Bonjour tristesse françoise Sagan

La villa est magnifique, l'été brûlant, la Méditerranée toute proche. Cécile a dix-sept ans. Elle ne connaît de l'amour que des baisers, des rendez-vous, des lassitudes. Pas pour longtemps. Son père, veuf, est un adepte joyeux des liaisons passagères et sans importance. Ils s'amusent, ils n'ont besoin de personne, ils sont heureux. La visite d'une femme de coeur, intelligente et calme, vient troubler ce délicieux désordre. Comment écarter la menace? Dans la pinède embrasée, un jeu cruel se prépare.
C'était l'été 1954. On entendait pour la première fois la voix sèche et rapide d'un "charmant petit monstre" qui allait faire scandale. La deuxième moitié du XXe siècle commençait. Elle serait à l'image de cette adolescente déchirée entre le remords et le culte du plaisir. 

The funky gibbon

“The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.” 
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Greek Alphabet

Letter	Name	Sound
		Ancient[4]	Modern[5]
Α α	alpha	[a] [aː]	[a]
Β β	beta	[b]	[v]
Γ γ	gamma	[ɡ]	[ɣ] ~ [ʝ]
Δ δ	delta	[d]	[ð]
Ε ε	epsilon	[e]	[e]
Ζ ζ	zeta	[zd]A	[z]
Η η	eta	[ɛː]	[i]
Θ θ	theta	[tʰ]	[θ]
Ι ι	iota	[i] [iː]	[i]
Κ κ	kappa	[k]	[k] ~ [c]
Λ λ	lambda	[l]	[l]
Μ μ	mu	[m]	[m]

 ^A Or [dz].^[6]

Letter	Name	Sound
		Ancient[4]	Modern[5]
Ν ν	nu	[n]	[n]
Ξ ξ	xi	[ks]	[ks]
Ο ο	omicron	[o]	[o]
Π π	pi	[p]	[p]
Ρ ρ	rho	[r]	[r]
Σ σ/ς[7]	sigma	[s]	[s]
Τ τ	tau	[t]	[t]
Υ υ	upsilon	[y] [yː]	[i]
Φ φ	phi	[pʰ]	[f]
Χ χ	chi	[kʰ]	[x] ~ [ç]
Ψ ψ	psi	[ps]	[ps]
Ω ω	omega	[ɔː]	[o]

Golightly

“But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."

"It's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear.” 

finished reading the Iliad

Thetis                   Θέτις
Zeus              Jupiter.           Δίας
Apollo           Apollo.           Απόλλων
Artemis         Diana.            Άρτεμις
Athena          Minerva.        Αθηνά
Heracles       Hercules        Ηρακλής
Aphrodite     Venus.           Αφροδίτη
Kronos                Κρόνος
Hera              Juno.             Ήρα
Hermes.        Mercury
Perseidon.     Neptune
Hades.           Pluto

le Monde 28th Sept

Quatorze jours de conflit et toujours pas d'accord entre les pilotes et la direction d'Air France, mais le retour à la normale s'amorçait dimanche 28 septembre. Le Syndicat national des pilotes de ligne (SNPL, majoritaire à 71 %) a annoncé la fin du mouvement social, malgré l'échec de nouvelles discussions dans la nuit. Le trafic devrait revenir progressivement à la normale à partir du mardi 30 septembre : les vols annulés lundi (40 %) ne seront pas rétablis, a annoncé la direction.

Fourteen days of conflict and still no agreement between the pilots and the management of Air France, but the return to normal was beginning Sunday, September 28. The National Union of Airline Pilots (SNPL majority 71%) announced the end of the social movement, despite the failure of further discussion in the night. Traffic is expected to gradually return to normal from Tuesday, September 30: canceled flights Monday (40%) will not be restored, said the Directorate.

La Stampa 23 Sept

Non sono bastati l’appello del capo dello Stato alle riforme - «sul lavoro serve più coraggio»- né il decisionismo emerso dalle parole del premier Renzi nei giorni scorsi, a placare il braccio di ferro del governo con la minoranza del Partito democratico sulla riforma del lavoro. Oggi una trentina (si va da un minimo di 28 a un massimo di 38 esponenti) di senatori dem ha deciso di presentare sette emendamenti alla legge delega sul lavoro.

Were not enough the appeal of the Head of State Reforms - "on the job need more courage" - neither the decisiveness shown by the words of Prime Minister Renzi in recent days, to appease the government's standoff with the minority of the Democratic Party on Reform of work. Today thirty (ranging from a minimum of 28 to a maximum of 38 members) of dem senators decided to present seven amendments to the enabling law on the job.

