happy birthday ian!

This weekend sees the last of the “great-mates-50th-birthdays-in-2007” celebrations in Oxford. As well as being younger than me, Ian is an inspirational man who has wonderfully good looks; intelligence; sporting prowess; compassion; great communication skills; generosity; humility; humour; doesn’t look anything like 50 years old and, crucially, is just a lovely bloke and a great mate!! Sickening isn’t it? Really looking forward to the weekend.
We love him to bits!

karine polwart again

Went to a lovely Karine Polwart concert at St George’s in Bristol last night with Gareth, Alan and Moira. Excellent venue with marvellous acoustics; completely different “feel” last night compared with her concert at Thekla last November. You just get the feeling that she's a really nice person - as well as being an exceptional singer/songwriter. Found it amusing that she’d bought one of her guitars from Bristol on e-Bay!
Sounded very good to me!

PS: on a completely separate matter, I spotted the first brightly lit up house with Christmas decorations on the way home from work yesterday (same as the house I pointed out this time last year!). Rather depressing really.

growing hope

I really love the Iona Community’s “Growing Hope” book of daily readings. Two recent readings relating to our individual/communal spiritual journeys struck a chord with me:

“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”. (Old Testament Book of Micah 6:8)
Journey Blessing:
“May our journey ahead be blessed with God’s laughter, silences, risks, challenges, healings, questions, promises, protests, answers, tears, solidarity, often uncomfortable peace and compassion-filled surprises – perhaps all in one day”.
(Peter Millar)

andy

Good friend Andy is on a bit of a roll.
Recent events have included him running into the back of a police vehicle on his way into school (and subsequently being passed by pupils and staff colleagues alike - which instantly publicised his plight!). This was followed a few days later when he set off the fire alarm at school – which resulted in the entire school being made to stand outside in pouring rain (Andy is a Science teacher and he was apparently trying to video a simulated demonstration of nuclear fision, or something like that, by setting light to 200 matches – which just happened to be positioned under a smoke detector!).
Well, yesterday Andy kindly gave me a lift into school (we frequently exchange lifts) but en route mentioned that he thought the brakes on his "new" car (ie. the replacement for the one involved in the police accident!) felt "strange". We'd arranged to meet up at 4pm for the homeward journey.... but no Andy. No sign of him in the Science office, his lab or in the staff room. I checked in the staff car park... no car!! I rang him on his mobile: "Ah Steve, yes, a couple of things - firstly, I've just realised that I'd forgotten to give you a lift and, secondly, I'd just got down the hill from school when my brakes failed - so I've just called the AA. But don't worry, Dave+Tamsie have stopped to offer assistance so they can give you a lift home".

Clearly, it was an act of God (punishment for forgetting me!).
PS: from now on, the school is considering giving Andy his own slot in the daily staff briefing – far more interesting than the usual notices.

once again

I realise I’m in danger of becoming somewhat evangelical about the film “Once” (see my blog of 26 October), but thought you might like to watch this video clip using one of the songs from the film as an encouragement to see the film! My friend John Simmons (“come on Oldham”!) says he went to see it after reading my recommendation, loved it, insisted on taking some of his family to see it two days later and has bought the CD (you’ve been warned)!!
PS: this is a link for the cinema listings in your area.

ooooo scary!

I just love this image!
Halloween seems to be an excuse for huge commercialisation by supermarkets and the like, so Ruth’s do-it-yourself outfit for Iris comes somewhat as a relief.
If you really want to be scared, maybe you should watch this!
PS: perhaps even more scary is the fact that Moira+I first got together 38 years ago today!
PPS: right, that’s the last of the family photo album pictures for a while (promise!).

grandchildren

Some recent photographs of Mikey, Iris and Dan (with apologies that this is becoming a bit of a family photo album!)….
Iris, Mikey, Dan, Iris and Mikey

alice+dave+mikey+dan

Moira+I made a quick overnight visit to Leyland to see everyone! Alice+Dave seem to be coping fine – although Mikey seems to be in complete denial that there has been an addition to the family thus far!
Photo: Dan+me by Moira (apologies for no pictures of the proud parents or granny!)

