last cricket match of the season…

Chris and I were due to go to Taunton on the final day of the three-day game between Somerset and Warwickshire (my home county of birth). Due to his other commitments, it was the only day Chris could make it. However, after a bizarre first day (when 21 wickets fell!!), it was pretty clear that there wouldn’t be much of the game left (if any) by the final day… and so Chris generously suggested that I might prefer to see Day two on my own… which I duly did.
Well, it proved to be another highly-eventful day’s cricket.
In the morning, Somerset had resumed on 41-1 in their second innings (leading by 13 runs (Somerset had been dismissed for just 95… and Warwickshire hadn’t fared much better in reaching 123). Although the pitch wasn’t “dangerous”, it was one that had previously been “used” (when I looked at it closely in the lunch break, it did look very badly worn to me – and I don’t really blame the batsman for treating it with great suspicion!!) and certainly offered help to both seam and spin bowlers.
In the end, Somerset made 211 – largely thanks to captain Chris Rogers (who made 58, after being dropped the night before) and Peter Trego (31, which included two sixes) and set Warwickshire 184 to win. It was a target that SHOULD have been well within their capabilities, but they started disastrously and were soon 34-5… and then 61-8 - largely thanks to some pretty awful Warwickshire batting and to some impressive spin bowling by Somerset’s Leach (5 wickets) and Bess (2 wickets).
But then (in my view – and I’m an expert, of course!), after failing to take a wicket for maybe three overs(?), the Somerset captain Rogers decided to replace the impressive debutant Bess with another spinner, van der Merwe. His five, fairly innocuous, overs went for more than four an over and seemed to give the Warwickshire batsmen Clarke and Wright a new-found confidence. By the time I left for home, Warwickshire had slightly recovered to 86-8, but were still clearly going to lose the match…
In the event, the two batsman – somewhat incredibly, given what had happened earlier - managed to stay at the crease until close of play… and had taken the score to 131-8 (Clarke 42, Wright 38)… leaving just 53 runs for an improbable victory.
Who knows what will happen today (Warwickshire will probably lose their last wickets in the first over!)… but today proved to be a highly-entertaining, absorbing day’s cricket (in that quiet, gentle way that cricket has of doing things!).
“England, Their England” indeed!
Photo: Patel appealing against Trescothick in Somerset’s second innings.

 

august-september 2016 books...

