Word: pension
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...Parmalat's other creditors are cheered by Bondi's hardball tactics. "The more value there is in the estate - for any reason - the better it is for us," says Attorney Evan D. Flaschen of the U.S. law firm Bingham McCutchen, who represents about 100 institutions including insurers and pension funds that together hold about $2 billion of Parmalat bonds. But Bondi needs Parmalat's big creditors - of whom the banks are the biggest - to approve his restructuring plan by the end of this year. Critically, that involves persuading them to convert their debts into equity in the slimmed-down postbankruptcy...
...dressed up as Nordic heroes make me realize that they too, at one point, thought the hysteria had gone too far. And when I enter the empty Wagner living room, loudspeakers blare the ride of the Valkyries, from the only Wagner opera I have experienced live. But in the pension, sappy German love songs make me feel that Wagner is ever distant; I did not find him in Bayreuth. I chat with the pension owner about local cuisine and head...
...next morning is warm enough for breakfast in the garden. The train leaves at nine, but there is still time to enjoy the start of the day. Sonja, the friendly pension owner, sits down to drink a coffee with me and discuss the impossibility of getting tickets to the Festspiele. Soon she proudly shares her Wagner calendar, with photos from recent Bayreuth productions signed by assistant directors and former stars: “You are the fourth Rhine Maiden, Sonja.” Next on display is a clay bust of Richard, from her daughter’s days...
...convince the only other two pension guests to join us in the courtyard. Sonja brings more coffee and the four of us chat around the table. The two are from Frankfurt, but they decided to stop by Bayreuth for one night—“It’s such an irresistible place.” Max has loved Wagner since the ’70s. He puts himself in the lottery for Bayreuth tickets every year. So far it has worked out three times...
When a few weeks later the paper tells of the young Parisfal director storming out of the Festspielhaus, I remember Sonja and Gerlinde. By now, the pension will be buzzing with the cast and crew members. As Sonja serves their beers, she will collect all the latest intelligence about what’s up on the Festspielhaus hill. I smile. I wish I were back where Cosima and Richard are household names...