The Old Curiosity Club discussion

Hello Dear Curiosities,
and Welcome to the Sol's Arms!

Since we are now reading Bleak House, it is high time for a change of pub, and that's why I am inviting you to patronise th Sol's Arms in the heart of London from now on. I know that sometimes odd things are going on in the Sol's Arms, like public inquests, and so we'll be seeing a lot of the coroner but that must not put us off, really, must it? I also think that Mr. Guppy can be seen in the guest room from time to time, and maybe this will give us the chance of asking him what exactly struck him as so very familiar in that painting in Chesney Wold. Last but not least, Mr. Krook's shop is right around the corner, unless I am mistaken, which I often am, and I have heard that Mr. Krook's place is the one to be for anyone who is in need of a change of 'air, because Mr. Krook has three sacks full of it.

So, welcome to the Sol's Arms, my friends!

What's that funny smell? ....

Perfect timing. Settling down with a Bigelow’s English tea.

Hello all, I've missed you. It's nice to take a little break in London having a little tea, since so much has been going on in the U.S.

Hello Bobbie!

I'd love a cuppa too. It's snowing, and it affects how I feel. I love cold and snow on one hand, but snow tends to give me a headache, and since I broke my arm last year it still hurts when it's cold or wet outside. Oh joy, I live in one of those countries that is said to be perpetually cold, wet or both (although that's different during summer). So both my head and my arm don't like the snow as much as my mind does xD

Jantine wrote: "Hello Bobbie!

I'd love a cuppa too. It's snowing, and it affects how I feel. I love cold and snow on one hand, but snow tends to give me a headache, and since I broke my arm last year it still hur..."

It's snowing! Why isn't it snowing here? I am the one who could use some snow right about now. A blizzard, one reason is that it would keep everybody home, the other because one of the things I love most on earth is snow and cold.

Oh, it's snowing here, too, and I went outside to the nearby lake with my children, where we had a jolly good snowball fight: two kids and one father engaging in a Mexican stand-off. I am afraid, however, that tomorrow the snow will be gone already because where I live it hardly ever lasts long.

After all that time in the snow, I think I'll have some tea as well.

Mary Lou wrote: "What's that funny smell? ...."

The inquest, I'd say ...

Snow? Here in the Great White North all I see is green grass. It did snow in December, but since then nothing.

I’d like some snow. and I’d like some tea as well. The tea I can make right this minute, the snow I’ll have to wait awhile according to the weather station.

Tristram wrote: "Oh, it's snowing here, too, and I went outside to the nearby lake with my children, where we had a jolly good snowball fight: two kids and one father engaging in a Mexican stand-off. I am afraid, h..."
Here it has been gone since somewhere this morning. Quite sad, one full night of snow is all we've had this winter.

Meanwhile, the snow has disappeared here as well. In fact, it did so yesterday, to the chagrin of my daughter. In the south of Germany, however, it seems to lie roundabout, deep and crisp and even, and roofs stand in danger of crushing beneath its weight. Once, our neighbour's car got crashed because of a snow avalanche coming from their roof. It looks so innocent and fluffy, but it can be deadly - just like the rabbit in Monty Python's Holy Grail.

Yeah, I know. One of our princes died by avalanche after all ... Snow can be pretty scary.

Tristram wrote: "Meanwhile, the snow has disappeared here as well. In fact, it did so yesterday, to the chagrin of my daughter. In the south of Germany, however, it seems to lie roundabout, deep and crisp and even,..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVoAN...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFnz_...

Kim wrote: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFnz_..."

Another good reason to stay safely on my sofa with a good book.

Yes, staying inside with a good book sound perfect

With regard to the individual titles given by Dickens to each chapter of Bleak House — is that something he did with all of his novels?

I seem to recall it, I think, for Pickwick Papers. But I don’t seem to recall it for Our Mutual Friend.

I just checked Our Mutual Friend and see that he did it in that one but very brief titles in that one. I checked a few others since I have a complete set and I find a few that he did not do that but he did it with a number of them. I see that he did not do it with Great Expectations at least in my set. Hope that helps.

Kim wrote: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFnz_..."

Oh dear!

My favourite video of Good King Wencelas on Youtube by the way, is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMmxh...

I think I've already posted it.

In his earlier novels, like Pickwick and Nickleby, Dickens often had short and funny chapter summaries instead of titles - the way novelists like Fielding and Smollett did. Some novels, like TOCS, go completely without chapter titles - but I think most of his later novels have very brief chapter titles.

Tristram wrote: "
My favourite video of Good King Wencelas on Youtube by the way, is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMmxh......"

That was fun.

