Ed’s blog

I find myself in Oslo harbor, on a beautiful late winter’s day. The sun is low in the sky, relatively few clouds, snow on the ground. Took some pictures which need to get posted when I get back.

Went to the small National Gallery. I asked about when they were planning to have today’s stealing of The Scream, to see if I could watch, but they did not seem to think that was very funny. The Scream is impressive, if small. I think this was the very original Scream, that was stolen then recovered, but as with lots of multi-version art “original” is a nebulous concept. The rest of the paintings were nice, Munch is clearly a big theme, but some Van Gogh, Pissarro, Monet as well.

Overall thought- Oslo feels very small, and isolated

There is never a good reason to stay at the airport hotel, ever. Repeat- there is never a good reason to stay at the airport hotel.

Once again, why do I do this to myself?

No not the Rupert Everett film. I had dinner in Sweden last night. Not much of a visit, but it all counts. Interesting because Denmark was one of the first countries I visited alone, when I was 15 and cycled around looking at Viking ruins.

I remember being most disappointed that the Germans in Schelswig Holstein (sp) did not want to take Danish money- did they have no sense of historical perspective, or feeling of conquest from 1864!?! (O level history was never much on pragmatism).

As for Sweden, well they eat herring, it was cold (and dark), central Malmo looks like 19th century city, though I think that it is modern just outside the center. Slightly more expensive than Paris, and everyone speaks English, give or take.

Off to the center of Copenhagen.

People in Paris STILL use verlan, saying words backwards- hanging out with some friends who were in the Jewish dating scene I was introduced to FIUL, and heard several emmefs in conversation. The more aggressive cem seems less used, but that was always the case.

This seems, to someone from the more rapidly evolving UK/USA world of English, incredibly too much “clever 1950s” and very strange that it is still in use, and apparently has been in constant use since people started using it. I think it is mostly Parisian, but in a sense you would expect them to be the ones moving onto the next new thing the fastest. But maybe we’d better get hip to this, and dig it, dadio (natch).

A sign in Charles de Gaulle airport- “les armes seront detruit systematiquement” translated simply as ”weapons will be destroyed systematically.” Subtle but important difference between whether or not you are making a choice about destruction (the apparent French meaning) or discussing how something will be destroyed (english). I am not sure if the English meaning of “destroyed systematically” and “systematically destroyed” is the precisely the same, if there is a nuance there then the adverb, verb construction feels closer to the French meaning, but still not quite the same as something like “automatic.”

“Normally” has a similar distinction in the two languages, between “as expected in this specific case” (French- normallement) and “the usual course of events” (English).

While clearly more subtle that the different meanings of “table” in British and American business English, these are a challenge as they are nearly the same, but not quite, and misunderstandings will be consequently harder to diagnose.

Paris is as always a great place to hang out. The weather this weekend has been pretty marginal, lots of cloud and rain, but that made the occasional “sun break” look beautiful. I took the walk that I used to take from my apartment on Rue du Seine over the Pont des Artes, one of the iconic city views of the world, with the Louvre in front of you the Eiffel tower to your left and Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite to your right.

I hung out with mostly French, and was amused to discover that Cafe de Flore is not just a tourist trap, the locals actually go there! It was reassuringly, perhaps even exestentially, expensive, compared with everywhere else, but also rather good, even if the waiters have the approved professional attitude.

The general consensus was that prices had gone up a lot with the Euro, but Paris does not feel like a “big Capital city” at the price level, certainly obviously cheaper than London or New York. I think when I lived here in the ealry 1990s it felt more expensive, I wonder if the liberalization of the European markets and continued social legislation in the country has meant that big business has avoided Paris as a hub. Companies with an EMEA HQ in PAris feel a little like anomolies. It is also interesting to see that the airport has not expanded much in that time- with people complaining that it is hard to get aywhere from here.

I have often thought that being the generation just after the official end of the baby boom is a challenge, but was amused to see this