Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Representative

I went over to see one of my friends last night who was one of my housemates at university. She got a new car on Saturday – a Lexus 4x4 hybrid. A very nice car but I told her that I was glad that we had met up under cover of darkness so I didn’t get spotted by people in her 4x4. (I’m a very supportive friend sometimes). I also had a quick look at her husband’s new car - a Maserati. I think I must have chosen the wrong career.

I finished reading The Three Musketeers, which I really enjoyed (much to my surprise). I was amused by one particular part of the book, which just had the most stereotypical view of what women are like and made me laugh. The book wasn’t like that anywhere else, there was just one page that seemed to suddenly turn a strong, evil female character into a pathetic mess.

“To escape from prison you have to make holes in wall, tear up floorboards, and loosen bolts, tasks possible for a strong and determined man but impossible for a mere woman.”

And then a few lines later

“Yet had she been a man no effort of that sort would have been too great for her. She had a man’s courage and brain and cursed Fate for having given her a woman’s frail body”

And then finally

“Being a woman she had at first been unable to control her feelings. But by degrees she had calmed down”

The other bizarre thing about the book was that if you read the translator’s preface, it actually told you what happened at the end of the story. Thanks… A good read though and I’ll add something over on the other blog in the next few days.

I meant to mention before that if you have a desire for political power, you could become Mayor of London. Just sign up here and say why you should be elected and if you win the blog vote they’ll give you campaign money to run for mayor. I will be voting in the mayoral elections so if you do turn out to be the successful candidate then maybe I’ll vote for you. Maybe... I suspect anarchy would break out if some of the candidates won though, so we’ll see if democracy is all its cracked up to be.

10 comments:

Casdok said...

I think my son would be a great Mayor! :)

titration said...

Those quotes make me a little mad. Crazy. Hey I just saw you are reading Dorothy Sayers. Do make sure to post about that one. I have only read one book by her but I keep getting told to read her books!

DAB said...

Just going to pop out to get my haircut for my campaign video, got to look my best it's all about image you know ;) TFX

Random Reflections said...

casdok - get him signed up. We need someone who is going to shake things up a bit!

titration - I was really surprised by those quotes because the rest of the book isn't like that at all - but it was written in 1844! I'll remember to comment on the Dorothy L Sayers book.

TF - I expect to see you signed up immediately and for you to have a fully worked out manifesto. But mainly for you to have good hair.

Anonymous said...

The Count of Monte Cristo by the same author is one of my favourite books but you've made me wonder now and I might re-read it to check.

Random Reflections said...

LKSN- sorry to make you doubt. I'm sure it was just a mad moment from Dumas!

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm sure those kind of ideas were perfectly acceptable in those days.

Random Reflections said...

LKSN - I wasn't particularly shocked byt it. I was travelling on the tube when I read it and actually laughed (which is totally unacceptable on the tube). I was just surprised by what it said - and that it isn't liek that anywhere else in the book. It's all on one page. Weird.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he had just been dumped that day.

Random Reflections said...

LKSN- Indeed! Perhaps it was just a bad day - that now lives on in histor...