A visit to Switzerland

I've read two or three Agatha Christie books, and of course they were ok. But I absolutely loved the tv series Poirot, based on her books. My favourite episode was called The Labours of Hercules, which I believe is the name of a work of art.

The scenery, Series 13 Episode 04 was lavish. The hotel where it was filmed was lavish. The story line was excellent, the acting faultless and I haven't finished watching it yet. But oh the scenery, and a funicular, and my long time readers will know I do like a good funicular. 

If you are still reading my blog, thanks to the person who pointed out Daily Motion to me to find older films and tv series, and there I found a not so good copy of the episode. I am not paying, so I cannot complain. The stills I took are far from illustrating the lavishness of the series, but you'll get your idea. The name of the uploader is oddly called Deaddogsdam.

Ok, here we go. A bit of research work will be needed.

The journey to the resort begins with the funicular. To appraise those who don't know, funiculars are rail vehicles that can climb steep hills by the weight of a connected descending car. Power is still needed but not much.

Ready to board below the mountain resort.  

 

A passing loop, before the car enters a tunnel. Spoiler alert, there is an avalanche whereby the tunnel is filled with snow, making the funicular inoperable. 

 

The view from the car looking upwards. The interior of the vehicle is a prop built in Pinewood Studios, London. Hey, and aren't we worried about AI?

The car creaked, squeaked and groaned as it carried its passengers to the ascent destination.

Perfectly safe.

Here's the hotel on the horizon.

Exiting the funicular. 

The hotel was for very swank guests. 

What wondrous views. 

The denouement: While the setting was Switzerland, it wasn't actually. Le funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet is in France and was built to service a sanatorium, which is used as the hotel. Who knows where the hotel interior scenes were filmed. 

Friday Funnies

The ditzy Rose in The Golden Girls, played by Betty White, was probably my favourite character in the tv show.

I don't really believe this was a blooper but no matter. I found it nicely nuanced by Ms White, until the end at least. She was a master at pregnant pauses. 

If you don't get this, just Google "Once you go black...". I expect you will get it though.

Coincidentally I have just bought a book for my Kindle by a gay black American called "Is it true what they say about black men?".  He has travelled the world and for a time lived in Australia and I am guessing it is partly about the fetishising of black African heritage men. I read some of what he wrote in other media about his experience in South Africa, which I found rather interesting and quite damning. 

The tech and more

Technology can certainly be exasperating. 

I've just received an email from the online travel company Expedia, with holiday promotional specials in celebration of Labor Day. Labor Day in Victoria was in March. I suppose I shouldn't care, as a special is a special to take advantage of. But I do care that the system is not correctly set up to know when Labor Day is in Victoria. 

Everytime I look at a a product online, Google bombards me with advertising, hence the Expedia email. I spent quite some time looking at lounge suits online, and it took well over a month for the advertising to stop. Next was air conditioning, as I am thinking of replacing my quite old unit. The ads for that didn't last too long. Of late though, I've had the worst bombardment of travel emails. The thing is, all these emails keep arriving long after you've bought a product. 

I found a setting in Google to turn off personalised advertising, and I wonder if, having switched it off, I will stop receiving emails. It's a moot point because this week I installed the browser Duckduckgo. My searches there won't be picked up by the behemoth that is Google. 

I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the tv story, but AI is now being used in schools to assist students. One student was using AI to write computer code to create an online competitive game to clear plastic and other pollution from our seas. Another was using AI for guidance to write an essay about the play Othello. I put Shakespeare up there with my horror of algebra and trigonometry.

I do love what technology can do for us, and I embrace it when I want to.

It is four days after the second anniversary of my mother's death, on this Thursday the 14th. Yesterday was Ray's closest sister's birthday, and today is one year since Phyllis moved into the then chaotic home, post repainting and recarpeting. I wrote his initials on the calendar for today, and he asked about what was on that day. I don't think he remembers the date he moved in. I might buy him a single rose. It was hard to work out the date he moved in, but I then remembered the weekend after he moved in I went away for two nights, remembering that some of you didn't think it was a good idea to leave him here on his own, with friends visiting, just after he moved in. I had judged his character correctly in two or three days. 

I was away for two days, and I had a record of that, on my great niece's birthday, just after I had a melanoma removed from my scalp, still with the bandage on my head covered by my cap.

Today is shopping day but I buy little normal fresh food now.  Phyllis looks after most of that. I will replenish the wine cellar, buy a pepper steak pie for myself to bring home, have coffee from my newest cafe in South Melbourne (naturally the barista is hot) and if Phyllis is at work and Kosov is home, I'll buy Kosov a pie too.

I need a photo. Phyllis and Kosov are both reading this book series as they travel on public transport to and from work. I've no idea what Wings of Fire is about, and I am not interested, but if you know, feel free to say so.

Seal Morning

Does anyone remember reading the book called Seal Morning. Maybe the author's name was Rowena? I think I was quite young when I read it, more than once perhaps.

I read a summary a few days ago and it did not gel in my head. Woman moves to a Scottish crofter cottage, run down and without services. Summary says she moved there with her mother. I remember there being otters, but no mention of otters in the book summary. 

Yes, I could do more checking online and reach a conclusion, but that wouldn't be much fun for a blog post, and not give you a chance to think about the book and tell me what you know, off the cuff. 

What if my defective memory is of perhaps two different books? 

Another book that really grabbed me around that time was one by Gillian? called The Common Years? It was quite a fascinating book focused on her dog walking in Hampstead Heath. I wonder if Steve has read this book.  

The book burners

I wonder if in very old times stone tablets were smashed because someone in authority did not like what written on them.

Certainly in the years AD writings have been destroyed, latterly in WWII when Hitler presided over book burnings.

History has proved that if you tell someone they can't read something, they will really want to read what they are told they can't read. In Australia word had gotten out that there was something interesting that a young NYC Jewish man could do with a piece of liver meant for the dinner table. The word was out there and no matter that the book Portnoy's Complaint was a banned book, it was not too hard to find in print in the 70s? I found it a bit boring. Much better for teens was author Paul Zimmerman but I can't remember his book titles and Google doesn't seem to know about him. Maybe I don't have his name correct. Librarian help needed.

Now in the US there is a lot of agitation to remove books from library shelves deemed inappropriate, some because they have gay characters or other reasons where the conservative Christian right book burners deem inappropriate. 

This was written a little while ago. This morning I woke to the news that Roald Dahl's children's  books are being edited to remove offensive words. A couple of expressions I did not like and a couple I had no issue with. 

As you would guess I am against editing books to remove what is offensive now, and perhaps even when the books were written. It is suggested there could be say a sticker applied to the book explaining that some terms within the book may be offensive to some. No doubt it will be in small print somewhere. If we are to go down this path, it needs to be a full page in simple clear language right before the story begins.

If you read Noddy books, Famous Five, Biggles, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer books when you were young, did it make you some kind of prejudiced adult? The word wog here was mostly used for Mediterranean (I can't believe I just spelt that word correctly) immigrants. While it is an offensive word, at times it has been embraced. I once asked my father what wog meant. He told me  W O G was, Wiley Oriental Gentleman.

As a child, even now I can recall non fiction books = boring. Fiction = good reading. Nothing I read as a child influenced my thinking as an adult and it never occurred to me that Noddy and Big Ears could have been in an older man and toy boy same sex relationship.

Fiction censorship is bad. Book publisher Puffin/Penguin, you've done wrong.