Saturday, November 29, 2003
Countdown to Christmas
There's a link to my Advent Calendar 2003 at the top left of the page. It's a right load of old nonsense, but I hope it gives you a festive moment daily as you plough your way through the preparations. I've had great fun putting it together; fun, but not much sleep for a couple of nights!
There's a link to my Advent Calendar 2003 at the top left of the page. It's a right load of old nonsense, but I hope it gives you a festive moment daily as you plough your way through the preparations. I've had great fun putting it together; fun, but not much sleep for a couple of nights!
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Friday, November 28, 2003
The things you think of when raking leaves....
- Who exactly comprises the' intelligentsia', intellectuals, creative people? Or is it just a political term for the educated class? Followed it up later.
- Blimey, this is coming out in November. Isn't that early for Mahonia Japonica?
- I fancy a ginger biscuit. No, no, no. I'll try sinless chips tonight, probably foul.
- Must stick that bit of wallpaper back at Jim's; can use leftover paste for papier mache, I fancy making a little bowl. Tomorrow.
Was that child with autism Prince John, or Prince George? Condition probably wasn't known then. Wonder if there's a "Lost Prince" video yet?
- Must plant some thickets, or hedging. All that clearance next door has taken away bird cover. I can go to the Wisbech auctions and get some bundles of blackthorn cheap. Wonder if there are any grants available? Why have all our hedgehogs gone?
- Wonder if you can still get leafed lavatory paper? That hard stuff. I want to go, but I'll have to take these gloves and boots off, I'll try to wait a bit longer. Blast, I'll have to go. Anyway, light's going, I'll pack it in now. Have a cup of tea and a ginger biscuit. No, no, no.
- Who exactly comprises the' intelligentsia', intellectuals, creative people? Or is it just a political term for the educated class? Followed it up later.
- Blimey, this is coming out in November. Isn't that early for Mahonia Japonica?
- I fancy a ginger biscuit. No, no, no. I'll try sinless chips tonight, probably foul.
- Must stick that bit of wallpaper back at Jim's; can use leftover paste for papier mache, I fancy making a little bowl. Tomorrow.
Was that child with autism Prince John, or Prince George? Condition probably wasn't known then. Wonder if there's a "Lost Prince" video yet?
- Must plant some thickets, or hedging. All that clearance next door has taken away bird cover. I can go to the Wisbech auctions and get some bundles of blackthorn cheap. Wonder if there are any grants available? Why have all our hedgehogs gone?
- Wonder if you can still get leafed lavatory paper? That hard stuff. I want to go, but I'll have to take these gloves and boots off, I'll try to wait a bit longer. Blast, I'll have to go. Anyway, light's going, I'll pack it in now. Have a cup of tea and a ginger biscuit. No, no, no.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Perfect casting
Playing Charles ll will be Rufus Sewell's springboard to "Darcyland". He has turned in a riveting performance full of magnetism. I will be at home for the next two Sunday nights for sure.
Playing Charles ll will be Rufus Sewell's springboard to "Darcyland". He has turned in a riveting performance full of magnetism. I will be at home for the next two Sunday nights for sure.
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Monday, November 24, 2003
T-Shirt
I want one, I want one. Though I'm no longer that kind of bitch.
A late developer
I have always loved Edward Hopper, mostly because of my window thing. He is now more interesting than ever after visiting his painting grounds in New England. This beautifully made scrapbook is pure pleasure to investigate. He started painting in middle age. He said, "To me, the important thing is the sense of going on. You know how beautiful things are when you're traveling."
I want one, I want one. Though I'm no longer that kind of bitch.
A late developer
I have always loved Edward Hopper, mostly because of my window thing. He is now more interesting than ever after visiting his painting grounds in New England. This beautifully made scrapbook is pure pleasure to investigate. He started painting in middle age. He said, "To me, the important thing is the sense of going on. You know how beautiful things are when you're traveling."
