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Lotteries are games of chance in which players select numbers to be drawn, or simply choose a prize they are willing to accept. There are many different types of lotteries available, and they are often run by various jurisdictions. Generally, a lottery is a game of chance which is played for fun. However, some lotteries have been used to raise money for public projects.
One of the earliest recorded lotteries in Europe was held in Italy in the 15th century. The lottery was organized by the Roman Emperor Augustus, and was used to finance various projects. During the Saturnalian revels, wealthy noblemen distributed tickets to guests. Later, several colonies used lotteries during the French and Indian Wars.
Lotteries were also used to finance major government projects in China during the Han Dynasty. The Chinese Book of Songs mentions a game of chance as a "drawing of wood". It was believed that the lotteries helped finance the construction of major government buildings.
In the United States, the Powerball lottery is considered to be the de facto national lottery. Players can buy a ticket almost anywhere in the country. Most states and territories offer state-wide lotteries, but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Utah do not. Several states have not enacted any laws regarding the operation of their own lottery.
Although lotteries are legal in several jurisdictions, there is debate over their legality in the U.S. Some states, including Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have banned the use of lotteries as a form of gambling. A few states, including Alaska and Mississippi, have introduced legislation to allow the sale of lottery tickets.
The state of Nevada has not enacted any gambling laws, and no state-wide lottery exists. However, the state has taken a more progressive approach to lottery legislation. The legislature has introduced bills to establish a state-wide lottery, and a lottery is currently being proposed for 2020. Regardless of the outcome, it is important to remember that the chances of winning a large jackpot are small.
Ticket sales have never been a tax-free source of income in the United States. Unlike in Germany, New Zealand, and Australia, the US taxes income on lottery and other wagers. Similarly, the UK pays out prizes as lump sums, and does not charge personal income taxes on them.
The state of Maine has operated a lottery for a number of years. The state uses profits from the lottery to support several state-wide and local projects. For example, the state's lottery helps fund schools, debt services, and retired employee benefits.
The Delaware Lottery has eight draw games. Profits go to the state's general fund. In addition, there are local games and scratch-offs. Currently, there are two multi-state games, and there is a third local game in New Hampshire.
Despite their popularity, lotteries have not always been a safe game for gamblers. Scammers have pretended to have won the lottery, persuading a stranger to give them money as collateral. Additionally, some people argued that lotteries were a type of hidden tax.


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". . . she sang her confessional lyrics with a jazz musicality and a kind of rock attitude and intensity, which drew you into the complex songs.
if Norah Jones had sung with EST, it might have sounded like this." - London Jazz
"Irene Serra is a refreshingly
individual presence
on a crowded jazz vocal scene."
- The JazzMann
ISQ
". . . Serra's voice is graceful and sensual, an occasional added vibrato giving it a hint of the chanteuse.
The sound is beautiful but melancholy, a match for her lyrics."
- All About Jazz
". . . there's a real intelligence and
poetic sense and a highly personalised world vision."
-The JazzMann
Nu Jazz with ISQ
+ Jazz Wednesdays
(Rescheduled from March 28th, 2020)
"Performed midway between jazz and soul, Serra occupies terrain Billie Holiday would find familiar. Sade too . . .", wrote Jazzwise during its four star review of ISQ's latest album, Requiem For The Faithful.
Currently, UK jazz-soul singers aren't particularly abundant, despite the success here of Gregory Porter. Like the aforesaid Mr Porter, acclaimed vocalist Irene Serra applies a jazz technique to what are, in essence, pop songs - just like a century of jazz singers who've preceded her. Irene describes ISQ's music as Post-Jazz meets Art Pop.
Citing Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Jon Hendricks, Ennio Morricone, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson and Bjork among her influences, Irene's songs blend a myriad of genres – jazz, pop, R'n'B, bossa, acoustic and experimental – which all meld together to entrancing effect.
Born in Milan, from a very young age Irene developed her love for singing whilst performing in choirs, musicals and churches. Aged 16, she studied jazz with the renowned Italian jazz singer Tiziana Ghiglioni at the Academy of Music in Milan.
Irene moved to London in 1999 to continue her music studies at the University Of Surrey and then Goldsmith's College.
Irene has performed various styles of music at venues in and around London, such as the Barbican Centre, Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express, Union Chapel and 606 Club, is a member of gypsy jazz group La Bouche Manouche and last year premiered a Duets project with fellow vocalist Anita Wardell.
One of the semi-finalists in The Brussels International Young Jazz Singer contest in 2008, Irene was the only European finalist in the Shure Jazz Voice Competition at the 2009 Montreux Jazz Festival.
In Naadia Sheriff, Richard Sadler and Chris Nickolls, Irene has a group of top-drawer players who, along with their bandleader, have brought together the musical styles they love with emotional authenticity. As London Jazz commented: "Jazz is always reinventing itself and ISQ is deliciously original."
Irene Serra (Vocals/Electronics), Naadia Sheriff (Piano/Synth), Richard Sadler (Double Bass/Electronics), Chris Nickolls (Drums /Electronics).
Supporting are the Jazz Wednesdays, comprising four students from the Royal Grammar School.
Tickets: £15 / £13 Concessions. Students £6 (+ Booking Fees)
Doors: 7.00pm. 1st Set: 7.30pm

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Royal Recognition for Castlefield Forum
Castlefield Forum has been awarded a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
We are absolutely delighted to announce that Castlefield Forum has been awarded a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, recognising best practice in volunteering work. It is the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, and is the equivalent of getting an MBE.
On August 28th, members of the Castlefield Forum collected an engraved, commemorative crystal trophy and a certificate signed by Her Majesty the Queen at a special ceremony at Gorton Monastery in Manchester. These were presented by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Warren Smith, and the Vice Lord-Lieutenant, Paul Griffiths DL.
Carol Middleton said: "The Forum was born through a common love for our neighourhood and this underpins everything we do to this day. For a decade we have been the major voice for this area's community and been the driving force behind a range of community activities from history information boards to securing 'Outstanding' North West in Bloom awards. We hold quarterly members meetings at Dukes 92 which anyone with an interest in the area is welcome to attend, and maintain an active social media presence to sustain engagement with the community between meetings. It is a huge honour to receive this award and recognition of the part all our members have played over the years in helping make Castlefield a wonderful place to live, work and play. We all feel very fortunate to live in this historic part of the city centre and hope to play a small part in ensuring it remains a very special place for generations to come.
"We'd like to say a huge thank you to all the committee members and volunteers who have worked with us over the years, and we owe an enormous amount lot to the late Ian Christie, founding member and former Forum Secretary, without whom the Forum may not be here today."
The Castlefield Forum was one of 35 Queen's Awards for Voluntary Service to be handed out to Greater Manchester voluntary groups, charities and social enterprises, in a record year.
Trustees and Volunteers after the awards ceremony at Gorton Monastery on 28 August 2019


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Home/World/Merkel says she lacked the power to influence Putin ahead of his invasion of Ukraine.
Merkel says she lacked the power to influence Putin ahead of his invasion of Ukraine.
admin Send an email 26 November 2022
BERLIN — Angela Merkel, who led Germany for sixteen years, said that her diminished political power in the run up to her retirement prevented her from setting up diplomatic talks aimed at dissuading President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia from launching Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
In an extensive interview published on Thursday in Der Spiegel Magazine, Ms. Merkel explained that she and French President Emmanuel Macron had tried in the summer of 2021 to set up talks between European Union leaders and Mr. Putin to de-escalate Russia-Ukraine tensions but failed. Ms. Merkel at that point had already announced her plans to retire.
"I no longer had the strength to assert myself because everyone knew: she would be gone in the fall," she said.
She said she felt she was losing political clout before stepping down when dealing directly with Mr. Putin. Recounting her last state visit to Moscow in August of 2021, Ms. Merkel noted that Mr. Putin would not meet with her alone, as he had done in the past, instead opting to include his foreign secretary.
"The feeling was quite clear: 'In terms of power politics, you're through,'" she said, adding that "for Putin, all that counts is power."
Ms. Merkel, a former East German physicist who speaks fluent Russian, was more familiar with Mr. Putin than many other European leaders, in part because they had both led their respective countries for so long. When Mr. Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine in late February, some analysts speculated that the timing was linked to Merkel's retirement and the resulting perceived instability of the European Union.
Olaf Scholz, who succeeded Ms. Merkel as chancellor, traveled to Moscow in February — nine days before Russian troops invaded Ukraine. By then, Mr. Putin's plans for the invasion were already in motion.
Ms. Merkel previously has distanced herself from criticism over Germany's policies toward Russia during her 16-year tenure as chancellor and her country's dependence on Russian energy.
She also has insisted that diplomatic efforts to prevent the invasion of Ukraine were the right course of action at the time.
"Diplomacy is not wrong if it does not succeed." she said in June, adding: "So I don't see that I have to say: that was wrong, and therefore I won't apologize."
Had Russia She That Was
After a 70-Year Run in London, 'The Mousetrap' Heads to Broadway
Putin holds a highly choreographed meeting with mothers of Russian servicemen.


