... I'm pretty sure that the accent has modified and weakened in the 40 years since I first saw those films (but more than 80 years since they were made). The same is certainly true of accents in my part of the world. TV and other forms of mass communication have benefits, but do have the unfortunate effect of standardising the pronunciation of languages - or that's what seems to happen. Maybe an academic somewhere has researched this topic.

(As for Sellers - rather dated in his style, and I'm not convinced that he was essaying a 'Parisian' accent more than a generic 'French' one - certainly, his 'Welsh' and 'Indian' accents seemed nearly indistinguishable! He was funny in his day, though - no argument there.)

To @AB... you wrote in the last thread about John Fowles... I read three of his novels in the 60s and early 70s (in other words, fairly soon after publication). I found 'The Collector' effective but creepy, and not really an enjoyable experience. I didn't care for 'The Magus' at all... it seems that this is an example of 'metafiction', a type of writing I often enjoy nowadays. Would I enjoy 'The Magus' if I reread it? Possible, but unlikely... I find my naive and emotional responses to books tend not to change, even if as I grow older and more experienced I can 'see' more of what was being attempted.

The one I did really like was 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' - easily the best Fowles I've read. The film, too, seemed to successfully capture the atmosphere of the novel.

Although I liked that one, I seem to have given up on Fowles after that - possibly, I read them out of order, with 'The Magus' coming last!

Robert wrote: "I wonder what private notes will emerge in Britain years from now."


And how much truth there will be in them. Cynical, moi?

scarletnoir wrote: "To @AB... you wrote in the last thread about John Fowles... I read three of his novels in the 60s and early 70s (in other words, fairly soon after publication). I found 'The Collector' effective bu..."

FLW is deffo on my list now, the book is much discussed and i like the ideas around it. I remember my parents had a copy of the novel and seeing it on the bookcase a lot as a kid.

As for his novels post FLW, they do seem a lot less feted and it seems he faded from his status as a major writer from around 1970 onwards

scarletnoir wrote: "To @AB... you wrote in the last thread about John Fowles...The one I did really like was 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' - easily the best Fowles I've read...."

I'd agree with that. I enjoyed The Magus well enough at the time that everyone else was reading it, but had no wish to re-visit. I didn't like Daniel Martin but enjoyed The French Lieutenant’s Woman — it's the only one of the three that I've kept.

Just saw Bill's last comment in the previous column about the passing of Robert Coover. I picked up Pricksongs and Descants on a whim about 3 or 4 years ago and loved it unconditionally. It launched me into a general appreciation into the postmodernists, Gass, Barthelme, Pynchon, Vollman, Barth for which I am hugely grateful. I really do need to read more from Coover sooner rather than later. There don;t seem to be a wealth of female postmodernists from what I can tell

The FLW is the only Fowles I really got with too.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
I'd never made an effort to get hold of this, imagining it to be twee, but last week saw a very cheap copy in Oxfam, rue Daguerre, and decided to give it a go. And I enjoyed it 😀. I found it pretty entertaining and amusing.
We could have had a recipe for the potato peel pie though!

Thanks for the new thread, gp, and thanks also for the recommendation of Chemins intimes. It’s interesting how differently the writers in the collection interpreted the brief – from recollections of village schools straight out of Daudet and Alain-Fournier; to the trace of a path created by animals in a deep valley which for them would be as if lit up at night, by all the scents they leave, while human life is still very present, only it’s a hundred metres up in the air, on the viaduct of an autoroute; the private road that does not take us into summer days in the countryside – “je me fous des paysages” – and leads instead through Rabelais and Don Quixote; the Dunkirk convention on romance novels, despised by the literary classes yet essential for those like the grandmother who reads them in secret at night, to escape her family burdens (and was I so different, reading armfuls of Mary Wesley and Patrick O’Brian for relief from daytime office pressures?); and the story of F-H Désérable, who goes to spend two weeks in the house of Julien Gracq on the banks of the Loire, now donated as a writer’s retreat, and ends up confined there for the whole of covid, going nowhere and unable to write a word – but, against all expectations – and how charming this was - finds himself on the road to love.

