alexist

when I was studying the Tudors at college, some of my favorite textbooks were by Sir Geoffrey Elton, who was a professor at Cambridge. I always thought, from the name and the tone of the books, that he was an archetypal proper Englishman.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered (thanks to Wikipedia) that he was born Gottfried Ehrenberg, and was a Jew (born in Vienna, raised in Prague) who escaped the Nazis with his parents and came to Britain in 1939.

I met Neil for some food this evening (he was going to the SMWS with philipstorry--i was supposed to have an OU tutorial this evening, but it got cancelled, just what I deserve for not going to the last one!). On the way, I decided to stop at HMV to get the Antony & the Johnsons album. Normally, I'd buy it on iTunes, but I still don't have my new US bank card, and I don't want to change to UK iTunes (79p versus 99¢, anyway!) I was going to buy it yesterday but Borders Charing Cross Road didn't have it.

So I see that HMV have the Simpsons (series 1-5) on BOGOF. £39.99 instead of WH Smiths £34.99... but... mmm. Of course, I couldn't just blow that kind of money. So I consulted Neil. After bargaining and begging, I was permitted to purchase series 2-5. Series 6 will be a Chanukah present (but the Homer-head box is not available in the UK now :( )

(Oh farking hell!! I just visited amazon.co.uk to take them off my wishlist. £14.97 each!!! DOH!! Should I order them and return these to HMV tomorrow? It's an extra £20 off... hmmm.... probably not, I'll end up paying for shipping, and then I'll have to deal with amazon.co.uk's flaky dispatching. And, oh dear lord, it might be Parcelforce rather than the Royal Mail handling the delivery...)

Side point: HMV did not have a copy of the Antony & the Johnsons album, and I had to buy it in Borders next door. It's funny; when I first heard it (or part of it) I didn't like it at all, and thought "this won a prize??" But then Neil was watching Jonathan Ross and they were on, and I really liked it and decided to get the album.

Ordered them on Amazon, will return the others to HMV tomorrow. They're still in the shrink-wrap. It was completely indulgent anyway so I really ought to be responsible and get them even cheaper. ;)

Means no Simpsony goodness till the weekend, but I'll manage. Mmm, Simpsons.

(ps, if you;'ve seen them even cheaper on DubiousDVDSite.com, please, don't tell me. ;) )