Luthién Arnatuilë

says

adaimlerdoublesix says

Hello Luthien. I was reading your discussion of SHADOW OF THE WORKHOUSE review. Interesting. There was a workhouse in a village named Shardlow, near where I live in England, until relatively recently. One of the horrific things about the workhouse that elderly people here have told me is that when an elderly couple who would have been married for maybe sixty years, were taken into the workhouse, they had to live apart in the men's and women's dormitories. It seems so inhumane to seperate people who were married all those years........

How's the Swedish weather? Raining here in England after the glorious Bank Holiday Weekend!

Regards, Michael.

posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Luthien, here's a hand-knit you might like: http://istex.is/Files/Skra_0039927.PDF

When in Copenhagen, I always used to visit the Red Cross Charity Shop in Frederiksburg. I have a couple of great Lopi wool jumpers from there. It shall be inter now for you - cold, grey and damp. Maybe no snow yet?

Regards, Michael.

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Luthien, i read with interest, your review of the Katarina book. The BBC is broadcasting as Book Of The Week Artemis Cooper's biography PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR - AN ADVENTURE. As with the Katarina book, I found Cooper's technique consisted of summarising PLF's works and filling in the gaps with descriptions that totally lacked any warmth of understanding of the subject. I was so disappointed. I had been to the Royal Geographical Society for the Book-Launch lecture by Artemis Cooper, chaired by Thubron, as President of The Roal Society Of Literature, and come away unimpressed. In some ways, I regret buying the biography.

How's the Cold North? Any snow yet? I still smile at your description of being rescued from a snow-drift by two policemen!

Regards, Michael.

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Your review of the Piper Millin memoir was interesting. For a number of reasons, writing an account long after the event mt always be difficult. It's an historian's job to sort out what seem to be conflicting stories. Sometimes it is not possible.

What s the Katarina Taikon book that you are reading at the moment. Sometimes I envy your multilingualism! Is multilingualism a word?!

Regards, Michael.

posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

I left the Peak Distric for Lasham in Hampshire at 0500 this morning. Gin clear skies and the temperature 0c all the way down. Mist over the paddocks in Oxfordshire and Hampshire. Autumnal England at its best! Hope it's like that in Southern Sweden also.

Regards, Michael.

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

BIRDSONG was written by Faulkes about 80 years after WWI. He himself was born in the early 1950's. I have never read the book, however people say that it evokes what they think of as the time. Is ths true, or does it just mean that it appeals to the way they see WWI? faction, written after the event is a dangerous thing for historians!

Regrds, Michael.

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

One of favourite Military Historian's is John Keegan. Here are some of his quotes taken from the Web:


There are certain wicked people in the world that you can't deal with except by force.
John Keegan

The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask that he must make for himself, but a mask made in such form as will mark him to men of his time and place as the leader they want and need.
John Keegan

Well, if they are trying to kill you, on the whole they're the people you have to kill, aren't they?
John Keegan

Some people are more terrorist than others.
John Keegan

I think to be shot in a mountain valley somewhere or other is altogether less glorious than crashing an airliner into a skyscraper.
John Keegan

The Islam of the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century was a poor thing. Nobody bothered about it. Islam was that funny sort of pure system of beliefs that depressed people in the Middle East held as their religion.
John Keegan



The revival of Islam dates from the early years of the 20th century. It was brought about by their humiliation, by their sense of how low they'd fallen compared with the West.
John Keegan

We may have to have a geo-political regrouping or major geo-political changes.
John Keegan

I think Americans like the practical; they like the human. And I like both those things myself, and I try and put them into my books.
John Keegan

It's commonly said that people who've been ill in childhood and who've had an upset education never really regret that they do. It means that you don't look at the world in the way that other people do, and if you were inclined to be a writer, that's a help.
John Keegan

The great men of power who seek to change the nations they belong to usually are pretty terrible people.
John Keegan

Men killing other men really is an extraordinary phenomenon. Why does it happen? And how long has it gone on? And have the motives changed?
John Keegan

Nobody should teach anywhere for 25 years, but I did.
John Keegan

I don't look to find an educated person in the ranks of university graduates, necessarily. Some of the most educated people I know have never been near a university.
John Keegan

I don't think that what's going on in Bosnia is political activity. It's partly political, but it's partly atavistic as well.
John Keegan

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.
John Keegan

Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done.
John Keegan

The great Chinese classics have always said that it's better not to fight; that the clever man achieves his ends without violence; that a battle delayed is better than a battle fought.
John Keegan

Even a pacifist should admire the military virtues.
John Keegan

I think that black Africa is extremely terrifying. Black Africa can become a maelstrom of warring tribes without the outside world needing to feel the need to do anything about it.
John Keegan

I can't visualize the situation in which we nuke ourselves into extinction.
John Keegan

