Comments on The Pensive Quill: Postcards from Stockholm

Helen, Thanks. Yes, it was well worth doing.

2010-12-23T11:35:42.010Z

Helen,

Thanks. Yes, it was well worth doing.

Ryan, Whatever floats your boat. I loved all thre...

2010-12-14T20:41:23.076Z

Ryan,

Whatever floats your boat. I loved all three. Thought they got better as they went. We went on the tour in Stockholm. Bangers has a take similar to your own. I think he did the 18th century French novel as part of a university course in jail and maybe applied the criteria there to Larsson. I think novels are a matter of taste. You and Bangers have your view which is right for you both. We have a different view which does us. Like cabbage, you either like it or you don’t. What others think of your taste is neither here nor there

AM, As usual, just catching up again on my reading...

2010-12-09T21:27:44.364Z

AM,
As usual, just catching up again on my reading/posts. Happy to hear you and your wife had the opportunity to enjoy a wee bit of a "honeymoon". Always a good thing to do from time to time.

The Skin Sweden has, as you say, swung to the rig...

2010-12-09T19:38:30.768Z

The Skin

Sweden has, as you say, swung to the right. Immigration and welfare are the issues the Right are trying to forge ahead on it seems. I remember being shocked at the Palme killing. It seemed so out of place in Sweden. Then a government minister was stabbed to death while shopping although I don’t think there was apolitical overtone to that if I can remember.

Michael Henry

‘that photo shows you sitting out-side a IRISH bar [ tobins is wrote above your head ]’

Actually the sign says TOBAK, not Tobins, and is a newsagent

Rory, Thanks for this. I always thought the Vat...

2010-12-05T20:49:16.586Z

Rory,

Thanks for this.

I always thought the Vatican was crawling with con men even thought I never got to Rome. I am with Martydownunder on this one. Hope to make it some day. Would like to try Paris and Prague amongst many others. With the recession I think we will do alright to stay in our house never mind making it anywhere soon!

Ryan,

heard about Rome before from a former republican prisoner who got mugged there by what he claimed were two Romanian hookers. But as you and Larry say it happens everywhere. Our own taxi drivers can leave a lot to be desired.

Marty,

Loved Amsterdam. Have been there so many times. Apart from London it is probably the city I have visited most outside Ireland. Never found Amsterdam dangerous. Although it was dangerous if you were a secularist and advocate of free speech who upset the theocratic fascists. Then they would saw your head off in the street as happened to Theo Van Gogh.

I love to get away and see somewhere different. Love other cities. Spanish resorts are ok for relaxation with family but I love cities.

Marty, not a chance of Larry being barred. He rai...

2010-12-05T18:03:51.587Z

Marty,

not a chance of Larry being barred. He raises issues and prejudices which the PC type must not be allowed to hush up. I think we are all the better for the fact that he has raised the issues and been taken to task for them by Tain Bo, Martydownunder and Nuala. It allows us to ponder the sentiment out there rather than pretend it does not exist. And it allows us to see strategies of responding to it. We will all know when somebody oversteps the mark. Robert and Michaelhenry have taken quite a bit of stick on this board and you did for a while too in your rows with Robert where you both gave it and took it but none of you asked for a bar. Everybody stuck with it and people like Michaelhenry and Robert regardless of how their views clash with our own are as much a part of the furniture on the blog as the rest of us. The place would be much duller without them. What I like about the blog is the refusal to be deferential on the part of those who post. There are no authority figures here. If the point is to be won it has to be fought for.

gettin worried bout you marty we'll keep thing...

2010-12-04T19:45:02.655Z

gettin worried bout you marty
we'll keep things alcahol free in belshaft and me a roman ca-aholic.

mackers u dont do that for me in them pics...sorry bout that.

and u talking bout ladyboys yday marty tut tut.

Anthony sorry for the mispelling was that a Freudi...

2010-12-04T19:17:14.733Z

Anthony sorry for the mispelling was that a Freudian slip

I just can't understand this Stieg Larsson hys...

2010-12-04T18:36:21.799Z

I just can't understand this Stieg Larsson hysteria thats swept the globe. AM I'm usually right with you on your book interests whether it be the North or the Eastern Front of WW2, but this trilogy bores me to tears. It's worse than reading Before the dawn by the great leader. And I hate to agree with Danny Morrison. Sorry for the rant.

Anyhony yeah like licking yer finger to turn a pag...

2010-12-04T15:20:58.362Z

Anyhony yeah like licking yer finger to turn a page!

Michaelhenry, The books are brilliant. Saw the fi...

2010-12-04T14:28:23.520Z

Michaelhenry,

The books are brilliant. Saw the first film and enjoyed that. But you are right in general, few books are matched by the film when it comes out. Not sure about the I book or Sony Reader. see a few people with them but there is still something about the real thing.

AM- I notice a new film out about 1 of Stieg Lars...

2010-12-04T14:10:39.140Z

AM-

I notice a new film out about 1 of
Stieg Larsson books

most films do not meet the standard
of the book, don't know why this is
money or the fact that a book is hard to explain on the big screen

what about that new fangled way to read a book- the Ipod
not my cup of tea.

fionnuala you're a naughty girl

2010-12-03T21:21:08.790Z

fionnuala
you're a naughty girl

Forgot to add, ha, ha,ha!