dan buckley

Taking a lead from Mrs Thatcher (and for those who know me: obviously I would never do such a thing!), it’s very nice to be able to announce to the world that “we are now a grandfather” again!!
Alice+Dave now have another baby boy (not sure if he's a future ManU striker or midfielder at this stage):
Dan - born 12.54pm today, weighing 7Ib 1oz!
Everyone well. Moira+I are clearly delighted and hope to make a flying visit on Sunday.
Welcome Dan!

once

Moira+I don’t go to the cinema very often, but we were really pleased that we went to the Watershed last night to see “Once”. This modern day musical (writer/director John Carney described his intention as wanting to make a “visual album”) is set in Dublin and is a story about busker and his friendship with a young Czech immigrant woman. This gentle, charming, uplifting film is just wonderful (and the music is absolutely lovely - the songs stay with you).
You’ve just got to see (and hear) it!

PS. I've already added it as one of my favourite films!

camera

I indicated in an earlier blog that I’d had a problem with my camera on the Kielder Challenge and feared that it might be terminal. Well, so it proved. My friendly camera repair shop indicated that the LCD screen needed replacing and the cost was going to be prohibitively expensive (for a 4 year-old camera). I tried to buy a second-hand replacement on e-Bay but, frustratingly, was outbid at the very last second! In the end, I decided to buy a refurbished Canon PowerShot A640 (10 Megapixels and still with a LCD screen) – with a fair more memory than my old G3 (4MP) – for not much more than it would have cost me to repair my broken camera. Big problem is that I can’t afford it and have had to advise Moira that she’s bought it me for Christmas (and birthday)!
Just hope I haven’t made a big mistake!

four have fun on a golf course (again)

There was a time when every Friday afternoon throughout the year, Steve, Ken, Pete and I used to play golf together - ok, sometimes we could only squeeze in four holes before it got dark! So it was great to have the four of us back on a golf course together again in Oxford this morning (sadly, I’ve only played 3 times in the last 18 months) - with all the banter, laughter, rivalry and missed putts…. and the sun shone beautifully too. Rather happily, the match (Ken+Pete versus Steve+me) ended all square - with Ken holing a five foot putt on the last hole.

As Ken would say (and did!): “it doesn’t get much better than this!”.

Photo: Ken+Pete+Steve+my shadow before our game today.

one world week

This is “One World Week” and I am reminded of the following stark statistics used by many international aid organisations (it’s also one of the daily readings in the excellent “Growing Hope” publication by the Iona Community):

Imagine shrinking the earth’s population to a village of 100 people with all the existing human ratios remaining the same.
The village would have 61 Asians, 12 Europeans, 13 North or South Americans, 13 Africans. One white person from Oceania.
There would be 51 females and 49 males.
70 non-whites, 30 whites.
70 non-Christian and 30 Christians.
50% of the village’s wealth would be in the hands of 6 people – all North American citizens.

80 villagers would live in substandard housing;
70 villagers would be unable to read;
while 50 would suffer from malnutrition.
One villager would have a college education.

it wasn’t to be….

In the four or so years since Alice+Dave got married, Villa have yet to win against ManU (Dave is a ManU fanatic and, worse than that, has converted his wife to the cause!). Clearly, yesterday was no exception (1-4) - despite Villa taking the lead – and I anticipate that the powers-that-be at Villa will be asking for the marriage to be dissolved any time now…

PS: my Fantasy football team continues to go from bad to worse. Another appalling week and my league position in England has plummeted to 324,365th (from "just" 218,205th at the end of September)!
PPS: oh yes, and in the really important game, the England rugby team fell just short of retaining the World Cup. I only managed to watch the last 20 minutes at the wedding reception hotel (one small TV in a packed small area and I “watched” it from outside the room four rows back from the doorway!). It seemed to be a case of South Africa dominance at the line-outs and perhaps a little too much kicking? The boys “did brilliant” nonetheless! Heroic stuff!

