“e” is for easter… and eating.

The Broadway family Easter eating frenzy continued yesterday. Hannah+Fee+Ruth+Stu+Iris+Rosa joined us for a roast pork lunch at our house (well, Han had a veggie version!), followed by various cheeses, amoretti biscuits and Felix’s wonderful homemade cakes (left over after his mother’s birthday celebrations the day before).
A really lovely afternoon.
Earlier in the day Moira+I had gone to St Mary Redcliffe’s for the Easter service – which proved to be excellent (and it’s such a beautiful building). But, actually, the highlight for us was going up for communion while the wonderful choir were singing Handel’s Halleluiah Chorus at full blast.
A truly exhilarating experience.
Photo: Felix’s cakes!

good friday breakfast

Moira+I joined Hannah+Fee for a scrummy breakfast yesterday at Ruth+Stu’s. Entertainment was duly provided by Iris+Rosa (actually, mainly Iris as Rosa slept for some of the time!). After our delicious food, Iris insisted on reading/showing us all stories the way they do in the local library followed by us singing our favourite songs (…. the way they also do in the local library!). We even had dancing around the May Pole, complete with coloured ribbons and me as the pole (a little early perhaps, but it’s always best to be prepared)!
It made for a very enjoyable start to the holiday.
Photo: Iris at the breakfast table, complete with plaits – courtesy of Hannah.

to oxford for lunch

Moira+I spent a lovely time in Oxford yesterday having lunch with great friends Debby, Ken and Ian (Gail was recuperating at home after her hospital ordeals earlier in the week – very sad she wasn’t able to be with us, but wonderful that the prognosis seems to be very positive). We travelled up on the train, met up with the others for coffee at the Jam Factory where we were hugely impressed by the Stillpoint “Stations of the Cross” exhibition. Then on to Quod for lunch and on to Patisserie Valerie for some amazing desserts! The sun shone, Oxford looked beautiful (despite the fact they were digging up the High Street!), the company was perfect and the trains ran on time (more or less!).
A perfect Saturday!
Photo: Ian, Moira, Ken+Debby pondering the menu at Quod.

three musketeers

I received this photograph today via e-mail from my cousin David.
It shows (from left to right) my two cousins, Keith and David, and me.
It was taken in my grandparent’s back garden (Walkers) next to their garage.
I think it was taken in about 1957 (because Keith and his parents emigrated to Australia shortly afterwards). I would have been eight.
This picture confirms my childhood memories – it was ALWAYS sunny; there were ALWAYS blue skies; and jumpers hadn’t yet been invented.
Those were the days!

bomb disposal probably isn't for me

I listened to a powerful, humbling interview yesterday on Radio4’s “Saturday Live” when Chris Hunter talked about his former life as a bomb disposal operator (you can listen to it on iPlayer, albeit briefly). Amazing to hear him talk about his role almost acting as a “form of atonement” and also about its “spiritual” side, but also sad to hear about the effect his job had on his personal life. I just can’t imagine what makes people opt for such a hugely challenging and dangerous role (and it’s terribly sad that they need to do so at all).
Co-incidentally, I recently came across this very funny T-shirt slogan: “if at first you don’t succeed, then bomb disposal probably isn’t for you”.
So true!

eddie izzard marathon man

Hannah told me to watch this TV programme. I’m so pleased I followed her advice. As you might already be aware, the programme (it’s a series of three) is about Izzard’s quest to run 43 marathons in 51 days around Britain in aid of Sports Relief. It’s a ridiculous adventure – he isn’t an athlete, he’s never run ONE marathon let alone 43 and he gives himself just 6 weeks to prepare! If you haven’t already seen the series, I think you should (via iPlayer). It’s stirring stuff – fascinating, poignant and funny.
Be inspired!
PS: the final episode is being shown again tonight on BBC3 at 9pm.

moira’s “big” birthday festival

It was a lovely weekend – culminating in a gathering of wonderful friends at home yesterday, with the odd glass of wine and fantastic food prepared by Ruth, Hannah and Alice… and just a time to relax, laugh, chat and catch up with special people. Moira felt very loved and blessed.
Very good times.
Photo: Moira and daughters Alice, Ruth and Hannah.

