The number of times that my classmates and I have gone over the various tenses is almost embarrassing when I think about it. Slowly but surely we have all got better at it.
The tense that gives us the most trouble is subjunctive and it seems to be because that tense is so rarely used in English, it is hard to understand when and how it would be used.
I am lucky enough to have a comprehensive collection of French music, which means that while I am not particularly comfortable with using subjunctive on the fly, I can at least recognise it when I hear it. (sometimes even without thinking about it)
The trouble is that to recognise in the lyrics that phrases are shortened, to make them easier to sing or to say, as well as use of the subjunctive is quite difficult, as this phrase extract from Francoise Hardy's "Fais-moi une place" shows:
Fais-moi une place
Au fond d'ton coeur
Pour que j't'embrasse
Lorsque tu pleures
Je deviendrai
Tout fou, tout clown, gentil
Pour qu'tu souries
J'veux q't'aies jamais mal
Qu't'aies jamais froid
Et tout m'est égal
Tout : à part toi
Je t'aime
And from Jean Jacques Goldman's Confidentiel :
Peut-être que l'on se retrouvera
Peut-être que peut-être pas
Mais sache qu'ici bas, je suis là
Ça restera comme une lumière
Qui me tiendra chaud dans mes hivers
Un petit feu de toi qui s'éteint pas.
Of course we run words together in English all the time. We also use the phrases (in subjunctive) "let it be", "be careful", "be on time" without even thinking about the tense. It's only when learning another language that one can be confronted with the knowledge that there's a lot about our own language that we do not know. And that most people don't care, either!
(And of course there are also the Il faut, and que cues for subjunctive- pity it has taken so long to sink in)
If you want to listen to the beautiful songs these extracts are taken from, check out iTunes...or numerous other sites on the internet. And I can (now) provide a reasonable translation...
]]>The words of a man who lost his wife and 2 teenage sons at one of the memorial services in
And we will do our best to learn from the experience. I was moved by this display at a winery at Kangaroo Ground yesterday.
Living in Melbourne at this time of year is fun, some of our team managed to be only a few steps away from the second in line to the British throne last night at the tennis, and there are many other celebrities and sportspeople in town.
And in another unexpected, but welcome surprise: two tickets each for Gold Class Cinema have arrived on the desks of my colleagues and me.
A long weekend is about to start, too, which I hope will mean several long sleep ins, if the cats allow. Sometimes, they just want to get up and play. But if the morning is cool, they love to luxuriate in the bed, liking nothing better than a slumbering human to smooch up to.
Melbournians spend a lot of time talking about the weather, in my experience. Maybe one reason for this is the fluctuations in temperatures that you can experience, from one day to the next, and even in the proverbial "four seasons in one day".
We're now facing a predicted high temperature today of 43 degrees C, the hottest, and most extreme fire danger day we have had since Black Saturday, 7th February, 2009, when 173 people lost their lives on one of the most dangerous days of fire danger since European settlement of this vast country.
Today is not expected to be as hot as Black Saturday, which according to the weather bureau reached 46 degrees. Nor is the wind as strong. But it is bad enough, with campers and locals being asked to leave camping grounds in the Grampians, Little Desert,
Here in our office, we hope that the morning "hissy' fit by the office air conditioning system will be rectified, as at is at least working on the upper floors of the building. Once again it seems a little petty to be complaining about air conditioning not working properly, when people are risking their lives fighting fires, even if there has been nothing catastrophic to date. Let's just hope it stays that way.
The hot conditions also threaten to play havoc with the public transport system. The thought of sitting in a train that is not going anywhere, with air conditioning not working, somehow does not appeal.
]]>Millie will wait by the door for G to come home, and follows him around the house, waiting for him to sit down. Then she will sit on his knee, and would do so for hours, if she could. This devotion does wear a little thin after a while, especially when the weather is hot.
I am a poor substitute, but if he is not at home, she will sit on my knee, and there have been occasions when I've had all three cats on my knee, especially in the chilly weather.
]]>Time to write a little, time to contemplate.
In retrospect, the year has been a busy one...but looking forward to the next year.
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This might have created a sore belly, but the taste is wonderful and overrides any potential discomfort.
This guilty trait is also shared with R, in France, who once told me that she only bought 500 grams of cherries in the morning, not 1 kilogram.
When asked why, she replied that if she bought a kilo in the morning, she would eat the whole kilo in the morning.
I can relate to that...
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Maybe if my team was Collingwood, it would be a bit easier to get over it, they have been in 13 losing finals apparently, not that I care about them....
It's just that the excitement of getting there was fantastic, but the disappointment is palpable, still.
I'm not used to extended heat waves in November, either...can't really come to terms with night after night being hot. Not helped by three felines cuddling up in the night.... I sincerely hope this is not a harbinger of a hot summer to come, otherwise the aforementioned felines will be in another room.
I have been blessed with family and friends, and although not everything in our lives goes wonderfully, all the time, we know things can, and do move on.
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The feeling of desolation was not the same as the loss in 1997; the Saints last GF appearance, when they were thumped by Adelaide who had a burst of brilliant play in the third quarter to break to game apart.
This game is likely to go down as one of the great matches, a titanic struggle, and a battle of wills. Unfortunately, there has to be a winner, and a loser.
In the psyche of the long time Saints supporter, we never really think we can win, until the siren goes. This season we've got used to winning, but can never take it for granted, and rightfully so.
Maybe next year....
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Geelong under siege...but a point the difference in the Saints favour and I am still coping, just...
Managed to articulate a few words to the lovely N at half time, and a wonderful contest.
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I have calmed down a little bit, but still a fair way to go...and as the game restarts, tension levels rise, yet again....
]]>A goal is a goal...
Rain is teeming down, and what an amazing match.
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