I know you know all this. I just wanted to share my enjoyment!

I must read FHD's Danton book, much liked here.

scarletnoir wrote: "To @AB... you wrote in the last thread about John Fowles... I read three of his novels in the 60s and early 70s (in other words, fairly soon after publication). I found 'The Collector' effective but creepy..."

That pretty much sums up my feelings on those three too. I did like the first half of The Magus, before it turned supernatural.

I can add that Mantissa was a nothing of a book, and Daniel Martin was a dreadful, endless bore. On the other hand, The Ebony Tower was a good read, and The FLW continues to be very satisfying. I’ve been thinking of reading it yet again.

Logger24 wrote: "Thanks for the new thread, gp, and thanks also for the recommendation of Chemins intimes. It’s interesting how differently the writers in the collection interpreted the brief – from recollections o..."

So glad you enjoyed it as much as I did :)

Gpfr wrote: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
I'd never made an effort to get hold of this, imagining it to be twee, but last week saw a very cheap copy in Oxfam, rue Daguerre,..."

We liked it too - as well as the film adaptation, which was faithful to the novel iirc... it's a lot darker in some ways than you expect.

I must also use this as an excuse to mention one of my favourite books, as it is also set on Guernsey - The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by GB Edwards. I read this ages ago, but doubt that my opinion would have changed.

Logger24 wrote: "Thanks for the new thread, gp, and thanks also for the recommendation of Chemins intimes. It’s interesting how differently the writers in the collection interpreted the brief – from recollections o..."

Thanks for reminding me of this... I'd intended to get it on our recent visit to France, but all sorts of stuff ('life') got in the way... Nice to hear about the Désérable chapter.

Logger24 wrote: "I did like the first half of The Magus, before it turned supernatural."

Ah. That would explain why I hated it. It's so long since I read it, I had forgotten the reason - but that would have done it, all right.

scarletnoir wrote: "I must also use this as an excuse to mention one of my favourite books, as it is also set on Guernsey - The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by GB Edwards. I read this ages ago, but doubt that my opinion would have changed."

I recall that there was a rumor to the effect that this book was actually written by John Fowles, who happens to have written the introduction to the NYRB Classics edition.

Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I must also use this as an excuse to mention one of my favourite books, as it is also set on Guernsey - The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by GB Edwards. I read this ages ago, but dou..."

thats very interesting bill, the edwards book has been on my list for a long time.

Bill wrote: "I recall that there was a rumor to the effect that this book was actually written by John Fowles, who happens to have written the introduction to the NYRB Classics edition."

There was indeed such a rumour, but in fact it's much better than anything written by Fowles, so I never believed it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boo...

Although I don't especially admire Dickens, this novel seems to me to have many of the better characteristics of a Dickens novel. It works for me.

Edit: Reading GBE's Wikipedia entry, I find that "Harold Bloom included (Ebenezer LP) in his Western Canon." Naturally, I had never heard of Bloom or the 'Western Canon' before, but this endorsement may mean something to our transatlantic friends!

The End of Czechoslovakia (1993) is a brilliant collection of essays about the Czech Rep and Slovakia, their history, unification and then seperation

Found on the BWB site, which seems to be better than amazon in finding variety, i'm about two thirds through and am learning so much from these essays, well written and composed, which cover many different topics relating to these two small Central European nations.

I have travelled to both and loved what i found, about a decade apart from 1996-2004. Slovakia seemed far more rural and somewhat neglected but both were beautiful in their lush greenery, low hills, Hapsburg architecture and interesting peoples.

a few weeks ago i decided it was time to read a novel by a black british female author written in last few years and via google found Assembly by Natasha Brown.

I'm just about to start it, in 2024 i have read quite a few novels by non-white authors and am always aiming to expand this. Its also black history month, so a nice coincidence.

