Despatch Thirteen
The story so far:
Tatiana is employed by a Oleg, a Russian oligarch exiled at sea on his yacht the Flying Dutchman (Letushchy Golandets, Letgo for short). Her job is to brief him on all aspects of British life pending his arrival in London. Oleg and his wife Natalya (Natasha) have a son Nicholas (Kolya)who is down for Eton. Tatiana has a bodyguard Alexander (Sasha) with whom she recently had to flee to a safe house in a remote part of Scotland. Due to difficulties with the bank, which has frozen Oleg’s account, Tatiana has had to let the basement of her house in London and Sasha has got a job as a roadie until Christmas with a touring theatre company...
Despatch Thirteen
A visit to the Holbein exhibition at Tate Britain. This gallery was built by a 19th century sugar baron, like our Tretyakovsky Museum of Art and the Zalesskiy palace, formerly the British Embassy, in Moscow. Holbein was a 16th century master portrait painter. One picture caught my eye, with a view to naming your future yachts. It is called the Triumph of Riches – very appropriate -, and the merry throng of people depicted are labelled with Latin names, many of which roll off the tongue. I do not know what they mean, but then probably nor would most people in the ports round the world where your fleet may dock. These are some of those words, in no particular order:
Avaritia; Libertas; Impostura; Bon Fides; Fortuna; Usura; Iustitia; Contractus; Aequalitas; Notitia; Voluntas; Ratio; Lucullus; Simonides. If you and Natasha are blessed with a daughter to be company for little Kolya, perhaps you will consider Avaritia, Usura or Notitia? These names have a certain cachet of classical learning which will enable them to hold their heads high in any educated company.
Q: I am a simple seaman and I would like to start an art collection. What would you advise?
A: Your wall space is limited in the crew’s quarters. So-called kinetic (moving) art is coming back into fashion Why not consider a mobile hanging from the ceiling? Look on the web for an Alexander Calder if you can afford one.
English idiom of the day: ‘Nobody expects..’ When this formulation is used at the beginning of a sentence, it is probably a reference to a famous comedy sketch about the Spanish Inquisition from a TV series called Monty Python’s Flying Circus. This series is a cult among many of the intelligentsia, and I have secured a ticket for their latest venture, a musical about the search for the Holy Grail . I am not sure how the Monty Python cult relates to mainstream Christian observance. Perhaps you could ask Fr Mitrofan what his opinion is of these and other manifestations, such as their movie based on the New Testament, 'The Life of Brian'.
The copyright and all other rights in this blog and the characters featured in it belong to Tatiana Larin-Gremin, and they may not be copied, adapted or otherwise used without her agreement.
Tatiana is employed by a Oleg, a Russian oligarch exiled at sea on his yacht the Flying Dutchman (Letushchy Golandets, Letgo for short). Her job is to brief him on all aspects of British life pending his arrival in London. Oleg and his wife Natalya (Natasha) have a son Nicholas (Kolya)who is down for Eton. Tatiana has a bodyguard Alexander (Sasha) with whom she recently had to flee to a safe house in a remote part of Scotland. Due to difficulties with the bank, which has frozen Oleg’s account, Tatiana has had to let the basement of her house in London and Sasha has got a job as a roadie until Christmas with a touring theatre company...
Despatch Thirteen
A visit to the Holbein exhibition at Tate Britain. This gallery was built by a 19th century sugar baron, like our Tretyakovsky Museum of Art and the Zalesskiy palace, formerly the British Embassy, in Moscow. Holbein was a 16th century master portrait painter. One picture caught my eye, with a view to naming your future yachts. It is called the Triumph of Riches – very appropriate -, and the merry throng of people depicted are labelled with Latin names, many of which roll off the tongue. I do not know what they mean, but then probably nor would most people in the ports round the world where your fleet may dock. These are some of those words, in no particular order:
Avaritia; Libertas; Impostura; Bon Fides; Fortuna; Usura; Iustitia; Contractus; Aequalitas; Notitia; Voluntas; Ratio; Lucullus; Simonides. If you and Natasha are blessed with a daughter to be company for little Kolya, perhaps you will consider Avaritia, Usura or Notitia? These names have a certain cachet of classical learning which will enable them to hold their heads high in any educated company.
Q: I am a simple seaman and I would like to start an art collection. What would you advise?
A: Your wall space is limited in the crew’s quarters. So-called kinetic (moving) art is coming back into fashion Why not consider a mobile hanging from the ceiling? Look on the web for an Alexander Calder if you can afford one.
English idiom of the day: ‘Nobody expects..’ When this formulation is used at the beginning of a sentence, it is probably a reference to a famous comedy sketch about the Spanish Inquisition from a TV series called Monty Python’s Flying Circus. This series is a cult among many of the intelligentsia, and I have secured a ticket for their latest venture, a musical about the search for the Holy Grail . I am not sure how the Monty Python cult relates to mainstream Christian observance. Perhaps you could ask Fr Mitrofan what his opinion is of these and other manifestations, such as their movie based on the New Testament, 'The Life of Brian'.
The copyright and all other rights in this blog and the characters featured in it belong to Tatiana Larin-Gremin, and they may not be copied, adapted or otherwise used without her agreement.
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