These are pictures of our visit to Chamberi ghost station on Saturday. 17th December 2022.
The station closed in 1966. It is
now as it was then.
The famous architect who also designed the Cibeles building, Antonio Palacios
designed the station in 1917.
Thanks to Pedro for organizing us and to our interesting guide for all
the stories about a very popular part of the city for cinema goers back in the
day
La jota será declarada Manifestación Representativa del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial por UNESCO
The jota will be declared Representative Manifestation of Cultural Patrimony by UNESCO
Who was it who said, 'The world has been abandoned into the hands of men?....
Actually that itself is a quote from Graham Greene's No Man's Land, a book you will find in our collection of books at ASEDOW. Books that you can borrow when you join our association.
The quote is appropriate as San Sebastián De Los Reyes celebrates Cinema for Human Rights 2022 and here you will find the programme of this local initiative which will be held once again in our theatre and at the local library in collaboration with Amnesty International. Free entrance.
https://www.ssreyes.org/acces/recursos/novedades/928895576_10112022101910.pdf
Festival | CACERES IRISH FLEADH
The rain will be a good accompaniment to the festival which is held in the beautiful city of Cáceres all this week.
See the nice programme above.
Wednesday 26th October you can join our conversations at the U.P. 18:30h
For the topic write to asedow@gmail.com Everyone has a chance to air their view.
Sculpture by Juan Muñoz
Documenta,
the modern art festival is celebrated in Kassel every five years. This year it
is back.
Kassel is
near Baunatal, the twin city in Germany of San Sebastián De Los Reyes.
There you
can see a sculpture similar to this one
by Juan Muñoz.
It conveys
the idea that although they are being pushed this way and that, people tend to
follow their own minds.
Last Wednesday 15th Juana made the wise suggestion to skip that day’s talks because of the terrible heat wave we are suffering here in Madrid.
Our next and final meeting in this school year will go ahead on June 22nd.
We have opted to have a drink together in a nearby bar, those of us who can be
there.
To the others, have a wonderful summer holiday and we will see you again
in September.
For somebody who studied at U.C.D. and got locked in Martello Tower on a Friday afternoon with her friend Mary the opening chapters of Ulysses were fun to read and I determined to read the novel through to the end on this centenary of its publication.
Buck (Malachi) Mulligan rents the tower as a place to live. Medical students were known for being a cut above the
rest and came well-armed with the classics. Law students too were admired for their
oratory skills. So young and so confident these people from the south. Certainly
we met characters like the Citizen and the others who are introduced to us in
the novel by their first name and surname.
Stephen
Dedalus, son of a highly respected citizen.
Tom
Rochford robin red breasted in cap and breeches.
Blazes Boylan and his smart tan shoes.
Zoe Higgins,
Jack Power, Lenehan O Madden, Professor Mac Hugh, Father Crohley, Myles
Crawford, Martin Cunningham. Little Harry Hughes.
The
remarkable progenitor Theodore.
They are
all making their way to Dignam’s funeral.
Leopold
Bloom in his dark suit stays outside and observes beautiful Gerty.
Gerty knew
one thing: The man who lifts his hand to a woman, save in kindness, deserves to
be branded the lowest of the low.
Bloom had
been wandering the streets of Dublin with a bar of lemon soap in one pocket and
a wrapped up piece of kidney in the other, which eventually gets eaten thankfully.
O’ Connell
St, Rathmines, Rathfarnham, Blackrock,Dalkey, Sandmount Eccles St, Donneybrook,Palmerston Park,
Bachelor’s Walk, Dorset St, Malahide. All these
places bring back fond memories of Dublin to anyone who has lived there. I do hope they have added Boulevard Bloom to the street map.
And then
there are the real characters, his contemporaries. Joyce is kind when he
mentions Oscar Wilde’s love that dares not speak its name. He mentions The
Platonic dialogues.
Bloom is
the witness of Irish politics at a time when the new state is being born. Arthur
Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin. Parnell, Maud Gonne and Gladstone are all
mentioned.
Leo Bloom,
careful spender, careful drinker jumps to the defence of his friend, Stephen.
‘You hit him without provocation,’ he said angrily to the English soldier.