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Headline By Jeffery C. Mays 150 Views
New York City Is Ending a Ban on Gay Conversion Therapy. Here's Why.
Nearly two years ago, the New York City Council celebrated when it passed a far-reaching ban on conversion therapy, a discredited practice to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
On Thursday, Corey Johnson, the Council speaker, who is gay, said the Council would act swiftly to repeal the ban.
The move is a gambit designed to neutralize a federal lawsuit filed against the city by a conservative Christian legal organization; if the case were to be heard by the Supreme Court, advocates for the L.G.B.T. community fear that the panel could issue a ruling that could severely damage attempts to ban or curtail conversion therapy.
This is not the first time New York City officials have sought to change a regulation to avoid a Supreme Court challenge. In July, the Police Department amended a regulation that had limited residents from transporting guns outside their homes, after the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a case challenging the city rule.
Supporters of repealing the conversion therapy ban say that it is a regrettable but necessary step given the Supreme Court's conservative makeup under the Trump administration.
"Obviously I didn't want to repeal this. I don't want to be someone who is giving in to these right-wing groups," Mr. Johnson said in an interview. "But the Supreme Court has become conservative; the Second Circuit, which oversees New York, has become more conservative."
Mr. Johnson introduced a bill on Thursday to repeal the ban; once the full Council approves the measure and Mayor Bill de Blasio signs it, the city would then be governed by a less restrictive state law, which applies only to minors.
A vote could come by the end of the month, after a hearing, council officials said.
"We think this is the most responsible, prudent course," Mr. Johnson said.


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Steve Bullock drops out of the Democratic presidential race
Montana Governor Steve BullockSource: Office of the GovernorMontana Gov. Steve Bullock is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race after coming up short of qualification requirements for Democratic debates and failing to collect significant support in the polls."While there were many obstacles we could not have anticipated when entering this race, it has become clear that in this moment, I won't be able to break through to the top tier of this still-crowded field of candidates," Bullock said in a statement Monday.The twice-elected governor and former attorney general of Montana was a latecomer to the Democratic field, announcing his bid in early May after more than 20 candidates had joined the fray.Bullock was locked out of the first round of debates but qualified for the second round where he made what was considered a strong debut.Still, he was unable to muster much support among Democratic voters, barely cracking 1% in most national polls.According to Federal Election Committee data, he raised about $2.3 million in the third quarter of 2019, near the bottom of the pack.Bullock had largely ignored pleas from fellow Democrats to run for the Senate instead of entering the presidential race, and his campaign confirmed that he would not run on Monday."Governor Bullock will continue to faithfully and effectively serve the people of Montana as their Governor," said Galia Slayen, Bullock Campaign communications director."While he plans to work hard to elect Democrats in the state and across the country in 2020, it will be in his capacity as a Governor and a senior voice in the Democratic Party — not as a candidate for U.S. Senate."Bullock ran as a centrist who managed to win Montana — a state that President Donald Trump won by 20 percentage points. He presented himself as a solution to the partisan gridlock that has crippled Congress, referring to his seven years working with a Republican legislature.He focused his campaign on fighting against "dark money" — political spending by nonprofit organizations or so-called super PACs that are not required to disclose their donors.He opposed progressive platforms like "Medicare for All" and abolishing the death penalty, which he said could be used in select cases. But he notably changed his position over the years to support a ban on semi-automatic weapons. His nephew was killed in a school shooting in the 1990s.Bullock's announcement came a day after Joe Sestak, a retired vice admiral and former congressman from Pennsylvania, dropped out of the Democratic race.Let's block ads! (Why?)
← Johnson's tweets about London Bridge 'copied and pasted' from blog
Trump's trade war grows as new tariffs slapped on Brazil and Argentina →


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Q: MySQL Select Statement not working I am trying to create a select statement to be used in a view. The goal is to create a view showing office description, party description, candidate name and incumbant indicator. I have the following table is my database:

SELECT `OFFICE DESCRIPTION`,
       `PARTY DESCRIPTION`,
       `CANDIDATE NAME`,
       `INCUMBANT INDICATOR`
FROM   OFFICE,PARTY,CANDIDATE
WHERE  CANDIDATE.`OFFICE CODE`= OFFICE.`OFFICE CODE`
       AND CANDIDATE.`CANDIDATE ID`=`PARTY CANDIDATE`.`CANDIDATE ID`
       AND `PARTY CANDIDATE`.`PARTY CODE`=PARTY.`PARTY CODE`;

Error:
#1054 - Unknown column 'PARTY CANDIDATE.CANDIDATE ID' in 'where clause'

I have verified all the columns do exist for this SQL statement to work but for some reason it keeps returning an error that PARTY CANDIDAT.CANDIDATE ID doesn't exist. Any help would be appreciated. Let me know if there is anything more you need me to uplaod including table definitions and layouts.

A: *

*You need to enclose your field names with backticks

*You are missing Party Candidate from your FROM list
SELECT `OFFICE DESCRIPTION`,`PARTY DESCRIPTION`,`CANDIDATE NAME`,`INCUMBANT INDICATOR`
FROM OFFICE,PARTY,CANDIDATE,`PARTY CANDIDATE`
WHERE CANDIDATE.`OFFICE CODE`=OFFICE.`OFFICE CODE`
    AND CANDIDATE.`CANDIDATE ID`=`PARTY CANDIDATE`.`CANDIDATE ID`
    AND `PARTY CANDIDATE`.`PARTY CODE`=PARTY.`PARTY CODE`;

A: i think the problem is in your FROM and WHERE clause.
FROM OFFICE, 'PARTY CANDIDATE', CANDIDATE

WHERE clause should be like
CANDIDATE.'CANDIDATE ID' = 'PARTY CANDIDATE'.'CANDIDATE ID'

A: The solution was to use the following SQL code aided by @justin-kiang, and include the distinct function.
SELECT DISTINCT  `OFFICE DESCRIPTION` ,  `PARTY DESCRIPTION` ,  `CANDIDATE NAME` ,  `INCUMBANT INDICATOR`
FROM OFFICE, PARTY, CANDIDATE,  `PARTY CANDIDATE`
WHERE CANDIDATE.`OFFICE CODE` = OFFICE.`OFFICE CODE`
AND CANDIDATE.`CANDIDATE ID` =  `PARTY CANDIDATE`.`CANDIDATE ID`
AND  `PARTY CANDIDATE`.`PARTY CODE` = PARTY.`PARTY CODE`
LIMIT 0 , 30;

A: try this:
SELECT OFFICE.`OFFICE DESCRIPTION`,PARTY.`PARTY DESCRIPTION`,CANDIDATE.`CANDIDATE NAME`,`INCUMBANT INDICATOR` FROM OFFICE,PARTY,CANDIDATE WHERE CANDIDATE.`OFFICE   CODE`=OFFICE.`OFFICE CODE` AND CANDIDATE.`CANDIDATE ID`=`PARTY CANDIDATE`.`CANDIDATE ID` AND     `PARTY CANDIDATE`.`PARTY CODE`=PARTY.`PARTY CODE`;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home » Arsenal Capital Partners Completes Sale of Royal Adhesives and Sealants
Adhesives & Sealants HeadlinesCoatingsMergers/AcquisitionsFinished Adhesives and Sealants
Arsenal Capital Partners Completes Sale of Royal Adhesives and Sealants
KEYWORDS acquisitions
Arsenal Capital Partners recently announced it has completed the sale of portfolio company Royal Adhesives and Sealants LLC to American Securities LLC.
"We are very pleased to have worked with CEO Ted Clark and his management," said Tim Zappala, a Partner who co-heads Arsenal's Specialty Industrial group. "During our partnership, we successfully established Royal as a leading player in niche, high-growth end markets with a particular emphasis on the substitution of traditional mechanical fasteners toward adhesives and sealants technologies, which improve reliability and performance and provide a cost-effective solution to Royal's global customers."
"We greatly appreciate Arsenal's significant support of the management team, employees and customers throughout the last five years in the execution of our organic growth and acquisition strategy," said Ted Clark, Royal CEO. "Arsenal's deep understanding of the industry and their commitment to the investment contributed to the remarkable outcome achieved by the company. The new partnership with American Securities will allow us to continue Royal's growth trajectory and we look forward to the next phase of the Company's evolution."
For more information, visit www.arsenalcapital.com or www.royaladhesives.com.
Readers Most Interested in Arsenal Capital Partners' acquisition of Royal Adhesives & Sealants
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Hernon Manufacturing Inc.
ChemInstruments
Adhesives Research Inc.


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Guipronvel (bretonisch Gwiproñvel) ist eine Ortschaft und eine Commune déléguée in der französischen Gemeinde Milizac-Guipronvel mit  Einwohnern (Stand ) im Nordwesten der Bretagne im Département Finistère.

Die Gemeinde Guipronvel wurde am 1. Januar 2017 mit Milizac zur neuen Gemeinde Milizac-Guipronvel zusammengeschlossen.

Lage
Guipronvel befindet sich nahe der Atlantikküste bei der Côte des Abers und der Bucht von Brest (Rade de Brest). Brest liegt 13 Kilometer südlich und Paris etwa 500 Kilometer östlich (Angaben in Luftlinie).

Verkehr
Bei Brest enden die Schnellstraßen Europastraße 60 (Brest–Nantes) und Europastraße 50  (Brest–Rennes). Der Bahnhof von Brest ist Endpunkt des TGV Atlantique nach Paris sowie der Regionalbahnlinien in Richtung Rennes und Nantes. Nahe der Großstadt Brest befindet sich der Regionalflughafen Aéroport de Brest Bretagne.

Bevölkerungsentwicklung

Literatur
 Le Patrimoine des Communes du Finistère. Flohic Editions, Band 2, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-84234-039-6, S. 1427–1428.