La Stampa 20th Sept

Riforma del lavoro, ecco la carta di Renzi: pronti due miliardi di euro per i disoccupati
I fondi necessari saranno stanziati già nella legge di stabilità. “Si sottovaluta l’enorme portata di quanto stiamo facendo”

Labor reform, here is the card Renzi: ready two billion euro for the unemployed
The necessary funds will be allocated already in the law of stability. "You underestimate the enormity of what we are doing"

i wonder which language

just been watching the 'life of books' about Virginia Woolf. Does make me wonder which language I'm trying to learn. Maybe it's English that I need to learn. Or maybe the likes of Greek, Latin, Italian, French, German, and English are all the same. Maybe I just need to learn to communicate??

I think linking into the below comment about everything changing holds true here. It feels as if every time I learn something, there's more I realise I don't know. How utterly utterly brilliant!

Or alternatively....

Absolutely fucking brilliant! Yep. I think that's more like it

Everything is changing all around me

Maybe this should be 'johnny learns a truth'? Everything I either believed in or thought I believed in or told myself that I need to believe in! I need to challenge and question. Leaving confusion, or maybe the real truth... Or today's truth. Bollocks bollock fuck!

Rome c55 lapham's quarterly Death back to the future

No one will bring back the years; no one will restore you to yourself. Life will follow the path it began to take and will neither reverse nor check its course. It will cause no commotion to remind you of its swiftness, but glide on quietly. It will not lengthen itself for a king’s command or a people’s favor. As it started out on its first day, so it will run on, nowhere pausing or turning aside. What will be the outcome? You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that.

From La Stampa

È bastato avvistare in città alcuni musicisti del gruppo di supporto

 La boy band anglo-irlandese ha conquistato la scena pop mondiale soprattutto grazie ai social network, dove ogni giorno è seguita da 19 milioni e mezzo di follower su Twitter e 32 milioni e 452 mila su Facebook

 

bastato - enough

Avvistare - to see/spot verb 'avvistare' infinitive

alcuni - some

ogni- every

Seguita - followed - from verb 'seguire' - to follow / pursue 

Literally or not...

 Dans quelle mesure penses-tu que ce vote soit affecté par les problèmes économiques ?

Or...

In what measure thinks you that the vote will-be affected for (by) the problems economic?

Soit soit soit whether whether whether

Soit whether soit whether ride ride ride!

to visit - visitare

we visited the castles and mountains
abbiamo visitato castelli e montagne

recent passed tense - we have visited
verb 'have' - avere (io ho, tu hai, il ha, noi abbiamo, voi avete, loro hanno)
verb 'visit' - visitare (e.g. io ho visitato etc)
castle(s) - (nm) singular castello, plural castelli
mountain(s) - (nf) singular montagna, plural montagne

masc nouns end in o
fem nouns end in a and e

Che sorpresa!

verb - scegliere - to choose

They
vendono (sell) verb vendere present tense
gionali (newspapers) male plural 'e' to an 'i'
patate (potatoes)
molti (a lot of) male
soldi (money)

They sell newspapers and potatoes, for a lot of money
Vendono giornali e patate, per molti soldi

un verbo e quattro parole

This is I hope a fresh attempt to learn some more words... in Italiano for a while...

il appare turbato (he appears upset) (apparire)

un gatto (cat / chat) (mn)
la casa (house / maison) (fn)
alla porta (at the door / a la porte) (fn)
bravo/buon (good / bon) (adverb)

alla porta della casa è il nostro buon gatto

Bon nuit

verrouiller la porte - lock the door
monte les escaliers - climb the stairs
éteindre la lumière - turn off the light

better and best

that's good, better, and now the best
c'est bon, mieux, et maintenant le meilleur

how the future used to look

I wish that I could see what the future used to look like
Je souhaite que je pourrais voir ce que l'avenir utilisé pour ressembler

voice and video

Try learning a French course with USA open learning. Logging into EDX online, and watching a video with text running up the side. Utter fab deffo!

https://www.edx.org/course/louvainx/louvainx-louv3-01x-decouvrir-la-science-1212

Charles Baudelaire - We may have had Shelley, Keats et al. But the French had Rimbaud, Verlaine, and Baudelaire!

À une passante

La rue assourdissante autour de moi hurlait.
Longue, mince, en grand deuil, douleur majestueuse,
Une femme passa, d'une main fastueuse
Soulevant, balançant le feston et l'ourlet;

Agile et noble, avec sa jambe de statue.
Moi, je buvais, crispé comme un extravagant,
Dans son oeil, ciel livide où germe l'ouragan,
La douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue.

Un éclair... puis la nuit! — Fugitive beauté
Dont le regard m'a fait soudainement renaître,
Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité?

Ailleurs, bien loin d'ici! trop tard! jamais peut-être!
Car j'ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais,
Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais!

— Charles Baudelaire

1857 - Fleurs du mal