midsummer night’s dream at the tobacco factory theatre

Moira, Sheila, Alice+I went to see this last night.
The glowing reviews were absolutely right about the play AND about Felix’s performance!
Just brilliant, magical theatre.

dear mrs parent

I refer to our meeting before school yesterday morning, when you demanded to see me as a matter of “extreme urgency” regarding a bullying issue involving your daughter. You will recall that you explained, in abrupt and confrontational terms, that your daughter had been verbally abused by the older sister of a fellow pupil while out shopping after school (and apparently in front of the girl’s mother). You indicated that the girl had been accusing your daughter of bullying her sister. You also explained that you had later confronted (in no uncertain terms, it appears) this girl’s parents to complain about the incident (you might be surprised to learn that the parents subsequently came to school to complain about your own behaviour). You are quite right, of course: it was entirely unacceptable for the older sister to have acted in the way she did.
However, I would like to make the following observations:
- I take exception to being accused of “doing nothing” to address what you regarded as long-term bullying issues when, having checked our files, the last minor incident was reported and dealt with on 5 November last year. We can only respond to situations that are reported to us.
- I take exception to your assumption that the “school was doing nothing” about the current matter (typical Year 8 bickering/friendship issues) when, in fact, we had spoken to a number of pupils, checked with teaching staff, issued warnings, had established monitoring arrangements and were in the process of recommending particular strategies for their shared lessons.
- I take exception to the fact that you had clearly not bothered to find out the background to the matter (as far as you were concerned, your daughter was entirely innocent).
- I take exception to the fact that you clearly felt you had the right to see me “instantly”, without notice or an appointment.
- I take exception to your confrontational attitude towards me personally (made all the worst by doing so in front of your daughter).
- I take exception to the fact that you were blaming the School for something that occurred outside school.
- I take exception to the conduct and attitudes of parents such as yourself who, in my view, set such poor examples to their own children - effectively saying that aggressive and intolerant behaviour is entirely acceptable.
Finally, I would like to apologise for what you clearly felt was my own rudeness in walking away from you. In the light of the verbal abuse I’d had to endure, I decided that the only appropriate course of action was to refer you to a member of the School’s Senior Management Team.
Yours sincerely
Mr Broadway
PS: this is the letter I would have LIKED to send! Situations like this make me question why I bother at all.

MICMACS

Tough choice. Do I watch the whole of the Reading v Villa game on TV or do I go to The Watershed to see Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “MICMACS” (Moira was at a bread-making workshop!)? I decided on the latter. Jeunet was the director of my favourite film “Amelie”, so I felt I needed to see it. Although it fell a little short of any comparison with “Amelie” (pretty difficult to live up to!), it did have lots of characteristic Jeunet’s touches - and also featured perhaps half a dozen of the Amelie actors too (including the brilliant Dominique Pinon) - and beautiful little visual jokes. The humour was almost slapstick at times and, with all its fantastic invention and imagination, there were moments when it almost felt as if you were watching Wallace+Gromit!
PS: The Villa won despite the fact that they were losing when I set off for the cinema (they only seem to lose if I watch the game!).

more books

I’ve just finished reading Paul Auster’s “Travels in the Scriptorium” and “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink. It was interesting reading them one after the other as they felt oddly linked. I was captivated by Auster’s book (one review I’ve subsequently read talks about the “spell the novel casts over the reader” and I think this is pretty close to the mark). It features a man in a room on his own with a desk and a manuscript. Schlink’s book concludes with a prisoner on her own in her cell surrounded by cassettes of book readings. The illiterate prisoner learns to read and was once a prison guard; the man is perhaps also serving a sentence of some kind – with the characters who enter the room each being described as “former operatives” once controlled by the man.
I thought the film of “The Reader” was absolutely brilliant and the novel is probably one of the most impressive books I’ve ever read – a love story which subsequently becomes an enquiry into the effects of the Holocaust. Sensitive, uplifting and ultimately strangely hopeful.
Think I’d like to read some more Paul Auster (although he’s probably far too clever for me!).
Photo: image from “The Reader” film, bookcovers and Paul Auster.

the great offices of state

If Si Smith is my wonderful music and art guru, then my great car-share/teacher mate Andy is my television programme advisor. I really don’t watch much TV these days but Andy has recently been imploring me to watch “The Great Offices of State” on the BBC. It’s a three-part series presented by Michael Cockerell and “uncovers the secret world of Whitehall” (within the Treasury, Home and Foreign Offices). I’ve now watched them all on iPlayer and they’ve been absolutely fascinating (Professor Peter Hennessey is excellent) – with (pretty frank) interviews with past and present politicians and “normally camera-shy” civil servants. The programmes should be made compulsory viewing for all students of modern History and Politics.