I bet it was also a lot of fun for the four "carollers" :-)

I enjoyed that and yes, they looked like they were having a great time. Thanks for that, Tristram.

You're welcome, Bobbie :-)

I'm trying to decide what my favorite Christmas song is. I can't come up with just one. I have it narrowed down to around fifty though.

I'd say Good King Wenceslas, Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, Away in a Manger, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and about fifty others ... ;-)

I really love O Holy Night, but I can't say anything is really my favorite. There are just too many.

I like too many Christmas songs too. Mostly the older carols - I definitely am old fashioned that way

O Holy Night and Silent Night get my vote.

Little Drummer Boy. My favorite is the one done by a choral group. I find it beautiful and almost haunting, but in a good way.

https://youtu.be/DT1fA59oH7Q

I like them all, but for some reason my son and I can't shake "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" this year. We're still humming it. Every time one of us gets past it the other one picks it up, so it's like this earworm infection we're passing back and forth--except pleasant.

The funny thing is, neither of us really knows the words so we just do the first two lines and then it's mm hmm mm hmm mm hmmhmmhmm...

Another vote for O Holy Night here.

John - I couldn't open your link, but look up Ringo Starr's version of Little Drummer Boy. I like it because it actually has prominent drums (and a prominent drummer) in it - a fun version. And the Bing/Bowie version is lovely.

Julie, Barenaked Ladies does a folksy acoustic version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen with Sarah McLachlan that I really enjoy.

Mary Lou wrote: "Another vote for O Holy Night here.

John - I couldn't open your link, but look up Ringo Starr's version of Little Drummer Boy. I like it because it actually has prominent drums (and a prominent d..."

Thanks Mary Lou. I will give a listen to Ringo’s version. It does appear that my link was not working.

Similar to what Bing and Bowie did — Johnny Cash and Neil Young did a beautiful version. The contrast of their voices, with Young’s soprano anchored by Cash’s deep voice is quite nice. It should be available on YouTube.

Mary Lou wrote: "Another vote for O Holy Night here.

John - I couldn't open your link, but look up Ringo Starr's version of Little Drummer Boy. I like it because it actually has prominent drums (and a prominent d..."

Mary Lou and John

Thanks for the shout out to Canadian singers. :-)

Would someone order a round of hot toddies, please? I don't even know what a hot toddy is, truth be told, but it sounds like just the thing as I watch my front walk and driveway quickly being buried in white. We may get as much as 10 inches of snow. Ugh.

Kim, I know how delighted you must be. It's a bit of a drive, but since you enjoy the snow so much I'm hoping you'll come shovel us out when you're done at your house. Let me know when you're leaving and I'll put the kettle on. ;-)

Mary Lou wrote: "Julie, Barenaked Ladies does a folksy acoustic version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen with Sarah McLachlan that I really enjoy."

Ha!--now we'll be humming it all the way through February, too!

John wrote: "Similar to what Bing and Bowie did — Johnny Cash and Neil Young did a beautiful version."

The entire younger generation of my family is fascinated by Johnny Cash, from my 20-year-old son who has a Cash poster on his wall to my 2-year-old niece who has taken up Johnny Cash as her imaginary best friend. I don't dare look this Drummer Boy recording up before Thanksgiving or that's all we'll hear, but I will be checking it then. :)

Funny! I grew up in a very small town in Texas and there is a story that Johnny Cash and his band drove through our town on Hwy 90 and stopped at our small grocery store, probably in the late 1950s.

Here’s Johnny and Neil. I am hoping the link works.

https://youtu.be/i976d4rC8dA

I have been watching the Dickinson Series on AppleTV. Charles Dickens gets a fair amount of notoriety on the show, which I have found myself pleased.

In Season One, the main characters are eagerly awaiting each installment of — yes— Bleak House. And there is some discussion about the characters in Bleak House.

I am mid way through Season Two. In the last episode I watched, Emily has a dream sequence of a book of her poetry being published and taking its place on library shelves between a book by Dennis Diderot and a book by Charles Dickens.

The book by Dickens is not named, but she is enthralled to dream about her poetry collection sitting right next to whom she calls “the modern master.”

Much pleases me about this series.

I will definitely return to this thread in November this year because there are so many good recommendations of carol renditions to listen to.

Julie, Johnny Cash happens to be one of my personal musical heroes, in a way the musical equivalent to Dickens, and I have adored his voice from my childhood on when my father used to play his records. Johnny Cash even induced me to car-pooling with a colleague of mine for some years: Normally, I like driving to work with no one else in the car because on your way to work you can mentally go through all the things you want to do at school, and on your way back you can just relax. That's why I normally don't take part in car-pool agreements with other colleagues. I sometimes did it but it proved too hard on my nerves: While I was driving people would chatter about topics I felt no interest in, like football, or their problems, and I was generally worn out before I even arrived at the school.