At another
time, ‘I resent violence and intolerance in anything. It never reaches anything
nor stops anything’
He
shepherds Stephen home to the house he lives in with Molly and it is Molly who
finishes the novel remembering her life in Gibraltar, her powers of seduction.
The affinity between the moon and women. Her power to render men insane.
But this is
Bloom’s day.
Joyce through
Leopold explores the points of contact between the Irish and the Hebrew
languages both ancient languages that go back to the time of Noah’s Ark, their
dispersal persecution, survival and revivals. Leopold the Hungarian Jew whose
family is Presbyterian by conversion and Catholic by marriage is able to draw
on a wealth of knowledge. Perhaps this explains the impression that he is not
as reckless as the others who view horse racing as a means to opulence.
Dismissive
of priests. ‘No families themselves to feed….No guests. All for number one.’
He can
paraphrase the Credo to the detriment of the English. But these are his
characters speaking, the Citizen, the medical students, ‘votaries of levity,
seminaries of such frivolity.’ Another example is Taylor’s magnificent speech
in the press office where Leopold works and where they congregate before
closing shop and heading for Mooney's pub. The scholarly repartee provides great entertainment to anyone missing Ireland. You will go back to the book for their company.
There are moments as
lovely as this:
‘His soul
is far away. It is as powerful perhaps to be awakened from a vision as to be born.
Malachi observing Stephen’s remorse or remembrances preserved a Druid’s
silence. But it was a misconception on Malachi’s part. The debate which ensued
was an epitome of the course of life.’
And his
prodigious memory of special places in Ireland such as Ballykinler beach where
St Patrick landed.
St Brigid’s
elm at Kildare.
Lynch’s
castle.
Isolde’s
tower
Glendalough
The Bog of
Allen
The Salmon
leap
Monasterboice
Clonmacnois
Killarney
Croagh
Patrick
The Rock of
Cashel
Cong Abbey
Lough Neagh
Tallaght’s
green hills
Jury’s
Hotel
Maynooth college
The Golden
Vale of Tipperary
James Joyce 1882 – 1941.
He moved
abroad in 1902.
Ulysses was
published in1922
Bloom’s Day
on June 16th celebrates the main character, Leopold Bloom’s day in
Dublin .
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction;
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.
This is from The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats
The quote is also beside Pablo Picasso's painting of Guernica at the Reina Sofía Art Museum in Madrid
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
Flexibility
BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / Flexible working
Our talking point for Wednesday 8th June 2022
Canal Norte reports all the latest news stories in San Sebastián De Los Reyes giving support and visibilty to local initiatives such as this assocation.
It gives a good preview of what you can expect when you come to our talks.
Also, you can get a glimpse in other videos of the fabulous entertainment offer we are very fortunate to have in this town all within walking distance.
https://canalnorte.org/videos/de-tertulia-en-ingles-con-la-asociacion-educativa-oscar-wilde-de-sanse/
Our weekly get -
togethers continue.
We had a good
conversation yesterday on the benefits of boredom. Paco suggested the topic and
sent us a link with the intriguing title 'The most boring man in
Britain.'
It certainly
wasn't boring.
We are a
group of people with diverse interests and ages. We meet weekly to talk about
different topics in English. This is why we want you to meet us and join us for
a fun and cultural afternoon.
asedow@gmail.com
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LIVELY DEBATES AND DISCUSSIONS IN ENGLISH EVERY WEDNESDAY
If you're a foreigner, it is an opportunity to socialise with the locals; if you're a Spaniard don't let your English get rusty!
(18:30 - 20h Av Baunatal)
A week until Easter Sunday and schools are off for the Easter holidays.
We will be
back on April 20th2022. Enjoy the mini holiday.
In the
meantime here you can browse some articles about Oscar Wilde.
His beautiful
writing is timeless.
The children’s
story The Selfish Giant was the touching inspiration that gave this association
its name.
On another note, this poem is appropriate for Palm Sunday which is today.
The children of the Spanish civil war is a term used to describe the plight of families who had no alternative but to send their children to the safety of countries such as Britain, Mexico and Russia where they awaited the end of the atrocious war. However, the elected government of Spain’s second republic was replaced by a dictatorship that lasted forty years and there was no return.
