Todd Bernhardt

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Todd Bernhardt has posted 946 annotations/comments since 8 January 2003.

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Second Reading

About Wednesday 22 February 1659/60

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Irishyankee, click on the link for "powdered beef," and you'll see the description of it (it's not the GI version). The site has a very extensive encyclopedia section that was built up during its "first run." Hope this helps.

First Reading

About Monday 31 May 1669

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

What a moving entry, both because of its poignant closing paragraphs, and because the entry up to that point is, as others have mentioned, Classic Sam.

Can't add much more here that hasn't already been said, both on this page and on the "Roll Call" page ( http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/a… ), so I'll just thank Phil once more (we really can't thank him enough for this monumental achievement) and, to all assembled, sign off with a hearty and optimistic "See ya later." It's been grand.

About Thursday 20 May 1669

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

“I can’t remember Sam ever calling himself “Samuel Pepys”.”

Terry, I think Robert was talking about Sam(uel) referring to himself in the third person in a Diary entry, rather than whether he referred to himself as "Samuel" (vs. the less formal "Sam"). I can't remember Sam including himself in a Diary entry in this way before this entry...

About Tuesday 18 May 1669

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Good point, Arby -- I was wondering the same thing. Seems to me there's some ambiguity here with the word "drawn."

I'm certainly happy to live in an era of modern and relatively pain-free dentistry!

About Monday 17 May 1669

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

I've read the various theories about Sam's eyesight, and can understand why "close work" would bother it, but still am puzzled why plays bother him so much.

About Roll Call. Say hello!

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Wow, where do I start? At the beginning, I suppose ... I was born at a very young age (no, not *that* beginning) ... I started reading the Diary about a week or two after Phil started posting it, having read about it on some online forum. I do marketing and communications work, and so have to keep up with the latest trends and best practices. Back then, blogging dominated what social media there was, and I thought this was a very good idea indeed – not only because it fulfilled my history geek/“superannuated English major” desire to read a Diary that had always attracted yet intimidated me because of its length and scope, but also because it promised to leverage the power of the Web in unique ways. For example, think how helpful it’s been to have hyperlinks to more information about people, places and events – it makes the Diary a much easier and richer experience.

Then there’s the community aspect of presenting the Diary this way. I learned so much over the past nine years from the annotators, and from all of Phil’s efforts – and made good friends along the way. We’ve even lost some (RIP, my gentle and generous friend Keith Wright). The community that has grown up around the Diary has been one of the most intelligent, articulate and civilized that I’ve seen anywhere online. Except for some tussles early-on with our troll-friend Hhomeboy (yes, Pauline, I do remember him!), and the occasional disagreement between annotators, this has been a remarkably friendly and even-toned bunch.

It’s been an interesting nine years, to say the least. I managed to keep up, and can honestly say I’ve read every day’s entry, though there have been times when I’ve fallen way behind and had to work hard to catch up. Much has changed in my life – I’ve worked for three different organizations, watched my children grow from kids into teenagers, lost a brother to brain cancer, ended an 18-year marriage (discovered quite suddenly that I was in Elizabeth’s position, which made reading those passages particularly poignant), recovered and found the woman I should have been with all along – but Sam & Co. have been a constant, a refuge that I could retreat to when the world was too much with me, when I needed to console myself with the knowledge that life ebbs and flows ... that, in the long run, the small daily hassles we all have to work through mean little as long as we live and love well.

My thanks to everyone who’s added to the annotations (and my education and entertainment) over the years, especially (in order of their postings above) Jenny, GrahamT, Pauline, Aussie Susan, PHE, Michael Vincent (whose salty observations never failed to amuse and sometimes bemuse), Mary and Terry (paired because, IMO, they offered some of the most enlightening annotations on the site), Jeannine (thank you for the articles, the verses and for the cards, both real and online!), Ruben, Glyn (author of excellent walking-tour itineraries, and amiable companion), Robert G and his Flights of Fancy (good band name, that), Language Hat (whose disciplined approach and sometimes curmudgeonly admonishments kept us all in line) and – most of all – to Mr. Phil “Does He Ever Sleep?” Gyford, without whom, etc. And, of course, to everyone else I’ve forgotten or inadvertently overlooked in the acknowledgements above. I’ve especially enjoyed reading the notes on this page and seeing all the lurkers come out of the woodwork!

And so, “Thus was this entertainment [almost] over, the best of its kind, and the fullest of honour and content to me, that ever I had in my life: and shall not easily have so good again.” I hope that even when the Diary ends, our friendships will not.

About Sunday 9 May 1669

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Sam's reports of the Park intrigue me ... apparently, there are hours when you can attend (or *should* -- presumably there are not formal hours when the Park is open or closed, though I could be wrong about that), and then I wonder exactly what it is that he and Elizabeth do there among "much company" -- is it the 17th century equivalent of the scenes in "American Graffiti" where people are cruising the main strip and, when appropriate, stopping and talking to each other from their vehicles?

Am finally caught back up with the Diary after months of too many obligations getting in the way of my daily reading -- just in time for it to soon (too soon!) end. Glad I'll be here online for the fare-thee-well, though I won't be able to make any of the physical gatherings, in my coach or on foot, wearing my best suit with gold trimming or t-shirt and jeans, etc....

As always, thanks to Phil for this nearly decade-long labo(u)r of love, and to all of the annotators for the many hours of education and enjoyment.

About Saturday 6 March 1668/69

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Have become woefully behind in my Pepys, am working to catch up, and so far have been doing so in silence, but feel the need to respond here.

Andrew, I don't think that Coventry was threatening to cut *off* Killigrew's nose ... I was thinking more of something along the lines of what happens to Jack Nicolson in "Chinatown" -- a disfiguring cut that everyone can see, and that would essentially be a career-limiting event for an actor.

About Friday 15 January 1668/69

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Interesting uses of the word "undertaker" here -- can anyone provide additional background on it? Likewise, can anyone provide an explanation of "grown out of my knowledge"?

Another example of James's loyalty to, and advocacy of, his man Pepys ... no wonder why Sam stuck by James's side when the going got tough in '88.

About Monday 11 January 1668/69

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"Is it possible that it might mean that Will is a bodyguard of sorts?"

Michael L, based on the past several months, I think that if Will is playing the role of bodyguard, it's only on Elizabeth's bidding, to prevent other women from touching -- or, more precisely, being touched by -- Sam's body.