h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi K,
It's me dropping by to say 'Hello' and that I hope you don't mind, but I've been reading your chatty thread about that French song.
I was interested to learn that you are Dutch; and to say that I don't speak any other language than my native tongue, English, but I am trying to learn German on line on the BBC site, admittedly rather late in life, but I do know a few words and can read German with a struggle. Some years ago I went to evening classes at our local college (my next door neighbour, the college) but only got so far. They say it's harder when one is older, and they're right! Strangely enough, even though I am mono-lingual, I love the sounds of foreign languages, particularly French, and when I went to attempt to learn French, and also the German, the tutors both told me I had a good ear for the accents and my pronunciation was accurate; the trouble was learning the languages enough to be able to write and speak them fully. I find that daily intrusions of domestic matters break my regular habit of study!

f.

Yes, I know what you mean. Luckily I had English, German and French at school. I dropped French at a certain moment and regret it dearly now. A friend at school was totally infatuated with Julien Clerc. She bought tickets for his concert at the Concertgebouw in The Hague and invited me to come along. To be prepared I borrowed all her Julien Clerc records and learned that he makes very good music. Now, I wouldn't have said that if I knew only his hits on the charts.
Afterwards, at one moment in the distant past, I had a boyfriend who was a French teacher. His collection of French records was enormeous. Barbara, Guy Béart, Charles Trenet, Boris Vian, Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan (?) and her husband, and the great Jacques Brel
And German, now that's great too. The Drei Grosschen Oper by Weill & Brecht is still one of my favorites.
Later, much later, I had an Italian boyfriend. We only spoke English, he being too lazy too learn Dutch and I refused to learn Italian. When we split up and I was going crazy with heart pain, I signed myself up for an Italian course. You know what, Italian is probably the most easiest language in the world to learn.

You know, I have always had that impression myself about Italian, and Spanish too! It's rather surprising, since they both have close Latin roots, and Latin is famously difficult to learn.
I also know about heart pain on losing a sweetheart! At 17 I met a sweet and beautiful girl and we fell in love in a matter of minutes. It was a totally mutual fascination,( even though I flatter myself in it's telling; I was a slim and good looking lad in those days, and had quite a following of very acceptable young ladies.) She went off to college 3 years later and met another guy with more cash than I could ever hope for, and who was tall and handsome. 'The End of the Affair'. I was distracted with heartpain and felt it was the end of my perfect world. It affected my performance at work a little, and I was a pain to my poor parents for a while. I played the Tchiakovsky 1st piano over and over; the same with the Rachmaninov No2 piano, and other romantic works. I love classical music with a great passion. I have not seen her now for 45 years, and often wonder how she has fared in this life and whether she is still with us! Even her name was evocative: Diana Lovell.

f.

That's a very beautiful name. Diana, the huntress.

Yes, my first love was a boy from 6th class elementary school, Erwin Vlierman. I fell in love and stayed in love all through highschool, I would sneak out of class to go to the garderobe and bury my nose his green military coat. He had a peculiar smell. Probably something to do with his big sis who was a hippy and used patachouli as a perfume. Then I would pick the coat up and hang it somewere else so that when we were free to go home, I and my friends could watch him looking all over the place for it. He was lovely boy.