… and the bride wore white

It’s going to be a long and difficult day.
The England Rugby team has reached the World Cup Final against all the odds and we’re all holding our breath that it doesn’t end in an awful anti-climax (perhaps another 0-36 or worse?!). Great friend Ian thinks we ought to be singing for England (the players’ theme tune: “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers)!
Moira+I will be attending Mike+Sarah’s wedding reception this evening – which gives little scope for me being able to wear my lucky blue Cotton Traders shirt(!) – so I’m just hoping that a TV will be available!
Someone who definitely will be seeing the game is my lovely mate Steve Eyre. Yesterday, I sent him a text confirming golfing arrangements for next Tuesday; within seconds came the following reply:

“In Paris 4 le rugby. Allez les blancs!”.

climate change

Attended an absolutely fascinating (and packed) meeting last night in Bristol entitled “Climate Change: A Global Injustice” with excellent, challenging, thought-provoking speakers George Monbiot (“radical thinker”), Kate Raworth (Senior Researcher at Oxfam) and someone from the World Development Movement (can’t remember his name!). It’s given me lots of food for thought.
I started reading the preface to Monbiot’s book “Heat” in bed last night. It refers to Tony Blair’s contention that Climate Change is “the single most important issue that we face as a global community”. Monbiot acknowledges that when the Government’s commissioned Stern Report was first published last year (assessing the economic implications of climate change), he initially welcomed it. It was only on reflection that he came to realise that Sir Nicholas Stern's recommendations actually “embrace a greenhouse gas target with a reasonable chance of causing mass starvation”.
The meeting was far from being a list of depressing statistics and I came away feeling strangely uplifted and encouraged.

I suspect that you’ll be hearing more from me on the subject over the coming months – and I think my MP will be too!

anniversary blog

Somewhat amazingly (for me at least!), this is my blog's first birthday.

Happy birthday blog!

radiohead

Radiohead’s new album “In Rainbows” is brilliant. Just brilliant.
The band has chosen to release its seventh studio album as a digital download through the Radiohead website at a price determined by each consumer willing to part with an email address. Within two days of its release, reports say that more than 1.2 million copies had been downloaded.
You’ve got to have it!

blue is the colour

Apologies. I now seem to be focussing on writing a Rugby Blog these days!

Crucial moment of the match was nothing to do with Joe Worsley’s great tackle or Jonny’s drop goal. It happened in about the 55th minute when I realised that I wasn’t wearing the “lucky blue Cotton Traders” shirt (even against “Les Blues”!). Once this error had been rectified, victory was never in doubt (well ok, perhaps just a little bit).
Photo: Jonny’s drop goal.

holding my breath

Yes, I know that last week I said “the semi-finals are of absolutely no consequence” (having beaten Australia), but I’ve subsequently actually been dreaming of England getting to the finals (we’re not talking football here, by the way!)!

I’ve been having a number of “wouldn’t-it-be-brilliant-if-we-made-the-finals” conversations with various friends (notice how it becomes “we” if the team is doing well and “they” if they aren’t!).

I’m saying no more…..

dear peter

I was delighted that Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with the UN’s Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change. I don’t know if you’ve seen his film “An Inconvenient Truth” but, if you haven’t, I would certainly recommend that you to do so. There is comparatively little in the film/documentary that I wasn’t already aware of, but I still found it compelling viewing. To my mind, I think it would be hugely beneficial for pupils if they had an opportunity to see the film at School (albeit with the “accompanied guidance” prescribed by a British Judge this week!).
The following extracts from an article by Andrew Lee (a member of the Geographical Association)(see http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/themes/ for suggested ideas for using the film with students) echo my own thoughts:
“Whilst his message is hardly new, the significant thing is that the message is all in one place, and it is explained by a highly profiled credible person, who happens to be an American. Gore quotes Churchill from the 1930s, who whilst speaking in another context, as ever made a poignant and universal statement: 'The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences …'. Yet the biggest threat to our future may not be climate change, it just might be our own apathy, or even our resolute refusal to acknowledge what just might be an inconvenient truth. Take your children to see this film, take your partner, take your parents, take your class, take your school. Make a pledge to get as many people as you can to see this film”.
I’d be happy to lend you the DVD if required!
Let me know what you think.
Many thanks
Steve
Note: This is an e-mail I’ve sent to the Headteacher at our School.