Weblinks

Ort in der Bretagne
Commune déléguée im Département Finistère
Gemeindeauflösung 2017
Gemeindegründung 1789
Milizac-Guipronvel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


One of our clients recently wrote a blog about using Beachport Liquid Minerals. Read about their experience below.
Supplements are another thing I've just pushed aside as it all seemed complex and expensive.
Recently I'd begun to wonder if I had a deficiency in my herd, as some of the symptoms I was worried about hadn't cleared up with drenching.
While my cattle generally looked pretty good, I was seeing some scouring which I was always told was caused by worms. I drench frequently and regularly, as well as switch types of drench to avoid worm resistance. I was also noticing a red tinge in the cattle's hair, bad enough that I was starting to question the lineage of my bull. As well as that I was seeing plenty of winter coat that wasn't shedding in Summer, making the cattle look ratty.
A bit of research on the net turned up that the mid-north coast is well known for deficiencies of copper, selenium and cobalt, and that trace element supplementation is highly advisable here. I've used lick blocks and Multimin shots in the past with no real noticeable effects. Both were very expensive.
I liked the dispenser on the bottle idea and the fact that this supplement was made of seaweed and apparently contained all sorts of amino acids etc. I also looked at the "bullets" you put down their throats once a year for minerals, but the liquid mineral website caught me with all their blurb and testimonials.
It's pretty simple (and all on their website), but basically you just measure it out according to the number/size of cattle in your herd, pour it into the dispenser bottle and put the bottle in the trough. It slowly releases the nutrient over 4 days, after which you pour the rest in the trough and put the dispenser away. This needs to be done every 6 weeks.
I'm having no trouble with the cattle drinking it, in fact, they seem to like it, but this could be because I clean the trough and refill it before I add the treatment or just because I've made them curious by putting a new blue toy in the trough.
In the testimonials, there were a couple of mentions of a quick reaction by the cattle to this supplement, and they certainly weren't joking.
Within 3-5 days I began to notice the cattle's coats really cleaning up and all the dags of leftover winter coat falling out. 7 weeks later and I'm looking at almost different animals, with absolutely sleek, black, almost wet looking coats and shiny moist black noses. While I'm on very rich green feed right now, I've seen a noticeable reduction in scours and the movements I'm seeing them do now don't seem as runny at all.
One big thing to watch for is that there must be no other water available to the entire herd other than the treated water, otherwise, you can't be sure they've all received their correct dosage.
All in all, I'm giving this product a very big thumbs up for my herd at least, and at $8/head/year I'm quite happy with the cost vs improvement. I'll cut back to drenching the cows twice a year, and the heifers/calves 3 times a year and that alone will cover the cost of this supplement.
More than one testimonial mentioned greatly improved fertility and heifers coming back into cycle much more easily after calving, and if true that where this stuff will pay for itself and more.
I'm fairly stingy and sceptical, but I certainly see a result with this product and don't have that feeling of being sold snake oil.


• Thin Plywood Sheet (12 inches by 24 inches). Should be able to bend the sheet easily.
• Draw 6 circles of about 6-inch diameter on the plywood sheet and cut them.
• File the cut circles with sandpaper or a nail file. I used the later because it gave a better grip. Remember that this sheet of wood is extremely thin so you need to be careful while sanding.
• Take 3 circles and join the top (just a small arc) with super glue. You will have 2 joints between the three circles. Repeat the same for the remaining 3 and keep them aside.
• Now mark the center of the wood plank. Cut the wooden rod about 1 foot tall. Also cut two 1-inch pieces of the rod and set aside.
• Attach the the rod at the center of base and screw it in from the bottom side. You can also do this by just using the glue, however this part of the stand needs to sturdy and so it is better to use a screw to attach it.
• Now glue the circles on either side of the rod starting from the center. Fold the plywood as you go and make sure you are folding it approximately the same width each time. Look at the stand from the side at eye-level to get an idea and make sure the folds look proportionate.
• For the last circle use the 1-inch rods on either side for the support. Make sure you glue everything properly.
• Now join the wooden spheres at the base, two on each side. For the top of the stand first glue the small 1-inch square and then join the last sphere at the top.
– Be extremely careful with the thin plywood sheet. Do not bend it with force or it will break. You can varnish the stand at the end or use a wood shellac available at any home department store. This will make it long lasting and help with warping too. You could also stain it in a different darker stain or paint it if you like. If you do choose to paint make sure you use a wood primer for the base first.
This is so cool! Want to try this!!!
are knowledgeable on this subject. Fine along with your pedmission lett me to seize your feed to keep up to date with drawing close post.


Slow going? Yes indeed. If you have been missing posts on here, I have been doing SOME blogging on mine & Behtia's joint website. So go there if you want updates. Other than that, I'll try to blog from time to time on here, but things HAVE been a little crazy in the last few months. I'll be sure and save some good bloggery material from our honeymoon to post on here. Nothing scandalous. Maybe. But its ALWAYS entertaining to go on boats and to tropical islands. I'm sure there will be shenanigans aplenty.


Gatsby Update: Are These Two Ladies The Finalists For Daisy?
As previously mentioned, director Baz Luhrmann is working on a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio possibly playing Gatsby. Guess who had dinner Tuesday night in New York? Baz, Leo… and Blake Lively.
A source says the dinner was "strictly business;" there were eight people at the table, including "the director's whole crew." Sigh. Leo is an amazing actor, but Blake? Ugh. She is not Daisy Buchanan, and her earnest acting "style" doesn't seem suited for the campy theatricality of a Baz Luhrmann film.
But! Rumor has it on Monday, Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the part of Daisy by doing a reading with Leo. She is said to be "very happy" with how it went.
So we could be down to two choices for Daisy: Scarlett or Blake. In which case, please, for the love of Zelda, let it be Scarlett. If Baz really likes Blake, maybe she can play lady golfer Jordan Baker?
Earlier: Who Should Play Daisy In The New Gatsby Movie?


Peel the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water.
Wash and chop up the broccoli and cook in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.
Drain the broccoli and potatoes and blast quickly in a blender.
Add the cream, half the gruyère and the egg yolks.
Beat the egg whites until firm and add.
Pour into a gratin or baking tin, add bits of butter and the rest of the cheese.
Bake at 210°C (Gas Mark 7) for 30 minutes.


The Most Dedicated Intern Award!
Kelly always has Voice K in her mind! She has been working very hard on every aspect of Voice K.
"Working at Voice K has been a fun and rewarding experience. Before this internship, I hadn't had the opportunity to work with kids or edit their writing.I am usually the one doing the writing and covering events, but getting the experience as an editorial assistant has shown me another exciting side to the journalism industry.
I have been very impressed with the work that the Voice K writers have brought to the table, and I thoroughly enjoy reading their work. Joanna has been a great mentor and I hope to continue to share my journalism experiences with the young journalists of Voice K."
Kelly edited the Earth Hour Concert article!
Kelly went to the chocolate Tale event with the journalists!
Kelly helped out with the future journalists seminars!
Linda edited the Christmas Daydream article by 7-years-old Edward Wang!
Linda created handouts and materials for the Photojournalism seminar!
"Working with Voice K, editing articles and being a part of such an amazing team has been a grand experience. It is remarkable to not only see how the publishing industry works, but to also be a part of it. What makes me the happiest, however, is being able to assist others in following their dream of writing. It has inspired me greatly to see the numerous individuals who have taken part in Voice K magazine along with the Future Journalist Training Program. It fills me with joy to see the many hearts that are filled with passion; who have a dream, and who strive to reach that dream.
This internship at Voice K Magazine was a large stepping stone for me in regards to my dreams as I hope to one day see the world and become a travel writer. I am truly thankful for everything that I have learned through this wonderful internship, and I cannot wait to utilize this experience when I begin my new journey in college for Print Journalism this upcoming fall."
I-Yana is our longest serving intern! She started in June 2, 2012 and has continued to be an intern at Voice K. She just loves us and we are really happy to have her with us!
"I was in my final year at University of Toronto as a Communications Major when I enrolled in the internship program in search of hands on experience in the world of magazine publication. It was then that I met with Joanna and soon after signed on as an Editorial Intern for Voice K magazine.
I was excited to work for Voice K because of all the opportunities that came with it. From editing articles, to writing grant proposals, to even facilitating the Future Journalist Training Program. The ability to be involved in the various aspects of magazine production has been an incomparable experience. I have always felt that an internship should provide a wide range of opportunities for the intern and Voice K has done just that. Our junior writers, illustrators and interviewers are constantly keeping me on my toes with their energy, creativity and intelligence. I may have recently graduated from University of Toronto, however my work with Voice K continues. It has not only been a great learning experience but an amazing internship overall. "
I-Yana organized the decorating your own cupcakes event!
My experience with Voice K has been an extraordinary one! It is extremely gratifying knowing that the work I put into the internship would help not only me, but the children writing for the magazine. I really enjoy editing their work and it inspires me to see how much of a long way they have come.
Furthermore, helping out with the Future Journalist Training Program was a one-of-a-kind experience that I will definitely keep with me. This experience has awakened my potential to help children of any age work toward a bright and successful future. This is my main goal since I strive to become an English teacher--it is my goal and my passion. Moreover,this internship has allowed me to learn many things about myself and helped me perfect my own writing and editing skills. I hope to continue to learn and share my knowledge through this internship because it has been an immensely enjoyable and valuable experience!


