Saturday May 19th
PAPA B. TEACHES
Spent part of today dealing with letters etc and couldn't resist some internet browsing. If you haven't read the Holy Father's speech to Brazil's bishops then you really should, as it's applicable to a much wider audience than just chaps in mitres in Brazil.
PARTY
And in the evening, a most enjoyable drinks party given by (noted liturgist and author!), Dr Alcuin Reid. I arrived well before Jamie as I travelled by bike and the HUGE roaring football crowds were no worry to me...roads were cleared by police to accomodate them and cars were banned but a bicycle was allowed everywhere...Excellent food, drink, and conversation, a good party. Afterwards, I put by bike on the Tube to get it home. Football crowds were rowdy but genial on the whole, and the mood cheery. Horrible, gross, sexual expletives, however, are now just a normal part of standard football songs and rants. It was not always so.
7 comments:
Dr. Reid is coming to nearby Columbus, Ohio this fall to deliver at talk at a liturgical conference held at the Pontifical College/University, Josephinum. It can't beat a party, though. ;-)
One enduring memory of my time in England is the loud, constant, "pay-attention-to-me" use of sexual explectives and general vulgarity by teenagers on the trains. They always seemed intent on being heard from one end of the car to the other and it was non-stop (their vulgarity, not the trains!) The other passengers seemed never to notice. They just carried on with their conversations, sipped tea,read their papers, or looked out the window. I had the impression that they were used to it from long exposure. The conductors never said anything to rowdies either, except "Ticket please!". I am used to the notion of the "Ugly American", who certainly does exist, but we don't have a complete monopoly on ugliness. Of course, I have many more *good* memories of England.
I was in England too not long ago and felt (as an American) we are rather well behaved compared to the ill manered, bad breathed, English chaps who insisted on shouting vulgarity at every opportunity.
I also had no idea we were hated so much my the good people of England-
Not you of course Joanna...
Years ago, when Britain had an empire these ruffians would have been dispersed throughout its length and breadth in the army.
What do you mean "ugly Americans"
father stephen!?
I live in the midwest of the United States and have gone my ENTIRE life of 53 yrs not experiencing any of the discusting displays you are describing!! The USA is a huge country and you cannot put on everyone here what may be in a bad area of a huge city-
Don't get me started on what I have seen around the world OUTSIDE of the USA!
One of the problems of America is that it does not export successfully. The majority of Americans want the entire world to be American and rarely adapt to difference. But, equally, at core they expect visitors to be as American as them, as many find after they have lived in the country for a time.
English culture is slowly degenerating. Walking up the street the other day, three young blacks walking in the opposite direction. One deliberately rubs against me as I go past. No reason for that low-level aggression. Of course this is a white area of Bradford where the BNP came a close second in the local elections, and a lot of young white men will respond to that kind of thing by voting BNP.
Post a Comment