I managed to cut the component count by 50%. The circuit does not explode when I use only 1 LED and 1 resistor and the LED is on. So, still lacking a high speed camera, I cannot record the blinking LED. The multimeter shows a weird 33.9V AC because it cannot decide between -2V AC or +120V AC. And yes there are 2 resistors in the circuit, but they are in series and it is up to the student to reduce this to a single one. ;).

Cheers to a very tough LED.