Not suitable for people with irony deficiency and
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Thursday 15 December 2011

Last Week

Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1804 - NPG  - © National Portrait Gallery, London
Not Linda in Chile but Caroline of Brunswick, wife of a King George; she was so badly behaved romping around the Continent in a "bawdy manner" she got herself tried for adultery...note to self: probably NOT suitable role model but do have some Euros left over from last hols...
Dahlings, last week was both lovely and exciting, as Linda in Chile was in London town and I got to meet her in Real Life.  Linda is a loyal and eloquent commenter on Faux Fuchsia's blog, and when I started this blogging malarkey, Linda kindly followed my blog too.

Mr Blighty is also a big fan of Linda, as he approves of her erudite, balanced and beautifully written comments:
  • these are the qualities for which Mr B as a parliamentary draftsman, looks in a woman; I am feeling a bit insecure right now:  
  • can you:
guess  discern?

So I hotfooted up to town, met Linda at her hotel on the Strand and we toddled off to the cafe called The Crypt under the Church of St Martins in the Fields.   We had so much to talk about - all the big issues like nail polish, shoe buying, husbands v credit cards and how the Chileans speak Spanish without the lisping - the latter was a big shock to me, where's the fun if people around you don't need to pop on raincoats?  I was brought up on Nigel Molesworth who opines that "..you have to lisp when you speke Spanish which make it all very difficult.."

Nigel gives this helpful example:

thene: A hathienda. Enter don jereth de la frontera molesworth.
A thervant: who ith it?
Don Jereth: it ith only me ith ithabel ethpecting me?
A thervant: yeth.
Don J: O thuper!*

Linda and I then gambolled around the National Portrait Gallery, among the Tudors ( "You can say what you like about Henry VIII but in his younger days he had great legs") and then looked at Caroline of Brunswick and some Georges, which shamingly Linda knew much more about that I (I spent my entire secondary school career struggling with  "The Dissolution of the Monasteries: Was Henry just jealous that Cardinal Wolsey looked fab in red?")


We also saw this lady.




But the fun did not stop there!  Mr B and I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with Linda later in the week.  We went to Odin's, which I visited years ago and loved because they have lots of lovely pictures on the walls (though none of Henry VIII).  A good evening was had, (I particularly liked the figs in wine pudding) and we saluted Marylebone High Street and the Malene Birger shop (which is just opposite Odin's) in homage to Faux Fuchsia .
Taken from Odin's/Top Table website


Linda, it was so lovely to meet you.  And don't hold back with the lisping, you know you want to really!



*From How To Be Topp by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, quite possibly one of the most important books ever written.

11 comments:

  1. I am so glad that you and Linda met up - if I didn't live soooo far north, I would love to have met her too as she always makes lovely comments on m'blog.

    I had no idea about the Chileans not lisping. Y'see - you are positively EDUCATIONAL!!

    Glad to have you back, Blighty! *waves to Linda, wherever she might be now*

    Ali x

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  2. Hello:
    What a wonderful time you had with Linda and how strange it must have been for the virtual and real worlds to collide in London. It is a source of fascination to us that one can, in some indefinable way, really get to know someone through the medium of blogging and, when one meets face to face it is as if one has been friends for a lifetime. From what we read here, that certainly seems to have been so for you and Linda. What fun!

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  3. So exciting to meet a commenter! I enjoy Linda's comments myself. Thpanith lithping mutht be a Britith thing.
    x

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  4. hi blighty!

    so glad to see you posting. linda from chile is known throughout the world as THE sweetest commentor. she's practically famous!

    and so exciting that you guys got to meet and learn all about lisping. oh the fun.

    xo
    janet

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  5. I love a blog meeet up!

    Hope we can meet soon.

    SSG xxx

    Sydney Shop Girl blog

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  6. Dear Mrs Blighty, It was a complete pleasure meeting you and Mr B in London. Do you think London will be introducing a Talking Underwater event in the upcoming Olympics? I do hope so because we would represent our respective countries with some distinction! I would have stayed forever but for the girls complaining that Mr LiC was cooking without a recipe and the credit card channelling Scotty from Star Trek, 'Ah canna hold her, Captain! She's breaking up!' I do love listening to Spanish people speaking Spanish but find that the lisping is so hypnotising that I never catch what was said. I can't wait to get back to Blightyland and meet Boy 1 and Boy 2 - were they disappointed I was not an axe murderer? love Lindaxxx
    PS Mr LiC who always reads your blog over my shoulder has instructed me to tell you that he likes funny women and while quite perfect (my words) I do not have a funny bone in my body. Sad but true!

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  7. I'm in the almost (or should that be almotht) category. A almost got to meet Christina and Ruby Tuesday the last time I was home. However, I did get to meet Northern Snippet at her wonderful Pub. That was worth the trip home by itself.
    I do mith your pothsth

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  8. Hello Blighty,I loved this post-it brought back lovely London memories for me! I love that Crypt Cafe and The National Portrait Gallery...(I currently live in a cultural wasteland.)And Marylebone High St. There used to be a wonderful little shop there specialising in buttons. See how "highbrow" I am? Linda seems lovely!

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  9. Lovely post.
    I was actually trying to find out what had happened to dear Linda in Chile, as her lovely comments have been absent from my own dear blog for some weeks.
    I spotted you as being one who LiC follows, so I thought I'd give it a go, and voila, success.

    Lovely to hear about your meeting, and it must be lovely living in Lahndahn, with all those museums, galleries and lovely restaurants, but I don't think I could put up with the population density after living in NZ for the last 8 years.

    I didn't really understand the Spanish lisp until I heard a bloke from Malaga pronounce Barcelona. Luckily I was wearing oilskins at the time, otherwise I would have needed to buy a new suit, and possibly mouth to mouth resuscitation.

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  10. Good to see you back. How to be Topp - a great guide for modern life. I chose this as my english prize in Middle School many moons ago, much to the disgust of my teacher. Wishing all those in Blightyland a very Happy Christmas.

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  11. Dahlings, thank you for all your lovely comments and Dahlings, very important - do not believe what Linda says about her not being funny, she is very very witty and amusing, Linda you must not put yourself down, don't listen to your husband! Boys quite disappointed on axe murderer front but they live in hope..Hi there Sulky Kitten, I think the button shop is VV Rouleaux and I hope it's still there, it's an institution..by the way Sulky K, I peeked at your blog and loved the cat with the vodka! excellent!

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