Latest news with #Bunny
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Talk the talk
A former associate editor with the Times of India, Jug Suraiya writes two regular columns for the print edition, Jugular Vein, which appears every Friday, and Second Opinion, which appears on Wednesdays. His blog takes a contrarian view of topical and timeless issues, political, social, economic and speculative. LESS ... MORE The globalisation of English has taken a lot of the foreignness out of foreign travel Bunny and I are in Torino, Italy. And Bunny is eager to try out the conversational Italian she has picked up through assiduous practice on the Duolingo app on her cell phone. We go for a morning coffee to Caffe Mulassano, the 118-year-old establishment that looks like what the inside of an antique jewel box should look like, all burnished gleam and gilded glow. Buongiorno, vorremmo due cappuccini, deka per me, normale per lui, Bunny says in her best Duolingo Italian. Okay, two cappuccinos, one decaf, and one regular coming right up, says the barista, sounding like she's been displaced from Queens, NYC. It's like that wherever we go. Bunny asks for directions to a restaurant or wherever else we want to go, in punctilious Italian. The reply is almost invariably in English. It was very different when we first visited Italy in 1973. We didn't have a word of Italian, and no locals spoke anything else. We got by with an extempore hit-and-miss mixture of sign language, guesswork, and strokes of sudden inspiration. It made simple things, like ordering a meal, or asking the way to the train station, into a dramatic adventure, an exciting exploration of an exotic linguistic landscape. It made foreign feel foreign. Now, everyone, everywhere, in Europe, even in France which once shunned les anglais like a socially transmitted disease, will break into Anglo-Saxon at the drop of a chat. A linguistic pandemic, English spans the globe, hurdling geographic borders and cultural boundaries like a vocal virus. And the more you try to speak to the local citizenry in their language, the more you'll prompt a response in English, the speaker seizing this opportunity to demonstrate a grasp of what has become the most cosmopolitan of all languages, thanks to global commerce, Hollywood, and the lyrics of pop music. While this makes for ease of communication, it takes much of the foreignness out of foreign. So we look forward to our next port of call, where no one speaks English at all. It'll make for a nice change when we get to London. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
AU Financial Review
4 days ago
- General
- AU Financial Review
The drover and the telephone operator who built a $1.4b fortune
'Work hard and they will respect us,' Henry 'Bunny' Allen used to preach to his kids. And nobody had a harder job than him. He toiled away, lathered in sweat and wool fat, as the sun bore down on the tin roof of a shearing shed. Bunny, a Kamilaroi man, lived his creed. He saved his shearing money and bought his family a house in Moree, in western NSW just below the Queensland border. In the 1960s, the Allens were one of the few Indigenous families living in town. Most lived in shanties, out on the mission. Bunny's daughter, Gail, was academically gifted and one of the few Indigenous kids in the A-class at Moree High. But she copped it from the whites, for being black, and from the blacks for being 'uptown'. She is forever grateful to Mrs Johnson, a teacher at her primary school, who held her hand in the playground and gave her the honour of cleaning the blackboard. Gail told a friend this simple act of kindness changed her life. A few years ago, she tracked her down to thank her.
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Bella Phillips, with Bunny written on her arm, helps Yorkville hop past Waubonsie Valley. ‘It's like my alter ego.'
