Darling, let's survive till it's summer

[sovay]

For Valentine's Day, rushthatspeaks and I hung out on the talkie window in lieu of having a car and spatch and I went out in the freezing sunset before we lost the light on the slope of the hill we now live on. I photographed moss, sunset, lichen and snow, and he took a picture of me after dinner.



I love the moss that roofs the neighbors' garage. Autolycus in the summer watched the Bird Theater it attracted.



Bracken in miniature in the last of the light.



Taken from Tesla Avenue, which is at a right angle to Edison.



We found some of yesterday's snow! It matched the lichen.



After the walk, after dinner.

Rob has a sinus infection and has been self-medicating with the television comedies of David Croft. So far Hi-de-Hi! (1980–88) has introduced me to some of the most disastrous public speaking since the Market Snodsbury prize-giving, Oh, Doctor Beeching! (1995–97) through the transitive properties of filk earwormed me with music-hall, and I can't believe no one has ever informed me that You Rang, M'Lord? (1988–93) contains, in addition to some surprisingly sharp politics, a fabulous butch. As of the latest episode, she's joined a new golf club, the old one having been stuffy about her plus-fours: "Much younger set. They don't mind girls in the bar, chaps can wear suede shoes, and you don't have to be a gentile."

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, nice photos!

And, heh, I'm very fond of Hi-de-hi! It's surprisingly bleak at times for such a daft comedy set in a holiday camp. (Have you seen the clip with the pantomime horse yet?)

in addition to some surprisingly sharp politics, a fabulous butch.

Gifs of Cissy! I was a little too young for Hi-de-Hi the first time round, though we did see some, and I for whatever reason had no use for Oh, Doctor Beeching - a pale copy of the first two, to my teenaged mind, but we watched You Rang M'Lord? all together when I was growing up and Cissy was one of the people I wanted to grow up to be. (I didn't, in any way, but I loved her regardless. And, loooking back, I do like how she is unquestionably by far the best of the Meldrums.) Anyway, gifs of this kind of thing are so rare I never even look for them on tumblr, so I appreciated the link!

The David Croft comedy we watched and loved the most, though, remains 'Allo 'Allo, so in return for the gifs, I add to your collection of medication, the Gateau from the Chateau. XD ETA: Oh, and I have no matches from ep 1 (introducing Lt Gruber, who I suppose is Cissy's predecessor in many ways, bless him.)

[sovay]

Aw, nice photos!

Thank you!

And, heh, I'm very fond of Hi-de-hi! It's surprisingly bleak at times for such a daft comedy set in a holiday camp. (Have you seen the clip with the pantomime horse yet?)

No, but I will if you can link it. spatch is somewhere in the fourth season, but I haven't been watching with him past the introductory episodes and the occasional select scene like Jeffrey's Sunday half-hour. I am operating at the limits of my television capacity.

Gifs of Cissy! I was a little too young for Hi-de-Hi the first time round, though we did see some, and I for whatever reason had no use for Oh, Doctor Beeching - a pale copy of the first two, to my teenaged mind

It's got trains and a lot of lazzi, so I have use for it, but somewhat unexpectedly I am loving You Rang, M'Lord? It seems to have more edges than the other two, which is not a prerequisite, but congenial to me. I am prone to bouncing off sitcoms and in some ways it doesn't resemble one at all.

but we watched You Rang M'Lord? all together when I was growing up and Cissy was one of the people I wanted to grow up to be. (I didn't, in any way, but I loved her regardless. And, loooking back, I do like how she is unquestionably by far the best of the Meldrums.)

What's not to aspire to? Dapper af, socialist, and it's completely safe to stop in her room.

Anyway, gifs of this kind of thing are so rare I never even look for them on tumblr, so I appreciated the link!

You're welcome! I needed to demonstrate her for rushthatspeaks and selkie.

The David Croft comedy we watched and loved the most, though, remains 'Allo 'Allo, so in return for the gifs, I add to your collection of medication, the Gateau from the Chateau. XD ETA: Oh, and I have no matches from ep 1 (introducing Lt Gruber, who I suppose is Cissy's predecessor in many ways, bless him.)

"It was very lonely on the Russian front."

Much appreciated! I don't think I have ever seen a full episode of 'Allo 'Allo, although I had a friend in grad school who made frequent reference to it, especially The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies. I am delighted by the long shadow of The Court Jester.

[thisbluespirit]

It seems to have more edges than the other two, which is not a prerequisite, but congenial to me. I am prone to bouncing off sitcoms and in some ways it doesn't resemble one at all.

I do wonder if that's Jimmy Perry - as I was saying, Hi-de-Hi also has some pleasingly sharp edges to it, even if maybe not as evident in clips.

Talking of which, I can only find a brief one, but the climax of the ep involving the pantomime horse for you! Also, I cannot find sensible clips of this, but you might want to ask spatch about the time where Gladys and Jeffrey got locked in the Three Bears Cottage. (I'm pretty sure that's s3 Christmas special or something thereabouts - and anyway, after s4 is where Simon Cadell left, after which it was never really the same again, but no doubt if spatch agrees on that front, you will hear all about that.)

What's not to aspire to? Dapper af, socialist, and it's completely safe to stop in her room.

Indeed! Unlike pretty much every other member of the Meldrum household. (Btw, it also draws heavily on parodying Upstairs Downstairs, which is probably also another source of some of the politics, as that was a very sharp series on that front. YRML has a more sensible timeline, though!)

I don't think I have ever seen a full episode of 'Allo 'Allo, although I had a friend in grad school who made frequent reference to it, especially The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies. I am delighted by the long shadow of The Court Jester.

It was only very recently I learned it was an homage to something else! AA is obv a parody of WWII drama and films, especially Secret Army, but unlike the others, it's less good for dropping into and out of - it somehow manages to combine full on farce with WWII drama parody and a ridiculous never ending snowball of a plot, and you've got to admire it for somehow not only pulling that off, but becoming one of the most successful shows the BBC made across Europe. So, everybody has a catch phrase, there are lots of comedy laws by which it lives, and then on top of that you have the eternal plot which includes arcs like The Time They Escaped Into a POW Camp along with two German officers, and the one where all the items being hidden were simultaneously disguised as sausages (which were variously either Old Master, forged painting, dynamite, or sausage) - the sausages went on for a long time - &, er, it is that level of thing!

And, given that, here are some more clips I think you might be able to enjoy otherwise context free:

a random example of Rene's(Gorden Kaye) fourth-wall breaking recaps which opened each episode. (I wanted to find one of the more out-there ones, but his delivery is always perfect anyway.)

My other David Croft heroine (♥), Michelle of the Resistance.

The British being unable to speak French, or (the British Intelligence Officer disguised as a French Policeman), only very badly:

Don't go upstairs with Hitler (also contains shocking shaving off of moustaches; must have been fairly early.)
Crabtree making an entrance (& I think furthering the plot of the above and leading into the Tunnel Into The POW Camp arc, plus a little bit more of Sam Kelly's Capt Hans Geering, another childhood fave. Talking of the POW arc, Hans was ironically the only person they ever managed to smuggle to England.)

Rene tries to confess to a cream.

I hope those are also entertaining! (They're all pretty short anyway.)

Bonus, the original Fallen Madonna prop went for £15,000 apparently - to someone actually from Nouvion! She's still having adventures apparently, anyway. :-)

ETA: Oh, I found the Rene-scene I was thinking of (also, as it turns out, another daft Crabtree bit) here.)