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Sunday, November 23, 2003
Installed and enthralled
Among a thousand others, two women lay on the ground before the great orange sun. Star-shaped, heads on the hard stone, they searched and found their tiny figures reflected in the mirrored ceiling. Feet trod around their bodies, their throats filled with misty air, eyes grew keen in the gloom. Into the deep space above rose a cloud of muttering. Aztec thoughts came, Lowry thoughts. Far back at the wide mouth of the place a young man sat an hour cross-legged, testing the contrast of the cold. Crowds parted around him. Image-making, he waited and waited to catch five silhouettes high on the terrace, alone against the apricot glow.
Trishie, Mark, Sarah, Alex, Gordon and Anna, met in London on Sunday and visited a current place of pilgrimage on the South Bank.
Among a thousand others, two women lay on the ground before the great orange sun. Star-shaped, heads on the hard stone, they searched and found their tiny figures reflected in the mirrored ceiling. Feet trod around their bodies, their throats filled with misty air, eyes grew keen in the gloom. Into the deep space above rose a cloud of muttering. Aztec thoughts came, Lowry thoughts. Far back at the wide mouth of the place a young man sat an hour cross-legged, testing the contrast of the cold. Crowds parted around him. Image-making, he waited and waited to catch five silhouettes high on the terrace, alone against the apricot glow.
Trishie, Mark, Sarah, Alex, Gordon and Anna, met in London on Sunday and visited a current place of pilgrimage on the South Bank.
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Thursday, November 13, 2003
Phew
I have joined a slimming club.
I am doing interesting things with Tofu.
And beansprouts. And spring onions.
I can eat as many baked beans as I fancy, and I fancy a lot.
Tonight I feel like a gasometer.
I'm going outside for a walk in the dark.
I have joined a slimming club.
I am doing interesting things with Tofu.
And beansprouts. And spring onions.
I can eat as many baked beans as I fancy, and I fancy a lot.
Tonight I feel like a gasometer.
I'm going outside for a walk in the dark.
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Choc tactics
The last time I played 'Monopoly' was with Gordon and some of the family. He always takes games seriously, which is a major character flaw in my book. Teeth clenched, he will play 'snap' with pre-school infants to win. Well, my dear old Dad was given to the occasional piece of opportunism, and that day he acquired an hotel on Mayfair by some illegal route. G. read the riot act and Dad had to remove it. I was furious at this pedantry and refused to play with him ever again. I haven't either, but I just might now that I have found this delightful version of the game. I am tempted to order one for Christmas. Any nonsense from him and I'll eat his properties.
The last time I played 'Monopoly' was with Gordon and some of the family. He always takes games seriously, which is a major character flaw in my book. Teeth clenched, he will play 'snap' with pre-school infants to win. Well, my dear old Dad was given to the occasional piece of opportunism, and that day he acquired an hotel on Mayfair by some illegal route. G. read the riot act and Dad had to remove it. I was furious at this pedantry and refused to play with him ever again. I haven't either, but I just might now that I have found this delightful version of the game. I am tempted to order one for Christmas. Any nonsense from him and I'll eat his properties.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
DH on BR
According to an interview with David Hare on R4, his new play "The Permanent Way" will come to the National Theatre in 2004 (no sign of it yet on their website). He has done an enormous amount of research into the British Rail privatisation cock-up - well described here as "a parable of mismanagement". The dialogue is gleaned from interviews with real people involved. I want very much to see it, it premieres in York which is a bit far, I'll wait for London. Living through significant events doesn't always result in a total grasp of their evolution. The BR fiasco and Beeching are among the worst environmental/social errors ever made by UK governments, for which we will be paying for decades. There was an incisive article in the Times on Oct 2nd "Why our trains don't run like clockwork" comparing ours with the Swiss system, I saved a copy for Mark, a shaming comparison.
