....is a 1997 movie by Tony Gatlif about a Westerner who comes to Romania in search of a singer whose voice he loves. It's title means Stupid/Crazy Foreigner in Romani. What happens to him next is my story....
Saturday, May 15, 2010
T.T.F.N.
I sign a new contract next week. I’ll be full-time again and probably incapable of much beyond grunting and farting when I arrive home to the bosom of my family in the evening. I told Mrs Dilo that I’ll try to get home earlier than I did before so we can enjoy the summer sun together in the garden; I therefore need to leave for work earlier; I therefore need to do less blogging. And it feels like a natural place for a pause right now. I’ve still got masses of stuff in my head that I need to get out – heck, I’ve got many posts already written – but it’s time for a break. Thanks to everybody who’s made blogging such a rewarding experience for me, especially those who comment so regularly and reliably. But I’m sure I’ll miss it - and you - and I’ll be back before long. I leave you with the new team:
Now, I always was an optimist and so I’m feeling quite chipper about this new Con-Lib-Dem-Dave-Nick alliance. I've been hearing how it’s unfolded mainly from the trashy, dirty mouths of CNN’s Fionnuala Sweeney and Becky Anderson. Two of a kind, if you ask me: both 44 years of age and with at least one divorce apiece behind them at a guess, with a slatternly grasp of the English language – “They have literally been tearing each other apart”, “Looking to the future, going forward”..... – and probably never happier than with a Malibu and black in one hand and a Lambert & Butler in the other - in other words, not merely TV journalists but gals I’d expect a 60/40 chance of going home with if I met one of them at a nightclub called Roxy’s. But I digress. I was also very pleased to observe that on hearing the news my (totally unjustified) inverse snobbery didn’t kick in regarding our new Beloved Leader’s background. And so - though I can’t top Gaw’s Sam and Dave in No. 10 - to prove the point here’s another Old Etonian we took to our hearts, the late Mr. Humph Lyttleton. Ta ta for now.
Well done indeed, and there's nothing wrong with grunting and farting. It's actually a perfect combination of activities. The Sweeney woman needs to audition as a porn actress before it's too late.
It is Sunday and this is sad news so this song seems appropriate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOqiolytFw4 Have a lovely time and look forward to seeing any posts the future might hold. In the meantime, I can get out all those rabid pro-Hungarian diatribes I've been saving until I knew you were out of the way (hem hem).
Gaw, thanks a lot, mate. I suspect that I won't be able to keep away for long, though.
Lulu, and thank you too! I'll once again be (comparatively) rich (by Romanian standards) but time poor.
Nikos, ah, I shall miss you most you most of all, Scarecrow (it's a quote, don't worry). If anything will encourage me to come back sharpish then it's things like that!
Bananas, great to hear from you again. Grunting and farting are indeed the very bedrock of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. It's never to late for a woman of Sweeney's inclinations.
The Jules, yes, a satisfactory jobby is no. 3 on the health checklist (see above). Time will tell if I need rehab or not.
worm, cheers. I've enjoyed worm-land equally much - if not more :-)
Pearly, as you insinuate, all important announcements must be called 'literal' these days - it's the all-pervasive irony of everything else in Modern Society that I blame.
zmkc, the original Hungarian Suicide Song! (Sort of an official national anthem until Slovenia recently oevrtook them in the topping-yourself contest). But which film is that?? I've heard that it was used in Schindler's List, but the woman in that clip hasn't been dubbed, which makes a nice change. I'm probably in a minority, but find it a particularly lovely language.
Boyo, the editor of Romanian Kerrang! had found out that my extensive tatoos were actually temporary rub-on tats, and not of Axl Rose but of Winnie the Pooh. However, my article on the Daco-Roman origins of several words from Iron Maiden's song "Transylvania" was enough to convince him to have me on board again. Cheers for everything; I can't see how I can stay away for long after this.
Scarley, yes, the contract could be a lot worse - I'm certainly in a good position compared to many. I can send you some posts, if you want posts of no relevance whatsoever to any of our readers!
I don't know whether to cheer or cry, I'll miss your strange music. It must be such a relief to have a regular pay check again and I can see why you would choose it over blogging, kind of. There have been no regular paychecks in this house for almost two years now and it's distinctly disturbing, so congratulations and I hope you will still have time for some fun.
