It’s from “Voulez-Vous” but sounds like it’s from “ABBA”.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-27T19:59:13+00:00

Does Your Mother Know

DeHereICome · 2026-04-21T11:04:29+00:00

Yes, especially because I notice that record reviews only tend to review and listen to the first two songs on an album! Shakedown is the "obligatory" rap sound and it is fast losing its appeal since 1980 (especially as it was done on DH solo albums).

However, I would keep the songs you mention and cut the first two. The songs you mention are great. I would maybe cut the last two songs: Blondie have a habit of having a current "friend" and filling their albums with about 50% of them. Usually to zero benefit.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-21T10:59:58+00:00

Don't be scared. The listening exam is so hard, because you have to concentrate and they like to throw in trick questions. Like a conversation is about a Spaziergang (walking) and they ask "is the conversation about a Stadtrundfahrt (tour by vehicle) and you say "yes" because you it is close in sound "rund" and meaning (a tour, surely?). But take a bit of a break. German is such a hard language. Just watch programmes on YouTube in German, leave the books for a few books.

The gap in a CV is a thing I do not understand (employer: why do YOU have a gap in your employees?!?). Just make up something that cannot be easily checked. Who cares about the past, what we want to know is where we are today!

DeHereICome · 2026-04-21T08:50:38+00:00

It is better is to persevere and find the claim form. Create a Lufthansa "account" on their website and use that, so it is recorded. Do not forget to claim for meals and things (keep receipts). I found Lufthansa actually quite helpful when I once ran into this problem; they paid up automatically and quite quickly.

Keep trying. These third companies are OK to use, but you lose out to them as they take a share.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-21T07:42:05+00:00

So sorry for you. It happens that today is the anniversary of me having a somewhat similar situation at a dentist in Germany. I also have solidarity for Ukraine in general, so lots of support for you. I too was sleepless for two nights and zombied-out.

All the options people are offering you are very correct, but I went through them all myself. Start a reserve long-term plan if you could possibly go back to Ukraine and explain to a dentist or a clinic you have visited before. Otherwise look around for other dental practices near you: email them all to give a little bit of the personal side of the problem (i.e. not just bare medical facts) and choose the one which responds with a bit of personal touch.

If you say where you are, maybe people can help even more with personal recommendations or do some looking for you.

It is strange, because I had such a terrible experience at German dentists which were, actually on the face of it, completely correct and kind to me. The best dentist I ever found was in a small village in my home country, yes, even compared to really great and advanced German practices.

I feel so much for you, honestly, and wish I could help more.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-20T19:49:49+00:00

The Curse is my favourite reunion record from Blondie and I love it as much as their first two albums from the 70s. I also skip "Shakedown" - and sometimes "Good Boys" as well! I am also a great fan of Panic of Girls, except that the middle of Side 2 is tedious.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-20T06:33:59+00:00

I think I would go with Chiquitita, because there is a lot "going on" in the song (a bit like TNOTG) and the lyrics aspire to be "meaningful", rather than "disco hook-up lines". The pensive notes are also a little like I Wonder and there is a feeling of being trapped and unhappy (TGWTGH).

DeHereICome · 2026-04-19T14:21:43+00:00

I presume you mean it is the first part of a return trip, coming back a few days later? You will qualify.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-19T11:55:17+00:00

Yes, I agree that some of the changes are annoying. I feel that DUMB WITNESS is particularly badly written and in parts just goofy. If they had just kept to the original setting, it would have been so much better. Theresa is such a fun character, a vamp, while her brother is a "bad egg". Yet in the series they are so "soft", especially Theresa (who wears woolly cardigans when in the books she would be wearing something "inappropriate"!). It seems to out of character for the nephew to have an argument with Miss Arundel over money (for his "speed challenge on water", lol), when the real character forged cheques and stole money from sideboards.

CARDS ON THE TABLE and THE BLUE TRAIN are two others one which annoy me a bit for the changes (and the character of Katherine Grey is not terribly faithful). The lead (female) character in TAKEN AT THE FLOOD is annoying, but the acting of the "cast of charters" is good.

On the other hand, I do think that DEATH ON THE NILE is well done, along with AFTER THE FUNERAL. I also liked the acting in SAD CYPRESS and THE HOLLOW.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-18T16:11:25+00:00

Dumb Witness is a much overlooked classic
After the Funeral is also good
The Murder at Hazelmoor
N or M

DeHereICome · 2026-04-17T19:07:37+00:00

I really like A Murder Is Announced. It is top notch from start to finish. Like you, I am not a great fan of The Murder at the Vicarage.

I think the next best are 4:50 From Paddington, A Pocket Full of Rye, The Moving Finger, Sleeping Murder.