Not sure if i will like it, modern novels arent my thing but i do read a few good ones a year

AB76 wrote: " The End of Czechoslovakia (1993) is a brilliant collection of essays about the Czech Rep and Slovakia, their history, unification and then seperation..."

AB - Any thoughts in the book on how these two countries preserved their identity over the centuries? I was once briefly in Prague but have no knowledge of Slovakia. I imagine the protective Habsburg suzerainty had a lot to do with it.

Logger24 wrote: "AB76 wrote: " The End of Czechoslovakia (1993) is a brilliant collection of essays about the Czech Rep and Slovakia, their history, unification and then..."

identity was generally preserved by religion and education in both nations to large extent between say the reformation and the early 19c, although it didnt become a national/cultural thing for either until at least the latter years of the Hapsburg Empire(1860s)....when it became politically motivated and confidence grew, so in some ways it has been only 260 years of organised nationalist identities, before that a struggle, but maintained as a folk culture.

the key message i get is that they were never really as close as people think, although from 1918-93 they were united(minus the slovak state in ww2). They shared a very similar tongue but before 1918 they looked towards different nations.

The Czechs were much more entwined with Germanic culture(via the Hapsburgs) and were more developed, less religious but suffered racism under the Germanic minority and its influence

The Slovaks were more rural, less developed and entwined with Hungarian culture, the Hungarians were far tougher on suppressing Slovak culture and nationalism, than the Germans were on the Czechs. Slovaks were a lot more religious

I would say that the Czechs never faced the danger of elimination of their culture as much as the Slovaks did in the 19c. This wasnt elimination by violence but by cultural methods, banning slovak language schools etc

After 1945, it was less developed SLovakia that made all the gains up till 1993. Its population increased faster, it became more industrial and more equal to the wealthier Czech nation. Slovaks felt pessimistic in 1989, as they had gained far more than the Czechs under communism. (it should not be forgotten that the Czech region was highly developed and industrial as early as 1900)

The Velvet Divorce was peaceful orderly division and came from a kind of viewpoint summarised below:

“Ectomic nationalism, which desires to get rid of the poorer or trouble making part of the multi-national state”- Jiri Musil, Czech Sociologist, 1993

Certainly on its own, the Czech state had lots to gain from the divorce, while the Slovaks wanted to make sure they had a voice in a new europe. In 1989-93, the Czech political current was "anti-left" pro market economy, in Slovakia it was pro-left with nationalist influences. and lastly, it seems the 1918-38 state failed to create a true Czechoslovak identity, one was Czech or Slovak, and this barely changed in the 1945-89 second incarnation

Great summary, thanks AB. “Ectomic nationalism” may have meant the Czechs wanting to disembarrass themselves of the Slovaks, but my recollection is that the Slovaks also were very willing to separate and, as you say, have a stronger voice.

Interesting that the Czech Rep today is quite heavily populated - a bigger pop. than Sweden or Portugal or Greece. Even Slovakia is up there with Denmark and Finland, all of them above Ireland.

Footnote: My father used to be able to hand-draw a map of Europe starting from the diamond of the Czech lands.

A slight claim to fame:

Reading the latest in Michael Hambling's Sophie Allen series, which I really enjoy, I'm thinking "oh no, don't say that is how it ends." There was nothing on Fantastic Fiction so I emailed Michael last night to ask if there were more to come. He replied this morning to say there were two more on the way and recommended his other series Misfits. Always nice when they take the time to reply.

I think you might like them G.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/mi...

giveusaclue wrote: "A slight claim to fame:.. Always nice when they take the time to reply."

I know what you mean... I have very often composed in my head messages to authors, either of praise or to suggest corrections of possible errors, but until about a month ago I'd never actually sent any of these.

But there's a first time for everything... I read and thoroughly enjoyed Jonathan Coe's Bournville, but was a bit taken aback by a scene following England's football World Cup win in 1966, when some characters, walking home, passed some lads drinking lager from cans.