More book stuff:
Country Girl (Edna O’Brien): This is (yet) another purchase from the excellent £3 Bookshop. I’d never read anything by Edna O’Brien before but, having flicked through a few pages in the shop, this autobiography rather appealed. Published in 2012, O’Brien wrote it (somewhat reluctantly, it seems) at the age of 78. She’s clearly a very talented writer and I loved her “way with words” – and also her humour and her ability to recall and articulate small, incidental details from her life. Ultimately, she became an acclaimed writer of novels, plays and screenplays worldwide and something of a celebrity in her own right. At times, I felt that the book’s middle section seemed to be little more than a list of famous people with whom she regularly mixed (according to O’Brien, Jackie Onassis, for example, once told her that she was “one of the three people on the planet whom she loved most”) or, indeed, slept with!! I found this section of the book by far the least interesting. Much more impressive, for me, were the recollections from her childhood in Ireland, together with reflections from her later life. A very enjoyable book about what has clearly been a fascinating journey as a writer… I think it’s about time that I tried one of her novels!
Somewhere Towards The End (Diana Athill): Athill is one of my heroes/heroines. I’ve read a number of her books over recent years and found them in all, in their various ways, inspiring. This book (published in 2008), as the title suggests, is a book about her (attitude to) life in old age – happily, she’s still alive at the ripe old age of 98 (as I write this). It’s a brilliantly positive book for everyone – and especially those, like me, who see themselves as entering “old age”. She writes beautifully and has a wonderful, generous attitude towards life and other people. She’s also funny… and I particularly enjoyed her comments about how young people give her energy and enthusiasm; about her attempts to give up driving when she was 82 (note: I’ve resolved to do the same when I’m 72!); and about her enjoyment of drawing. This extract rather put me in my place(!): “That is why most people find it more interesting to draw other people, or animals, or plants and trees, rather than man-made objects such as architecture or machinery. (There are, of course, fine draughtsmen who specialise in those – and no doubt it’s a foolish quirk of mine that makes me suspect they will be bores)”! Wonderful!
Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey): This was another Book group book. A rich, complex, intelligent and powerful novel, set in the mid-19^th century (largely set in Australia), about the undeclared love between a clergyman and an heiress. The flysheet of my own copy described the main characters as being “made for each other, the two are gamblers – one obsessive, the other compulsive – incapable of winning at the game of love”… which seems a fair summary. Frankly, I struggled for much of this long book (some 520 pages in length) – especially the first 100 pages or so. All too often, I found myself being irritated by Carey’s painstaking descriptions of minor characters which, although well-written, frequently felt like “padding” and slowed down the main story itself. I also often found myself exasperated by the Oscar character and didn’t find him particularly convincing. I’m still trying to make up my mind as to whether I found the book’s ending impressive or something of a cop-out (all along, I just knew it wouldn’t have a “lived happily ever after” tag!). Overall, I thought it was a hugely-inventive, clever, sad (but frequently amusing) and well-written book… I just wished Carey had reduced its length by 200 pages or so!
The Ghost Road (Pat Barker): This is the final book of Barker’s “Regeneration” trilogy, set in the closing months of the First World War and follows the fortunes of shell-shocked British army officers. As in her previous two books, Barker explores ‘possible’ relationships between real people (eg. real-life psychoanalyst William Rivers, poet Wilfred Owen) and fictional characters (eg. working-class officer Billy Prior). Prior and Owen are about to return to combat in France, after being under the care of Rivers. The book’s title gives a powerful sense of the two battles involved (other than the war between nations) – the war between individuals and the psychological war within oneself. The final, futile battle scenes (which include the inevitable deaths of Prior, Owen and thousands of others) take place in the early days of November 1918 – a matter of just a handful of days before the Armistice was signed (on 11 November). Everyone knew that the war is coming to an end, but the Generals are adamant that “there is to be no retirement under any circumstances”. Prior observes: “That was the order. They have tied us to the stake, we cannot fly, but bear-like we must fight the course”… yet more soldiers’ names to be added to the appallingly-long list of deaths in a war that decimated a generation. An extraordinary, frightening, depressing, outstanding book (and trilogy).
Skios (Michael Frayn): I like Michael Frayn as a writer and bought this at the “Last Bookshop” for £2.50 – despite the fact that a) it’s a farce and b) I don’t particularly like farces! So… an internationally-renowned (male) academic arrives at the Greek island of Skios to give the annual lecture on the scientific organisation of science (or something like that!) to an important Foundation… but, at the airport, the Foundation’s attractive female PA confuses him with a much younger, charming character (who’s something of a womaniser) who is attracted by the woman’s smile… and decides to pretend to be the person she’s looking for. Meanwhile, at the other end of the island, a young woman waits for the very same notorious womaniser (she’s rashly agreed to go on holiday with him) but, of course, he fails to turn up… and yet, amazingly (due to a whole series of ridiculous mix-ups), the academic turns up at the villa of the young woman… and, oh, one thing leads to another… and another (oh, you get the idea!)! Sadly (for me), despite the intricate and highly-imaginative storyline, the book’s finale is somewhat fudged – almost as if Frayn had grown tired of it all and (literally) lost the plot! Let’s just say that it was an entertaining, light “holiday read” (retirement is a never-ending holiday, of course!).

swallows and amazons…

Arthur Ransome’s book was never part of my childhood (we were more Enid Blyton’s “Famous Five”!) but, at some stage in my life, this children’s novel became a well-loved and enduring English classic for me. So, this afternoon (on the Watershed’s last  day of screening), Moira and I went to see Philippa Lowthorne’s film adaptation. It was a slightly surreal experience because (given it was children’s film!) we were probably the only adults there not accompanied by children (Iris, Rosa and Ursa all being on holiday).
It proved to be a very agreeable film – albeit without quite the “magic” of the stage version we saw at Bristol’s Old Vic Theatre in January 2015. For me, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t quite have the “feel” of Ransome’s 1929 book… in terms of innocence, fantasy and adventure. I also thought that the film tried too hard (and rather failing in my eyes?) to make the “baddies” more sinister and bizarre than Ransome had intended.
I was also somewhat taken aback by the following description in the Watershed programme about the cast “combining brilliantly to do justice to this beloved story – one that will have adults melting into laughter, teenagers grinning with sheepish self-knowledge at the eternal lure of puckishness, and young ones swept up in the thrill”.
I, for one, wasn’t quite melting into laughter… but it was a very enjoyable film nevertheless.
PS: I was also amused to note that the film changed Titty’s name to Tatty!