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You are at:Home » Top Stories » Breaking » Invasion leads to assault, shooting at Glen Motel in Bear
Invasion leads to assault, shooting at Glen Motel in Bear
Photo Created By Delaware Newsline
Delaware State Police are currently investigating a shooting which occurred at a Bear area motel early this morning.
BEAR: Police say that they are investigating after Troopers were called to the Glen Motel for a report of a shooting.
According to police spokesman, Jeffrey R. Hale, at approximately 3:35 a.m. this morning, Monday, April 3, 2017, as two male and one female suspect knocked on a door of a room at the Glen Motel, located at 1176 Pulaski Highway.
When the 55-year-old male occupant of the room opened the door, the two male suspects entered the room while the female suspect held the door closed. Both suspects then began to assault the victim, and at one point, one of the suspects fired a single round from an unknown make and model handgun, striking the victim in the head.
The two male suspects then exited the room and entered a gray or silver four door vehicle which was now also occupied by the female suspect. The vehicle then exited the parking lot of the motel and was last seen fleeing in an eastbound direction on Pulaski Highway.
The male victim was removed from the scene and transported to the Christiana Hospital where he was treated for a non-life threatening injury. A 64-year-old female, who was also occupying the room at the time of the incident, was not injured.
One of the suspects was described as a white female. She was approximately 20 years of age, 5'06" tall, weighed approximately 120 lbs. and had long blonde hair.
The other two suspects were both described as black males. One was 5'04" tall with a light complexion, and was dressed in all black clothing. He also wore a mask. The second was 5'07" tall, had a light complexion, was dressed in all black clothing, and also wore a mask. There is no further physical or clothing information available.
If anyone has any information in reference to this incident they are asked to contact Detective Charles Strecker at 302-365-8567. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet at www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com, or by sending an anonymous tip by text to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword "DSP."
If you or someone you know is a victim or witness of crime or have lost a loved one to a sudden death and are in need of assistance, the Delaware State Police Victim Services Unit/Delaware Victim Center is available to offer you support and resources 24 hours a day through a toll-free hotline 1800 VICTIM-1. (1800 842-8461). You may also email the unit Director at debra.reed@state.de.us.


Given that Parsis lived in Gujarat for several years and adopted most of their customs, it is perceived that Parsi and Gujarati food is quite similar. Except that one is purely non vegetarian while the other is the complete opposite.
Impromptu not only qualifies as one but with its beautiful, laid back exteriors, it can also be a great spot for romantic couples. The huge space will ensure that one get his privacy.
A lady who happens to be the PR Manager of a highly reputed, Indian five star hotel group (with two properties next to each other in Gurgaon alone). She has left me with no option but to seek help from my readers to help me solve the puzzle she has put in front of me.
Tamra, with its name derived from the Hindi word for copper, is the new all day dining restaurant of Hotel Shangri- La in New Delhi.


Welcome Back KSI Panama Alumni!
It is wonderful to have this alumni page initiated so that we can keep in touch! I hope that you will find this page a wonderful way to stay connected with your friends, former teachers, and our community! Each of you has had an important role in the history of KSI Panama and we want to stay connected with you too!
KSI Panama plans to host a special event throughout the coming year, offering Alumni a chance to reconnect, share stories from the past and make new memories. We hope to see you there!


Stock Exchange and proposes to apply for listing on NASDAQ.
and Confidentiality Agreement, which is attached.
2. SALARY, BONUS, BENEFITS, AND VACATION.
CEO in conjunction with your annual performance review.
payable in full by March 31, 2001.
unused amount through use of vacation.


The original LAMBERTS® product is genuinely made, packaged and labeled in the UK, under the GMP Pharmaceutical Standards from the beginning to the end, this being the best of the available controls to guarantee and ensure the quality and safety of the product to be consumed.
Although GMP Standards are not mandatory in the manufacture of food supplements, to give maximum guarantee and safety to professionals and consumers, our supplier since 1991 applies these expensive standards in the development of products. Therefore, no LAMBERTS® product that does not meet 100% of the quality and labeling specifications can be launch on the market.
Another good reason to choose LAMBERTS® products: guaranteed quality, safety and effectiveness.
What are the GMP Manufacturing conditions and requirements?
They are a control of quality established by the OMS, which implies QUALITY ASSURANCE. It is the best system to guarantee the quality of medicines and assure the quality of the product received.
They entail an integral control of the elaboration, from the selection of the raw materials, the suitable facilities, the techniques of elaboration, the clean equipment, the qualification of the personnel, the packaging, labels, transportation, storage and everything else that can affect directly or indirectly the quality of the product.
Our factory receives periodical, unannounced inspections carried out by the medicine section of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom, the organism in charge of controlling the application of these norms in England. They perform these inspections by taking various samples of different lots and analyzing them.
The application of the GMP norms is not mandatory for the production of Nutritional Supplements such as Lamberts products. In addition, being regulated by GMP standards is a very expensive process for the companies due to all the extra technical care and precautions that goes into the manufacturing of the products. Therefore, most manufacturers of nutritional supplements choose not operate under these standards.
We are the leading experts in nutrition, producing the highest quality products in some of the most modern and technically advanced factories in Europe. These operate to stringent pharmaceutical standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) as laid down by the UK Department of Health, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
We have a team of buying experts who look for the best raw materials in their natural forms all around the world.
Analysis of the raw material: Each raw material comes to us with its corresponding Certificate of Analysis. Once in our laboratory several samples are taken and the potency of the substances is analyzed through HPLC (liquid Chromatography of hi-res). Later, the materials go through an examination designed to identify the existence of possible pesticides, herbicidal, microbial contamination, aflatoxines, fungi, dioxins, and polluting agents like heavy metals.
Automated manufacture, in one of the most modern and technologically advanced factories of Europe.
Diverse equipment is used in our fabric, like special mixers, machines for the encapsulation of the tablets, special containers, etc. All the machines are located in individual rooms, all which are kept extremely clean with controlled humidity and temperature, assuring a contamination free environment. Each machine before its use is sterilized to assure that there is no crossed contamination.
At LAMBERTS® we manufacture smaller lots of products more frequently; therere fore the consumer receives fresh products that have not been stored a long time.
Supervision Tests: they confirm that there aren't any variations between the different lots and that the product is 100% faithful to the specified facts described in the label.
Tests of disintegration: they are conducted with water and to 37º C. The fact that our tablets are disintegrated with water indicates that acid conditions for the disintegration are not needed and the tablets are able to disintegrate in alkaline means. They guarantee that the tablet dissolves in the correct time, so that the correct absorption of the active ingredients takes place.
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No LAMBERTS® product enters the market without the corresponding documentation and authorization indicating that it fulfils the highest standards of quality.
Adequate dosage is the key to the success when used in nutrition and clinical fitotherapy. A professional can select the correct nutrients, but if he/she recommends the incorrect dosage the desired results will not be obtained.
LAMBERTS® products contain the correct substance proportions and doses, with the right amounts of potency and power, leading to fast and sure results: This means that we formulate our products with the dose of nutrients that scientific studies have demonstrated give the best therapeutic results. Our products do not have levels high or low, only exact.
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Our products are packaged plastic bottles that are recyclable and disposable. The plastic assures maximum protection against atmospheric agents such as oxygen, humidity and light. The design of our bottles is a very simple one and is possibly less attractive commercially than others. This is because here at Lamberts we care about the quality of the content inside, putting emphasis on the quality of the raw material, not the appearance of the outside.
The quality of LAMBERTS® stands out in a market where most products frequently represent inexact amounts of dosage in their tablets and where nutritional supplements fall short of quality control. Our labels give the most exact nutritional information, detailing all the ingredients, active as much inactive WITHOUT OMISSIONS, so that each person can value the suitability of the selected product.
At LAMBERTS® we think that the quality begins in the label, for that reason are pioneers in the legal and safe labelling of nutritional supplements. We label our products according to the present regulations of the nutritional complements according to norms GMP.
Nutritional Information: The product should always be classified into tablet, capsule, powder or liquid. All the nutrients must be related by their sequence in descendent weight and the used chemical configuration of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
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Legend that warns: Keep away from children. All supplements must stay out of the hands of small children, especially those that contain iron.
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Absolutely no labelled LAMBERTS® product that does not comfy 100% with the quality specifications will be put in the market.
With LAMBERTS® you have total Guaranty of Quality, Security and Effectiveness!


The cruise season went out with a bang last night, courtesy of a brand showing everyone else how it's done: Gucci. Fresh from Cannes (Louis Vuitton) cruisers descended on Arles in the South of France; Creative Director Alessandro Michele chose the Alyscamps, a Roman necropolis, as the setting for his eerily spectacular open-air nighttime show. The historic flavour of the town was clearly instrumental in defining his vision. Clouds of smoke and rows of church candles further added to the intense atmosphere, as did the haunting soundtrack of Claudio Monteverdi's 'Vespers of the Blessed Virgin'.
Guests including Saoirse Ronan, A$AP Rocky, Salma Hayek and Christian Lacroix watched the firelit runway from individual mirrored cubes – a dizzy 114 looks were paraded at an impressive pace. As always androgyny was key; as was a riot of plaid, floral silks and tiger prints – Michele again created his cast of zany fantasy fashion characters from rock stars to 19th-century widows. Many models carried flowers, or a handbag (there's that commercial know-how Michele has nailed, alongside unrivalled creativity). The exit look was a real talking point – the Gucci bride emerged from the fog (complete with huge bouquet and white lace tights).
And, as if it couldn't get any better, the bar was raised even higher thanks to none other than Sir Elton John, who will wear the label for his three-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
He belted out hits such as 'Your Song', 'Rocket Man' and 'I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues'. The captivated audience was left reeling, as waiters served vodka shots and then the party really started.