Word up, Foxes. It's playoff time for senior shortstop Bella Phillips and her Yorkville teammates, and that means sporting their very own word or phrase of the day on their forearm for game day. It's a practice that can help ease the tension in one-loss-and-you're-done games. It can inspire, remind or simply be fun. 'We very much have a family chemistry and we all buy into the season and we work really hard and push each other,' said Phillips, described by Foxes coach Jory Regnier as a natural leader who plays a key role in building her team's culture. Phillips was among three key contributors bearing apropos messages in a 10-0 five-inning win Tuesday over Waubonsie Valley in a Class 4A Yorkville Regional semifinal — Phillips with 'Bunny,' junior catcher Kayla Kersting with 'Beast mode' and junior pitcher Ellie Fox with 'Confidence.' Fourth-seeded Yorkville (23-12) advances to a 4:30 p.m. Friday regional final against the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between fifth-seeded Plainfield East and 12th-seeded Naperville North. Phillips, meanwhile, got Yorkville rolling against 13th-seeded Waubonsie Valley (9-20) with an RBI single to highlight a three-run first inning. She then sliced a liner toward the right field line and legged out an RBI triple in the third. She celebrated with a rabbit-like hop at the third base bag to the delight of teammates in the nearby dugout. ''Bunny' is from softball,' said Phillips, who's also a starting guard in basketball. 'It's like my alter ego. I have like a funny (high-pitched) voice that goes with it, keeping like a positive mindset and cheering on the team.' Phillips isn't sure how that started, but after one of the assistant coaches heard Phillips doing the voice, Kersting said it became like a running joke from there that has helped keep the team loose. 'She's so funny — she's our comic,' said Kersting, the team's power-hitting leadoff hitter. Kersting hit three deep outfield drives into the wind that might have gone out on a calm day, running out two for triples. She was robbed by sophomore center fielder Dezirae Kelly with an outstanding sliding catch at the fence. 'Kayla brings the big hits for us for sure,' said Phillips, a defensive standout who has held up her end at the plate by hitting .337 with three doubles, four triples and 15 RBIs. Kersting, who leads the team with a gaudy .598 average to go with 12 triples, 10 homers and 38 RBIs, didn't mind having to work for her hits Tuesday. 'I like running the bases,' Kersting said. 'It's pretty easy to get triples here if you hit it in the gap, with the eight-foot fence all the way around. You really have to hit it to get it out.' Fox, a hard-throwing junior right-hander, pitched with confidence for the win, striking out six and giving up only three hits and a walk in her four innings. 'She did a great job,' Regnier said of Fox. 'Came in and was lights out.' Freshman righty Bella Rosauer struck out two in the fifth inning to get some playoff experience. This postseason run will be it for Phillips and her athletic career, however. She plans to attend Iowa State and major in marketing. 'I think she's had a phenomenal year,' Regnier said of Phillips. 'She just really has put it all out there. She's that person that helps get everything together and organizes, makes sure things get done the way they're supposed to get done. 'She has high standards and is part of a senior group that's big on our culture.' Over the last six seasons, it has helped Regnier's Foxes win 75% of their games by compiling a 155-51 record. 'Bella will do anything for the team,' Regnier said. 'She even went behind the plate last year when Kayla was hurt. She didn't love it, but she'd do it tomorrow if we asked and do her best. 'She's kind of the glue.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
66-year-old handwritten love letter in a bottle found among WWII-era beach ruins in Poland, sparking a lost love mystery
Source: YouTube On the windswept coast of Gdańsk, Poland, a scene of childhood play turned into a moment of historical romance. Amid the decaying concrete and rusted remnants of World War II-era forts along Stogi Beach, two ten-year-old boys, Eryk and Kuba, made an extraordinary discovery. As they explored the deserted fortifications—haunted vestiges of wartime—they stumbled upon a weathered glass bottle partially buried in the sand. What they took for mere beach rubbish soon turned out to be far more intriguing: a fine, handwritten note sealed inside the flask, kept intact by time and water for more than six decades. Two boys find 1959 letter in a glass bottle in Poland along Stogi Beach The letter, written in 1959, was in flowing, rather antiquated cursive script, hard for the boys to decipher. Although time had worn off the ink, the script remained readable. Intrigued and enthralled, the boys consulted the internet. Their tale found its way onto the local Polish news website where an internet detective was able to decipher the text, which was a sincere love letter penned by a woman named Rysia. The emotional significance of the letter was self-evident. Rysia, identified as a summer student in the southern Polish town of Tarnów—approximately 432 miles from Gdańsk—wrote to a man she referred to as "my beloved Bunny." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Bolsas nos olhos? (Tente isso hoje à noite) Revista Saúde & Beleza Saiba Mais Undo Using this endearing pet name and the open vulnerability of the message, the public began to become engaged, transforming this humble note into a historic mystery and a testimonial to unrelenting love. Letter penned revealing Rysia's silent struggles in love Rysia's letter is like a diary entry done at a time of yearning. She exposes her emotional isolation and admits that she deeply misses the man the letter is intended for. Even though the note revolves around her thoughts and emotions, it clearly demonstrates that Bunny is in her mind all the time. My darling, I'm a worse egoist than you think, I write only of myself, but you are the one I think constantly," she tells him. She recounts from her humble dormitory room in Tarnów how the background sounds of daily life—motorbikes, especially—send her mind racing back to her missing lover. The sensory specifics give emotional depth to the letter and stimulate a sense of place and atmosphere. "Each motorbike roar (and there are plenty of them here) brings memories of you into view through the window to the park laid out in front of me." Her prose oscillates between romantic yearning and melancholy melancholy. It emerges that although Rysia is committed, she is also quietly angry at being alone and possibly at the course of their relationship. She records the amount of free time she has, juxtaposed with his more apparent liberty. "You could go wherever you want, but I sit alone." Her statement is a delicate balance of reassurance and introspection, between longing and resignation. She longs not for excitement or diversion, but only to go home to familiarity, routine, and the man she misses most. "I do not want fun or strolls," she says simply. "No one is known here." The untouched letter for 66 years sparks a mystery of love lost to time The fact that this letter sat sealed in a bottle for 66 years until it was found lends it the almost mythic status. Who was Rysia? Who was Bunny? Were they lovers torn asunder by circumstance, distance, or responsibility of postwar Poland? Did they ever meet again? Or did the letter—never opened, never read—happen to be one last go at love that could never quite arrive? These queries have bred internet rumor and amateur sleuthing. Most readers are intensely interested in the fate of the couple, hoping some record of them—or their heirs—remains. Emotional engagement with the letter has created a sense of distance from this being a historical document and more as a personal connection through the ages. Two boys trying to track down the origin of the letter Ever since the discovery, Eryk and Kuba have allegedly contacted a museum in Tarnów hoping to track down the origins of the letter and possibly find out who Rysia or Bunny were—or their families. Their childlike curiosity has turned into a community search mixing romance, nostalgia, and history. For some, the letter is a testament to the timeless power of the word. It is not just a personal moment between two individuals, but an isolated piece of 20th-century emotional history, kept alive against the odds. In an era where instant messages evaporate in an instant, the physical durability of a letter trapped in a bottle is an enduring symbol of love's resilience—and vulnerability. Also Read | Jawless alligator spotted in Florida Everglades stuns social media, raising survival questions; 'How is it even alive?'
New York Post
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Mysterious, 66-year-old handwritten love letter in a bottle washes ashore amid WWII ruins
Love was found washed up among the ruins. A long-lost love letter in a bottle that washed up on the shore of the Baltic Sea has sparked a mystery and hunt for its author, who wrote the note by hand 66 years ago, according to reports. Two 10-year-old boys named Eryk and Kuba were playing in abandoned World War II forts on Stogi Beach in the town of Gdańsk in northern Poland when they found the bottle, according to TVP World. Inside, they were amazed to find a handwritten love letter from 1959 — its ink faded but still legible. The boys couldn't make out the strange cursive style of writing, but an online sleuth on the local news website quickly transcribed it for them. A decades-old love letter found washed up on the shore in a bottle has sparked a mystery. nito – The note was written by Rysia, a lovelorn woman taking a summer class in Tarnów, another Polish town 432 miles away from the beach where it finally washed up after decades, according to reports. The note is filled with longing and hopes for the future, but also contains frank and honest confessions from the author. It is addressed to a young man she called 'my beloved Bunny,' according to the local reports. 'My dear, I'm a terrible egoist, I only write about myself, but it is you I think about all the time,' she wrote, describing her long days and sleepless nights. 'Every roar of a motorbike (and there are a lot of them here) awakens memories of you through the window to the park that spreads out in front of me,' Rysia said. Some parts of the letter hinted at a trace of resentment. 'I have a lot of time for dreams because lectures are only from 9 to 2 p.m. and the rest of the time is at my disposal,' she wrote. 'You could go wherever you want, but I sit alone.' At times in the writing, it seemed like their relationship was new, as the author explained to Bunny what she was like and how she preferred to be alone. 'I assure you that I am quiet and modest, I don't strike up acquaintances with anyone — I simply avoid men,' Rysia wrote, looking forward to when she can finally return home. 'I have no desire for fun or walks,' she scrawled. 'There is no one familiar here.' The letter and its passionate contents preserved after all these years have sparked speculation online about the intrigue between the two lovers from another era. Both the treasure finders and online commenters fascinated by the message in the bottle are hoping to find Rysia and Bunny — or their descendants — and learn if their relationship has made after all these years. The boys who found the bottle said they have been in contact with a museum in Tarnów in the hopes that the letter's author can be found, according to local reports.