hiv+stephen fry

Watched both parts of Stephen Fry’s excellent documentary on HIV Aids on BBC tv. Completely absorbing; moving; challenging; sensitively produced; lots of myths exposed; brilliantly presented. It reflected on how, in the early 1980s, little was known about Aids or how to treat it and how, in the UK, people were warned of its dangers via the "Don’t Die of Ignorance" campaigns. Twenty years later, infections are rising, particularly amongst three groups: the young; black African communities; and heterosexuals. The number of new infections amongst straight people now outweighs those in the gay world. I’ve read some of the messages on the BBC messageboard. I was particularly struck by this:
“I was diagnosed HIV+ 6 years ago, when I was 16. To date I haven't told anyone in my life other than the relevant medics. As was highlighted in the programme, it's not the fact that I have HIV that makes me wary of disclosing, but the way by which I undoubtedly caught it - I was an IV drug-user, involved in prostitution and did neither of them safely. My mistakes, my consequence”.
Check out the GIJonny link.

facebook

Found these rather amusing (many thanks to Kymberley Jane Ashwood via John Simmons’ facebook page):
a) uncertain about being able to pay next month’s rent/mortgage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNIolPG5qtE
b) so what is facebook all about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-fJxzpK7s

world champions

Yes, I know. I feared the worst when England took on the might of Australia in the Rugby Union World Cup quarter-finals earlier today. In the event, it was an entirely justified 12-10 English victory and I feel very good about it all!
I watched the game in the John Cabot pub in Bristol’s Corn Street with a group of friends from school and the atmosphere was amazing (even to the extent that people were calling for “hush” when Jonny Wilkinson was taking his penalty kicks – as if it made any difference to him!). Initially, we had considered meeting up in the Australian “Walkabout” pub just opposite but, on reflection, I think we made the right choice!
The semi-finals are of absolutely no consequence – England will probably lose whoever they play…. but it was VERY important that we beat the Aussies!

I might even e-mail my cousin Keith in Australia later!
Photo: Andy Gomarsall celebrating victory.

burma crisis

no postings – just a banner
support burma: international bloggers' day

pure fantasy

At the start of the football season, I was persuaded (independently) by good friends Miles and Glen to manage a Fantasy Football team. You have to pick a squad of 15 players up to a total value of £100 million (pish!). Somewhat amazingly, Game One went very well and I thought “you’re a natural at this, Steve”. However, after eight games, it’s pretty obvious I haven’t got a clue and I’m slipping down the various leagues on a very consistent basis (I’m currently ranked 218,205th in England!)! For example, despite dipping into the transfer market a few times, none (yes, none!) of my forwards has yet scored a goal for me all season!! Yesterday just confirmed my ineptitude… my two squad goalkeepers (ok, you can only use one at a time) played against each other in a game that finished 7-4! As you might appreciate, you score decent points if your goalkeeper doesn’t concede any goals – fat chance of this yesterday! On a positive note, the goalkeeper I DID select for my team was the one who only conceded the four goals AND he also saved a penalty - and therefore got “extra” points for doing so!
Maybe things are looking up?
Photo: David James: one of my “goalkeepers”

bristol self-help group

Good friend Andy’s been going on about the Bristol-based teachers at school getting together in some quiet bar on a fairly regular basis during the course of a working week. Clearly, he didn’t want to be seen by the powers-that-be as one of those irresponsible, unprofessional, beer-swilling individuals who’d rather go for a drink than mark books or prepare lessons – so he persuaded me to send out a round-robin e-mail to members of staff asking the Bristol contingent to sign up for this exciting new venture instead! The reaction has been very interesting. We’ve now got an equivalent “self-help group” being formed for Bath-based teachers and we’ve even received e-mails from staff who live between Bath and Bristol saying they’ll try to attend both groups!

