in less licentious times than ours (such as Wagner's), this was a social norm, and a principal diving force behind concepts of transcendental love.
principal diving forceThe French Underwater Musical Foreign Legion - a group of love-lorn men who have turned to sub-aqua activities "to forget". The
Ordre was founded by Sir Launcelot "Of The Lake" (where he used to practice with a snorkel & flippers attached to his armour), but they soon extended their activities to offshore and coastal waters, sublimating their own romantic disappointments by righting those of others. One of their most famous capers was boarding a boat on which the young bride of King Mark was being ferried, and slipping a love-potion into the care of her maid. Subsequently they devoted themselves to assisting shipwrecked operatic characters to shore (Ariodante, Robinson Crusoe et al). Not all of their rescues were successful, and they brought the body of an unfortunate spinster of Liverpool, Eleanor Rigby, to shore, who was thereafter known as
La Belle Dame Dans Mersey. Their tacit role in operatic plots has been celebrated by modern opera producers who have staged entire operas (viz THE QUEEN OF SPADES) in frogmen outfits in their honour.
Where were these fellows when that dreadful business happened in the Borough?