Been there, done that
Twice today I chatted to people and mentioned, en passant, our East Coast trip. As is common, I had no chance to insert my few (always very few for fear of boring) interesting bits before they launched into their own travels in dull detail. I now know the price of of every consumable article in North Cyprus, and the itinerary of bus routes on Cape Cod. And thus they missed out on mine, especially the one about the two Boston sisters with flowery hats and beards.....
Ed Lu in his tin can
This album from space has such a cosy "look at my snaps" feel about it that it belies the wonder of where Ed is coming from. The night pictures on the orbital tour are wonderful.
According to an interview with David Hare on R4, his new play "The Permanent Way" will come to the National Theatre in 2004 (no sign of it yet on their website). He has done an enormous amount of research into the British Rail privatisation cock-up - well described here as "a parable of mismanagement". The dialogue is gleaned from interviews with real people involved. I want very much to see it, it premieres in York which is a bit far, I'll wait for London. Living through significant events doesn't always result in a total grasp of their evolution. The BR fiasco and Beeching are among the worst environmental/social errors ever made by UK governments, for which we will be paying for decades. There was an incisive article in the Times on Oct 2nd "Why our trains don't run like clockwork" comparing ours with the Swiss system, I saved a copy for Mark, a shaming comparison.
Been there, done that
Twice today I chatted to people and mentioned, en passant, our East Coast trip. As is common, I had no chance to insert my few (always very few for fear of boring) interesting bits before they launched into their own travels in dull detail. I now know the price of of every consumable article in North Cyprus, and the itinerary of bus routes on Cape Cod. And thus they missed out on mine, especially the one about the two Boston sisters with flowery hats and beards.....
Ed Lu in his tin can
This album from space has such a cosy "look at my snaps" feel about it that it belies the wonder of where Ed is coming from. The night pictures on the orbital tour are wonderful.
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Friday, November 07, 2003
Brian
On a golden, beech-flaming country afternoon a piper played him up to the church. The faces of Jane, of their nine grown children and their children were polished by days of tears. His son John read, haltingly, a simple, wonderful eulogy, celebration of a man who had infinite time for children, storyteller, cook, counsellor, rock, a stoic throughout long illness, a dear man, gone at sixty- four.
".....Dad loved all animals. All of us children had rabbits, guinea pigs and all sorts, he was the one that ended up taking care of them. He had a tame jackdaw when he was at school. It used to wait for him, fly onto the handlebars of his bike and ride home."
They chose the hymn that he used teach to all the little ones and sang to lull babies to sleep. In the churchyard lemon birch leaves sprinked down to join the roses dropped in farewell.
Well it did hover..
Four of us walked on Holkham beach on Tuesday; I discovered, thanks to a new nature notes board there, that the bird I thought was a lark the last time I visited was in fact a meadow pipit. No sign of it this time, only distant gulls up by the tideline and endless skeins of pink-footed geese heading over to the marshes beyond Overy Staithe.
On a golden, beech-flaming country afternoon a piper played him up to the church. The faces of Jane, of their nine grown children and their children were polished by days of tears. His son John read, haltingly, a simple, wonderful eulogy, celebration of a man who had infinite time for children, storyteller, cook, counsellor, rock, a stoic throughout long illness, a dear man, gone at sixty- four.
".....Dad loved all animals. All of us children had rabbits, guinea pigs and all sorts, he was the one that ended up taking care of them. He had a tame jackdaw when he was at school. It used to wait for him, fly onto the handlebars of his bike and ride home."
They chose the hymn that he used teach to all the little ones and sang to lull babies to sleep. In the churchyard lemon birch leaves sprinked down to join the roses dropped in farewell.
Well it did hover..
Four of us walked on Holkham beach on Tuesday; I discovered, thanks to a new nature notes board there, that the bird I thought was a lark the last time I visited was in fact a meadow pipit. No sign of it this time, only distant gulls up by the tideline and endless skeins of pink-footed geese heading over to the marshes beyond Overy Staithe.
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Tuesday, November 04, 2003
уже поздно, нам пора убираться*
I am following a marvellous project which is tracking the migration of a group of Bewick's and whooper swans from the Russian tundra to Western Europe. A Bewick's called Anatoli is in the lead. My interest is sharpened, of course, by knowing that some of them will be arriving at our local wetland at Welney; in fact there is a Radio 4 live broadcast at 6.35 am next Sunday to welcome them home. If I can get up at 5, I'll wrap up and head over there. You may remember my feelings at seeing the massed swans last January; if any of my readers would like to share this experience, we would be glad to take them in the New Year.
*It is late, we must fly
I am following a marvellous project which is tracking the migration of a group of Bewick's and whooper swans from the Russian tundra to Western Europe. A Bewick's called Anatoli is in the lead. My interest is sharpened, of course, by knowing that some of them will be arriving at our local wetland at Welney; in fact there is a Radio 4 live broadcast at 6.35 am next Sunday to welcome them home. If I can get up at 5, I'll wrap up and head over there. You may remember my feelings at seeing the massed swans last January; if any of my readers would like to share this experience, we would be glad to take them in the New Year.
*It is late, we must fly
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Monday, November 03, 2003
Overheard at the next table...
'...from what I've read she has a lot of men, well, be fair, they only want to sleep with her because she's Tracy Emin.'
'...from what I've read she has a lot of men, well, be fair, they only want to sleep with her because she's Tracy Emin.'
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Saturday, November 01, 2003
Rehash
I thought that Paxman and Widdecombe had done for Michael Howard, she caught him exactly. He certainly gives me the creeps. Smartarse lawyer, arrogant with an oleaginous overlay- they have made a mistake - the public don't like him. He'll be effective in the Commons, but has no charm. Davis would have been the better bet, or, as this acute piece by Polly Toynbee suggests, Ken. I could really care less, but we need consistent stronger opposition.
The Alan Clark Diary - Years in Power was perfect, segmental, holiday reading. He describes so many of the Tory characters instrumental in Major's demise - all still around. Still playing musical chairs - all being remixed. Clark made one interesting observation (well, many, actually) - that he rated Cecil Parkinson very highly as a man of great charisma, honesty and intelligence, felled by a romantic aside. He felt he would have made a leader. I heard him talking about IDS last night, measured and loyal, Alan had a good eye.
McLuhan
Spotted this on brushstroke.tv - a new blog link. As The Medium..' was almost a textbook for my generation I find this bit of background about the title interesting...I particularly like the Mass Age option.
Wolfgang
All this talk of leaders reminds me of a lovely cartoon - I think it was by Larry - of a rumpled Mozart, carrying sheets of music, answering the door to two tiny Martians who say "Take us to your lieder".
I thought that Paxman and Widdecombe had done for Michael Howard, she caught him exactly. He certainly gives me the creeps. Smartarse lawyer, arrogant with an oleaginous overlay- they have made a mistake - the public don't like him. He'll be effective in the Commons, but has no charm. Davis would have been the better bet, or, as this acute piece by Polly Toynbee suggests, Ken. I could really care less, but we need consistent stronger opposition.
The Alan Clark Diary - Years in Power was perfect, segmental, holiday reading. He describes so many of the Tory characters instrumental in Major's demise - all still around. Still playing musical chairs - all being remixed. Clark made one interesting observation (well, many, actually) - that he rated Cecil Parkinson very highly as a man of great charisma, honesty and intelligence, felled by a romantic aside. He felt he would have made a leader. I heard him talking about IDS last night, measured and loyal, Alan had a good eye.
McLuhan
Spotted this on brushstroke.tv - a new blog link. As The Medium..' was almost a textbook for my generation I find this bit of background about the title interesting...I particularly like the Mass Age option.
Wolfgang
All this talk of leaders reminds me of a lovely cartoon - I think it was by Larry - of a rumpled Mozart, carrying sheets of music, answering the door to two tiny Martians who say "Take us to your lieder".