London ILB - FAP?

thanks pinefox! possibly slightly more enthusiasm than I feel in the round - i still. any *quite* make up my mind about her - but i do think the way she materialises psychological and quotidian detail in those dense paragraphs is... significant and as I said last night reminds of something i also see in george eliot (i shd prob check this properly as this may be nonsense).

anyway - great to see you yesterday pf, as well.

speaking of sightings - and possibly totally off beam - ledge did I see you cycling up the hill out of Herne Hill towards Camberwell the other day - early evening? it was a mighty blur of pedals and limbs obviously but i thought it looked like you.

I have made that journey in the past but not any time recently, it must have been one of the many other balding bearded bicyclists of the big smoke.

Penman touching on some points (and speculation) from that very discussion; makes me think Reynolds's glam book will have the failings I feared, but also that it also probably has more interesting stuff (esp about the 60s) than I imagined.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n01/ian-penman/wham-bang-teatime

So did you guys originally chose The Royal Oak because of the mention in Tess of the d'Urbervilles?

Choose

I (for one) had no idea about that. Does anything interesting happen there?

No, not really. It's just that the genealogically inclined parson that calls Jack Durbeyfield 'Sir John' at the start of the book tells him:

You declined a little in Oliver Cromwell's time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the Second's reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your loyalty.

chose it to honour the memory of the glorious stuarts and the king over the water iirc

Is it just me, or does it feel like time to reconvene?

i am up for this

Not around next Thursday 23rd, or almost certainly not the 9th March. Otherwise should be able to make most Thursdays.

Maybe 2 Mar? Is that too ambitious?

2 mar good me

2 Mar is too marvellous for words.

I will not make it on 2nd March.

i can do march 2nd, and not only will nothing stand in my way, i'm going to cancel a damned work meeting with west coast US latecomers in order to be able to make it nice and promptly.

Well if we confirm the date as 2nd I can (or try to) lay the law at my workplace and come back that day.

I remain "up for this" on the 2nd if you lot are, looking like the rest of the month is slowly closing up for me. Sorry you can't make it PF.

Still good for the 2nd.

We doing this tomorrow?

I am.

By myself if need be. I will bring a book.

See you then

I think I'll be there but there's a chance I won't be able to. Will do my best but it's not really in my control :(

Will come along ca. 8.30ish, provided I'm feeling better than I have been for the last two weeks.

hoping to get there about 6:30

just got home. as always, v enjoyable. i think there were a few things i said i'd put up. one was the source of this, which i garbled:

An incident from the Second World War -

The most remarkable escape story of all concerns Havildar Manbahadur Rai of the 1/7th. He escaped from a Japanese prison camp in southern Burma and in five months walked 600 miles until at last he reached the safety of his own lines. Interrogated by British intelligence officers about his remarkable feat, Manbahadur told them that the Burmese had not helped him. In any case he distrusted them, and he did not speak Burmese. But all that had not mattered, for he had a map, which before his capture had been given him by a British soldier in exchange for his cap badge, and he had marked his route every day with a pencil stub. He produced the much creased and soiled map. The intelligence officers stared at it in awe. It was a street map of London. "

-from The Gurkhas by Byron Farwell, pp.194-95

Whole thread is fantastic.

woof it *was* arrse - don't know what i was thinking but it helped produce a good comic moment.

also, this evening salvaged me at least temporarily from massive personal chaos and so thanks to all of you for the distraction and enjoyment.

Likewise, much-needed distraction and enjoyment; the little dace which went:

coats on - say goodbye - oh Tom's* staying for another - coats off - sit back down for "one more"

was a beauty.

*real name included to protect the anonymity of the drinker involved

the posts are (still) coming from inside the pub

Little dace?

Thinking about it, I wonder if this means 'dance'.

No, here's a picture of Tom in the pub with the dace in question.

http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2013/02/dace-1.gif

(It did mean dance, sorry.)

Still think it was a major error of England football managers of the 70s that they never played Tim Curry.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2948/33319759685_8d7a113a7a_m.jpg

Just in case that doesn't turn out legible, launch party for this book, 6 April at the Book Arts Bookshop on Pitfield Street, there will be zero pressure on anyone to buy one (not even sure there'll be any for sale), come one come all etc etc.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2948/33319759685_8d7a113a7a_c.jpg

Sweet.

Tomorrow (Thursday) - hope to see some of you there.

Here was a pleasing write-up: http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/the-box-of-disquiet.html

Damn and blast I'm going to see a silly Fassbinder movie tomorrow night.

Great book launch.

Went to the Royal Oak. Smashing.

imo there are no silly fassbinder movies

(ps i have seen seven, will be eight tomorrow)

Well this seems to be the thread I use for news about this Pessoa book, so look: http://mcbaprize.org (the book is in the final five for a prize, which is very pleasing).

Excellent, Tim!

Great news!

seconded - that's great!

Thanks, it's particularly exciting because of the standard of some of the books which didn't make the final five, some of which blow my mind. It's very flattering indeed. Just booking our trip to Minneapolis for the gala evening!!

:O

:D

If there were to be another one of these in the near future I'd be quite keen to attend.

Missed this but that's great news Tim, congrats man!

The Soineko Paisaia one is very impressive as well.