Madame, thanks for your kind words. 'Real work', though? If I was shovelling mud out of a trench or something like that then I might agree with you!
Eryl, oh heck, I'm sorry that these are hard times in the Shields household, I hope things pick up soon. I do hope to be back with more music, strange or otherwise.
Congrats on the new job. Whatever you do, do remember to knock before you go into the office (hem hem) and that the shiny one is Dick and the other one is Knave, or vice versa.
This is the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Lied_von_Liebe_und_Tod RE Hungarian, you're not in a minority in this house. We have tried many languages (although not yet Romanian) and we LOVE Hungarian best of all (but [or possibly because] it is fiendishly hard.) Have fun in your new job - or contract - and come back one of these days (if you feel like it).
Brit, thanks mate. I shall miss your posts and I shall certainly be less well informed too :-)
zmkc, ah, ok, I've never seen it but it looks interesting. Enjoying the Hungarian language is not quite the done thing when amongst Romanians; except - and it's a big except in my case - when with my father-in-law, who, despite being 100% Romanian, speaks Hungarian (he had to learn it during the war) and enjoys speaking it to this day, partly because he's one of life's natural bridge-builders, but mainly to amuse and confuse people! You'd like him.
Pat, thanks for that. The contract is OK: a year of reliably paid labour, which in this economic climate is not to be sneezed at. I'm sure I'll be back sometime.
Scarl, I'm sorry, I'll miss you too, but my hands are tied at the moment - literally... the dominatrix I empoyed yesterday evening forgot to leave me the keys when she dashed off in her Skoda to her next client.
Scarley, luckily I had already made an appointment with another dominatrix a few days later, and, being in possession of similar eqiupment, she had keys which fitted. What sort of sandwich are you suggesting?
Inky, I was sorry to hear of your father's death recently, though I am still in the dark about what his wonderful invention was - all I know is that Mrs Pouncer uses it. Did I really improve your typesetting?? If I've done that then my life has not been entirely wasted. Yes, I also love to watch people work - Mrs Dilo is currently taking dictation.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! This is no way to welcome me back from Murka. I haven't told you about the Red Elvises yet. You'll be back, you know you will. Well done on the job. Perhaps you can sneak out of bed in the night and do some nocturnal blogging? (As I am now, thanks to jet lag).
Boyo, your honeymoon?!?!? Congratulations, old chap! I'd love to come and meet you in the Former Romanian Port of Odessa but it's surprising difficult to get to from Romania - either a 3 day train journey in the company of hutsul ciggie smugglers or the slightly more rapid mule train out of Iasi. Glossing over what the Romanians got up to there in WWII - though only obeying orders of course - I'll think of you re-enacting the Battleship Potemkin scene on the steps, with Sviatoslav Richter playing the old joanna in the background. Have a good time.
Daph, sorry old girl! I'm missing you guys aleady, but am now able to start work earlier, do my job better, feel fresher in the evenings, and see more of the wife. Murka? Ah, I know all about the Red Elvises! I'm tempted to post their "Surfing in Siberia" right now, but you may aleady have done so. I'll be back before long, I'm sure. Thanks for your encouragement.
Boyo, doing things backwards is perfectly acceptible, especially on one's honeymoon. Tiraspol is in the de facto independent mafia fiefdom of Transnistria, and only enterable by leaving your car, and any cigarettes, electronic goods, money, cashmere knitwear, non-cashmere knitwear, daughters, etc that you happen to have with you at the border. Chernivtsi would've been my choice - we could've retraced the exploits of von Rezzori.
Chernivtsi, once a vibrant, multi-ethnic metropolis with Parisian boulevards, the home of poets and thinkers, now almost the only place from which people emigrate to Romania.
Greenblatt, is that chow mein really Kosher? I don't think I see any stray rabbi's whispers in it - take it back to the kitchen, you cunning oriental.
Boyo, are you really in Moldova? Did you actually spend time in Tiraspol?? Suceava, though, I don't believe that.... You're welcome to visit us Cluj, by the way, if you happen to be passing this way.
Courtney, or should I say 'Greenblatt'... good grief, 'Courtney' is SO GOY, my far eastern friend, try harder next time.