As I said to Mr. Coe, this wasn't actually impossible but seemed unlikely, since very little lager was drunk in the UK until the 70s, and very little canned beer. Bottled bitter seemed more likely. I received - to my surprise - a very gracious reply.

giveusaclue wrote: "Michael Hambling's Sophie Allen series..."

Thanks, I've read some of them.

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "A slight claim to fame:.. Always nice when they take the time to reply."

I know what you mean... I have very often composed in my head messages to authors, either of praise or ..."

I don't think I ever had either until quite recently I read a French book with a quote from King Lear (the story had links to the story of the play). The (translated) quote was fine, but the reference was wrong as I found when I went to read the lines in English. I wrote saying so. The author didn't reply to me but did speak to my daughter who she knows.

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "A slight claim to fame:.. Always nice when they take the time to reply."

I know what you mean... I have very often composed in my head messages to authors, ..."

I wrote about errors to two authors and got very gracious replies. One to Adrian Magson to ask how Harry Tate managed to escape his captors and get back to civilisation when handcuffed. Got a very nice "whoops missed that" reply. Then to M L Longworth who poisoned someone in one of her books. She had the poison acting quickly which it wouldn't have. She wrote back to say she had got her information from a pharmacist friend!!!! and would do more research in future.

Know all, me?

I see that Han Kang - author of The Vegetarian - has won this year' s Nobel Prize for literature.

I strongly disliked the book - which is par for the course. I very rarely enjoy books or authors that win prizes.

Logger24 wrote: "Great summary, thanks AB. “Ectomic nationalism” may have meant the Czechs wanting to disembarrass themselves of the Slovaks, but my recollection is that the Slovaks also were very willing to separa..."

The first Cz\echslovka state between 1918-1938 is worth reading about. Masayrk was the man with the vision who saw unity in the two peoples as a way to counter the German influence in Czech lands and the Hungarian in the Slovak lands. It didnt quite work as a state overall but was an ambitious project, the 1945-89 version was different and under the shadow of Moscow

ah yes, Irelands tragic demography. I calculated a while back that if the famine hadnt occurred the Irish population would be around 30m now....not sure what the rural/urban balance would be if that occurred.

thats impressive by Logger24 Snr.....!

scarletnoir wrote: "I see that Han Kang - author of The Vegetarian - has won this year' s Nobel Prize for literature.

I strongly disliked the book - which is par for the course. I very rarely enjoy bo..."

i loved Human Acts, not so much the Vegetarian. she must be one of the younger winners of the prize but i think she is an important voice

AB76 wrote: "i think she is an important voice"

Not a voice that speaks to me... that was the first, and will be the last book by her that I'll read!

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i think she is an important voice"

Not a voice that speaks to me... that was the first, and will be the last book by her that I'll read!"

the two books are very different but she does have a very dark style, its what i might call Korean gothic, with very little hope and bleak storylines.

Somebody here, i think it was Bill or Robert, recommended Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington to me

I have just started this novel, published in 1929, and before it was mentioned in here or the G, i had no knowledge of this novel at all, which is why this group is so valuable. My reading of WW1 novels has been consistent for the last 24 years, from all different nations and until recently, i thought i had exhausted all the famililar british novels save Wells Mr Britling Goes to War which is on my pile.

So thanks to whoever it was, whether i dislike the novel or not, cos it has expanded my WW1 range. I must explore how things like this pass me by, i have never seen the novel recommended and during the 100 years events (2014-2018), i never saw it mentioned either.

Years ago I wrote not to the author himself but to the London office of Yale Publishing regarding John Wilkes,, then just out, by Arthur Cash (the late professor of history at SUNY New Paltz). After saying I had found it a marvellous read (which it was - I had ripped through it), I drew their attention to several errors which I thought the copy editor might have picked up and which they might want to correct in the next edition. I had a charming letter back from the chief editor, expressing regret that economies obliged everyone nowadays to cut back on copy editing, and by way of acknowledgment offering me a free pick from their recent titles!!