Brilliant!

Photo: The Foreign Office, London.

we woz robbed....

So, it wasn’t to be…. the Villa team got to the League Cup final at Wembley but fell at the last. Adam and I sat in front of the TV and were initially galvanised into thinking we were going to win after Milner scored from a penalty early on (but mystified that why the United man wasn't sent off). Man U probably edged the game in the end, but it could have gone either way….

Photo: Adam+I, suitably clad, in relaxed mood (BEFORE the game!).

west wing+bullying?

As you might have gathered, I absolutely love the “West Wing” (pathetically, I’m only up to the middle of Season 3 thus far, but I’m getting there). Good generally seems to win over bad. I find the characters and storylines fascinating, clever, sharp and funny. When I grow up, I aspire to be a cross between CJ and Toby.
However, I’m also aware that there are aspects of the programme that quite appal me. For instance:
- They seem obsessed with “outworking each other” – forever calling everyone to 7am meetings and regularly working into the “early hours” (ditto working weekends)… “whatever you do, don’t be the first one to leave for home”.
- No one (apart from the President) seems capable of maintaining a relationship/marriage.
- They bark out strategy decisions and orders (and they talk SO fast!) - nobody ever asks someone to repeat anything. I wouldn’t last a month before I made some calamitous error (“oh sorry, I thought that’s what we’d agreed”).
- Calling key staff/governors etc to meetings at the White House at a moment’s notice (failure to attend will almost certainly have severe implications).
Do you think any of the above would constitute “bullying”?
Should anyone warn Gordon?
Just a thought….

a single man

Alan, Gareth, Carolyn, Moira+I went to see “A Single Man” at the Watershed yesterday afternoon. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s semi-autobiographical novel and featuring an outstanding Colin Firth as an English college professor in 1962 Los Angeles (Gareth was pleased to see Firth emerging from water once again – naked this time, not a wet shirt in sight!). Beautiful photography and elegantly-constructed scenes (directed by fashion designer Tom Ford – actually, everything was probably just a little too sumptuous!) and I loved how the film emerged from semi-monochrome to more intense colours (and back) as Firth engaged with some of the characters. Julianne Moore is wonderful as a best friend, confidante, semi-alcoholic divorcee.

felix in midsummer night’s dream

This is the eleventh season of the highly-acclaimed “Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory” (11 February–20 March) and this year they’re performing “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest” (and for the third year running it’s already a near sell-out). Felix (Hannah’s husband for those who don’t know!) has been chosen for parts in both plays. “MSND” is currently running and has received some stunning reviews.
Lyn Gardner in “The Guardian” describes it thus: “It's possible to see at least four productions of Shakespeare's play this month, and inevitably Peter Hall's revival with Judi Dench has grabbed the headlines. But if you want to see Shakespeare's play at its freshest and funniest, you should head straight to Bristol, where Andrew Hilton produces low-budget Shakespeare with a consistency that must make the RSC weep”. Jeremy Brien’s review in “The Stage” is equally lyrical: “Ralph Richardson once said he had never seen a bad production of the Dream, but equally had never seen a perfect one. This sparkling offering helps tip the balance towards the latter”.
In MSND, Felix plays the part of Tom Snout and it’s been really lovely seeing that he’s been picked out for special mention in several reviews, for example:
The Guardian: “This is a Dream that is wistful and sexy, with a wild pagan heart beating beneath its ­formal ­exterior. There are some blissfully funny moments, including a Snout who plays Wall with glorious anguish”.
The Stage: “Chris Donnelly brings some delightful Marx Brothers’ touches to Nick Bottom, Felix Hayes’ Snout the Tinker almost steals the whole shebang as an Olympic weight-lifting ‘Wall’ in the Pyramus and Thisbe interlude, while Christopher Staines anchors the entire box of delights as an all-knowing Puck”.
Moira+I can’t wait to see it (and 13 March seems an awful long time ahead!).