Somehow, I think my imminent Performance Review might be adversely affected.

Photo: me practising for the self-help group at the recent Bromyard Folk Festival

kielder challenge

Back home after four days in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland.
The bare facts are that our team (four pupils from our school working with four pupils with severe learning or physical disabilities from Fosseway School) finished a great 10th out of 287 teams who entered this wonderful annual national event.
These young people demonstrated impressive teamwork, communication and huge enthusiasm in dealing with six (pretty complicated!) problem-solving tasks but, much more importantly, they learnt an awful lot about themselves, about relationships, about the needs of others and about learning to value their own abilities and those of other people - in short, an amazing, humbling and inspirational few days which, I feel sure, have already started to influence a number of lives (young and not so young!).
Key personal memories:
1. Lots of “chats” with a young boy named Ryan, who had severe speech problems (plus lots of other issues) and learning to “sign” various names – including “Doc” (one of our team members) – but also eventually succeeding in getting him to say “Oc” (for Doc!), which was a really great moment. Unfortunately, he then went around saying “Oc! Oc! Oc! Oc!” ALL the time and it was just like having our own pet seal!
2. Being “volunteered” by our team to take part in one of the extra “fun” challenges and ended up having several gallons of water poured over my head and getting absolutely soaked!

3. Ending up with my camera not working (due to the wet weather?) and fearing that the problem might be terminal!

off up north

I’m flying up to Newcastle tomorrow for four days with eight of our students (from Norton Hill and Fosseway Schools) to compete in the Challenge Plate Finals of the Kielder Challenge at the Kielder Forest in Northumberland – a national outdoor adventure competition for teams of 13 to 16 year old young people. We’re competing in the category of teams which includes four pupils with physical, sensory or learning disabilities. It won’t be about winning or losing; it will be about the experience of taking part in this wonderful competition.
Photo: Ryan, Doc, Tom, Beth, Emily, Andrew, Stacey and Montana (plus helpers Rachel and James).

bromyard folk festival

Well, another great weekend at Bromyard with my brother Alan. We’re not desperately into folk music - but they DO sell beer at these festivals you know! In the event, although there didn’t appear to be any significant performers on the bill that we liked, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing/hearing Eliza Carthy and The Ratcatchers, Last Orders and the brilliant Mabon (see the middle photo below). Much to our surprise, we were also really impressed by the Saturday night Ceilidh (I must stress, we didn’t dance!) - the band (with the awful name of Whapweasel!) were amazing and the energy+enjoyment of the dancers was contagious. We even sang sea shanties (even though you can’t much further from the sea than Bromyard!). The weather was lovely and Alan+I had plenty of time to talk (+talk!)(I’d apparently forgotten to tell him that our daughter Alice was expecting baby next month!) over the odd bacon sandwich at breakfast and the odd glass of red wine or beer at virtually all other times!
PS: one of the troubles with camping is that I needed to get up 4 times on Friday night to go to the loo - and those tent zips make enough noise to wake the dead!!

PPS: we still don't know why blokes want to become morris dancers.

bromyard and me bruvva

Looking forward to spending the weekend with my brother Alan at the Bromyard Folk Festival this weekend. We went there in 2004 and sampled a fair amount of the local ale and enjoyed the music, so have decided to repeat the experience!
Photo: “Show of Hands” at the 2004 BFF

de la warr pavilion

A wonderful weekend with good friends Felicity and Chris in East Sussex. As well as time spent eating, drinking and laughing, we visited the impressive Sissinghurst Castle Garden (rescued by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s) and Battle Abbey (was Harold really killed by an arrow in the eye?!) in glorious sunshine. However, the true highlight of the weekend was our visit/architectural pilgrimage to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. Designed in 1935 by architects Erich Mendolsohn and Serge Chermayeff, it was the UK’s first public building built in the Modernist style and was re-opened in 2005 after extensive restoration and redevelopment.
Photos: sea terraces, stunning staircases and Aalto chairs at the De La Warr Pavilion.

iris is one

Helped Iris celebrate her first birthday at the end of yesterday afternoon. Lots of giggling, pointing, calls for “more”, “high fives” and great entertainment!

