(no subject)

[vaznetti]

Well, I've packed the girliest luggage ever (OK, it could be pink, but still), and we're off to Berlin in the morning. Sadly, all the German I ever knew I got from cramming for a reading comprehension test, so I can't really remember anything, and the Berlitz phrasebook is really only useful if you'd like a haircut and your trousers hemmed.

I'm bringing Krycek out for a spin because my memories of Heathrow Terminal One are not good.

It turns out that we will get a backstairs tour of the Reichstag, via a political connection of one of the BH's colleagues. (We assumed this wouldn't happen because of the elections -- everyone would be out campaigning -- but somehow it was scheduled in, I hate to think under what auspices).

And finally, BH finished HPB, the first Harry Potter book he's ever managed to read. We made the same misidentification of the HBP himself -- he too thought it was Voldemort. This was something of a relief to me, since he's at least as perceptive a reader as I am.

As an aside, I read an interesting discussion of the probable location of Spinner's End, but since my grasp of the geography of Northern England is tenuous at best, my eye stopped at "Yorkshire." In my mind, all of Yorkshire is liable to the oversight of the Mid-Yorks CID, and I therefore made the following observations:

1. Well, that explains a lot about Enscombe.
2. Was Novello a beater in school?
3. I should write the story where Rosie Pascoe gets her Hogwarts letter, but since I'm probably the only person who'd laugh, I might as well just imagine the scene and get to work on the Multiverse story and Tiberius Solves Crimes, instead.


I wonder if there's an Earth-based series I couldn't cross with the Dalziel and Pascoe books?

Comments

[dagnylilytable.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to leave you a note to the effect that I am beginning to understand the Heathrow thing-- I was thanking God I successfully got to Terminal Four the other day.

Also, when I was in Moscow, we went to a museum about trade with Britain, and the guide talked about Richard Chancellor and Ivan IV. I was absurdly happy and thought about you.

[vaznetti]

Well, Terminal Four is practically in Bristol, so it's not surprising that you had trouble gettign there! (And of course, once you get to the Heathrow terminals, they seem to go on for miles!)

I'm really looking forward to hearing you talk about Russia ( and welcome home, by the way!) but Diccon! Squee! (Like everyone else, I was a little in love with Diccon Chancellor.)

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

Ah, interesting times with languages. I fear my French is similarly lacking, which may be a problem as I'm going to need it in about 10 days time.

Have a great time in Berlin!

[vaznetti]

The thing is that really, I can't speak German at all. BH can't either, although he has a pretty good accent (all those war movies, naturally), so I'm not entirely sure how we'll cope. (but then I think I'm just being paranois -- I mean, we've been to Korea and Thailand without speaking the language, or even being able to sound words out.)

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

My Paris hotel details say "multilingual staff". I suspect that's going to come in handy. :-)

My French, like my German, is 20+ years out of date and mostly now consists of remembering how to count up to ten and the days of the week.

[darcydodo]

We made the same misidentification of the HBP himself -- he too thought it was Voldemort.

See, I never thought that because I was convinced that I'd read/heard somewhere that JKR had specifically said that the half-blood prince was neither Harry nor Voldemort, back when the title was first made public. However, no one else seems to have any recollection of this, so I must have dreamt it. Or something.

[rhi]

She did, yes. It's not just you.

[darcydodo]

I'm glad that I'm not entirely crazy, then. In any case, even being able to eliminate Voldemort didn't help me at all in figuring out who it actually was! :)

[rhi]

Nope, you're not crazy about that. (Love the icon, by the way!)

ID'ing the prince was one place I had a problem with the novel, actually. ::makes sure there's a spoilers cut:: Most people I know had formed their adult handwriting by 16 or so. In the potions classroom, in a potions text, I would expect Harry to recognize Snape's handwriting eventually. The man hands out essays canonically; I have no doubt Harry's used to getting back papers with corrections and comments down the margin. Why he didn't know Snape's handwriting is beyond me. Oh, well. May just be me.

[vaznetti]

Yes, I wondered about that as well -- and then I wondered whether anyone ever got their essays handed back with comments at Hogwarts.

Maybe Snape uses a magic quill to do all his marking, that does corrections for him. I suspect I would, if I had access to one. (OK, maybe I'm not quite that irresponsible, but the thought is a little tempting.)

[muridae-x.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not Harry failing to recognise Snape's handwriting that surprises me; he's not the most noticing of people unless he's specifically on the trail of something. It's Hermione failing to recognise it, when we know that she saw at least enough of the handwriting to comment on it looking rather girly.

Still, perhaps it was originally Snape's mum's book, and the bits she saw were written by Eileen Prince rather than Snape. Since there isn't any wizarding primary education, she most probably taught Snape his letters, which could well lead to them having a handwriting style similar enough to be confused (by Harry), and he might then have evolved away from that style in later life. Maybe after rejoining the school as a teacher he made a deliberate effort to change his handwriting from the girly childish writing he might have got teased about to something that looked professorial to him. In view of the fact that he would only have been a few years older than the seventh years when he started teaching, he might have grasped at every opportunity he could to provide a little distance from his student years and revamp his self image.

[vaznetti]

That sounds entirely plausible -- I wouldn't be paying enough attention to know that kind of thing in the first place, of course!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Considering that most Germans speak English, you shouldn't have a language problem in Berlin.

(Also, let me be nitpicky and point out that the accent you hear in American war movies isn't anything remotely like German. It always causes much amusement when heard in Germany.)

[vaznetti]

Berlin seemed to be one of those cities where everyone speaks better English than I do.