AB76 wrote: "Somebody here, i think it was Bill or Robert, recommended Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington to me

I have just started this novel, published in 1929, and before it was mentioned in here or the ..."

I wasn't the one who knew about Death of a Hero, but I can recommend A Passionate Prodigality as a WWI book.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Somebody here, i think it was Bill or Robert, recommended Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington to me

I have just started this novel, published in 1929, and before it was mentioned in ..."

i think it must have been Bill!

AB76 wrote: "i thought i had exhausted all the famililar british novels..."

Remind me - have you read Her Privates We by Frederic Manning? (The joke is entirely deliberate.) I thought this was brilliant when I read it, but I must have been only 16 or so at the time, so who knows?

It is highly rated, though.

Logger24 wrote: "Years ago I wrote not to the author himself but to the London office of Yale Publishing regarding John Wilkes,, then just out, by Arthur Cash (the late professor of history at SUNY New Paltz). Afte..."

Interesting... but not surprising, unfortunately. I picked up an egregious error in one of the Percival Everett novels I've read recently (TBH, I have forgotten what it was). Since Everett's command of English is as good as it gets, I'm as close to 100% certain as I can be that the error was not his.

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i thought i had exhausted all the famililar british novels..."

Remind me - have you read Her Privates We by Frederic Manning? (The joke is entirely deliberate.) I though..."

yes i have, thought it was ok

Aldingtons message in the Death of A Hero is poignant as we get closer to Rememberance Day, that his generation must atone for the fallen in the Great War. The novel strikes a witty, cynical tone at times but then becomes very serious and focused on the sacrifices of the soldiers.

Mid to late Autumn in the UK is fascinating period, between 31stOct-11th Nov . (Halloween-Bonfire Night-Rememberance Day, two of which are purely modern British creations, the other more aincient)

AB76 wrote: "i think it must have been Bill!"

‘Twas I. The fact that you were unaware of the novel would seem to indicate that you don’t know about the series which caused me to know about it.

During the 1980s, Hogarth Press published a series of paperbacks featuring British authors that were uniformly interesting and often completely unknown to me. The distinctive purple spines made their publications easy to spot in books stores. I bought a number of them when they were originally reprinted and I’ve pretty much picked up as many more of these editions as I’ve spotted at used book sales. They also had a series of British crime novels which was of less interest to me but would be meat and potatoes to many others here.

Hogarth has since been acquired, like everything else in the publishing world, by Penguin; I don’t know how much of the Hogarth back catalogue they’ve kept in print, though Death of a Hero was apparently carried over. I’ve briefly searched online to see if I could find a listing of these “purple spine” editions (which also had a stylized fox head colophon) but have so far come up with nothing. @AB76, I’m sure you would be interested in many of the books they published in this series; if you like Death, Hogarth also published Aldington's The Colonel's Daughter.

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i think it must have been Bill!"

‘Twas I. The fact that you were unaware of the novel would seem to indicate that you don’t know about the series which caused me to know about it.

Du..."

aha there we go, thanks Bill for the recommendation. Those Hogarth Press books sound interesting, i shall do some digging.

Were they only printed in the USA, for that market, i wonder?

look in photos for a Hogarth Press version of the book, is the one you read?

AB76 wrote: "Were they only printed in the USA, for that market, i wonder?

look in photos for a Hogarth Press version of the book, is the one you read?"

Yes. that's the edition.

Before posting, I looked at the copyright and title pages of my edition. All indications are that it is entirely a UK product. Whether they could have been printed and bound in the UK and then sold exclusively abroad is, I guess, a possibility, though I don't know if this would have made economic sense. Here, from memory, is a selection of Hogarth Press books I own in addition the the Aldingtons I mentioned:

The World Set Free
The Revolution in Tanner's Lane
Saturday Night at the Greyhound
LIBER AMORIS
A Day in Summer
The Amateur Emigrant
The Whirlpool

That's likely less than half of them. The others include some E. F. Benson titles I can't call to mind.