One day, a new colleague asked me whether we could not go to school together because she lived two blocks away from me. Now, I must say that I was anything but pleased with this offer, given the bad experience I had with ride-sharing, and I gruffly told her, "Well, we can try it out for a few days, but if your presence should disgruntle me - which it may well do for no fault of yours -, we might just as well call it off again, without mutual offense, I hope." The lady was, strangely, slightly taken aback, but she was punctual the next morning when I had to pick her up. As it happened, I had one of the American Recordings playing, and she brightened up and said that Johnny Cash was one of her favourites, and that was the moment when I told her that my conversation might well disgruntle her, but there was no way hers would ever disgruntle me. The car-pool thing worked off well, indeed, for several years - until she left our school - and it was all thanks to the great Johnny Cash.

Tristram wrote: "I will definitely return to this thread in November this year because there are so many good recommendations of carol renditions to listen to.

Julie, Johnny Cash happens to be one of my personal ..."

What an excellent story. And now I also like your colleague, vicariously.

John wrote: "I have been watching the Dickinson Series on AppleTV. Charles Dickens gets a fair amount of notoriety on the show, which I have found myself pleased.

In Season One, the main characters are eagerly..."

I enjoyed this show too after John put me onto it, and am looking forward to watching more when my schedule clears for summer. The historical author-cameos are pretty fun, though they are very ungenerous to Thoreau. But he's maybe got a little of that coming.

Julie wrote: "What an excellent story. And now I also like your colleague, vicariously."

I have another story about Johnny Cash, Julie: Once I was teaching English in a class of 12-year olds, and they had to do a project for Arts about their idols - creating a poster or something like that. They told me about their idols, pop starts, sportspeople and the like, and I said, "Hold on a second. Don't you remember that our idol is Johnny Cash?" - "Johnny who??" said they, and I realized they had never heard of the man. This made me decide to set aside the usual curriculum for three weeks and instead do a little project on Johnny Cash instead: We listened to some of his most famous songs, I did some language practice on them, and we also watched scenes from I Walk the Line. My students were quite proud of being able to understand an English movie, and I can say that I filled a horrible education gap there.

Tristram wrote: "My students were quite proud of being able to understand an English movie, and I can say that I filled a horrible education gap there."


Yes. I would say you have left them in your debt. :)

We have fourteen inches of snow here! It's wonderful! I can see the entire world covered by snow just looking out the window! Well, I could before it got dark. I went for a snow walk through the woods today, tripped over a log, ended up laying in the snow, so I made a snow angel. I've been getting messages from the whiny people who have to shovel snow all day. Which reminded me of something I wanted to send to Tristram for a long time. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSn2...

Julie wrote: "John wrote: "I have been watching the Dickinson Series on AppleTV. Charles Dickens gets a fair amount of notoriety on the show, which I have found myself pleased.

In Season One, the main character..."

They did seem ungenerous to Thoreau. I did like the portrayal of Louisa May Alcott. The commentary with regard to Dickens leads me to wonder if a meeting may occur in the next season. The foreshadowing is certainly apparent. He did make his trips to the US, including Massachusetts, and so we have Emily meeting him. I can see it happening, but how will they portray him? Interesting to ponder.

Kim wrote: "We have fourteen inches of snow here! It's wonderful! I can see the entire world covered by snow just looking out the window! Well, I could before it got dark. I went for a snow walk through the wo..."

Kim, a brilliant video: Consider yourself hugged :-)

Kim wrote: "We have fourteen inches of snow here! It's wonderful! I can see the entire world covered by snow just looking out the window! Well, I could before it got dark. I went for a snow walk through the wo..."

Perfect.

I'm mad. And frustrated. And baffled. And I'm soon leaving for my grandson's football game so you all have until tomorrow to figure this out. I came on the computer today to post the new thread. It was fine. I decided to check my email and I get a screen that says to make sure it is me I should enter my password. This never happened before, but I did it. It tells me it's the wrong password and to try again. After I did that 20 or so times I clicked on try another way and it tells me it sent me a text with a number I should enter on the screen, I did that and moved on to another screen telling me they will send me a recovery number to my email and once I get it I should enter it in the box. If I could get my email I wouldn't need to get them to send me a recovery number would I? And how am I supposed to get a recovery number if the stupid thing won't work and that's why I'm there? I give up. I'm too mad now and I have given myself too much of a migraine to continue. Have fun fixing my email. :-)