I'm not in Moldova but have been there twice and Tiraspol once. The former is a delightful place, the latter a concrete lunatic asylum for provincial central planners. They make fine cognac, though.
Boyo, you have indeed been around. I'd like to go to Moldova sometime - our blog-mate Dumneazu has some excellent stories about trying to find his ancestors over there.
Daph, I dunno, maybe it is. I miss you too but am very busy at the moment at work and in the garden. I will try to keep commenting on your blog though.
Just want to say your article is as surprising. The clearness to your publish is just great and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission allow me to seize your RSS feed to keep updated with impending post. Thanks 1,000,000 and please carry on the gratifying work.
Now, I always was an optimist and so I’m feeling quite chipper about this new Con-Lib-Dem-Dave-Nick alliance. I've been hearing how it’s unfolded mainly from the trashy, dirty mouths of CNN’s Fionnuala Sweeney and Becky Anderson. Two of a kind, if you ask me: both 44 years of age and with at least one divorce apiece behind them at a guess, with a slatternly grasp of the English language – “They have literally been tearing each other apart”, “Looking to the future, going forward”..... – and probably never happier than with a Malibu and black in one hand and a Lambert & Butler in the other -
in other words, not merely TV journalists but gals I’d expect a 60/40 chance of going home with if I met one of them at a nightclub called Roxy’s. But I digress. I was also very pleased to observe that on hearing the news my (totally unjustified) inverse snobbery didn’t kick in regarding our new Beloved Leader’s background. And so - though I can’t top Gaw’s Sam and Dave in No. 10 - to prove the point here’s another Old Etonian we took to our hearts, the late Mr. Humph Lyttleton. Ta ta for now.
Gosh, that's a shock. We shall miss you summat terrible.
ReplyDeleteMissing you already - but GREAT NEWS about the contract xxxx
ReplyDelete********shock*******
ReplyDeleteWe had so much to go through together regarding rebetika, Greeks in the Balkans, and so on and so forth.
Θυμηθείτε το φίλο μου ότι είναι καλύτερο να ταξιδεψει ενδεχομένως παρά για να φθάσει!
Nikos
Well done indeed, and there's nothing wrong with grunting and farting. It's actually a perfect combination of activities. The Sweeney woman needs to audition as a porn actress before it's too late.
ReplyDeleteAha - well done on the jobby front. If you know what I mean . . .
ReplyDeleteIf you're anything like me, you'll find it hard not to do the odd post here and there as well. Blogging isn't as easy to give up as narcotics.
what a shame, I have been enjoying my rambles through dilo-land!
ReplyDeleteI'll be checking, periodically, nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteLiterally.
Pearl
It is Sunday and this is sad news so this song seems appropriate:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOqiolytFw4
Have a lovely time and look forward to seeing any posts the future might hold. In the meantime, I can get out all those rabid pro-Hungarian diatribes I've been saving until I knew you were out of the way (hem hem).
Congrats on getting a job. I knew the Romanian edition of Kerrang! couldn't cope without your winsome prose for long.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogging, you've been a Stakhanovite in quantity and a Trotsky in quality. And you'll not be able to keep away from it, I'm telling you.
Here's to that first post on the Suceava Monsters of Rarck Festus, May 2010.
Congratulations on the contract!
ReplyDeleteErm.... if you're not using your posts then could I have them? Pity to let them go to waste...
Sx
Have a good break and come back soon.
Gaw, thanks a lot, mate. I suspect that I won't be able to keep away for long, though.
ReplyDeleteLulu, and thank you too! I'll once again be (comparatively) rich (by Romanian standards) but time poor.
Nikos, ah, I shall miss you most you most of all, Scarecrow (it's a quote, don't worry). If anything will encourage me to come back sharpish then it's things like that!
Bananas, great to hear from you again. Grunting and farting are indeed the very bedrock of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. It's never to late for a woman of Sweeney's inclinations.
The Jules, yes, a satisfactory jobby is no. 3 on the health checklist (see above). Time will tell if I need rehab or not.
worm, cheers. I've enjoyed worm-land equally much - if not more :-)
Pearly, as you insinuate, all important announcements must be called 'literal' these days - it's the all-pervasive irony of everything else in Modern Society that I blame.
zmkc, the original Hungarian Suicide Song! (Sort of an official national anthem until Slovenia recently oevrtook them in the topping-yourself contest). But which film is that?? I've heard that it was used in Schindler's List, but the woman in that clip hasn't been dubbed, which makes a nice change. I'm probably in a minority, but find it a particularly lovely language.
