Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Lisztomana or Lost in Translation

I feel like one of the characters in Lost in Translation. One - which one -  perhaps both.

I am sitting in the airport in Hong Kong. I got up at 3.30 am today, without an alarm, left the friends with whom I was staying [I added an extra day to my work trip so I could walk around a little - the office generously expropriated only half of my day off] by 5 am, only to discover at the airport that my flight was canceled and I had to wait until noon.

I talked my way into the pre-flight lounge and found myself pondering the following after my second cup of coffee:
  • What do the lyrics of Lisztomania really mean?
  • Is it wrong to drink before noon 7 am? (And I don't mean when you've stayed up all night - in that case if you are still capable of drinking then I think you've earned it.) This is one of those moments where I wish I were standing at the bar in some small town in Italy in December where the old men don't doubt the good sense of getting a shot of grappa in their espresso.
  • What does it all mean? No, I don't mean life, but I mean my Google and Blogger tabs which have all kindly been translated into Chinese for me.
A few postcards from the last few days. Hope you're easing into the holidays. A few more days for me and then home!

xo

bb









6 comments:

Camille said...

I don't think it's wrong to drink before 7 am, although at that time of the day, better call it a 'remedy' like in the early years of the last century. (Apparently my great-grandmother would drink stout ale all day and forbid anyone to touch it because it was HER remedy...) Have a safe flight home if you're not already back! x

Unknown said...

great photos!!! ;))

Claire said...

Ah, those pesky boys - known to remove any words that risk making the lyrics make sense or have an obvious meaning. And as Branco once said (paraphrasing), "using English is more poetic because it's not the language we use to buy cheese."

jugulate jugulate too late...

p.s. I think airports (and planes) are zones without time - so drinking is allowed.

Jude said...

Wow, I thought I had a rough week of unexpected work travel (and work crunches), and being an internet orphan, but it's nothing like being delayed in an airport in Hong Kong!

Thank you for sharing this peek into another part of the planet despite all the travel mania! Wishing you safe, speedy journals back home!

Bombay Beauty said...

Camile - Brilliant, your great-grandmother. And with that dispensation, pardon me while I...

Jane - many thanks

Claire - that's a brilliant quote and makes so much sense. For me French is romantic exactly because I order my cheese in French!

Jude - many thanks - safely tucked in back at home...

xo

bb

Style, She Wrote said...

Great pictures! Love that amazing architecture. xo style, she wrote

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