If Wellington epitomizes the English gentleman, Eisenhower epitomizes the natural American gentleman.
John Keegan

Good men who exercise power are really the most fascinating of all people.
John Keegan

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Hello Luthien, I apologise for not writing back earlier. I am a little busy with the marriage of my daughter , Victoria, next week. However that is no excuse for not writing to my friends! The major reason for my delay was that I had to think a lot about what you had written in your long Note. I disagreed with a lot of what you had written! The weather has not been too ridiculous in England. A number of showers, however that is to be expected. The temperature is dropping rapidly and I forget to dress warmly. I guess I can be a little stupid with this. I dislike putting on layers of clothing and always leave it too late! My departure has been put back to the end of October. I am finding this quite convenient for myself! I am afraid I haven't read the David Edgerton book yet, Luthien. I have always been impressed with how quickly Britain made technological advances in both World Wars. At this distance in Time, it is difficult to appreciate just how fast communications, weapons, medicine, intelligence etc etc changed - or how limited these things were in 1914 or 1939. An interesting book to get some idea of this is COMMAND AND CONTROL ON THE WESTERN FRONT: THE BRITISH ARMY'S EXPERIENCE 1914-18. There are libraries full of books on how WWI came about and to complicate matters, different countries and political systems have different ideas on this as well. However, lately I have been reading THE SLEEPWALKERS: HOW EUROPE WENT TO WAR IN 1914 and I feel that I understand it a little more now. Despite everything, the Balkans are always an area of confusion! Nobody ever foresees how a major war is going to change everything.... Many of the concepts that were expressed most vividly in OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdgWVJ1Ymm8 are actually more doubtful than most people think. In England or Australia, the concept of a 'Lost Generation' for example doesn't stand up to much statistical analysis. Likewise the 'Lions Led By Donkey's' is not tenable. Most Generals on both sides were competent, particulary when you think about how quickly lessons on Command and Control, New Weapons and Political Interference had to be learnt. I don't think WWI was run particulary badly run. Any Order is better than No Order or a Counter-Order. All Services, in all ages, are expert at teaching men 'to run at machine-guns'. I guess it's a human trait.... Pride in yourself? In your Unit/Regiment/Country etc? I understand crying in any cemetery, including a War Cemetery. Death is such a final thing and rarely comes cleanly. Have you read C.S.Forester's THE GENERAL? It's an interesting attempt to portray an officer who fought in the Boer War and then WWI. It is quite critical of a British Army mindset.

I'll write more tomorrow. Oh! Victoria's Wedding REception is being held at Ognisko's in Exhibition Street, Kensington. You would know, of course, that this is the restaurant of the Polish Hearth Club which has been at the same address since 1939 and has some interesting, large paintings of the Polish Generals, Leaders, personages from WW2. Such a long way from Home....

Regards to the Cold North! Winter seems so close now...

Michael

posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Hello Luthien. I'm in England just now. The weather has of course collapsed! Autumn already! Ugh! I'm reading two books about the start of WWI. THE SLEEPWALKERS - HOW EUROPE WENT TO WAR IN 1914 and THIRTEEN DAYS - DIPLOMACY AND DISASTER - THE COUNTDOWN TO THE GREAT WAR. Peculiar to think how many of the Central States went to war in 1914 with so little understanding of how they would change so much in the next six years..... Nobody ever thinks that they're going to lose a war, I guess... My daughter, Elizabeth, and I went to a C.S.Forester conference at Oriel College in Oxford, last weekend. There were quite a number of Swedes there, hence I thought of you! It was quite peculiar how analytical the Northern Europeans were of C.S.Forester and his Hornblower character. I tend to think of them both as being very simple an English! Maybe I am dumb! We had a few hours in the Bodleian Library - sometimes I envy students their carrel! On the Saturday night we were outside the Bear inn (1242) and could see so many stars!

Regards, Michael.

posted 9 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

AL-GHAZALI CENTER, MALAZ, SALEH EDDIN, AL-AUYBI STREET
11411 RIYADH

You're somewhere in the sunlight strong,/Your tears are in the falling rain,/You call me in the wind's soft song,/And with the flowers you come again.//Yon bird is but your messenger,/The moon is but your silver car;/Yea! Sun and moon are ant by you,/And every wistful, waiting star.// I woke and could not sleep again so fell to thinking of you, my Beautiful, Sweet Love! Sometimes I feel so far away from you. Other times I feel as though I could reach out, push aside the curtain and touch you cheek! TTT xox