Franco passed
power on to King Juan Carlos who allowed a referendum where the Spanish people chose
democratic rule.
Spain now
has a constitutional monarchy with King Philip VI as head of state.
This period
is known as the transition and has been exemplary for other nations emerging from
dictatorships.
When
President Zelensky of Ukraine addressed the Spanish Parliament yesterday 5th April 2022 he invoked the
memory of the bombing of Guernica in 1937 when the children of the Spanish
civil war were shipped to freedom from similar horrifying scenes in the Basque
country as in the Ukraine today.
An ancient
oak tree in Guernica survived the bombing and its acorns have been collected
and are given as gifts to symbolise the desire for peace. The current tree
standing in its place in the town of Guernica has grown from one of these acorns
and is only fourteen years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gernikako_Arbola
Discussion Wednesday 30th March.
Lockdown has opened up opportunities. Remote work means millions of workers can now access new roles previously geographically off limits.
Workers may choose to work in the office full time or for companies that offer flexible and hybrid work arrangements.
Currently young people are changing jobs every two years.
All of this means businesses have to adapt to a new scenario and make chnges.
This newspaper article is seven years old yet we still have not managed to come up with words that we need to use in everday language that are not gender specific, beginning with the third person singular pronoun. Or maybe we have but the news has not reached us. Come and have your say at ourWednesday conversations
https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/jan/30/is-it-time-we-agreed-on-a-gender-neutral-singular-pronoun
The earthy nature of the shamrock we pinned on our lapels on St Patrick’s Day is a strong memory of childhood in Ireland.
Shamrock is not easy to find but usually you will find some growing in a cemetery or near a wood. It is like tiny clover.The leaves are heart shaped.
We would pick clumps, bring them home and wash the soil off the roots and wrap the
little bunches in tin foil or tissue. Then we would have a pin ready for all the family to
wear their sprig of shamrock proudly on St Patrick’s Day.
To get you in the mood this is an invitation for you to come and meet us and to tell us your story.
You can sing a song or play a tune too if you like. We would love that.
Wednesday 16th March
At last it is raining in Spain.
To improve her diction Eliza Doolittle had to sing 'The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.'
Eliza Doolittle was the character in a play, written by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, called Pygmalon. It was later adapted to the cinema under the name 'My Fair Lady'.
The phrase is not true at all but good for practising the sound /eɪ/
In case you are checking the blog to see what activities we are offering, here is a resumé of 2022.
So far we have discussed the Metaverse and NFTs(Non Fungible Tokens) on the suggestion of Belino who offered a fascinating glimpse into our new virtual reality with links to well documented articles.
We meet up on Wednesday evening after six on the first floor of La Universidad Popular in San Sebastián De Los Reyes where we chat informally about our news, borrow books and launch into our topic.
This Wednesday
As Spain is in dire need of some rain and people say here that if you sing badly you bring on the rain, we are going to lend a helping hand this week!
Lola has sent the words of three well known numbers. One to celebrate Carole King's 80th birthday! You've got a friend. Amazing.
The next one will be Hotel California by the Eagles and we will round off with American Pie, the reason being it was in the news recently because Taylor Swift has beaten its record as the longest hit to reach Number one in the American charts. Her song All Too Well is over ten minutes long.
Lola says she will save The Beatles for another day:)
And if you would like to join us, drop a note to asedow@gmail.com
The melody used to symbolize the EU comes from the Ninth Symphony composed in 1823 by Ludwig Van Beethoven, when he set music to the "Ode to Joy", Friedrich von Schiller's lyrical verse from 1785.
The anthem symbolises not only the
European Union but also Europe in a wider sense. The poem "Ode to
Joy" expresses Schiller's idealistic vision of the human race becoming
brothers - a vision Beethoven shared.
In 1972, the Council of Europe adopted Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme as its anthem. In 1985, it was adopted by EU leaders as the official anthem of the European Union. There are no words to the anthem; it consists of music only. In the universal language of music, this anthem expresses the European ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity.
However, the music became enormously popular once again in 1970 when Spanish singer, Miguel Ríos, had a worldwide hit with a rock song set to the tune of the ninth symphony by Ludwig Van Beethoven entitled Himno De La Alegría 'Come Sing A Song Of Joy'
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