Put me in mind of these words from Khalil Gibran’s book “The Prophet”, which were read out at a Baptism last Sunday:
"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.' And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable".
Photo: Ruth+Stu made Iris a fantastic kitchen!

staffa

While I was on Iona, I was persuaded to take the 50 minute boat trip to the island of Staffa and was really pleased that I did. I knew about Fingal’s Cave but hadn’t realised that Staffa was at the “other end” of the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim – with its amazing basalt columns formed from molten lava. I made a recording on my mobile phone of some of our group singing inside the cave (and, of course, am currently looking for a record company!). We’d just missed the puffins, but we did have six or so bottlenosed-nosed dolphins accompany our boat out of Iona which was absolutely amazing (unfortunately, the only photograph I managed to take makes it look as if we were being attacked by “Jaws”!)(perhaps I should contact “The Sun” newspaper?).

iona

Back from a magical week on Iona – with the huge bonus of having enjoyed pretty good weather. Great to have experienced a week with the Iona Community and to have had time to enjoy this wonderful tiny island.
Photos: some quick images.

iona people

Moira was unable to make the trip to Iona, so I was somewhat concerned at the prospect of living for a week with a group of complete strangers. In the event, it was the lovely people I met who made the week so special – living, eating, talking, walking and laughing together. Over 40 of us, from completely different backgrounds and with a wide range of ages. It was a very special, refreshing and renewing week.

The challenge will be see if I can use the experience positively over the weeks and months ahead!

Photos: just a few of my lovely new Iona friends.

results

I went into school earlier today to be with pupils as they opened their GCSE results. Overall, there were great scenes of rejoicing, with some excellent grades acquired through hard work. The half dozen pupils I’d been specifically mentoring all did pretty well – although I know that two of the boys could have done better (and I think they know that too). I thought that another of “my” boys(!) was going to drop out of school altogether last Christmas, but thankfully he was able to turn things around and had gained really impressive results. He was delighted (and I’m sure his mother was too!).
Hopefully, for most pupils, the results will provide a boost to their self-belief and act as a springboard to higher education and particular career paths. Inevitably, for a few, there was disappointment – I passed one boy as he was on his way out of school; he’d clearly being putting on a brave face to his friends but now, as he left, reality was dawning and he couldn’t hold back his emotions any longer as tears started rolling down his face. I came across two other boys - both with disappointing results – who were laughing and joking in a typical macho, “we-don’t-care” way and maintaining that they’d only come into school to see their mates. For them, their GCSE results could be the wake-up call they need – or perhaps they could simply be the next steps in lives of disillusionment and under-achievement. Hopefully, it’ll be the former; unfortunately, for those particular individuals, I fear it might be the latter.

iona

I’m off to Scotland tomorrow to spend a week with the Iona Community. I think this will be my fifth visit to this wonderful place, but it’ll be the first proper extended visit (last year’s two-day stay was in low cloud and heavy rain!). Hopefully, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time exploring the tiny island (some 3.5x1.5 miles) and the rest of the time working alongside members of the Community and visitors like me.
It won’t quite be the luxury living we enjoyed in Italy last week but I’m really looking forward to it!
Photo: sea shore at the south-east corner of the island

casa pietro berrettini

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our lovely friend Ken, who’d invited us all to Cortona to help celebrate his 50th birthday (it was actually his birthday in April, but we didn’t want to say anything), Gail+Ian+Moira+I stayed at this amazing place near the highest part of the steeply-sloping medieval city (Berrettini 1596-1669 was a painter/architect/writer). Wonderful accommodation and a stunning garden (100 paces long - I counted!) with breathtaking views across tiled rooftops over the valley.
How incredibly lucky we were!

