Betty Neels actually mentions AIDS! In 1992, I would imagine that it would be nearly impossible not to mention if you were writing dialogue for a hospital ER. Magic Johnson announced his case in late 1991 and Philadelphia came out in 1993 which, if you think about it, put The Prescient Betty right on the cusp of history. Not too shabby for a gal in her 80s...
Megan owns wine glasses from Woolworths. Woolworths makes me think of a song
by Nancy Griffith. Here's the link. The intro is entirely worth it--wherein the singer reminisces about seeing a Woolworth's store in London and wishing the cabbie would stop so that she could run in and 'fill her suitcase with unnecessary plastic objects'....and in her Woolworth's glasses they drank Bollinger 1985--The colour stands out compared to the other wines. Classic meaty-cheesy Bollinger nose, of honey and nuts, oiled oak and Stilton. Big, concentrated, flavoursome palate. Mature, honey and oil. A gentle mousse though, with a full, creamy palate and fresh, firm acidity. Lovely. Megan calls it lovely too, so she must have some discrimination...
Megan finds out that the professor is a baron. Well, he could be a belted earl for all she cared...Up to the seventeenth century an earl was invested by the Sovereign with a sword which was girded around his waist - hence 'a belted earl'. How I dearly wish it referred to how a peer held his liquor...To the left is a picture of Baron Nelson--the older brother of Admiral Nelson succeeded to his titles and was raised to the Earldom in honor of Horatio's exploits; which is a little like Martin Scorsese winning an Oscar for The Departed because they were dumb enough to pass over Raging Bull...In Holland, Megan visits the tomb of Floris the Fifth who had fought the Frisians. Could any nation anywhere boast a better tongue-twister than this? And, unlike Betty Botter, he was an actual person. He lived from 1254-1296 and was murdered most vilely by dastards acting in behalf of England and Flanders. Danged Flans...Vondel (the Dutch poet that Betty mentions from time to time) wrote some poetry about Dear Floris the fifth who fought the Frisians and was killed by Flanders--ah, it's just too fun...
Megan also sees Rembrant's birth street in Leiden which doesn't interest me in the slightest. Of more interest is that he had three daughters named Cornelia (Great shades of George Foreman!)--two from his wife who did not survive infancy and one from another woman after his wife had died. In looking over my own family tree I notice that this is not an uncommon practice but it is a touch creepy. This happens in The Secret Pool when little Lisa dies, the couple have another baby named Lisa.
Paradise For Two:
Prudence uses Lumiere perfume (from Rochas): “The Light” appeared in 1984. Its floral composition included: aldehydes, bergamot, fruity and green notes, violet and or
ange blossom as top; honeysuckle, hyacinth, oriss root, rose, tuberose and ylang-ylang in the middle; and cedar, musk, oakmoss, sandalwood and vetiver at the base. It was re-launched in 2000. Being relatively similar to its forerunner, it became modern; kept its brightness and optimism...Haso goes to a restaurant called De Trochreed, part of a chain of hotels and restaurant under the name Romantic. Betty Debbie and I agreed that this sounded a mite cheesy for our RDDs. Google failed to clear this up for me.
Prudence reads Pride and Prejudice to Haso's mum--the bit where Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth. I'm sure we've all got them. What's your favorite part? (I like the line, 'Those who do not complain are never pitied.')
You can tell I'm the mother of four small children--to me, Lumiere only connotes the candlestick in "Beauty and the Beast."
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