Let $W$ be a $2$-dimensional complex manifold and $C\subset W$ a compact complex curve (possibly singular). I would like to know a reference for the following fact: there exists a collection $\{V_j\}_{j=1}^n$ of simply connected open sets such that
- $C\subset\bigcup V_j$
- $V_j\cap C$ is connected for every $j$
- if $V_j\cap V_k\neq \emptyset$, then $V_j\cap V_k\cap C\neq\emptyset$ and both $V_j\cap V_k$ and $V_j\cap V_k\cap C$ are connected.
I am quite ok with saying that such thing is well known for $C$ smooth, but what about singular curves? Does anyone know a suitable reference?