Boyo, the editor of Romanian Kerrang! had found out that my extensive tatoos were actually temporary rub-on tats, and not of Axl Rose but of Winnie the Pooh. However, my article on the Daco-Roman origins of several words from Iron Maiden's song "Transylvania" was enough to convince him to have me on board again. Cheers for everything; I can't see how I can stay away for long after this.
Scarley, yes, the contract could be a lot worse - I'm certainly in a good position compared to many. I can send you some posts, if you want posts of no relevance whatsoever to any of our readers!
Do come back, if only to remind us what real work is like these days. Good news about the contract, but I shall miss you summat awful.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether to cheer or cry, I'll miss your strange music. It must be such a relief to have a regular pay check again and I can see why you would choose it over blogging, kind of. There have been no regular paychecks in this house for almost two years now and it's distinctly disturbing, so congratulations and I hope you will still have time for some fun.
ReplyDeleteMadame, thanks for your kind words. 'Real work', though? If I was shovelling mud out of a trench or something like that then I might agree with you!
ReplyDeleteEryl, oh heck, I'm sorry that these are hard times in the Shields household, I hope things pick up soon. I do hope to be back with more music, strange or otherwise.
Congrats on the new job. Whatever you do, do remember to knock before you go into the office (hem hem) and that the shiny one is Dick and the other one is Knave, or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteLook after you and yours mate.
Hi Kev, I thought I'd lost you. Thanks for your good wishes. Not sure what you mean about Dick and Knave, I'm afraid - can you elucidate?
ReplyDeleteWell done on the contract. Thanks for all your posts and comments; see you soon I hope!
ReplyDeleteThis is the film:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Lied_von_Liebe_und_Tod
RE Hungarian, you're not in a minority in this house. We have tried many languages (although not yet Romanian) and we LOVE Hungarian best of all (but [or possibly because] it is fiendishly hard.) Have fun in your new job - or contract - and come back one of these days (if you feel like it).
Brit, thanks mate. I shall miss your posts and I shall certainly be less well informed too :-)
ReplyDeletezmkc, ah, ok, I've never seen it but it looks interesting. Enjoying the Hungarian language is not quite the done thing when amongst Romanians; except - and it's a big except in my case - when with my father-in-law, who, despite being 100% Romanian, speaks Hungarian (he had to learn it during the war) and enjoys speaking it to this day, partly because he's one of life's natural bridge-builders, but mainly to amuse and confuse people! You'd like him.
Dick and Knave are part of The New British Enlightenment. We are the first Western democracy to be ruled by a civil partnership.
ReplyDeleteKev, ah, I see now. As if Emily* and Mandy hadn't been enough for us.
ReplyDelete* Tony Blair's nickname at school
I hope your contract is good news - your departure isn't. Feel free to come back anytime.xox
ReplyDeletePat, thanks for that. The contract is OK: a year of reliably paid labour, which in this economic climate is not to be sneezed at. I'm sure I'll be back sometime.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is buggering off.
ReplyDeleteIt's getting flipping lonely.
Sx
I will miss you.
Scarl, I'm sorry, I'll miss you too, but my hands are tied at the moment - literally... the dominatrix I empoyed yesterday evening forgot to leave me the keys when she dashed off in her Skoda to her next client.
ReplyDeleteHave you untied yourself yet? Do you need sandwiches?
ReplyDeleteSx
You enhanced my typesetting and my confusion about Mitteleuropa, which I shall miss. I know about jobs though, my servants have those.
ReplyDeleteScarley, luckily I had already made an appointment with another dominatrix a few days later, and, being in possession of similar eqiupment, she had keys which fitted. What sort of sandwich are you suggesting?
ReplyDeleteInky, I was sorry to hear of your father's death recently, though I am still in the dark about what his wonderful invention was - all I know is that Mrs Pouncer uses it. Did I really improve your typesetting?? If I've done that then my life has not been entirely wasted. Yes, I also love to watch people work - Mrs Dilo is currently taking dictation.
"Taking dictation," eh? You'd have been cashiered for making a native girl do that in my day.