Here is one for CC perhaps if she drops by here. Radio 4 are doing a programme with Katherine Rundell starting on Monday at 11.45 each morning next on the joys of books of children's storiesweekhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002...
I have been having a very trying time all round. Him-in-doors was the victim of a distraction crime in Montpellier in France, (avoid the TGV station there like the plague) and had his wallet stolen. I managed to get my card cancelled as well by not remembering that the pin arrangement is upside down in Spain and wasn't able to uncancel it until I got back to England.

It was a close run thing and felt that we were really quite likely to get cancelled as well as so many places no longer accept cash these days, though in a way it was quite funny as well. As I was the only one with cash I found myself dolling out pocket money to dave each day. He was not happy about that at all... Hope others are faring a bit better. I am reading Pagan Spain, by Richard Wright, his visit to Spain (published 1957) under Franco. I guess quite fitting for black history month, but I cant quite get the allusion as to why he considers Spain to be 'Pagan' where all of his anecdotes reinforce just quite how heavily catholic it was then.

He seems to think that Spanish men are the pits, on the whole, and that all the women are heroic martyrs, whatever their profession. It feels rather over orchestrated to me, but I know very little of him as a writer. I couldn't bring myself to read his take on a visit to a bull fighting ring, and the killing of the bulls. Perhaps this was the bit, about the ritual of spilling sacrificial blood, that alluded to the pagan in Spanish life?... It did make me think of Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican filmmaker though, self-described as a 'Catholic Atheist' I seem to remember. Hope all here are faring a bit better than we have been... Still it was good see the mini-sprog, Ivan, on his first birthday.

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Were they only printed in the USA, for that market, i wonder?

look in photos for a Hogarth Press version of the book, is the one you read?"

Yes. that's the edition.

Before posting,..."

thanks for that Bill...i must explore better world books and see if they have any secondhand books in this range

Tam wrote: "Here is one for CC perhaps if she drops by here. Radio 4 are doing a programme with Katherine Rundell starting on Monday at 11.45 each morning next on the joys of books of children's storiesweekhtt..."

Having been mugged and lost everything including my passport in Barcelona many moons ago I feel your pain. My friend was also robbed but fortunately had left her credit cards at the hotel so was able to bail me out. And, being Barcelona, had a Consulate so was able to get the necessary paperwork to be able to fly home. Lesson learned, never put all eggs in one basket, leave passport and cards if possible, and plenty of money in the hotel safe and carry a photocopy of passport around with you.

Tam wrote: "I have been having a very trying time all round...."

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes, but lovely for you to be there for the 1st birthday.
Did you get to the musée de Cluny?

Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have been having a very trying time all round...."

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes, but lovely for you to be there for the 1st birthday.
Did you get to the musée de Cluny?"

Tam in Paris
Well I got to Paris. It's been five years or so since I was last there. Stomped through my old haunting grounds. 'Le Jardin de Luxumbourg', which was quite nostalgic for me, and lost my glasses on the way. Saw the Eiffle tower from the other side of the the Seine, from the Trocadero, as a sort of 'homage' to my last blog. Alas I was remiss on my research, and the 'Museum de l'Homme' was closed on a Tuesday. I am so used to Museums being closed on a Monday!...

The only museum that I actually managed to get to was the Cluny museum of the middle ages. It has been revamped somewhat, but I'm not much of a fan of the revamp. The tapestries of the Unicorn had been re-homed into a far darker room, or maybe the same room but with a repainted background? The background was painted in a splodgy dark grey. which took all the light out of them. Sad somehow, at least the narwals horn was still there. Also in their revamping of the exhibits somehow it brought home to me how much of the actual legacy of objects were broken, often deliberately, by opposing sides in war, or in religious differences.

All too close to present day issues for me at the moment. I did like the stained glass partridges though. More to follow when I get round to it. Hope all of you out there are doing fine right now...