Sam Potts takes to the floor with her Floor Work Class.
Participants were treated to a real experience of contemporary dance practice. Sam Potts delivered her latest workshop in Contemporary Floor Work. A full studio engaged in an hour long class exploring the dancers relationship with the floor and how to enhance performance through exploration of how the body can shift across space, as a flowing being without the need for awkwardness and unnecessary breaks in movement.
Sam thanks everyone for their participation and great energy. - Great to dance with you all!
Auditions session on Sunday 12th January brought together a fantastic range of talent from across the North West. Flash in the Attic successfully recruited a crucial injection of new dancing bodies to join its ongoing and new projects.
The artistic team were thoroughly stunned and overjoyed by the attendance to the auditions session on Sunday. The audition process was through a short contemporary dance based class moving into a creative task on choreography and group work.
"The result work-in-progress phrases were phenomenal to experience." - artistic director.


text:
Hansoo Lee
Katsumi Ushiyama
Bu He
Daria Barykina
Alexei Antonov
Home > 2020 >	Deng
Contrasting trends in two East Asian populations of the Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
Xueqin Deng, Qingshan Zhao, Diana Solovyeva, Hansoo Lee, Inga Bysykatova-Harmey, Zhenggang Xu, Katsumi Ushiyama, Tetsuo Shimada, Kazuo Koyama, Jinyoung Park, Hwajung Kim, Guanhua Liu, Wenbin Xu, Binhua Hu, Dali Gao, Bu He, Yong Zhang, Tseveenmyadag Natsagdorj, Batmunkh Davaasuren, Sachiko Moriguchi, Daria Barykina, Alexei Antonov, Alexander Stepanov, Junjian Zhang, Lei Cao, Anthony D. Fox
East Asian Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons populations are less well defined and monitored than those in Europe and North America. Here, we combine historical and newly-reported telemetry data, wintering waterbirds surveys and expert advice to synthesis and update our knowledge of movements between the breeding and wintering distributions for Greater White-fronted Geese in East Asia. These sources suggest the existence of two biological flyway populations with contrasting population trends. The first consists of birds breeding on the Russian arctic, extending from the Khatanga River to east of Svyatoy Nos Cape (near Yana Bay, Yakutia), which migrates to winter in China where it is now almost totally confined to the Yangtze River floodplain. In recent years, this population has numbered between 30,000–55,000 individuals (compared to 140,000 in the 1990s), with > 70% concentrated at Poyang Lake in winter. The number of key sites identified for the species in China has increased with improved survey coverage since 2004. Birds from the second population also breed in arctic Russia, from east of Svyatoy Nos Cape to the Anadyr River, and winter in Japan and South Korea where 224,000–242,000 (in 2017/18 and 2018/19) and 178,000–182,000 (2018/19 and 2019/20) occur respectively, compared to a total population size of 60,000 reported in the late 1990s. Although the telemetry studies provide single examples of tracked birds moving between the two populations, suggesting some permeability, we contend that the populations are relatively discrete, but recommend retaining three management units (for China-, Japan- and Korea-wintering birds) because of the count, management and legislative logic of doing so. The results given here provide a robust assessment of the current status of these populations, but between-year differences in count totals underline the need for continued improvement of the count system in China. They also build a stronger basis for the effective conservation for this species in the region, highlighting the need for improved monitoring and management for the declining numbers wintering in China.


Driverless cars are taking the world by storm. Self-driving or driverless cars take different forms, with the most famous likely being Uber previously trialling driverless vehicles in cities like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Tempe, Arizona. Self-driving cars are being developed by companies all over the world, including Tesla, Uber, GM, Google's Waymo and more. But with more and more accidents involving driverless cars, and even a recent death, can these technologically advanced vehicles really be trusted on the roads?
According to the World Health Organization, over 1.25 million people died from "road traffic crashes" while an estimated 20 – 50 million more people are injured non-fatally. A 2008 study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration in the US estimated that at least 94% of traffic accidents are caused by human error. So, the aim of driverless cars are to solve this exponential problem by removing the unpredictable element of people from driving. The idea is that, without the fickle actions of someone turning the wheel suddenly or braking in the middle of a motorway without warning, roads will be much safer and accidents will occur less frequently.
An admirable goal from the technology and car giants of the world. But, there have been many incidents involving self-driving cars in recent months, with deaths being connected to both Uber and Tesla's self-driving cars.
Uber made headlines recently when one of their self-driving cars struck a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, where Uber was testing their driverless cars. The car in question had a passenger as well as a "safety driver", someone hired to sit in the passenger seat and watch for any unexpected issues that may force her to take control of the car herself. The video released of the interior and exterior view showed that the "safety driver" was not looking at the road at the time of the incident but equally, the pedestrian seemed to come out of nowhere. It is unclear who was truly at fault and whether a human driver could have prevented the death. But it does bring up questions of the safety of driverless cars, where technology may be fallible in detecting hazards appearing on the roads at any given time.
Meanwhile, Tesla, headed by the lauded Elon Musk, is being investigated for the recent crash of a Model X car that was running on autopilot mode. The crash killed the owner of the car, Walter Huang after the vehicle hit a barrier on the Sillicon Valley freeway. It subseqently caught fire. The National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) are investigating Tesla for two other crashes that occurred in 2017. Preliminary reviews by the Minami Tamaki lawfirm suggests that the navigational system of the autopilot did not function correctly and failed to detect the necessary hazards.
Now, driverless cars are also hitting the UK, with prototypes being tested in Milton Keynes by the consortium, UK Autodrive. The government has invested at least £250m into researching driverless cars, hoping to bring them into the mainstream in the UK.


text:
Socio-spatial segregation and the level of service of public transport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Camara, APR; (1991) Socio-spatial segregation and the level of service of public transport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Camara_10143390_thesis.pdf
The Brazilian urbanization model has been consolidated in such a way that most cities, and especially the Metropolitan regions, concentrate in their cores not only wealth but also services and the labour market . This results in very high densities. Contrary to this, peripheral areas concentrate poverty and lack of services. This results in lower densities. However these areas are the ones that have been presenting the highest growth rates. What effect does this land use pattern have in the transportation field? What kind of public investments have been made to cope with this spatial configuration of Brazilian urban areas? Is there any relationship between the distribution of the population and the quality of public services, amongst them transport? The aim of this research is to evaluate the public transport system in Rio de Janeiro, taking into account not only the segregation of activities such as housing and labour market but also the stratification of the population in economic and social terms to establish what level of service is provided for people in different income groups. Rio de Janeiro is taken as the best Brazilian example as public investments and market have not only determined where and how one would live, but have also shaped the city in such a way, that good access to facilities has been the privilege of a minority. Transport, as one of the most important public services, will be used as a tool to test the hypothesis that public services are unevenly distributed among different areas in the city and consequently among different population strata. The bus mode was selected for further investigation, as being the main mode of public transport in Rio de Janeiro. A survey was carried out among users within the system in 15 selected routes. The survey findings supported the hypothesis raised initially, and significant differences in attributes such as waiting, walking and in-vehicle times and also travel costs were observed between the core and peripheral householders. One of the greatest contributions of this research was regarding to the bus drivers working conditions. The quality of the services provided, independently from the spatial variable seems to be affected by the very poor working conditions of the crews. Although improvements in the transport system are necessary, they are not sufficient to solve the problem of commuters, unless significant changes also take place in the working conditions of the drivers.
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There are a lot of giving pledges out there.
The Life You Can Save (giving 1% - 5% of your income, depending on how much you earn).
So what is the point of all these pledges?
I don't think I made it even six months.
Have you thought that if you got a job, you'd have more than $4 a week to give away?
How difficult and crazy-making will this be for you compared to the amount of good it does?
Did you know the clothes at the Salvation Army thrift store on Broad Street are $1 on Wednesdays? Seriously, kid, you're growing out of those sleeves.
A community can help us stick to a well-considered pledge. I'm more likely to keep a public pledge than the one I made alone in my bedroom at age thirteen. And the internet has helped me find people I can ask the questions I have now. Like: is it better to give some money now or more money later? How did you pick a charity? If I want to pick a career that lets me earn more money to give, which ones should I consider?
I'm glad I don't have to think about these things in isolation anymore. A few weeks ago I signed the Giving What We Can pledge, to give at least 10% of my income for the rest of my life. I was already planning on doing that, but now I'll be connected to other people who are doing the same.
So here's an offer: if you're looking for community, I'll try to hook you up. In the Boston area, we have periodic dinner discussions on the topic – let me know if you want an invite to the next one. You don't have to take a pledge - maybe you just have questions or want to chat. I'm happy to talk with you or connect you to someone who knows more than I do.