Photos: terrace; kitchen/dining room; bedroom window view; bedroom suite; garden dining area

friends

Sorry, but somewhat inevitably, the next couple of blogs contain the odd reference to a certain Italian holiday! Obviously, it’s lovely to spend time in a wonderful place but even better when you’re with great friends (Ken+Debby, Ian+Gail, Terry+Carol and Moira) – to enjoy the pleasure of talking, relaxing, eating, drinking and laughing with them. Our get-togethers normally started at 10am at the café for coffee and pastries(!); sometimes we would meet up for lunch in a restaurant and then, in the evening, perhaps eat bread, meats, cheese, roasted tomatoes at the table in the garden overlooking the valley as the sun went down.
Whatever we did, we didn’t need to hurry…..it was tough!

Photos: eating in the garden; at Max’s; at the café; reading in the garden; eating again

return from cortona

Moira+I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Cortona with six great friends. The sun shone; our lovely friends were just lovely; the food+wine were excellent; Cortona was magical – and the place we stayed was amazing (more to come on this in due course!).

Photos: some quick images

balloon fiesta

Ruth, Stu, Iris and I got up at 5am today and went down to Ashton Court to watch 97 balloons (just 97!) take off on an absolutely beautiful morning. You still wouldn’t get me up in one of them, but it was very impressive.

Photos: this morning’s pictures (they look remarkably similar to those I took in 2005!)

cortona again

Ciao! We’re about to return to beautiful Cortona in Tuscany for a week – to help celebrate Ken’s 50th birthday (again – it was his birthday in April!) at his favourite restaurant. We’ve been invited along with some other great friends, so I anticipate that much red wine will be consumed during the course of our time there!

Someone's got to do it!

Photo: Cathedral, Cortona in the early morning

relaxing on holiday?

I seem to have spent an awful lot of time in the bathroom recently! Even with a plumber coming in to deal with the technical stuff (and that’s had its problems too!), I knew that the proposed modifications would be a complicated and frustrating job and, in this respect, it hasn’t disappointed. Doing-it-yourself is clearly going to cost less than “getting someone in”, but isn’t it amazing how much more money you end up spending than you’d originally thought – it always seems to be a case of needing just a few more bits of timber or screws or paint or wall tiles or whatever. The job seems to have been going on for ages (we’re currently without a wash basin) and shows every sign of taking up the rest of the school holidays (at least!). There have certainly been times when I just wanted our old bathroom back, believe me!
Photo: bathroom in progress (sort of)!

antony gormley: hero

When I grow up, I want to be Antony Gormley (except that he’s younger than me, so I’m not sure if this will work). Visited his Blind Light exhibition at the Hayward Gallery yesterday and thought it was wonderful. Two things stood out. Blind Light, the “brightly lit, cloud-filled glass box” is about entering the space and experiencing complete disorientation (with virtually nil visibility), but also observing the space from outside the glass box and seeing figures emerging as shadows as they come close to the edges. In total contrast is Event Horizon: where (some 20?) life-size figures are placed on rooftops and walkways within 1.5sq.km area of the gallery and seen from the gallery’s three sculpture terraces (and from elsewhere).
Quite beautiful and surprisingly powerful.

Photo: Event Horizon figures plus real people at the National Portrait Gallery

end of another school year

For most of us at school, today is the end of term (unfortunately, I have to work an extra day – together with a few others – but that’s another story!). It means I’ve been working in education for a whole two years since retiring from my architectural practice. The time seems to have flashed by! I’m going to miss the good friends who will be leaving – some retiring; some for new challenges in other fields; and some just moving on. I worked with Tony, Head of Art, on Friday as part of the school’s Activities Week (he’s also retiring after over 25 years at the school). Some Year 8 pupils were trying animation for the very first time and the results were just brilliant. It was just wonderful seeing Tony at work - with his humour, enthusiasm, knowledge and encouragement and then to see the children respond so positively (and clearly feeling really proud by their achievements at the end of the day). Tony might be retiring, but he’s still got what it takes!
Humbling and inspirational stuff.
PS: the animations weren’t quite “Wallace+Grommit” standards, but Aardman better watch out!

