The Starlings
~ Lyrics by The Elbow
How dare the Premier ignore my invitations?
He'll have to go
So, too, the bunch he luncheons with
It's second on my list of things to do
At the top is stopping by
Your place of work and acting like
I haven't dreamed of you and I
And marriage in an orange grove
You are the only thing in any room you're ever in
I'm stubborn, selfish and too old
I sat you down and told you how
the truest love that's ever found
Is for oneself
You pulled apart my theory
With a weary and disinterested sigh
So yes I guess I'm asking you
To back a horse that's good for glue
And nothing else
But find a man that's truer than,
Find a man that needs you more than I
Sit with me a while
And let me listen to you talk about
your dreams and your obsessions
I'll be quiet and confessional
The violets explode inside me
when I meet your eyes
Then I'm spinning and I'm diving
Like a cloud of starlings
Darling is this love?
***
One child home sick today and it's bucketing down. So it looks like it time to catch up on domestic administration and the fun sport of laundry wrestling... and the idle comfort on another Elizabeth Gaskell serialised drama.
I must confess that I have acquired a serious addiction to tv and film adaptations of Georgian and Victorian novels due to an uncommonly bad season of influenza in the family (and I suspect a dose of whooping cough for me) which has resulted in much Time Off Work. It all started with Jane Austen. But my most recent and astounding discovery has been the BBC version of Mrs Gaskell's North and South starring the impeccably cast Richard Armitage as Mr Thornton.
Where have I been all these years?
I commend to you the closing scene with the kiss between Thornton and Miss Hale on the railway station. You can hunt down the entire series, and others of this genre galore, on YouTube. Which was another revelation.
John Thornton: Where are you going?
Margaret Hale: To London. I've been to Milton. John Thornton: You'll not guess where I've been.
[Thornton pulls a rose from Helstone out of his pocket]
Margaret Hale: You've been to Helstone! I thought those had all gone!
John Thornton: I found it in the hedge row. You have to look hard. Why were you in Milton?
Margaret Hale: On business. Well, that is, I have a business proposition. Oh dear, I need Henry to help me explain.
John Thornton: You don't need Henry to explain.
Margaret Hale: I have to get this right. It's a business proposition. I have some £15,000. It is lying in the bank at present, earning very little interest. Now, my financial advisors tell me that if you were to take this money and use it to run Marlborough Mills, you could give me a much better rate of interest. So you see, it is only a business matter, you'd not be obliged to me in any way. It is you who would be doing...
[Thornton reaches down and grabs Margaret's hand]
Margaret Hale: ...me the service.
[Margaret grabs Thornton's hand and kisses it]
Margaret Hale: [Thornton touches the side of her face and leans in and kisses her]
[Margaret walks back to Henry, and he gives her suitcase to her]
Margaret Hale: Henry, I...
Henry Lennox: Goodbye, Margaret.
[Margaret walks back to Thornton]
John Thornton: You're coming home with me.
Photo: Jerrabombera Wetlands, Canberra Autumn 2011.