2010-12-03T21:08:32.790Z

Forgot to add, ha, ha,ha!

Marty, panic over, another one has just got throug...

2010-12-03T21:07:42.781Z

Marty, panic over, another one has just got through.

Larry has said he thinks he,s been blocked from po...

2010-12-03T20:42:44.721Z

Larry has said he thinks he,s been blocked from posting Anthony,I told him I reckon its just the server !

A wee tip for all my mates esp if your flying.alwa...

2010-12-03T19:16:01.417Z

A wee tip for all my mates esp if your flying.always sit at the back of the plane!...well when did you ever hear of a plane reversing into a mountain!!!if nothing sticks to teflon how the f##k did they get it to stick to the pan?!!!!My mate just adopted a wee black child and christened him Google...I asked why, he said "may as well as he,s gonna spend most of his life getting searched"!! Dashing through the snow....on a v8 wonder sled...crashing into trees...cos I,m off my f##king head....been smokin santas pipe..a dozen beers or more..I,m heading to the red light zone...to get myself a whore....oh..jingle bells,jingle bells santas smokin weed...mrs claus is on the floor she,s overdosed on speed...Blitzens f##ked,the elves are to....they,re tripping off their heads..if Rudolf snorts another line the f##ker will end up dead!!! thats an old Poleglass christmas carol.

Speak for yourself Larry I,m a helicopter!

2010-12-03T16:27:28.486Z

Speak for yourself Larry I,m a helicopter!

fionnuala dont be a silly billy now ...apologies m...

2010-12-03T14:54:44.022Z

fionnuala
dont be a silly billy now ...apologies my irish ass, wer all wired up here.

Anthony, Sweden is a place I have had the pleasu...

2010-12-03T14:32:18.180Z

Anthony,

Sweden is a place I have had the pleasure of visiting on a number of occasions.

I have always had a deep respect for the Swedish people because of the immense support that they they gave to the ANC. The support given was not just fine words but concrete practical support. It has been said that this support was what led to the assasination of Olaf Palme in 1986, the main suspects being South Africa's Bureau Of State Security.

I do worry though about the direction rightwards that Sweden (and other European countries) seems to be taking. During hard times it seems that many people look to the lowest common denominator, ignoring the lessons from history.

All said though a beautiful country and well worth a visit.

Larry, you are getting me into trouble in the hous...

2010-12-03T14:30:17.881Z

Larry, you are getting me into trouble in the house, Albert caught me putting an out of date sponge cake in the bird box.
'Waste not want not' his motto.
He also said I was very rude and should 'apologise' but I already have!
Larry, I did not choose to be anti-English I had no control over how they conducted themselves during their Empire building days.
My DA used to say, they emerged from hell and there are times in my life I have had cause to believe that, just as he had.
With regards to beggars I do not believe anyone chooses life on the streets, I think life has in someway dictated that path for people.
I think if people were paid a proper wage they certainly would not choose life on the dole either.
Maybe we should do what Billy Connolly suggest, 'eat all the unemployed, the prisoners and the people on the streets.' Or get the Brits to do it for us.

fionnuala once more you justify your life in a wee...

2010-12-03T13:56:38.340Z

fionnuala
once more you justify your life in a wee historical bubble with a dig at the brits.
Time to change the national record...we have DVD's now.
the future is what we should aspire to be proud of. History should be a reference book, not a road map for our future. Other wise this oul gunk is with us forever. Like the FF scoundrels we'd be condeming the next lot before they arrive. Maybe some people just have no inclination to move on?

AM- the snow and ice has kept us without transpor...

2010-12-03T12:50:27.082Z

AM-

the snow and ice has kept us without transport, had to walk a few country roads to get to the shop for the papers [ fell on my arse a few times ]

apart from the cost of peoples needs you paint a nice picture of
stockholm, that photo shows you siting out-side a IRISH bar
[ tobins is wrote above your head ]
i turned a corner one day in brussels and their was the IRISH
national flag flying- i went in for 1 pint but came out that evening blocked

when Ryan mentioned the vatican i
thought it would have kicked of
another debate from the usual suspects- but its all quiet on
the pensive Quill front- for once.

Larry, don't understand your comment about the...

2010-12-03T12:47:36.659Z

Larry, don't understand your comment about the 40s? If you mean Irish people turning up in England desperate for work, then why would they turn them away, the bled their country for centuries, cheap labour is hardly cashing in on the British economy.
In another post you mentioned childrens minds being 'poisoned' at school.
I remember my English teacher telling us, that she had recently returned from a visit to England.
When she arrived she decided to get a bite to eat in a cafe, the declaration on the door read, 'No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish.'
Says more about them and their mentality than I ever could.

by the way fionnuala marty + co. do ya see that m...

2010-12-03T11:34:58.323Z

by the way fionnuala marty + co. do ya see that m1 roundabout, ye can leave it now, the Free State troops aint comin after all!!!!