Photo: Felix is on the extreme right!

more books

You might recall (but probably not!) that I made a vague resolution at the end of August to try to read more over the coming year – after reading some seven books over the summer. Well, thus far, I’ve done a little better than usual. I’ve previously blogged about the following books: The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks), Goodbye Mr Chips (James Hilton), 31 Songs (Nick Hornby), Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels) and The Road (Cormac McCarthy) and I’ve now just finished* the following:
Anamcara (John O’Donohue): I just love the way he writes and know that this will be a book I’ll refer to again and again over the coming years.
Ten Things They Never Told Me About Jesus (John L Bell): We’ve been reading this book in our Ithaca group. Very accessible and challenging. John Bell is always very good value.
Letters From An Extreme Pilgrim (Peter Owen Jones): He’s my kind of vicar! Although I could easily finish* this book in a couple of hours, I’m only reading a letter-a-day as part of my Lenten routine/discipline.
The Shipping News (E Annie Proulx): I picked this up at a second-hand book stall and really enjoyed it; beautifully written. Think it’s time I bought the DVD!
The Shack (William P Young): I’m not a great lover of “Christian Fiction” but, despite it’s “american-folksey-schmaltz”(?), actually found it quite thought-provoking.
The fact that four of these five books are vaguely spiritual in content seems a little strange for me – but perhaps it does reflect a little of the way I’m feeling just now (in a self-examination sort of way I suppose – but not in a bad, beat-yourself-up manner!).

tea party movement

The Tea Party movement started in the US in February last year with local, spontaneously-organised and internet-fuelled protests against what participants perceived as “big government” and its excessive spending (and, to some extent, I can understand where they’re coming from – even though the big spending had started under George W, largely as a result of greedy bankers). Having read various newspaper reports over recent months, I’m somewhat alarmed by the rapid growth of this group – which essentially appears to be to the right of the Republican party (and almost anti-Republican?) - and, from the radio interviews I’ve heard on the BBC’s World Service, by the extreme views of (at least) some of its supporters. If you’ve previously read my blog, you will have realised that I’m an Obama fan. I’ve been encouraged that, over the past year or so, the US has become a “world player” once more. Frighteningly, I think that the Tea Party Movement might well become a political force by the time of the next Presidential Election and, if the extreme/selfish opinions that I’ve been hearing take hold (they remind me of the early days of the Thatcher government), then we should all fear the worse.
PS: At present, there seems to be a fair amount of in-fighting regarding the Tea Party’s organisation/leadership…. but they’ll surely sort this out in due course.
PPS: I’m not sure if I was depressed or encouraged by the fact that Sarah Palin recently addressed a TP convention…. surely, any movement would realise the folly of lining up behind her (especially if she did reportedly charge a fee of $115,000)?

Photo: worst case scenario?

year of the tiger

Moira+I went up the City Museum+Art Gallery yesterday to see some of the Chinese New Year celebrations. As it’s the “Year of the Tiger”, our artist friend Tony Eastman had been invited to provide various tiger artefacts that he’d been collecting from around the world over many years – some wonderful stuff. We also watched the Lion Dance in the main foyer, performed by the University of Bristol Chinese Lion Dance Troupe. LOTS of others turned out to watch it too – the foyer was packed out and so were the first and second floor galleries. A really impressive spectacle (the Museum+Art Gallery really is just brilliant!).
Photo: Lion dance; small Chinese spectator and part of Tony’s Tiger Collection.
PS: Played golf at Studley Wood, Oxford this morning with Pete, Bob and Steve (largely thanks to the “other” Steve, we beat P+B by three holes). Lovely time despite the cold and grey.

breakfast in brum with bruv

Really good way to start the half-term holiday today – drove up to Birmingham early in the morning to meet up with Alan and have breakfast just off Gas Street Basin. Great just to have time to “chew the cud” and to wander around the Jewellery Quarter and along some city canal towpaths. Had a lovely day – and back home in time to watch the France v Ireland game on tv.
Photo: the brothers enjoying coffee in Costa, Brindley Place - the guy on the right looks pretty rough doesn’t he (tired, sunken eyes, grey hair, big nose and big blemishes!)?