Hello Luthien, it does seem as though Summer has passed by Northern Europe this year! I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of the Summer in Southern Europe - Of course  you know Keat's 'Oh for a beaker full of the warm South...'  sometimes in  cool, damp England I think of that! The time I fear is when the leaves fall and everything seems bleak. For yourself, far North in Scandinavia, your ever-green pines stay through the cold winter. You are so lucky! You are correct about the light being so much brighter in the South - painters always take time to adjust their technique to Southern climes! You are correct about Eleanor enjoying the McCall Smith books, though really, I think it is the genre she enjoys rather than the writing per se. I find him too much of a machine-writer myself. Like Agatha Christie, I suspect he dictates a hundred pages before morning tea! I'm being unfair, as long as you enjoy the writing, I'm pleased. I thought of you when Eleanor tweaked my tail yesterday by saying that the Americans had come to save the British , yet again! I don't quite know why she said it. She has enough education, has travelled widely enough and s intelligent enough to know better..... I'll be charitable and say that she must have been bilious!  I wouldn't describe Istanbul as being pretty. Interesting and historical, but not pretty. It has a population of about 14 million now and hence is mainly suburbs - boring suburbs! Although it would like to be modern and Western,  it still bears all the poverty, dirt and smells of the ancient East. There is so much baggage of culture, ethnic and financial disparity that you sense things are often on the edge. I suspect that the rise in Turkish Religious Fundamentalism is one of reasons for Turkish drawing back from applying again for EU membership - that and not wanting to be importunate. I personally think that Europeans who buy cheap property in places like Turkey or Morocco are mad. Still as somebody said to me when discussing this "If you can afford to lose it, why not?" When in Istanbul, I spend most of my time in the old Diplomatic Quarter of Beyoglu, North of the Galata Bridge - Geert Mak's THE BRIDGE is a good evocation of poverty in modern Istanbul, if you see a copy in Gothenburg or Copenhagen. Diarrhoea is not really a problem for myself and I spend a lot of my working life in unbelievably insanitary places of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.  I grew up on a farm and was probably fairly well inoculated against most infections! I find it difficult to believe when I see house-wives in Europe spraying disinfectant on their benches and tables! Oh well, I suppose they are just doing their best to look after their families....

Regards, Michael

posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

I'm reading Tove Jansson's FAIR PLAY just now. How could I not think of you? Hope the Swedish weather is kinder? Myself, I've been in England and the USA, however here I am back in the Heat & Dust again. +46c today! I hope to be back in England by the end of the month (it could be Istanbul - I quite like Istanbul in small doses!).

Regards, Michael

posted 10 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

+32c here in the South of Spain. Lovely to sit out on the terrace with a book after walking in the mountains for a few hours. I´m currently re-reading an old favourite, MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY.

Regards, Michael.

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Hello Luthien. The English weather has seemed to be particulary horrible this Summer! I´ve managed to miss a fair bit of it since I´ve been over-seas since May. However I return halway through July and it just does not seem to be getting any better! I´ve been working out of Gibraltar these last few days. Do you know Paul Gallico´s (of THE SNOW GOOSE Dunkirk story fame) SCRUFFY?

Paul Gallico's 'Scruffy' is the hilarious fictional account of the infamous apes of Gibraltar during World War Two. Based on the ancient legend that when the Rock Apes die out, the British will lose Gibraltar, so deep-rooted is this belief that in 1944 Winston Churchill actually caused a signal to be sent to Gibraltar expressing anxiety over rumours concerning the apes and directing that every effort must be made to restore their dwindling number. Out of this historical fact, the author's imagination has made a wonderfully entertaining story. The Rock Apes are in charge of one Captain Tim Bailey, and his loyal side-kick Lovejoy whose biggest problem in life is Scruffy

I had a couple of the apes on my balcony at the Rock hotel the other morning!

http://www.rockhotelgibraltar.com/

I´m reading SOE in France (Whitehall Histories: Government Official History Series): An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940-1944 by Professor Foot

SOE in France was first published in 1966, followed by a second impression with amendments in 1968. Since these editions were published, other material on SOE has become available. It was, therefore, agreed in 2000 that Professor Foot should produce a revised version. In so doing, in addition to the material in the first edition, the author has had access to previously closed government records, as well as drawing upon his own invaluable wartime experiences and the recollections of those involved.

SOE in France begins by explaining what SOE was, where it fitted into the Allied war machine, and how it worked in France. The narrative then recounts the adventures of its agents who worked on French soil. This intricate tale concentrates on the work of the 400 hand-picked men and women of the 'independent French' section, although it also covers SOE's five other sections that operated mainly in France. All told, the six sections despatched over 1,800 clandestine agents, who between them changed the course of the war. This updated new edition will be essential reading for scholars and for all those with an informed general interest in the activities of the SOE.