people’s music: another update

I’m continuing to receive great favourite music suggestions from lovely friends and family. I’ve already compiled a list of over 30 tracks (note: see blog posts 8+23 June).
I’ve been playing the following tracks a lot recently (the running order is brilliant, with each track running into the next beautifully!):
1. “Heartbeats” by Jose Gonzalez (Catherine P)
2. “Break on Through” by The Doors (Hannah B)
3. “Still Ill” by The Smiths (Paul B)
4. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who (Felix H)
5. “I Might Be Wrong” (live version) by Radiohead (Ian A)
6. “Beautiful Day” by U2 (Gail A)
7. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley (Catherine P)
8. “Cold Water” by Damien Rice/Lisa Hannigan (Ruth B)
9. “Staralfur” by Sigur Ros (Gareth R)
10. “From The Morning” by Nick Drake (me!)
Still keen to receive further suggestions!
PS: the somewhat impossible criteria was: “ if I had to choose just ONE piece of music, this would be it” (it might be just a great piece of music or something that has special significance)…. and, in addition, there was an opportunity to add another track under the general heading: “Steve, I think you might also like this”.
Photo: Radiohead (of course!)

city life

Last night I went to a lecture. It was entitled: What changes will the city need to make to deal with climate change, and will it be able to survive at all? I went thinking it would be a thought-provoking and challenging evening; I came away somewhat frustrated and feeling it had been a wasted opportunity. There were two speakers: Professor Susan Roaf offered what was billed as a “mind-blowing picture of the history of the end of the city” – but I found it all rather bland and it hardly scratched the surface of the problem (eg. her solutions included “battening down the hatches and stopping building altogether” and “avoiding building above six storeys high”!) and George Marshall, who was more interesting - in a somewhat homespun, make-do-and-mend sort of way - with an emphasis on recycling/re-using materials and illustrating these with photographs of his own house (which totally failed to persuade me I’m afraid!). Maybe the title of the talk was just too ambitious, but it just didn’t work for me.
The biggest irony was that, during the course of the evening, George Marshall admitted that he was actually moving from the City of Oxford to Powys, Wales to build himself a new home in the middle of nowhere!!

where in the world?

Perhaps it’s just the thought of breaking up for summer, but I had one of those conversations recently when a friend asked where in the world I would like to visit (money no object!). Somewhat pathetically, my answer was “Upper Saltings in St Ives”. I know there are much more exotic places but, in all honesty, I would gladly settle for this. It’s the top floor of a converted sail loft; it sleeps 10-12 people; it’s just stunningly beautiful and it overlooks Porthmeor Beach and the ocean…. turquoise sea+white sand. The photograph is taken from within the main living/dining space at Upper Saltings – Felix is cooking supper; Ruth is preparing the dining table; Stu is painting; and Hannah+Moira are just chilling in the wonderful huge bay window seat.
It’s an absolutely magical place (but don’t visit St Ives in high summer!).

nurture

Spent last Wednesday evening watching a DVD of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. There was comparatively little in the film/documentary that I wasn’t already aware of, but I still found it completely compelling viewing. It made me think about what kind of world our grandchildren will inherit from us. Then, strangely, I found myself watching “Who Do You Think You Are?” on BBC1 immediately afterwards (even stranger because I seem to watch very little tv these days). Tracing back Nicky Campbell’s adopted family history some 150 years in Australia, via Scotland, seemed to somehow help put the Al Gore DVD into context and emphasise the massive changes the world has witnessed since the mid-1850s. In turn, thoughts of Nicky Campbell’s adopted family put me in mind of our own adopted grandson Mikey. Campbell emerged at the end of the tv programme saying what a huge part nurture (within his adopted family) had played in his life; and I reflected on the vital importance of nurture within Mikey’s life with Alice+Dave as his adopted parents.
It then dawned on me, of course, that nurture (this time, of our planet) was also at the heart of the Al Gore film too.