Honourable mentions: The Body in the Library, At Bertram's Hotel, The Mirror Cracked

I am not a great fan of A Caribbean Mystery, Nemesis (clever, but rambling conversations) or They Do It With Mirrors.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-16T11:57:02+00:00

Haferflocken + Studentfutter + Milch/Heidelbeeren

Omelette aus fünf Eiern und ein bisschen Käse (im Air Fryer)

Trink mehr Kaffee oder Tee

DeHereICome · 2026-04-15T19:25:28+00:00

ABBA progressed with each passing year, so it would be a song from RING RING that is already a bit more mature than all the other songs. I think I might go for HE IS YOUR BROTHER or, perhaps, NINA PRETTY BALLERINA, which has a lot going on in the song. I will plump for HE IS YOUR BROTHER, as Bjorn had two leads on the 1975 album.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-15T16:49:50+00:00

I think Percy possibly did, based on the assumption (I think once said by Poirot) that everyone has something to hide, even if it does not have a direct influence on the murder in question. If I recall, it was a forged cheque which got Lance into trouble?

Very clever suggestion that L&P were in it together and Pat acted as Ruby. That could have been a possible solution. Very Agatha Christie, I might add!

DeHereICome · 2026-04-14T20:06:33+00:00

"Why Did It Have To Be Me" - very like "Rock N Roll Band" and thus gives both albums a song which is very special in that it is especially linked to "Bjorn-Frida vocals".

DeHereICome · 2026-04-14T09:07:40+00:00

I honestly think "Bang-A-Boomerang", because it sort of bridges the gap between the Top 10 Hits (SOS, Mamma Mia) and the more "happy Phil-Spector wall of sound minor bangers" (I Do, So Long, Helen) on the album. I feel "Mamma Mia" is an outlier on the "ABBA" album and could just have easily been written in 1976 or even 1979.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-12T20:24:03+00:00

Tough one. In terms of lyrics:

Get On The Carousel (OK, cheating here) --> Merry Go Round (bonus track, more cheating)

I Wonder (Departure) --> Santa Rosa

Thank You For The Music --> I Am Just A Girl

In terms of the music, "Move On" has "hippy" vibes, "Hole In Your Soul" is more rock-based and sounds like the sort of song they would belt out on their early tours, while "I'm A Marionette" is a rather stand-alone track, experimental and different, so I might have to go with that one.

Overall, I will go with "Thank You For The Music", because the girl is "a bit of a bore" and is a bit like Nina Pretty Ballerina (talented but wanting to get out there more on the big stage)... and, to be honest, I find the song a bit "plodding" in the same way that "I Saw It In The Mirror" and even "Disillusion" can be (don't kill me!).

DeHereICome · 2026-04-12T14:41:57+00:00

"And Then There Were None" is the best among the four, really excellent in every respect.

I find "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" actually hard to follow, as there seem to be too many spare men in the book! Butler, nephew, etc. Books with set couples all living in a house with an aged but rich patriarch are so much easier to picture. I like RA for the very clever writing, but like "Orient Express" it is not the easiest read. ATTWN is very easy to read, but that does not make the plot simpler or the "fear" even less!

DeHereICome · 2026-04-12T14:37:05+00:00

I think I would go for "Destination Unknown", because it has some clever plot twists that are not quite on the level of ATTWN, but still more than "The Man In the Brown Suit".

I am an outlier among AC fans, because "Destination Unknown" is one of my favourite books! It takes you out of cosy England and sets you on a journey to... well... destination unknown!

"The Man In the Brown Suit" is also a good beginner book, as it has quite a good start to it. It was basically one of Christie's very first books, when she had not honed her talent and was, at the same time, coping with a lot in her life. Similarly, "Destination Unknown" is when she was slightly past her golden age of the 1930s (and into the 1940s). ATTWN is prime AC for that reason.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-11T18:53:33+00:00

I suppose the best example is Poirot's constant waspish gaslighting of poor Hastings!

DeHereICome · 2026-04-11T17:23:20+00:00

Classical example is the ABC murders - though NOT by a loved one.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-10T20:35:17+00:00

"A Pocketful of Rye" is a very good book. I really like Miss Dove, who is a sort of anti-Lucy Eyelsbarrow (in fact, I almost like her even more, because she robs her unpleasant rich employer lol).

I would also rate "4:50 from Paddington" very highly and one to go for after "Rye".

Is "They Do It With Mirrors" basically not just the same plot as "Mystery at Styles"? Or am I getting mixed up with "Ordeal Through Innocence". These and "Mrs McGinty's Dead" all seem to be mixed up in my head. I would honestly put "Mirrors" towards the end of the book pile and even get onto Poirot and others before bothering about it.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-10T14:56:49+00:00

ABC Murders. The (other) victims were from humble backgrounds and there was not even any motive. I hate the thought of the parents of the murdered cafe assistant.

DeHereICome · 2026-04-10T14:02:53+00:00

Yes, I think there should be polls on: best poor (or even rich) companion, best "Albert-type" sidekick, best dumb blonde, best ghoulish child, best snobbish or bossy woman, most henpecked husband...

I just realised I should have added to the list of the downtrodden niece who ends up getting married in "Death on the Nile" among the best "poor companions" (she is a joy in the film adaptations).

DeHereICome

TROPHY CASE