Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thanks for the help on the DVD question. Why is the world so complicated? I established, not without difficulty, that my new DVD player is Region 2, as expected. I will happily take up your kind offer of a trial run with a Region 1 DVD, Helen, and we’ll see what happens.

I looked up I Knit London but they don’t seem to have a website of their own – or if they do, it’s not up this morning. Lots of enthusiastic references on other people’s sites. I’d love to have a look, and it’s not totally inaccessible from the parts of London we spend time in, but there always seems to be more art to look at.

Robert Burns

This year’s Burns Night, on Saturday I think, is the 250th anniversary of his birth, and we threaten to drown in a sea of wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beasties.

When my husband and I were revving up to go to Thessaloniki some years ago – our last foreign jaunt – Helen said that we would drive through Tempe, loveliest of vales, on our way to Pelion. So I did some googling and stumbled across a poem of Burns’ which took my breath away for a moment: he compared Tempe to – no, if you can’t guess you’ll have to google it for yourself. He’d have trouble getting it published today.

Now, as I may have assured you before, Ah’m no sae green as Ah’m cabbage-looking, and I know that the 18th century went in for that sort of thing. I’m no Burns scholar and I don’t intend to start now, not even as far as Wikipedia. But if he wrote one such poem, he probably wrote others, and it seems sort of a shame not to acknowledge them during the current frenzy.

Somewhere in the house is a Burns anthology, but I can’t find it. I wondered whether it includes such poems, or only nice ones, the way the RSPB is really the Royal Society for the Protection of Nice Birds – no crows, ravens, magpies, or seagulls need apply.

As for knitting, the sleeve progresses. The final shaping is in sight, although it’ll be a couple of evenings still before I actually reach it.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:05 AM

    I Knit London is fun - lots of unusual yarns to fondle, lots of books. Just go to Waterloo Station and basically walk around the corner: the day we went (a Saturday) there was a rather nice Middle Eastern food market in the street outside :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://www.iknit.org.uk/ I just rang them and he said the EZ DVDs don't say they're region-free but they were told they are, and nobody's ever brought one back, so he assumes they are. Lindsay went there recently and loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:23 PM

    I see Helen gave you the website address for I Knit. I was in London for the last week of 08 but I Knit were closed for the holyers, shame.

    I have an expat's soft spot for Burns, but I only know the 'nice ones' and I don't think I will investigate any further. Burying my head in the sand, I guess.

    The side issues you blog about are always so interesting and thought provoking.

    All the best,
    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Somewhat late chiming in on the DVD problem but some DVD players can be made to be region free. We have a cheap Phillips one bought at WalMart for $65 that has a setup screen allowing you to set your region. Setting it to zero lets you play DVDs from any region(we are especially fond of Ozzie ones). Maybe one of your techie offspring could check if yours has that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I Knit London is lovely, very small but crammed with yarn and books and all sorts of treasures. It was where I met Franklin last November, and they organise wonderful knitters' events. Website is good and there is a Ravelry group, search for i knit but I have sent you an invite to it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. yes why is the world so complicated, even with things that needn't be. i willto teach my little niece that quote as she claims salad leaf green to beher favourite colour. maybe i could change it to cabbage green. one particular green cauliflower resembles knitting with bobbles a great deal.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Iloved visiting I Knit when in London in '07 and agree with Judith - a bit small, but filled with all sorts of treasures. Well worth a trip.

    ReplyDelete