tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post835126760993562988..comments2024-03-09T11:34:22.175+00:00Comments on The History Girls: On accosting old ladies on the vaporetto on cold misty mornings - Michelle LovricMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-66974546488218368312014-04-14T20:21:38.382+01:002014-04-14T20:21:38.382+01:00Wonderful post! I am trying to restrain my fangirl...Wonderful post! I am trying to restrain my fangirling here ( I really enjoyed The Undrowned Child and The Mourning Emporium)and reply sensibly.<br /><br />I have notebooks, and in them I write down ideas, people I meet, places or situations that strike me as interesting, or names that I could use.Becca McCallumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339982441409936532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-37475641447825943002011-09-20T16:31:41.686+01:002011-09-20T16:31:41.686+01:00thanks for the "excellent", i am so glad...thanks for the "excellent", i am so glad you've liked my site, hope you will be back soon!Donata Ginevrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12602513268855912621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-53268874461297137292011-08-11T14:37:50.617+01:002011-08-11T14:37:50.617+01:00Super post! I adore very old ladies and am looking...Super post! I adore very old ladies and am looking forward to being one myself! Old men are also good value on occasion. I was on the bus from Cambridge Station to our house with Sally Prue and she was telling me about her dad who'd been in the Air Force. The bus was bound for Duxford War Museum. A VERY old man interrupted us to tell us that he'd flown out of the East Anglian airfields during the War....he and I and Sally had a lovely chat! He was marvellous. And in very good nick too, though partially sighted.adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-30083851674263863992011-08-11T13:29:06.370+01:002011-08-11T13:29:06.370+01:00Oh, what a lovely post! Yes, I too, have used thes...Oh, what a lovely post! Yes, I too, have used these kinds of encounters in my novels, sometimes saving them up for years. I remember the old dosser lady telling me in Wellington Square in Oxford that she'd been 'such a pretty dancer' in her youth - and pulling her skirts out and doing a twirl. I used it about twelve years later in Malefice.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-43240085173105914662011-08-11T11:13:36.171+01:002011-08-11T11:13:36.171+01:00Thank you for such a beautiful and evocative post,...Thank you for such a beautiful and evocative post, Michelle. But yes, I too am a vampirical granny-grabber, though I have the same problem as Barbara and risk being deflected from my own period every time I talk to one. I think the truth is that ANY period becomes fascinating when you hear it talked about at first hand, and these wonderful ladies not only talk it but lived it.<br />I so wish now I hadn't neglected my own family's old ladies, but my grandmothers died when I was young. I very much envy those who still have them.alberridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15986443240923520466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-8304740591326301402011-08-11T11:04:42.871+01:002011-08-11T11:04:42.871+01:00Whoa! Ok, being a young writer myself, you've ...Whoa! Ok, being a young writer myself, you've just sent mind-waves shooting up my imagination.<br />Oh no, my parents aren't goning to see me today, i'm just going to be sitting at my window feverishly writing!<br />I shall have to go to Venice and use that little trick sometime!<br />Thank you!<br />D.L.PhippardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-25809241184647420472011-08-11T09:23:44.289+01:002011-08-11T09:23:44.289+01:00Oh, how I agree about old ladies. Quite by coinci...Oh, how I agree about old ladies. Quite by coincidence the gorgeous Welsh lady I mention in my blog (today) told me so many stories of her life in the war that I was in danger of deviating from my own story.<br /><br />Wonderful post Michelle. The fake fur coat sounds terrific. I bought on in Venice five years ago because all the women seemed to be wearing them and they were so stylish and sophisticated. Unfortunately mine doesn't seem quite right for life in an English village.Barbara Mitchelhillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-43267978513000412352011-08-10T20:37:32.954+01:002011-08-10T20:37:32.954+01:00Oh that's lovely! I used to collect mainly old...Oh that's lovely! I used to collect mainly old ladies but old gentlemen too, because of my lack of grandparents, and now hope to be collected myself.<br /><br />I will look old for those elegant and silky ottocenni when I am next in Venice.<br /><br />There is so much story material just lying around it would be wrong not to make use of it. But yes, writers are vampires.Mary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-4841886114885650932011-08-10T18:54:44.993+01:002011-08-10T18:54:44.993+01:00Not an old lady, but I remember being accosted by ...Not an old lady, but I remember being accosted by an old man once, when i was about 16 and was gazing at an exhibit of old lead mining tools, photos, etc behind a glass case in Skipton Library in North Yorkshire. He turned to me and began telling me how he'd worked down the leadmines as a lad, and how he used to hear the pitprops creaking and groaning in the dark, and bits of rubble falling - and he grinned at me and said, "Eee, ah wor frit. Ah wor reet frit."Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-75436213967500271792011-08-10T17:09:56.564+01:002011-08-10T17:09:56.564+01:00There's no doubt you will Michelle... and you&...There's no doubt you will Michelle... and you'll be that marvellous raconteur and source of story that these ladies are to you! Just not sure you'll be wearing the 'sweetly musty mink' though. Marvellous and beautifully written post.Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-3645946386546619022011-08-10T15:23:40.299+01:002011-08-10T15:23:40.299+01:00Loved it! You are so clever and witty. I especiall...Loved it! You are so clever and witty. I especially liked your Italian oxymoron: ‘Che freddo infernale!’ <br /><br />I don't usually approach old ladies when I am travelling (probably because I am one of those clumsy big-boned American tourists always armed with the lethal backpack you mention) but I do talk to men in cowboy hats. Cowboys are among the most polite people you will ever meet. And they aren't alarmed by my backpack!<br /><br />Ciao, bella!Caroline Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07249424644829463560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-81960580323042917702011-08-10T12:53:24.114+01:002011-08-10T12:53:24.114+01:00Gorgeous! Especially loved the bit about the old l...Gorgeous! Especially loved the bit about the old ladies 'in sweetly musty mink'.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-32110017211205488252011-08-10T11:42:54.710+01:002011-08-10T11:42:54.710+01:00What a lovely in-praise-of-old-ladies piece and h...What a lovely in-praise-of-old-ladies piece and how evocative. I agree with you about the wonderfulness of old ladies. I had the good fortune to meet and stay with a very old lady in Toulon when I was in barely into my twenties. She had sailed from Toulon to Algeria in a sailing ship and survived a husband and three brothers. Men fathered their children late in her family which meant that her grandfather had fought with Napoleon. She talked about coffee being much better before the war - meaning WW1. She could point to a mark on her wall made by a canon ball when Toulon harbour was being attacked. She fought in the Resistance and made the best 'soupe au pistou' I've ever eaten. She was 98 when I first met her and 103 when she died. My history teachers did not inspire me in the least but Nono did. One day I hope I'll find the right moment to write about her.Linda B-Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01599899073420595717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-56329014039318390972011-08-10T09:49:26.182+01:002011-08-10T09:49:26.182+01:00Great stuff!Great stuff!Marie-Louisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16305065420884420669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-25858067569866420162011-08-10T08:20:29.015+01:002011-08-10T08:20:29.015+01:00I have met some fascinating people on trains and i...I have met some fascinating people on trains and in supermarket queues and other unlikely places. There are interesting people to be found almost anywhere but, you are right, the oldest are often the most fascinating of all. I always felt rather sorry for Madame Calment dying at 126 at not being able to say to anyone "remember when" about her childhood - but perhaps she needed someone like you to whom she could tell the stories?catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.com