metrobus: bus rapid transit system…

I’m all for improving public transport links… especially in Bristol (which must rank as one of the worst cities for road traffic chaos in the country?).
The answer, we’ve been told, is MetroBus.
According to its website, “MetroBus is a new express bus service that’s coming to the West of England region. It is a joint project between Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council. MetroBus is a form of high capacity rapid public transport found in urban areas. It’s a smarter way of travelling that uses a combination of segregated busways and bus lanes”… and, of course, it will (again, according to the website):
·         reduce carbon emissions,
·         support sustainable economic growth,
·         promote accessibility,
·         contribute to better safety, security and health,
·         improve quality of life and create a healthy natural environment”.
The trouble is (well, ONE of the troubles) that it’s going to cost an AWFUL lot of money!
In these austere times, the project is due to cost £200million (which includes just £34million from Central Government)(actually, there are SO many figures banded about that it’s all very confusing – probably intentionally!). I’m unsure about the latest cost estimates, but delays have no doubt already caused a sizeable increase.
Oh, and just last week, as a result of central government massively reducing funding to local councils (which, according to the Green Party "make it impossible for local councils to deliver essential basic services"), Bristol City Council has announced that it will have to axe 1,000 jobs to keep up with budget cuts! Aaargh!!
In December 2014, “The Bristol Post” reckoned the Bristol work was due to start in early February 2015 - with the aim of opening the Long Ashton-Temple Meads route in summer 2016 (yeh, right!!). Other construction work was programmed, thus:
Phase1: Docks+Hippodrome area = Oct15-Apr16
Phase2: Road closures and associated works = Mar16-Oct16
Phase3: finishing works = Sep16-Mar17
Well, let’s just say that the programme has slipped somewhat!

At this stage, for many Bristolians, MetroBus simply means yet another way of disrupting the city by roadworks. On 9 August, “The Bristol Post” reported that there about 40,000 sets of roadworks being carried out on the city’s road network every year… and, believe me, this year is going to be a bumper year!! The trouble is that the MetroBus work seems to be being undertaken in an incredibly haphazard way… LOTS of things are started but never, it seems, completed. The zone between Baldwin Street and St Augustine’s Parade is a perfect illustration (see above photograph): a large area has been closed off by hoardings for virtually a year (causing inconvenience and disruption), BUT virtually no construction has actually been carried out (its principal use appears to be as a massive parking area for digging machinery). Sightings of actual construction workers are somewhat rare! I COULD provide countless examples of areas where work has been commenced, but then “stalled”!  

Mastermind’s famous phrase of “I’ve started, so I’ll finish” could never be applied to the MetroBus roadways!
From the onset, campaigners questioned the scheme’s viability (not to mention its impact on the green belt etc). And now, just this month, it’s been reported that the scheme – “due to be running in Bristol by 2017” (note that they’ve stopped predicting a month!) - still has no operator and may need public funds “to entice firms on board”. Brilliant!
You just couldn’t make it up!

the commune

Moira and I went along to the Watershed this afternoon - together with Gareth, Alan, Eilidh and Ed - to see Thomas Vinterberg’s film “The Commune”.
Set in mid-1970s Copenhagen, a professional couple with a teenage daughter, inherit a large house. The husband, Erik (played by Ulrich Thomsen) wants to sell it and enjoy the money, while the wife, Anna (excellently played by Trine Dyrholm) thinks that it would be great fun to share the house with friends (and friends of friends). As the film title suggests, they decide to follow the commune option!
The commune’s members of idealists and dreamers duly begin to negotiate their new joint life, but (as the Watershed’s programme blurb makes it abundantly clear - *spoiler alert*) their lives are devastated by an “earth-shattering love affair”… but I won’t spoil things by outlining any further details!
Strangely, and somewhat eerily, Erik played an architectural university lecturer and looked remarkably like one of my own architectural lecturers (for whom I later worked in 1976-78), whose character traits might even have had some similarities with those of Erik!
An interesting, but somewhat predictable, film about mid-life crisis (but which revealed virtually nothing of the lives of the most of the commune’s members).
Unremarkable and disappointing, I’m afraid.