text:
Wratislaw part 10 of 10
Filed under: Wratislaw — Tags: creative writing, ensorcellment, fiction, humour, idiosyncrasy, infatuation, metaphor, music, pianist, psychology, relationship, romance, serial, short story — Teepwriter @ 16:00
A drily hyperbolic, humorous short story – a pianist with a passion for Janáček's music finds the composer's unrequited infatuation is part of the bargain
Wratislaw series begins at part 1
While Wratislaw scrabbles for a way to triumph, he must survive the obligatory probing by Kamila.
"Seven, eight years ago, in your interviews, you were…funny. Lately you are awfully serious. Are you overwhelmed by the complexity or the challenge of your many projects? The responsibility of your various roles?" She's been listening. Inspiration strikes. A question lures. Can he steer toward it?
"Going by this evening's performance being underwhelming? What could possibly be missing from my life?"
"Time to yourself?"
"Nope. Too much time with myself."
She ponders. Or perhaps she leaves space to draw him out. Obligingly he fills it.
"Not all interviewers are as intelligent and insightful as you. You always made me think and feel."
"Often I am told I interrogate people."
"No, there's no judgment. You seem genuinely interested. Your questions… Do you remember your ultimate question?"
Kamila's eyes glint and widen. "My meta-question?" Jackpot.
"How did it go again?" Wratislaw asks even though he's utterly sure. He needs to hear her say it.
"'What is the question you would most like me to ask you, and how would you answer?'"
As her voice sounds through his skull he closes his eyes. She muses.
"I remember you cheated; well, you deferred."
"I couldn't say it out loud! It was inappropriate. It would've changed things…us."
"So I let you off the hook."
"You asked if there would be a time in the future when it might be…appropriate."
"And you said you hoped so. That was exquisitely intriguing."
"Do you still have it?"
"Did you ever open it?"
"No! We agreed: not until we both agreed it was appropriate." She wrings him out with that blasted virtuous integrity.
They commit, like teenagers goading each other to escalating dares.
Kamila picks and rips at the tightly sealed, worn folds of paper. Eventually the grumpy origami acquiesces and gives up its secret. She jerkily scans his wished-for question. Something is awry. This paragon of calm control is overcome with convulsions of emotion. She pushes it at Wratislaw to read out. He recognises his writing, his wishing, as if he needed any confirmation of consistency.
"'Would you like to dance with me…for the next fifty years or so?'" The answer is unnecessary. He chuckles cathartically. The image of the unattended piano in the foyer thuds into his mind. "I think I'll have a bash at that Janáček now. Will you listen?"
Her maelstrom mind will manage only one word. "Always."
Kamila leans on the sturdy chapel door, closing it with a reassuring squeaky clunk. The sudden, silent, dark dankness is refreshing. She glides between the pews, gratified by the decent turnout and stimulating discussion. Nothing is awry.
"What does 'Wratislaw' mean to you?" The question curls out from behind a pillar. She was asked during the event, and she gave answers about place, character, then let the participants add their own responses about marketing stunts and student pranks. This is different. This is the questioner she hoped for. She approaches and peers into the gloom.
Wratislaw's shoulders fill the pew; his talented hands are clasped, resting contemplatively on the next pew's back. He flicks those blue eyes sideways to her approach. She has his answer ready. But not just yet.
"You got my message."
"Most of Edinburgh and quite a portion of the world got your message."
"They see the word but not the message."
He exhales a laugh. She waits for him to respond.
"'Love Wratislaw'? It's a social media meme now."
Disappointing. He's prevaricating.
Kamila returns a petulant truism. "They can circulate it and interpret it all they like."
"You could've just called to say you would be here."
"Not interesting."
"Unlike walking from the hotel to the venue seeing my secret nickname chalked on every other lamppost? On thirty-eight random paving slabs? On railings and bins and benches and bus shelters?"
"It took me only two hours. I woke early."
"You didn't answer my first question."
He's learning. She alights on the bench beside him, just pressing the side of his body, and tilts her gaze. He pulls her on to his lap, and touches her face. She leans into the next fifty years.
Incidentally… it all started with a minor character described by John Buchan:
Wratislaw "was to the first glance a remarkable figure. About the middle height, with a square head and magnificent shoulders, he looked from the back not unlike some professional strong man. But his face betrayed him, for it was clearly the face of the intellectual worker, the man of character and mind. His jaw was massive and broad, saved from hardness only by a quaintly humorous mouth; he had, too, a pair of very sharp blue eyes looking from under shaggy eyebrows. His age was scarcely beyond thirty, but one would have put it ten years later, for there were lines on his brow and threads of grey in his hair." John Buchan, The Half-Hearted
…which led me to research the name (and its pronunciation!):
Wrocław [Vrotswahf] (or Wratislaw [Vratislav] in Czech) is the largest city in western Poland. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands. The city is believed to be named after Wrocisław or Vratislav, Duke Vratislaus I of Bohemia.
Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia. Today, it is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The history of the city dates back over a thousand years, and its extensive heritage combines almost all religions and cultures of Europe. At various times, it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg Monarchy, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Wrocław became part of Poland again in 1945, as a result of the border changes after the Second World War, which included a nearly complete exchange of population.
Wratislaw part 9 of 10
Somehow Wratislaw has relaxed a little. Perhaps Kamila listening quietly alongside him has something to do with it. He is addicted. He tries not to sound petulant.
"What did you think of me?"
"I was disappointed."
"OK, thanks. Well, that's that then."
"What happened to the Janáček project?"
"Shelved. Total loss of…everything."
"That is disappointing."
"Apparently that's me."
Kamila shifts position slightly. Perspective.
"You said you wanted to feel unrequited passion, like Janáček. Perhaps I flatter myself, but is this not why you call me Kamila?"
"Now you sound like you're trying to argue that you left me for the sake of my professional—"
"So I could play Janáček with true unrequited passion?!"
"You were disappointing. For me and your other audience."
"You keep saying that! I was depressed! You should've told me!"
"That would have defeated the experiment."
"Experiment?!" Wratislaw no longer cares if he sounds hysterical. "And how did that work out?"
"Apparently your psyche is not the same as his."
Wratislaw's own disappointment and frustration are neck and neck.
"Well, this has been a tremendous waste of time, and actually a pretty cruel and unethical psychological game, just to prove two people aren't the same."
Kamila's composure indicates there is a solid explanation in his near future. He hates that. She's back to questioning, luring him toward her cursed superior understanding.
"Tell me this now, completely truthfully: are you not glad you had the experience? Felt those things?"
"The anticipation is better than the actual thing?!"
"The anticipation is better than nothing."
"I can't possibly know without reliving my life differently."
"What do you want to happen?"
"I want you to behave normally—no, not 'normally'; I don't know what that means—authentically."
"Are you sure? Be careful what you wish for, Wratislaw."
He smirks as the heady rush pours through him again.
Wratislaw lays back on the cool, damp ground and finds, at last, a shred of confidence. A question.
Kamila looks away and breathes.
"I want to feel the precision, the clarity, the quiet confidence of your playing again. I want to feel that you will take me on this dangerous journey through the dark, enchanted forest, but that you know the terrain, and you relish every landscape feature you navigate. You will wrestle and vanquish the wild beasts. You will take me on an exhilarating adventure and give me new understanding. You will bring me safely out the far side of the forest without falling over the precipice. The full, unsanitised, emotional journey with a wise guide. Most of all, I want to feel that I have somehow been part of the event, that my presence has affected you too, that I have been involved and have enhanced your experience."
"Is that all?" He notices he's clutching her hand. When did that happen? After six years it's surreal.
Suddenly he understands what he was doing thrashing around in the undergrowth. Conniving harpy. He's so pathetically susceptible. He was never in any danger. She's just shown him, let him experience directly, exactly what she wants. All he has to do is deliver. Simple.
…concludes at part 10
The closeness of Kamila's voice is startlingly. "Still in the dark, Wrati?"
"Utterly."
"Feel better for clawing at things?"
"No! How do you do that silent flitting and pouncing?!"
"I just walk carefully."
"You pounced on me this afternoon in that…Schrödinger's egg carton! And you've been teasing me all around this…"
"I promised you would see me."
He curses himself for forgetting. He could have played a much cooler game. As cool as his sopping arse. Never too late.
Wratislaw switches topic. "Should I be concerned that you're in Glasgow?"
"I'm not stalking you."
"Evidently I'm stalking you. Badly."
"You are not difficult to see: you look like a tattie-bogle!" Bless her, she speaks every blasted language better than him.
"Nature has not been kind to this suit. I just thought you might be fomenting revolution…type thing."
"At the BBC?"
"Or through the BBC? Why are you doing whatever with the BBC?"
"It factors into a project."
"That's super-clear."
"How is this your business?"
"I remember after Wrocław all sorts of citizen movements, democracy protests, suchlike, suddenly got turbo-charged."
"You were not there."
"I read newspapers! I was too scared to go back!"
"I thought there might be another reason, like you got your research."
"You know I didn't."
Kamila wavers. Wratislaw feels a rush of desperation.
"Don't vanish again!" He sounds panicked. His arse is soaking. Eels are probably on the verge of penetrating.
She continues softly. "Where did you get stuck?"
"You questioned my fundamental motivation for making music. 'Because humans always have' wasn't enough. Neither was 'because we need it'. Or 'because it's glorious'. You always came back with 'why?'"
"I had odd ideas about our most profound learning being through relationship. Music somehow came into that – a way of engendering empathy…something like that. I could not get traction with it; you were no help."
He can certainly empathise with mental free-wheeling.
Wratislaw refocuses on his stuckedness: the sheer tonnage of his inertia. "I probably shouldn't say this, it being my livelihood, but sometimes music isn't enough. Sometimes you need words as well. Even though music is raw emotion and travels straight to your heart and the primitive parts of your mind, still people interpret that emotion differently according to their individual biases."
"We need song, opera?"
"Just sometimes we need to talk."
"What do you want to say?"
He has run right into her trap. Again. Entangled in the cat's cradle of his personal hydra. How to disempower it… What does he want to say?
"That I was enchanted…by you. That I thought you felt…something… And then you vanished, like a…dryad in the mist!" As ever, Janáček floats just beyond his grasp.
"I thought this was what you wanted."
"To be abandoned?! In the midst of a rush of passion?!"