ReplyDeleteWe're in Kiev at the moment and heading down to the former Romanian port of Odessa on Monday, if you fancy popping across.
It's our honeymoon, so I could frankly do with some distraction.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! This is no way to welcome me back from Murka. I haven't told you about the Red Elvises yet. You'll be back, you know you will. Well done on the job. Perhaps you can sneak out of bed in the night and do some nocturnal blogging? (As I am now, thanks to jet lag).
ReplyDeleteIn the words of ABBA, Thank you for the music.
Boyo, your honeymoon?!?!? Congratulations, old chap! I'd love to come and meet you in the Former Romanian Port of Odessa but it's surprising difficult to get to from Romania - either a 3 day train journey in the company of hutsul ciggie smugglers or the slightly more rapid mule train out of Iasi. Glossing over what the Romanians got up to there in WWII - though only obeying orders of course - I'll think of you re-enacting the Battleship Potemkin scene on the steps, with Sviatoslav Richter playing the old joanna in the background. Have a good time.
ReplyDeleteDaph, sorry old girl! I'm missing you guys aleady, but am now able to start work earlier, do my job better, feel fresher in the evenings, and see more of the wife. Murka? Ah, I know all about the Red Elvises! I'm tempted to post their "Surfing in Siberia" right now, but you may aleady have done so. I'll be back before long, I'm sure. Thanks for your encouragement.
A shame, but I understand. Meeting you halfway in Tiraspol is an attractive option...
ReplyDeleteWe decided to do everything backwards. Kids first, then wedding. Mrs Boyo also told me she arranged my funeral first of all.
Glad to hear the job's going well and Mrs Dilo's getting some of your hitherto cyber time.
Boyo, doing things backwards is perfectly acceptible, especially on one's honeymoon. Tiraspol is in the de facto independent mafia fiefdom of Transnistria, and only enterable by leaving your car, and any cigarettes, electronic goods, money, cashmere knitwear, non-cashmere knitwear, daughters, etc that you happen to have with you at the border. Chernivtsi would've been my choice - we could've retraced the exploits of von Rezzori.
ReplyDeleteI've had some fun times in Tiraspol, but only because Schadenfreude is my middle name.
ReplyDeleteChernivtsi is next on our list. See you soon.
Chernivtsi, once a vibrant, multi-ethnic metropolis with Parisian boulevards, the home of poets and thinkers, now almost the only place from which people emigrate to Romania.
ReplyDelete"almost the only place from which people emigrate to Romania."
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Moldova. Odessa was excellent, by the way, the best place I've been in years. Apart from Suceava, of course.
As for you, Greenblatt, Chabad in Shanghai are glatt kosher.
Greenblatt, is that chow mein really Kosher? I don't think I see any stray rabbi's whispers in it - take it back to the kitchen, you cunning oriental.
ReplyDeleteBoyo, are you really in Moldova? Did you actually spend time in Tiraspol?? Suceava, though, I don't believe that.... You're welcome to visit us Cluj, by the way, if you happen to be passing this way.
Courtney, or should I say 'Greenblatt'... good grief, 'Courtney' is SO GOY, my far eastern friend, try harder next time.
I'm not in Moldova but have been there twice and Tiraspol once. The former is a delightful place, the latter a concrete lunatic asylum for provincial central planners. They make fine cognac, though.
ReplyDeleteBoyo, you have indeed been around. I'd like to go to Moldova sometime - our blog-mate Dumneazu has some excellent stories about trying to find his ancestors over there.
ReplyDelete欣怡, you're beginning to get on my tits.
Is that a vuvuzela he's playing?
ReplyDeleteCome back Gadj. I miss ya.
Daph, I dunno, maybe it is. I miss you too but am very busy at the moment at work and in the garden. I will try to keep commenting on your blog though.
ReplyDeleteI keep catching tantalising glimpses of you;)
ReplyDeleteKev, who she? Is this some news that I've missed?? She sounds ghastly.
ReplyDeleteShe was mentioned in the Daily Mail. So she's probably a figment of a deranged imagination. Same as the Romanian lady.
ReplyDeleteJust want to say your article is as surprising. The clearness to your publish is just great and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission allow me to seize your RSS feed to keep updated with impending post. Thanks 1,000,000 and please carry on the gratifying work.
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