within the wall exhibition…

If you live in or around Bristol, then I strongly recommend that you check out this exhibition at the historic St John on the Wall church (in the crypt) in Broad Street. It runs from 27 July until 11 August 11am-2pm daily (why not come along to the preview at 6pm this Friday 29 July?).
It’s an exhibition with a difference…
Over the past 12 months, a group of people have met in the church and/or the crypt at 11.30am-1.30pm every Tuesday… to draw or write poetry or take photographs. It’s a very lovely, welcoming and diverse collection of individuals with a wide range of artistic abilities, experience and backgrounds… led by the brilliant Charlotte Pain, a wonderful artist in her own right (she would laugh at the description of her “leading” the group!).
The exhibition consists of sketches that group members have undertaken over the past year. Some people have some drawing or photographic experience behind them (but, perhaps, have let the habit lapse?). Others have hardly previously drawn at all. For some, it’s an opportunity to experiment. For some, the group’s principal benefit is the group’s sociability.
I joined this lovely group a couple of months ago – anyone/everyone is welcome to join – and have been incredibly impressed by the warmth of the welcome and its non-judgemental approach to art and creativity.
This is what Charlotte wrote about the project and the group:
“This project is about helping the public connect to buildings and locations. It is about breathing a new breath of life into churches, bringing community back within them and exploring their uses. It’s about getting people drawing and making. It’s about a belief that creativity can help us to strengthen our voices, nurture our mental health and help us connect to each other.
From a core group of people who rarely miss a session to random visitors to the city who have long left Bristol behind them, each drawing is a moment in the life of St John’s and of the people who have walked through the doors. With the support and open-mindedness of The Churches Conservation Trust the project has flourished.
We are a diverse group of people who have developed a passion for St John’s and have spent many hours drawing, photographing and admiring this special building. This is not only a celebration, but an invitation to the rest of Bristol to join us”.
As you might realise, Charlotte is a bit special!
I don’t want to embarrass people by highlighting their individual talents or what they bring to the group but, hopefully, this will provide a flavour: Mike has produced over 60 sketches over the past 12 months and his friendliness encapsulates all that group stands for; Brian is another of those gentle, generous, welcoming people and his photographs of the church are an inspiration; David is a brilliant artist (especially his watercolours!) who can draw beautifully and chat amusingly at the same time(!); Betty has been something of a revelation for me – every week, she produces her simple, intricate, pencil sketches (which remind me in some ways of Alfred Wallis’s naïve artwork from St Ives)(I suspect this is the first time she’s drawn since leaving school?); Jonathan loves coming to the group – he’s industrious, friendly and enthusiastic; Chris is always smiling, chatty and an inveterate photographer and drawer; Aran is one of the lovely church volunteers who has been “drawn” into the group… and then there’s also Christine, Anne-Marie and Dave etc etc.     
Membership of the group is completely free so, if you fancy having an excuse to do some drawing, then why not give it a try?
Please take an opportunity to pop into the exhibition (and also to see the fascinating, 14^th century church itself).
Photo: some of the group working on the exhibition installation.

two days in luton…

Moira and I have just returned home after spending a couple of very enjoyable days staying with our lovely Christine and Nick in Luton. We’ve been friends for nearly forty years (blimey!)(ironically, that’s about the time of Lorraine Chase’s Luton Airport/Campari advert… and, if you don’t know what I’m on about, then you’re too young!) – since our days when we lived just down the road from each other in Percy Street, Oxford.
They’ve fairly recently moved to Luton (where Nick is vicar in a parish which includes Luton Airport, a Vauxhall  Motors’ plant, thousands of houses - built mainly in the 1960s, two villages and large expanses of rather lovely open countryside – where there are plans to build hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new homes!).
Well, we had a lovely time catching up on our respective family news, future plans and reminiscing about our time living in East Oxford. We also enjoyed some beautiful countryside (within walking distance of the vicarage) and a village pub lunch… and we even found time for some culture (and more countryside and more food!) when we went to see Bernard Shaw’s play “You Never Can Tell” (first performed in 1899) in the grounds of “Shaw’s Corner” (his home for some 44 years and now a National Trust property). We took chairs, blankets and a picnic (and managed to arrive in time to grab a place in the front row!) and enjoyed a very pleasant, warm, theatrical evening* – with only occasional dialogue drowned out by passing aircraft! 
A lovely couple of days with very lovely friends.
Photos: picnicking in the front row; Shaw’s Corner; and random photo from our woodland walk.
Note*: we were all agreed that Shaw’s play was hardly inspiring stuff (but very enjoyable nonetheless)… it felt a little like the Emperor’s new clothes: although Shaw was an acclaimed playwright (amongst other things), we all found the plot somewhat tedious and the acting/characterisation somewhat exaggerated and overdone. My brother Alan sent me this link to a Monty Python sketch featuring Shaw, Whistler and Oscar Wilde (some 3mins in)… and, yes, it DID feel a little like it!!