"Why would I want to attach myself to a comet?"
…continues at part 9
In this dense web of stalks, cloud-reflected metropolitan light is inadequate. The ridiculousness of Wratislaw's predicament, however, is plain to see. Pursuing an as yet unseen woman through some eccentric philanthropist's forgotten wilderness. Easy to explain.
To continue his form, at this point, he wonders whether his unintelligent next move should be more blundering about in vicious thickets, or to hunker down. His stinging forearms and shins, and his throbbing arse, beg for respite. Hunker down and wait. How long should he wait to extinguish all doubt that Kamila has gotten utterly bored of his disappointing efforts and abandoned him to his mortifyingly un-man-of-the-woods-like fate? Mortified. Unmanned.
Wratislaw gazes about, trying to subdue his creeping anxiety. Is he more bothered by losing her or himself? Once again his brain loses visual traction on the shifting shades of dark. Frantically clawing in complete stillness. Instead he becomes highly sensitised to the tickling, the crawling, the scurrying, the rustling. A clear whistle pierces the fog, inside and out: a bird's alarm or a guiding signal? Or just a rusted mental circuit venting dangerously high steam pressure.
Will anyone miss him? BBC Ben and his glowing orb would be a welcome lighthouse right now. Wratislaw would offer some professional enticement for… That sounds sordid. Plus his stock probably isn't so high after that performance. So long ago. That other so civilised world. Not out here in the jungle.
Regardless of Wratislaw's existential crisis, clouds drift along their journeys. Yet somewhere, something powerful grows impatient with his lack of progress and grants him a boon. A fortuitously timed shaft of moonlight spotlights a stone edge: a carved edge: a building. A purposeless ornament, which, as it turns out, finally has use.
Folly. How perfectly apposite. Wratislaw lunges for the stonework, pushing mercilessly through the knives and forks and razor wires, stumbling and slipping, arms scissoring across his face in a violent dance. He does not appreciate the overgrown path Janáček allusion. Emerging from the malicious vegetation, he hauls himself to a cool stone pillar and hugs it shamelessly. After tactfully clouding his trembles for an interval, a further moonbeam benevolently shimmers across the river and delicately lights the blindingly obvious path thither.
Wratislaw bravely departs his safe haven and careers jelly-legged to the water's edge. He yanks at the infernal luring willow and swipes wildly at illusory clothes. The rippling water and the thrashing twigs have messed up the acoustics. He plonks on the first stone that seems big enough. Unfortunately it's just another shadow so his landing is lower and wetter than he expects. His battered coccyx complains. He exhales forcefully.
After a few moments of bewildered and moist stillness, he imagines he feels warmth on his arm, a faint breath on his cheek. Probably some rebound sensory effect from the thrashing. Or, just possibly, hiding in plain blindness.
He conjures Kamila in his mind, slides his hand across and is shocked when he connects. Electricity crackles through his skin.
The initiative must be seized else-how. Wratislaw calls out. "What is your fixation with forests?"
Kamila's reply echoes from elsewhere. "Fourteen trees is a fixation?"
He swerves before refocusing. "The question there was 'fourteen trees is a forest' but let's not get diverted. In Wrocław, when I asked where you wanted to go next, you pointed at that Białowieża forest."
"It wasn't Białowieża; that is the opposite part of the country. And considerably bigger."
"Where were we then? I thought I was in a world-renowned forest."
"Why would this matter?"
"It was magical."
"Maybe the air was polluted with hallucinogens! Poland had a big problem with toxic smoke. People kept trying to get rid of illegal plastic waste imports by putting fire to waste dumps."
Wratislaw's whole body focuses on keeping her talking, to try to work out where her voice is. "Or maybe your picnic was spiked!"
"Maybe we were dehydrated or hypoglycaemic."
"Maybe our bodies were just in shock from walking more than twenty metres at a time." His had been.
"Maybe it was a midsummer daydream."
"It was magical." He's already said that. Call it emphasis.
"You think it was the place and not…us?"
There it is: the tiny uncertainty. She isn't one hundred percent. What is he certain of? Nothing, except she isn't in the sneaky pine. Still just glimpses and shadows of nothing. And the small matter of his enduring infatuation. He lets the beleaguered birch swish back to upright…ish.
He has to explore her uncertainty. To explore the terrain. Instead he blunders. He launches impetuously down the ridge and finds himself accelerating beyond leg control. He chooses arse over head to lead the descent – meaning he sits and slides, rather than tumbles. Important to have that point clear. He can argue the relative wisdom with the physiotherapist who will have the enviable challenge of enabling him to sit comfortably again to earn his living.
After its premature start, Wratislaw's slide takes longer than he expects. He puts this down to the time-expanding powers of adrenaline. When he finally halts he is at the disgorgage of a burn into the river. This small-scale estuary with picturesque miniature mud-flats is a welcome coolant for his friction-savaged arse.
He rises carefully, finds his limbs reassuringly responsive, and turns about. There are more than fourteen trees. Something new is awry. With river at his back, he has a panorama of perpendicular inclines, paved with leaf litter. With no idea whether he is up- or downstream from the original position, he crawls up the least precipitous wedge, grasping wildly for those beleaguered young birches.
Several branches slap wet leaves resentfully at Wratislaw so he closes his eyes for much of the ascent. When he reaches a level where he doesn't immediately feel his feet sliding backward or other discouragement, he cautiously raises his lids. With his eyes mildly attuned to darkness, he focuses on a fleeting movement, slipping between trunks. Through his frantic, fruitless scramble he thought he heard a ripple of laughter. Or was it the river? She's taunting him.
He leans his hand on the nearest trunk. He withdraws it instantly from something unexpectedly soft and slimy. He thinks of insects that mind-bogglingly disassemble their bodily integrity back to primeval goup, then rearrange themselves structurally into something quite different. Except for the unfortunate individual he just plunged his fingers into. No longer to emerge and reach its full potential. Now destined to mutate horribly into chimaera with himself. Rather like The Fly. The Wrattisfly. What a Frankenstein's monster that would be: his shoulders giving it wings like a pterodactyl, a weak abdomen of no use but as a prop, and yet remarkably dextrous legs and antennae. Somewhere in this hallucination there must be a metaphor. All skilfully choreographed. She's manipulating him.
Something warm brushes his cheek. The reverie dissolves. Glancing up he sees the flicker of things with wings the wrong way about. Bats. Not bothersome. But why no bird calls? Probably silenced by his threatening crashing about.
Wratislaw resumes his disoriented weaving between trees. The ground level helpfully lowers then rises. He lurches around a larch and snatches another just in time to prevent himself re-launching into Arse-luge Ravine. He pivots daintily upon the precipice and sags into an elastic coppiced hazel. Noting its rarity among a cluster of hawthorn, holly and dog-rose, his luck may be changing.
…continues part 7
Why had Kamila been talking to Wratislaw, back then? Her answer had been brilliant. She gazed out across the cityscape. First, of course, she asked him what he saw. He stated the obvious. Then she explained it.
"Buildings, streets, green space, activity, movement, travel, glitter and shadow… Zoom in or out, pan across. This is a vast and deep fascination. I see infinite interest in finite space, a fractal psyche."
It was him.
"You think of me as a Mandelbrot set?" He had been pleased with himself for dredging up that reference. Until she hit it out of the park.
"I think of you as Wratislaw."
He was unable to resist grinning. As always, she took it further than he could have imagined. "So, I know who you are, obviously, and you know who I am, for what this is worth. Can we please not talk about professions and partners and parenting and all this cliché competitive life shit?"
"In favour of?"
"Interesting things!"
"And interesting names?"
"Yes; what will you call me?"
"Kamila, obviously."
As Wratislaw crouches in the darkening jaggy shrubbery, tickled by leaves and probably things on legs, that memory still warms. He recalls taking several moments to regroup. He gestured the cityscape.
"Where would you like to go next?"
"In the real world or in your head?"
"It's your metaphor."
She pointed decisively to a tree-clad eruption a few miles north-west. He had only one move.
"May I take you?"
Wratislaw decides that Kamila, for all her superiority, is probably tactically stuck at this point. Probably because he isn't behaving as she expects, i.e. intelligently. He's feeling tingles in intimate places, and not all of them can be attributed to invading insects. He'll have to move. Any move will gain the initiative. For no reason other than his innate perversity, he sets out vigorously from the rhododendron in the opposite direction.
Too late he remembers how she ended her discussion at the fateful event. "Go out now, go away, go back to your lives. Don't think any more about this. I don't ask you to think about any of this stuff; I only ask you to think." Drat.
Surrounding the ensemble of quaint river bank, shady willow, shadier pine with possible occupied perch, and bruised rhododendron, is a band of thicker mature trees. These turn out to be planted on a ridge. The ridge turns out to be ideally suited for pretending you're in a tree when you're not. Now they both are. Pretending.
One slender birch sapling suggests to Wratislaw a cunning wheeze. He manoeuvres around to its 'safe' side and triangulates his target. With careful force the birch curls over beautifully. A couple of thrashes sweep the perceived vantage point and several small pine cones hit the ground. Why no squeal or proclamation of acquiescence to his masterful offensive? He detests a silent audience.
With the stealth of a grizzly bear, Wratislaw forces his way further into the rhododendron, shattering branches and snagging his shirt. Obviously the witch has seen him coming, has scaled a tree, and has gained the tomfoolery initiative with the pelting effort. How can he get a tactical advantage?
Back on the ramparts, he had tried Kamila's approach, grilling her about her motivation.
"Why are you talking to me? This isn't still guilt for letting me think you were someone else."
At the start of the afternoon, Wratislaw had headed to the back of the auditorium. His being there at all had been entirely the fault of a colleague who had suggested the diversion since he was in south-west Poland between assignments. He had had no other interest in a sideshow about 'thinking'. He had expected to have to resist cheesy showmanship and light hypnosis.
As he had moved into the end of a row, a woman a few seats along had garbled some pleasantry. He had fumbled an apology in English. Always the British embarrassment for being elsewhere without any effort at the native language. She had quipped back—in English, curse her—that she wasn't Polish either and the event seemed a long way for him to have come. He had admitted he had other business there and asked if the speaker was worth travelling from Czech for. And off they had gone, easily conversing across ranging fascinations, and incidentally swapping seats somewhere along the way.
