“The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoisie.” ― Gustave Flaubert
What Chekhov said
Нет того урода, который не нашел бы себе пары, и нет той чепухи, которая не нашла бы себе подходящего читателя. There is no such freak that would not find his match and there is no such rot that would not find itself a matching reader.
Russian Riddle of the Day 3
Here sits a granddad in a hundred fur coats. Whoever will undress him will cry tears of woes. The answer to the previous riddle is: Thunder.
Russian Proverb of the Day 5
(He is) a peg in every cask / a nail in every hole (Eng.: He has a finger in every pie.)
Russian Proverb of the Day 4
Brave before a lamb but a lamb before the brave. (Eng.: A bully is always a coward.)
Russian Proverb of the Day (Topical and not Incidental) 3
You can’t hide an awl in a sack. (Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations)
Rome 2018 – Day 9
Our last day in Rome and actually more of a half day as we had to leave after lunch to catch our flight. We were going to go to what we thought was a Klimpt exhibition not far from the flat, but when we got there it turned out to be some sort of multimedia “experience” so we gave it a miss! Instead we checked out a local church and cathedral which we hadn’t had time to see previously. First
Rome 2018 – Day 8
Today we divided our forces. Mum and Sophia went to see the Hiroshiga “Visions from Japan” exhibition of 19th century Japanese art whilst Dad went to see the Roman port town of Ostia Antica. The exhibition contained 230 prints by Hiroshiga, mostly landscapes from some of his famous series of views. It provided some excellent variety, delightfully lacked large deranged groups of tourists and instead contained mostly educated looking Italians of a certain age. Sophia was able to practice trying
Rome 2018 – Day 7
Dad’s Health Tip – Don’t wander around a Roman world heritage site in the pouring rain if you want to remain able to speak to people or, at the very least, don’t be so pig headed as to ignore your wife when she insists that you take and use an umbrella! A relatively quiet day with Dad’s throat not permitting much in the way of communication! After a late start we header for the Vatican. We weren’t really intending to
Rome 2018 – Day 6
A serious change in the weather. After several warm and sunny days, today it was cold, windy and raining heavily. Dad elected to go the Colosseum as the tickets from yesterday we valid for two days. In the end it was far from successful as the Colosseum is almost entirely outdoors and the rain was heavy and unrelenting. Never the less, it was still heaving with people. On his shivering return Dad admitted that we wouldn’t have been wetter if