Noted in the New York Times

Behold, I think, the only time my name has made it into this august gazette. I don't know who clipped it, but I love the automatic cow's moo of greeting!

Piglet Returns to Modena

The pandemic has certainly curtailed his travels, but after Piglet returned from his day trip to Milano, he stopped to admire the chimney at the former tobacco factory in downtown Modena. Here's hoping that he'll be able to head out on another journey soon!

 

Farewell Roobarb & Grange Calveley

Farewell Grange Calveley, creator of one of my favourite childhood tv cartoons, Roobarb. Also, Johnny Hawkesworth's theme tune was one of my top 5 favourites (have a listen here).

Read more about him in the Guardian obit.

The Queen of Procrastination

These are stressful days. The heat in Modena seems more oppressive than ever before, and relentless. They say it may break tomorrow. We certainly need a break of some kind.

Meanwhile, the new year is just a couple of weeks away, and there is so much yet to prepare. I talk about the heat having boiled my brain, and escape into genealogy explorations. But I have paperwork to complete. Numbers and words await my collection and arrangement. People await my attention and support. My dear ones await my cheshbon nefesh. It's time to face the things I fear instead of hiding.

I'm sure I say this every year, and each time I intend to do better. Will this be the year that I fulfil that promise?

 

Am I a Concubine?

A friend and colleague just posted that when filling out an immigration form on her return to the USA, for her civil status she was given the option of "concubinage".

A legal explanation I found online states that, "Concubinage refers to a status of a man and woman who live together as man and wife without being married. A concubine is the wife without the title. It is defined as the act or practice of cohabiting without legal marriage."

It all sounds so terribly Biblical. The writer could have omitted the first sentence and still explained the meaning of the word, so I am wondering if this is another example of patriarchal legislation. Or if two men or two women live together in this way, do we all get to be concubines?

PS if you google 'famous concubines' you get first of all "Infamous Royal Consorts" (e.g., Nefertiti), followed swiftly by the question, "who was the most famous prostitute or concubine who ever ...?" Sigh.

PPS In Italy the term used is vincolo affettivo, translating literally as a 'bond of affection'.

A Magical Moment

I've already mentioned that the first home game of the new football season featuring QPR vs Millwall is the 50th anniversary of my first ever live football match. That day we also played Millwall, and I just found a press photo from that game, showing Rodney Marsh scoring the opening goal.

If the stand in the background is the South Africa Road stand, then I think somewhere around Entrance J, row V, seats 140-something you would have found my father, his friends and me. I have highlighted the blurry blob in the top right-hand corner of the photograph. One of those grey bits is me!

50 years of fandom. And 50 years of friendship and adventures. I'm thinking particularly of Geoffrey Davis, Albert H Friedlander, & Sallie Levy Lunn, may they rest in peace (and use whatever influence they may have to help us this season!).

Messi Mess

Of course it is all about business and politics rather than football, but still the news was a little bit shocking that Lionel Messi will not, after all, be renewing his contract with Barcelona. Or will he?

Barcelona has just announced that because of financial restraints from La Liga, they will not be able to sign a contract recently agreed with their greatest player ever. Stories started flying around about which mega-mogul-backed outfit might be able to snag this money-spinning fan magnet. PSG? A North American franchise? 

In a beautiful paragraph in the Times, Henry Winter wrote:

"This is more than a club story, this is global. Visitors thought the Sagrada Familia would be finished in Barcelona before Messi. For those admiring this great conurbation's myriad attractions, the immediate reaction was to try somehow to imagine the impossible:  the Nou Camp without Messi, the city of Antoni Saudi, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro without this footballing artist in residence, as he has been since October 16, 2004 when he came on in the 82nd minute against Espanyol. Art followed Deco."

[thank you for that, Henry. One of the reasons I love football writing!]

It may well be, however, that this is just the opening salvo in an attempt to force Barcelona out of the European Super League alliance, i.e., if you commit to La Liga instead of breaking away, we might be able to do something about the current salary cap that would allow you to sign Messi up after all. We must wait and see.

Meanwhile, I share with you above a fans-eye view of a Messi goal I saw back in 2015 when I went to see Barcelona 2-2 Deportivo La Coruna. My camera battery had died, but I had just enough space left in my phone to record this free-kick.

Bless You Red Baron

Freiherr Hermann von Richthofen, former ambassador to the UK from the Federal Republic of Germany, has died at the age of 87 after a short illness.

As the great nephew of the WW1 flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "the Red Baron", it was difficult for him to escape constant references to his famous relative, as well as the usual "We won the War" tropes.

Although I certainly grew up watching The Dam Busters and The Great Escape every 5 minutes on television, I also had a parent who loved Peanuts, and therefore knew all about Snoopy's exploits in the early days of aerial warfare.

Thus, when Ambassador von Richthofen arrived in London in 1989, my father found it very difficult to resist raising a fist and uttering the traditional cry, "Curse you Red Baron!" Von Richthofen graciously overlooked this, they became friends and, at the end of his posting, the ambassador bestowed the honour of Grosses Verdienstkreuz on the rabbi.

They remained in touch until my father's death in 2004 - I remember that he gave a speech at an intimate party in Potsdam in 2001 celebrating my parents 40th wedding anniversary.

If you can get past the paywall, there is a good analysis of von Richthofen's work in the UK in the Times here. My condolences to his family, may he rest in peace.

Koff Koff Years of Supporting QPR

Ok it isn't EXACTLY fifty years to the day, but the opening day of the 1971-72 season saw Millwall visit Loftus Road and since this match was 4 days before my birthday, my father was finally persuaded to take me with him to the stadium.

I'm ashamed to say that the only memory I have of that day is of being very small, and the pitch seeming very large and extremely green from high up in the back of the SAR stand where we were sitting. O, and my dad, Uncle Geoffrey & Henry Pincus passing a little silver flask back and forth over my head.

The team that I saw was:  Parkes, Clement, Gillard, Venables, Hunt, Hazell, Busby, Francis, McCulloch, Marsh, Leach.  The final score was 1-1 with Dunphy scoring for them, and Marsh for us. However, as I said, I have no pictures in my head of football. But thanks to the magic of the internet: 

This has a goal by Rodney Marsh. The first goal I ever saw live!

This has Millwall's equaliser. The records say it was Dunphy, but it looks more like an own goal to me.

ANYWAY, the purpose of all this is to point out that this coming Saturday, QPR begin the new season at home to ... Millwall. What a coincidence. Were it not for all the travel difficulties caused by the current Covid situation, I would be next to my friend Chris in the SAR stadium, celebrating this anniversary. 50 years of fandom. Thank you to Uncle Geoffrey for converting my father, newly-arrived from the USA, into a follower of the Superhoops. Thank you, Daddy, for the best birthday present of my life. And thank you for all the friends I've made and adventures I've had because of this passion. COYRS!

Piglet Retrospective XX

It's been a tough day, but this picture always cheers me up. It's one of my favourite Piglet pics, and (if it were not for the Disney copyright issues) was always planned to be the cover of a collection of such photos. It brings me back to a wonderful trip I took to Ireland a long time ago, it reminds me that I do like to be beside the seaside, and it conjures up the image that was on my bedroom wall for many years and inspired the shot:

Wishing you all sweet dreams.