Her clothes had draped over her willowy frame, under her long, straight, dark hair, itself under a retro cloth Alice-band. Her eyes were dark too, like treacle with glints of amber. Glints of activity within. Tremendous activity. He hadn't sought to impress; just to keep up. He had had no idea she was psychoanalysing him. Or about the more critical factor.
After a particularly deep exploration of his motivation for solo performance, which had taken her a good couple of minutes, she had paused, glanced away, breathed, and smiled at him. That had fanned the sparks into a warm glow. She had then stood, ambled to the front of the hall and proceeded to lead a discussion on thinking. Hiding in plain sight.
He had felt eviscerated: six months of 'getting to know' compressed into six minutes. Had he only known that rich seam would have to last him six years.
None of that explains what Kamila is up to now with the clothing decoy. Wratislaw tries to distract himself from the distracting notion that she is unclad. In a tree.
Kamila had said she preferred the Czech version of the Polish Wrocław, although the sound was similar. She knew his real name of course, but wanted a conversation without the public celebrity, without the performance accolades. Wratislaw just wanted the conversation. What had she said?
"It just doesn't work for me."
"Doesn't work for me either, obviously."
"You are not happy in your illustrious career?"
"No, I mean yes, but the name doesn't get me the attention of interesting, intelligent—"
She grimaced at the developing patronisation. He stopped. They started again. Obviously, somewhere thereafter, they stopped again. He winces at the recollection.
Advancing through the gloaming, Wratislaw senses dampness in the air then hears a faint, welcome trickling. However, inevitably, something is awry.
Where the river bank blurs beneath a willow's fine fringe of branches, a suitably willowy figure lies, one leg stretched toward the rippling water. He peers to see if there are bare toes, or dipped toes. That seems more important than identifying the owner. In truth he has already decided that point, even if reality will prove him wrong. In the absence of movement, he begins stealthily closing the gap.
Wratislaw is interrupted by a twig or seed hitting the top of his head and pattering on the ground beside him. And another. Some squirrel at trough, perhaps. He doesn't doubt that squirrels are nocturnal. He resumes stalking the prone figure.
"Have you thought this through?" That voice scythes through his viscera. It didn't come from the bank; it was much closer.
He freezes for two seconds; for another two his eyes dart back and forth fruitlessly in the fading light; then he plunges into a convenient rhododendron bush.
Wratislaw crouches among the resentful jaggy branches, palpitating, sweating even. His mind races through his irrational and probably pointless behaviour. If she has seen him, then, obviously, she was the 'squirrel'. Why hide in a bush, where she can no doubt still see him? In order to see her. And who then is the figure on the bank?
Always Kamila questioned. It was her way of creating conversation. "Why are you here?"
"Here in…Wrocław [vrotswahf]—did I get that right? I was saying 'roe-claw' until my manager updated my crib sheet—Good. So, here in this city or right here on this…rampart?"
After the event she tracked him to a flat roof outside the second storey dance hall. The french windows along the corridor were open for ventilation. She seemed relieved, as if she'd been searching for him and had feared she'd missed him. He'd been waiting and hoping, to talk some more, and some more, and some other. He was gratified.
Onward with her interrogation. "Or here in this country, at this building, this event. Or anything between or beyond. The point is to see how you interpret the question."
"That really over-complicates things."
"You only have to pick one, otherwise I think you evade the question."
As he had earlier, Wratislaw found himself comfortable being truthful. "I am fixated on modern Czech classics."
"Can you have a modern classic?"
"I think the question there was 'then why are you in Poland'. Because Czech classics since Beethoven are like eating apple crumble for twenty years then tasting lemon sorbet. And now I need some…cheese." The metaphor expired horribly on him.
"This is how you prepare: with a dessert menu?"
"I want to get right in his head—Janačék—like method acting, but playing. I want to feel ten years of unrequited passion."
"And more than one thousand unanswered letters?"
"Yes! The wrist-ache!"
Here she frowned sideways at him. Surely she didn't register smut; English not her first language etc. She ploughed on with the serious.
"Do you think composers must be unappreciated in their lifetimes for them to produce such timelessly brilliant work?"
"Keeps them keen."
"Do we value composers' legacies—our selfish enjoyment—more than their personal contentment and gratification?"
"Oh, don't make it into a moral philosophy question!"
"How can it be a moral issue? They're dead."
"Except the living ones."
So it went on: Wratislaw trying to charm through Kamila's so very serious pursuit of wisdom, to cover the fact that he was utterly fascinated yet out of his depth. Which is exactly where he is again. Loving every moment. Despite his professional mental focus melting like the sorbet. He recalls the subsequent Chopin festival being another of his unremarkable performances. His Raindrop Prelude was a miserable drizzle. He can plot the correlation between his virtuosity dissolving and her presence in space and time.
BBC Ben laughs as Wratislaw's smirk melts away to distracted despair. Ben plays the precarious rapport.
"Shall we carry on, then? I mean: this is radio; we could be drifting in outer space for all they know."
"Oh, I'm already there. Totally defused."
Ben chuckles. "I like to have guests wait in a windowless void; they get a bit untethered."
Wratislaw has managed to press the disturbance into just a tiny corner of his mind. He's almost completely subsumed in describing his experience of Martinu. Almost.
"All that in just one minute forty-five. It's miniaturism on a colossal scale." He watches Ben puzzle over the juxtaposition and decide it makes a perfectly oxymoronic exit from the interview.
Ben shuts down the recording and thanks Wratislaw in his straightforward Manchester manner. Wratislaw appreciates the lack of toadying. Still, yet another something else is awry.
"Dress code seems rather formal today?"
Ben laughs coyly. "I didn't think you'd noticed!"
Wratislaw chuckles politely, leaving a gap for Ben to fill. He learned that from her.
"We have this live section party thing after. A sort of thank-you knees-up for getting through the festival season with nothing more than a slight over-run from a broken string, a couple of screaming kids, and one interval track that went AWOL."
Wratislaw allows a smirk. "Ah, yes. I'm invited."
"Great! Well, might be awful actually. Our researcher–I think you just met her—she reckons we won't last ten minutes."
Kamila. Obviously. That's why he is asking. Kamila Tuháčková. Not her real name either, but real names turn out to be meaningless. And researcher-cum-philosopher-cum-sorceresses don't usually wear frocks like that. Surely. But of course Ben is just exercising their rapport, that diaphanous bit of professional camaraderie that is already dissolving. Because Wratislaw has a performance to come. Come undone. Come dancing. Cum-sorceress.
Wratislaw has made two laborious circuits of the throng, trying to graciously accept compliments, trying not to point out too often that it was, in fact, merely one of his mediocre performances. Gone was the ready confidence, replaced with caution. He avoided the risk of any flourishes, turned out an agricultural recital, and was lucky his damp tension hadn't caused him to slide out by a half-note on those blasted polished keys. On the plus side, he can easily catch out any obsequious flatterers.
But he doesn't have to be here. He doesn't even have to be polite. He came for something else and it eludes him. A loose garden door catches his eye. A welcome respite to reassess and plot the quickest route for his escape. For his disappointment.
The downward slope of the extensive lawn draws him away from the hall. Nobody else seems enticed out here, unappreciative heathens, but the situation suits him. He deliberately brushes by shrubs and tree branches, unperturbed by dew and beetles landing on his jacket. The smell they give off is sublime. But everything is heightened when she's there. Except not there.
Tuháčková, pronounced too-hatch-kova, not too-hats-, as one of her colleagues had doggedly referred to her, as if it was funny. Why always the British patronisation of other nations? Always inventing their own pronunciation and even names. But isn't his own another example? Her example. Always an exception… Always exceptional.
Wratislaw strides along the corridor to the control room in confidence and bliss. He feels completely ready for his forthcoming performance. He has no doubt the feeling is authentic.
He's about 180cm tall with white hair on the top over dark sides, a head chiselled from stone, and the shoulders of a kite. His face is the intellectual, emotional counterpoint to this with considerably more expressive versatility than the usual boulder. Most noticeable of all are his blue eyes, focusing eons of Baltic cold from beneath heavy brows. You may recognise him, recognise his talent. You would know him by a different name. In any case, Wratislaw is not his real name.
To ice Wratislaw's cake, the BBC has sent one of its more insightful, less hyperventilated presenters to interview him. He will not have to wade through banalities about Beethoven's incipient deafness, or about Martinu's exile. He will not have to resist the urge to throw icy water over orgasmic hyperbolae about pianistic virtuosity. A question about folk melodic origins will gain half a point. Anything about the ganzfeld of the etudes will get a full mark, even if it is lifted from his own sleeve notes. However, something is awry.
The control room is in darkness. Unusual in a building that seems to measure the value of its existence to the nation in gigawatts. He swipes ineffectually at the wall by the door. Instead of light, a voice rushes at him.
"What do you hope to see, exactly?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I—" Someone is already in the room. Something else is awry. Very awry. He swivels about, searching for—
The voice cuts in. "Are you? – Sorry?"
He forces a single syllable from his maelstrom mind. "You!"
Wratislaw lunges at where the voice seems to originate. Suddenly the dark resolves itself into an impossible assembly of 3D geometry. Grey surfaces shimmer at him then dissolve – spectres reflecting the dim puddle of light from the corridor. He makes a few more cautious wafts before anxiety about his precious hands wins. He emits a grunt of exasperation. The voice of his unsatisfied desire tantalises him again from elsewhere.
"Are you trying to dance with me?"
"Do you want to see me?"
"Don't be irrational, Wrati. You have an interview, a soundcheck, a sanitised meal, a wardrobe change then a performance."
He barely notices the second sentence; the way she said his name, the name she had given him, then, there. He has to grasp something tangible.
"Tonight; ten-thirty."
"You don't sleep?"
"Now you're being irrational, Kamila. How could I sleep with you…here?"
"Remembering my name is a good start. Ten-thirty at the Gardens."
The last statement comes from the doorway, right behind him. He snaps his head around and glimpses her silhouette before it slides from sight. Ten-thirty in the Gardens. Is that agreed? Which Gardens?!
As his head sparks and buzzes disturbingly, BBC Ben lopes in with a glowing orb and two network cables: one orange, one blue. Fittingly unfathomable.
"Two hours to broadcast and we're dismantling the wiring." His unperturbed air is an unnecessary contrast.
Wratislaw returns partially to the present and Ben with his giant glow-worm.
"I thought I'd wandered into some awful joke about how many pianists it takes to change a lightbulb."