Editorial Reviews - SOE in France (Whitehall Histories
Features -SOE in France (Whitehall Histories Table of Contents Table of Contents . List of illustrations. .
. Preface. .
. Abbreviations. .
. Introduction. .
. Analytical table of contents. .
. Maps. .
Pt. I. Structure. .
I. The origins of SOE. 3.
II. What SOE was. 13.
III. Recruiting and training. 41.
IV. Communications. 59.
V. Security in France. 106.
Pt. II. Narrative. .
VI. Politics and the great game. 119.
VII. Opening gambits : 1940-1941. 136.
VIII. Development : 1942. 163.
IX. Middle game : 1943. 209.
XI. Pressure mounting : January to May 1944. 309.
XII. A run of successes : June to September 1944. 339.
XIII. Aftermath. 368.
XIV. Strategic balance sheet. 380.
. App. A: Sources. 395.
App. B. Women Agents. 414.
App. C. Supply. 419.
App. D. Notes for pilots on Lysander and Hudson pick-up operations. 427.
App. E. Report by Jean Moulin, October 1941. 437.
App. F. Typical F section operation orders. 447.
App. G. Industrial sabotage. 453.
App. H. F section activity diagram. 466.
App. I. Tables of dates. 468.
. Notes. 472.
. Index. 597.

All Marketplace (--) New (--) Used (--) CLOSE X LOADING...We're sorry. Information from our Trusted Marketplace Sellers is currently unavailable. To try again, please visit the B&N Marketplace.
..
I picked up this copy in a second-hand bookshop in the Rue d´France, Nice a few weeks back.

Good luck with the Swedish Summer - it´s out there somewhere! Picnic somewhere for me?

Regards, Michael.

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

i´m in Southern Spain just now. Laurie Lee Country I guess.... He was taken off from Marbella by a British destroyer at the start of the Spanish Civil War - see AS I WALKED OUT ONE MORNING.

Regards, Michael

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

bleep?

posted 12 months ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

I hope to make the BALL-GOWNS EXHIBITION at the Victoria & Albert before I go back on duty. Looks good. I did mange Cecil Beaton's Royal Photographs a couple of months back.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/

Regards, Michael.

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

No, I am still on the map, Luthien. I have been busy with work, however I have been on Shelfari also. I like to look at your shelves and see what you are reading. Yesterday I went to the auction at Christie's of books and furniture from Patrick Leigh Fermor's Estate (Wartime SOE, operations in Crete etc). Quite interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Leigh_Fermor

Regards, Michael

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Having a home-made sandwich made with boiled beetroot and cream-cheese! Lovely! How is the weather in Sweden? England is so wet!

Regards, Michael

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

Hello Luthien. Thankyou for your Christmas and New Years' Wishes. Unfortunately I've been at work and over-seas since early December soI did not see much of it. I managed a few days in the Chiltern's with my daughters before leaving England - we enjoyed that. On Christmas Day some of us got together out here and had a roast dinner - the best we could manage was a factory-farmed chicken(Poor thing!) as all the turkeys were too big for us! I envy you your Julbord - I remember one Christmas at Arlanda having this! I feel so sorry for your son having his birthday on Christmas (What a lovely Christmas present for you though!). My oldest daughter's birthday is the 21st December and her party plans as a child were always clashing with Christmas parties! She used to get tired of people combining Christmas and Birthday Gifts - her Sister, Elizabeth, being born in June (one day different to mine!) did not have these problems! After the snow these last winters, your son certainly must find it peculiar having only rain this year! No sledging is the order of the day! He shall be pleased to be back at school! I still smile to think of your remarks to the policemen when they found you in a snow-drift! "So! Here you sit.........."
I don't tend to think of Helen Bonham-Carter and Enid Blyton in the one sentence! It always makes me laugh to think that she lives in the house next door to her husband (They are happily married!). Her ancestors would be proud of her! Like yourself, I read many Enid Blynton adventure stories as a child. Although became a bit of a pot-boiler, she was ok. I liked Arthur Ransomes SWALLOWS & AMAZONS as much though. In Australia, a rather old-fashioned series I enjoyed were THE BILLABONG series by Mary Grant Bruce.

Regards, Michael (marooned in the Middle East!)

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )

adaimlerdoublesix says

So Luthien, the Year turns again? Every day a little longer till we reach Summer again..............

I've often walked in the hills above Ancona and this poem by Helen Jackson transports me to those Summers

POPPIES ON THE WHEAT

Along Ancona's hills the shimmering heat,
A tropic tide of air with ebb and flow
Bathes all the fields of wheat until they glow
Like flashing seas of green, which toss and beat
Around the vines. The poppies lithe and fleet
Seem running, fiery torchmen, to and fro
To mark the shore.
The farmer does not know
That they are there. He walks with heavy feet,
Counting the bread and wine by autumn's gain,
But I,--I smile to think that days remain
Perhaps to me in which, through bread be sweet
No more, and red wine warm my blood in vain,
I shall be glad remembering how the fleet,
Lithe poppies ran like torchmen with the wheat.

[Michael: I find Winters are so long...................]

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I hope that you enjoyed 2011 and that 2012 is what you want. Thankyou once again for the notes exchanged through the year.

Regards, Michael

posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )