Shakespeare and me

One of the most influential moments of my early life was when the English A Level teacher arranged a trip to Stratford, to see Hamlet which was the set play or the upper sixth. We girls from the lower sixth were allowed to join in, although our set play was Anthony and Cleopatra. So, sitting in a row only about two back from the stage, I watched David Warner  as Hamlet. It was first really good theatre I had ever seen, and it was the most enthralling experience I had ever had. The next day, being by now completely possessed, I queued for cheap student tickets, and sat on a strapontin to see Ian Holm play Henry IV Part 1.  


So, after our marriage, living in London, we made the theatre our main pursuit. Then we moved out, had children and a lot less time and money and opportunity. But gradually, we've revived the habit, and we've had some wonderful experiences. It's not too far to Stratford or Sheffield, and we've found that Milton Keynes sometimes gets pre London runs. We saw Waiting for Godot there, with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. There are some excellent productions at Nottingham Playhouse and the Theatre Royal, although more popularist, also has good productions. 


Our children bought us theatre tokens for a ruby wedding present, and I can't describe what pleasure we've had from them.  So we've set ourselves the goal of seeing all of Shakespeare's plays. We decided to start again from resuming serious theatregoing, which may be unwise, because we did actually see Troilus and Cressida in about 1972, and it may be difficult to bag again! We have managed to see other less frequently performed plays at Stratford. Really enjoyed Measure for Measure. But we went to a matinee for King John, and much as we admired the production, the audience definitely let it down. It was full of really old people - remember I speak as one myself - who often proceeded to sleep through the whole thing, very obviously. The Swan is a theatre in the round, and the audience is in touching distance of the actors, and it must have been so off putting for the cast. It wasn't even as though there were long spells of plotting, or silences. One lady in the front row slept perfectly soundly through the whole first act, woke up during the interval to consume an ice cream, and then slept solidly through the second act. It was a  "shoot me now" experience for us. Still, soon off to the Globe to see Henry V, and then in the autumn to see Timon of Athens. We're well on the way to our goal.

Walking in the Peak Park

 It is our turn to lead the walking club walk in July. We have a plan but went out today to walk half the walk and check essentials like parking, where to have the coffee stop and so on. Our walk is around Lathkill Dale, which is always beautiful, but was just spectacularly so today. We finally had lovely sunny weather and so everything looked its best, but May is so gorgeous - fantastic displays of orchids, buttercups in the meadows, 


marsh marigolds in the water, and cowslips, campion, yellow archangel and forget-me-not everywhere. I'm not sure that they all ought to be out at once, but I think things are a bit confused by the weather! Here's a couple of photos:


















I picked some wild garlic leaves and put them in a salad for tea. It's the first time I've eaten wild garlic. it smelled stronger than it tasted; it just made the salad a bit more interesting.


The birds were super - lots of larks singing their hearts out and wagtails by the stream, and some baby coots and ducklings. The mother duck seemed quite careless - the ducklings kept getting caught in the stream and nearly getting swept away, peeping frantically, and the mother just ignored them. Maybe Beatrix Potter was describing gritty reality in Jemima Puddleduck. 


I've got to put in a tribute to Natural England. They've done a lot of conservation work in Lathkill Dale and it really shows. 

Books and reading

Now, what's slightly peculiar is that, many months after retiring, I still feel a bit naughty sitting down for a long time during the day, and just reading. It feels faintly decadent. I certainly can't watch TV during the day. But here are some recently read books which I have loved.


First, I've got to mention Alone in Berlin, by Hans Fallada. This led to a lively book group meeting: we all felt that the couple at the heart of the novel  preserved their integrity, and one simply can't know all the long term effects of one's actions, so they may have done some good to others. It's very interesting to consider what one might do in a similar situation. We would all like to believe one would resist tyranny, but I am fairly sure I wouldn't do anything to endanger my family.  One might chose to risk one's own life, but it's another thing to endanger those you love, and who haven't chosen. 


Second, a real Marmite book, Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Those who came to the meeting really loved this book, but some hadn't managed to read it at all. The problem, I think, was the Scottish dialect words, which I coped with by just guessing, and not worrying about the exact meaning. (This is what I did with the Hindi insults and swearing in Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra, another wonderful book.) Sunset Song has the best woman written by a man ever, and the rhythms of speech are gorgeous.


I've also read Cormac McCarthy, but I just want to get out the red pen and put in some punctuation. It's so annoying to read, and why does he do it? People don't speak without punctuation - that's all punctuation is for really, to let you read aloud, or not aloud, but without having to puzzle out the rhythms and who's speaking, anyway. I think he must think that not punctuating makes it more "real", but to my mind it just makes it harder to read. 


One of the thing on my list is to read a couple of classics which I haven't read up to now. I'm pretty well up on the English classics, so I'm going for Zola. I'll   let you know how I get on.

Back to our roots

Just been up to Middlesbrough - saw family and friends and had a really great time. We went for a walk in the hills and on that day we had really good weather - well, compared with what has been normal for this month. 


One of the things I really value about Teesside is that no one is deferential. It's all very friendly, and it's between equals. I've just watched an hour's TV show on Chatsworth, and the snobbery and forelock tugging really got to me. So Middlesbrough is a refreshing change. Really can't imagine anyone from Middlesbrough deferring to anyone just because they are a duke, or buying cheese because it's labelled as "The Duchess's Favourite".


What I do find a bit amazing about Teesside is the Chicken Parmesan, better known as the "parmo". I think it was invented on Teesside - I've never come across it anywhere else - and it's a high fat, high calorie concoction they would be proud of in Kentucky. It's usually eaten with chips, of course.  It's quite difficult to eat frugally, even if you avoid the parmo. The pub special when we met my family was corned beef pie with chips.



So, one of my objectives was to take five photos which represent Middlesbrough to me. So, I decided that one had to be the transporter bridge, one had to be Roseberry Topping, one had to be Saltburn pier, and one had to be the Cleveland Hills. I feel I ought to take Ferrybridge power station on the A1, too, not that it has anything to do with Middlesbrough, but in my mind it's the marker that tells you you're now in the north. However, it was raining quite hard on the journeys up and down, so that will have to wait for another day.

I did drag my husband to the new Middlesbrough modern art gallery. It's a lovely building, much nicer than the Nottingham Contemporary, but neither of us can warm much to modern art. Then we went over to the old docks to take the transporter bridge photo, and of course found we were right by the Anish Kapoor sculpture, the new football stadium, and the new college.  So, although they don't count as "my" Middlesbrough, I think the sculpture is lovely, and it should be acknowledged that a lot has happened in Middlesbrough since I was eighteen.  So here are the transporter bridge and the Anish Kapoor  sculpture which is called "Temenos". It's made of steel wire and recalls Middlesbrough's great days of bridge building. I hope you all know that Middlesbrough men built the Sydney Harbour bridge and the first bridge over the Bosphorus, among many others?


We didn't get to Saltburn so the other two photos are Roseberry Topping:

 and a view in the lovely Cleveland Hills.


Postscript to my adventures in popular music:


It's all over the television and newspapers that Donna Summers has died. I have never heard of her, nor do any of her songs ring the slightest bell. Since her career was in the 70s (apparently) I'm seem to have lost all interest in popular music in my twenties. Definitely too late to catch up now!

Not a bucket list!

I'm getting a bit cross with people talking about my bucket list. As I said earlier, my list of things to do is about keeping me busy and stimulated, not things I need to do before I die. I've actually done quite a lot of them at some point in my life, but I'd like to try again. If you don't believe me, this  is me paragliding:

I'd love to have another go. This was in Nepal, above Pokhara, and eagles came to fly close because they knew you were on the thermals. 


I've had a lovely sociable weekend with family and some very old friends, and am intensely aware of being lucky. I actually heard some of "Thought for the Day" - normally I either switch off the radio or mentally tune it out - and the speaker said something about the best way to honour your parents being to visit their friends, and having had such a nice weekend it struck a chord. So I phoned one of my mother's friends, and next time I'm up in the north east, I'll visit her. It isn't much to do, but better than nothing. 

I started the day by going for a swim. I'm swimming as often as I can because I have plans for the summer. I don't want to reveal them because the weather is so awful up to now that they may not be feasible. I did tell my husband and he got worried immediately, so it's probably better to keep quiet. 


Now, in the changing rooms of the fitness club, they play music. All the time. It's on in the pool too, but when you're swimming you can't really hear it. It drives me crazy - so boring,especially rap, and the words are crap. I suppose a strong, repetitive beat might be helpful if you're working out in the gym, but that's another thing that I just can't see any pleasure or satisfaction in. 


 I do seriously hate background music in any case. One of my pet hates is being expected to talk over great music. Either you listen, or you talk. You can't do both. If you talk you have to tune out the music, and if it's good music that's distracting. People wouldn't talk through a film, so why do they think it's OK to talk through Beethoven, even if it is a recording? I can just about peel veg and listen properly, but nothing much more complex than that. 


So number three son has tried very hard to educate me. I can't, of course, say how up to date his musical tastes might be, so those of you who are really well informed might find all this laughably old fashioned. I don't care however - learning to like popular music seems to be too great a challenge.


So, number three son has tried to introduce me to:
Feist, Kim Carnes, Kaiser Chiefs, and others too numerous to mention. Anyway, they didn't make enough impression on me to remember their names. So far, the only ones I have liked are Tinariwen and Tracy Chapman. I love her songs but wish she had a better voice.


So a challenge sort of failed. Still, I have tried. 

The Music Challenge

One of my challenges was to bring myself up to date in musical knowledge and taste. So I bought "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross. This is a history of twentieth century music - classical of course, and I've been educating myself. Of course, it's now 2012, so I'm already behind.


Well, I didn't have to be convinced about Shostakovich. I've loved his music for many years. It seems pretty mainstream, anyway.    I also discovered Philip Glass and Tavener a few years ago, and all three are well represented in my CD collection.


So how have I done with bringing myself up to date?
Well, Schoenberg is a struggle. I went to hear the Berg violin concerto and it sounded to me like someone torturing a violin. So I may never "get" atonality and twelve tone writing. I shall try again with Schoenberg, I think, but I give up with Berg. 


Messaien also defeats me. I was fascinated with the story of Quartet for the End of Time (it was composed after the fall of France in a prisoner of war camp for the musicians and instruments available, a clarinet, violin, cello and piano.) Ross says the other prisoners listened, enthralled, which seems unlikely to me, and describes two of the movements as "excruciatingly beautiful". Hmm. Now I feel really inadequate. 


But I enjoyed Steve Reich. I could understand the structure. I probably won't buy a CD, but I would go to a concert with his music, even though my husband is inclined to say "Have they stopped yet?", which probably implies that he wouldn't go. 


Takemitsu is wonderfully atmospheric and the influence of Debussy is very clear.  I'm not sure whether it's correct to say I liked "Spirit Garden" or "A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden", but they affected me like their names - strange, absorbing, but unclear and mysterious.  Again, I won't purchase, but would go to a concert.  I would say Takemitsu's music would be wonderful for films, but worried that that would be taken as an insult. He has written a lot of film music, though, for Japanese classics like "Ran".


Now, Britten. I do like his orchestral music, and went to a string quartet concert where his second quartet was played, and thought it was very moving. I think I have problems with Peter Pears' voice. I got into opera more than forty years ago, when we were first married and I was young enough to be a "young friend of Covent Garden", which got us discounted tickets. They were still expensive, but you have to remember this was BC - before children. Anyway, the first serious tenors I heard were Jon Vickers and Placido Domingo, and compared with them, Pears sounds weak and effete. So I have been to the library and picked up a recording of Peter Grimes with Antony Rolfe Johnson in the title role and we'll see how I get on with that.


OK, now the good news - Arvo Part is just wonderful! The issue here is to stop buying CDs. If you don't know his work, listen to "Speigel im Speigel" for violin and piano. (You've probably heard it without realising.) Better, listen to "Tabula Rasa". I was given for Christmas a recording of the fourth symphony, which is wonderful, but it means that there are three more symphonies out there that I don't know. Isn't that super? Lots more pleasure discovering them.


Now I should have some music clips on this, but of course copyright is the problem. So, if you are interested try:
http://www.therestisnoise.com

and you can listen to clips of some of the music I'm going on about.


And I must put in a plug for Nottingham's splendid Central Library, which may be one of the ugliest buildings you are likely to come across, but has everything I've ever asked for. They'd had the Messaien for five years and it had only been out once before, but there it was, just for me. Fantastic.


Coming soon: getting up to date with "popular" music.

To begin with...............

Starting a blog is part of my carpe diem list, so here goes:


I am shortly going to be 63, I have four children and two grandchildren and have not long retired from teaching psychology to sixth formers. My husband has almost always worked in another town, for quite long periods in another country, and for one year, on another continent, while I stayed here in the midlands and went to parents' evenings.  When the children had grown up I spent a lot of time looking after my dear mother. So now I reckon I'm about as free as I am going to be (it's just a pity that this unwonted freedom has coincided with my knees beginning to give up) and I've made a list of things to do. I'm not calling it a bucket list - it's a series of aspirations, so I'm calling it my carpe diem list. 


First on the list is to keep a blog or diary. I've chosen a blog as it involves technology. I felt that advancing my skills should be one of my aspirations, but I don't even know enough to make a specific target. No. 3 son suggested mastering Call of Duty, but I have played some sort of Star Wars game with my older grandson, and I couldn't have been more useless. I hadn't the faintest idea what I was meant to be doing, and he scored about 100,000 while I scored zero. He's seven, by the way. So, as this isn't meant to be an exercise in humiliation, gaming is out.


I've just looked at the preview and it's a bit boring, but I don't expect anyone much to read it any way. Still, I mean to upload photos if I can. In fact this is me:

Tomorrow - adventures in music.