Wednesday, August 10, 2011

THE COBB AT LYME REGIS - MERYL STREEP AND ME



Meryl Streep, or what? Or what, I think. If I'd removed my glasses? Still, or what. Don't blame me. Blame Cathy. It was her idea and her sweater draped over my head. In the first picture, I was smiling, and that would not do. For this picture, I had a hard time keeping a straight face. The picture of me is dreadful. Will I do anything for a laugh? Well, almost anything.

I'll write more about Lyme Regis and its resonances for me later. My photos are not that good, so I'll look for better pics on the web. Suffice it to say that when Grandpère and I traveled to England the first time in 1982, we wanted to go to Lyme Regis, but we never made it there. I've been wanting to go ever since, and thanks to Cathy, I made it there this year.

Image of movie poster from Wikipedia.

42 comments:

  1. Were you able to hunt down a Jeremy Irons lookalike?

    I love your sense of humor, GM.

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  2. 1982. Forgotten it was that long ago that "The French Loo-Tenant's Woman" was made into a movie.

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  3. Sorry, cher Paul, I could not. :-( Though if I had, I'd have had dibs.

    Lapin, the movie was released in 1981, and it was fresh in our minds when we went to England. I didn't read the book until after I saw the film.

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  4. There was sadly a distinct lack of Jeremy Irons lookalikes I'm afraid, Paul.

    I don't think it's a dreadful piccie at all - it's quite nice - although I'm sure in one of the other ones you were smouldering enigmatically in a more Streep-like manner, Mimi.

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  5. Cathy, the other picture was a closer view and even more dreadful. Also, I flipped the photo to be facing the same way as Meryl, so the view of Lyme Regis in the background is all wrong.

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  6. Actually if I could have nominated an English actor to turn up and sweep us both off our feets on the Cobb I'm not sure my first choice would be Jeremy anyway. That nice Rupert Penry-Jones who starred as Captain Wentworth in one of the adaptations of Persuasion would be preferable.

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  7. Cathy, I would not have chosen Irons, either. I heard a talk by Nicholas Grace, Anthony Blanche in 'Brideshead Revisited', who went to Oxford with Irons, and he told us tales that revealed that he was something of a prick once he became famous. Hugh Grant was there at the same time, and Grace said he was a terrible actor in his performances at Oxford.

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  8. Mr Penry-Jones seems too wholesome for footsweeping, methinks. I know you have some handsome bad boys in England but they were probably warned you two were traveling about and decided they are not THAT bad.

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  9. The man I'd want to meet is Johnny Depp. He is sooo sexy, and he's smart, too. He's calmed down since he married and had kids, but he was a bad boy.

    Thanks for the compliment, Paul. ;-)

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  10. Mr Depp: excellent choice, Mimi.

    And you're welcome. I bow to excellence.

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  11. Mimi - I love the photo.

    Ha ha about your leading man. When we watched Pirates of the Caribbean, my boys asked if I were Kiera Knightley would I want to end up with Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp, and my husband told them that actually I wanted to BE Johnny Depp!

    I think he was right, actually.

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  12. yeah --Depp it is. And Grandmere --you just don't look startled or scared enough to out-Streep Streep !!! Perhaps that is a good thing!

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  13. Thank you all for your attention to our antics. I still blame Cathy.

    So, Penny, you want to BE Johnny Depp? Well, it's a thought.

    margaret, how could I look startled or scared when I was trying to keep a straight face? I'm not THAT good of an actor.

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  14. Oh, I wouldn't pick Penry-Jones if I had free choice altogether - I was looking for a Cobb connection, and he has that, cos he was in Persuasion :)

    Youall are right that he is far too cleancut in general terms ;)

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  15. As fer Depp, he has a beautiful face and a brain, but he's not that much of a bad boy - never was.

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  16. Actually, thinking about it, if you want a Cobb connection, there aren't many English actors to choose from - there's Irons, Penry-Jones, or Ciaran Hinds (also in an adaptation of Persuasion) - not sure who else.

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  17. You're forgetting Sacha Baron Cohen & Russell Brand, Cathy.

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  18. As appealing as Lapin's suggestions might be in some quarters, I might put forward the choice of Rufus Sewell.

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  19. I wish I could take Johnny Depp seriously, but Depp meaning idiot in German, I just cannot get over myself every time I hear or read his name.

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  20. Lapin, I didn't know either Baron Cohen or Brand had a Cobb connection!! What is it? ... I hate Russell Brand so much. Also, does Rufus Sewell have one? In which case, he wins hands down with me.

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  21. Didn't read your post properly, Cathy, and assumed that you were just trawling for suitable actors. 100% with you where Brand is concerned & no fan of Cohen either.

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  22. I do believe Depp had a bit of a reputation before he settled down, Cathy.

    Erika, that is so funny. I'm glad I didn't know the German word for idiot. Still, I'll stick with my Johnny.

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  23. Mimi, I think your photo with glasses is nothing short of "spec"tacular!

    PS _ I can hear the groans from here.

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  24. whiteycat, MY groan nearly split my eardrums.

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  25. Rufus Sewell? Oh yes. Cathy, I'll arm wrestle you for him.

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  26. I may just enter the fray for Rufus Sewell, myself. Take that, Cathy and Paul!

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  27. We are a dignified trio. I missed you so much when you were gallivanting about.

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  28. Dignified? Definition, please.

    I missed you all, too. I suppose I could buy a small Netbook like Cathy's to use while I'm away, but my only free time was when I was riding trains, which admittedly I did quite a bit.

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  29. Not reading the comments but oh yes, you do look the same. What a hoot.

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  30. Caminante, it is a hoot and Cathy's own brilliant idea.

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  31. I would quite like to arm wrestle Paul purely because I suspect it would be fun :D However possibly Mimi should have Rufus, just because she Meryls the best.

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  32. Cathy, how do we know I Meryl best when no one else Meryled?

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  33. You just do, you have That Thang Goin' On, Mimi.

    I am glad Lapin agrees with me on Brand.

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  34. Cathy, you are great fun to be with, and you added nice and significant touches during our travels that made them all the more enjoyable.

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  35. "Nice and significant touches...." I thought we had enough lesbian rumors with you two sipping single malt and kissing on the last trip. Does GP know about this?

    Bring it, Cathy! I'm hitting the gym this weekend. (We do get to drink during this match, right?)

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  36. Paul, how you manage to twist the most innocent of statements....

    I'm talking about the Meryl Streep style photos and having T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets along and...and...

    Methinks I do protest too much.

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  37. It's a gift, I admit it. But I shall try to follow your lead and help elevate the tone.

    Let's return to the Four Quartets. I loves me some Eliot.

    ...As we grow older
    The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
    Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
    Isolated, with no before and after,
    But a lifetime burning in every moment
    And not the lifetime of one man only
    But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

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  38. And the money quote:

    The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
    Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

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  39. Thank you for your kind words, Mimi - I was thinking of our Proms visit earlier today :)

    Paul, we definitely get to drink during our arm wrestling match, and Mimi can help out with the single malt - how's that?

    I loves me some Eliot too.

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  40. Cathy, I plan to write about our cultural activities in London, too - two wonderful evenings of music and one excellent play. Oh, and the Miro exhibit.

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