labour pains…

I’m very aware that, ever since the Brexit result, I’ve been moaning (some would say “ranting”!) about most things to do with political in this country.
So, I just wanted to say sorry!
But (and you just KNEW there would be a “but” didn’t you!), before I offer my resignation, I thought I’d give you my thoughts on the Labour Party (note: I’m actually a member of the Green Party).
For what it’s worth, I thought that, under Miliband’s leadership, the Labour Party’s performance in Opposition (especially given what a pig’s ear the Tories were making of things) was simply awful. Indeed, after the 2015 General Election, I felt that the Labour Party would be out of government until AT LEAST 2025.
The Conservative Party (following the farce of the EU Referendum) has already got itself a new Prime Minister but, meanwhile, as far as the rest of the country is concerned (and at a time when it SHOULD be underlining the mess that the government’s got us all into), the Labour Party has been doing its best to demonstrate its incompetence by scoring SO many own goals that it might well end up destroying itself (not even the most the passionate Tory strategist could have dreamed of such a brilliant campaign strategy)…

I like Jeremy Corbyn as a bloke… but I don’t happen to believe that he will be able to win support from the rest of the country to gain victory at the next General Election (to date, in my opinion, his “performance” in parliament as Leader of the Opposition has been poor).

Clearly, there are lots of people who disagree with me.
However, I’m not sure I agree with the current leadership challenges… and strongly suspect that, if there is an election, Corbyn will win again… the Labour Party will remain in tatters and the government will be rubbing their hands once again. 
What would happen to the Labour Party if Corbyn was re-elected party leader? Would a new breakaway party emerge in protest? What would they call it? “Real Labour” (you couldn’t make up these things!)?
Interestingly(?), I listened a constitutional expert on Radio 4’s “Today In Parliament” on Friday evening (you might still be able to catch it on iPlayer: 15/7/16 at 11.30pm) who indicated that a) the Official Opposition is the largest party in the House of Commons that is not in government so, if the Labour Party were to split into two “pieces”, there would then be a Labour Party and a breakaway group of MPs and b) if the breakaway group had most MPs (and more than the SNP’s 56), then it would count as the largest party and become the Official Opposition (the Speaker might ultimately be asked to make a ruling, if it is disputed).
I simply hope (please!) that all the opposition parties get their acts together - so that they provide a PROPER opposition to this government.
Right, that’s it… I’ll try to be quiet from now on (honest... probably).

june-july 2016 books…

More book stuff:
Mystery In White (J Jefferson Farjeon): I admit that reading a crime novel set at Christmas (and amid heavy snowfall and blizzards) did seem slightly surreal in June! First published in 1937, this book (out of print since the 1930s) was subsequently republished by the British Library in 2014. In his day, Farjeon was a highly acclaimed author and, after reading this novel, I can see why. It’s a clever, almost creepy, mystery… in which a group of travellers (whose train becomes trapped by heavy snowdrifts) take shelter in a country house – where fires have been lit and the table laid for tea, but no one is at home. As I say, creepy! A good read.
The Walker’s Guide To Outdoor Clues And Signs (Tristan Gooley): Don’t get me wrong, this is a fascinating book – absolutely full of information and insights for walkers/outdoor-lovers. However, I REALLY didn’t take to Gooley at all! He’s obviously extremely knowledgeable about his subject, but I would hate to accompany him on a walk or attend one of his courses. I could imagine Gooley being critical of the group for not spotting some tiny, very particular, obscure (and, frankly, boring!) detail that had only recently occurred to him… and everyone on the course just looking at each other and thinking: “he’s off his head”! It’s a brilliant reference book though and one that I’ll very much enjoy using over the coming years - but I’d definitely prefer to avoid meeting him in person (he seems like a bit of anorak... to put it mildly!)!
All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes (Maya Angelou): Angelou has written her autobiography in seven volumes. This is book five - somewhat ridiculously, the others I’ve read are books one and six! As I’ve said before, I’ve been a big fan of hers over the years (and can almost hear her voice as I read her books). This one deals with her time in Ghana (she emigrated there in 1962, before returning to the USA three years later).
It’s essentially about Angelou exploring her African and African-American identities and her history and character. She focuses on becoming assimilated in African culture, but ends up finding this unattainable. It’s another fascinating book – her story is beautifully told and full of all the rich insights, colour and humour I associate with Angelou.
Sheila (Robert Wainwright): I enjoy biographies and picked up this book from the £3 Bookshop. I’m also fascinated by what was happening in this country in the 1920s – in terms of art, society, fashion, politics and the like - so, this book appealed on a number of fronts. It’s about Sheila Chisholm, born in Australia in 1895, given the best education given to girls at the time and then, in 1914, brought to London by her mother in order to complete her education by attending “the Season”. Wainwright describes Sheila Chisholm as “vivacious, confident and striking” and she clearly “blazed a trail through London society”, amassing friendships which ran the gamut from Buckingham Palace and Downing Street to Hollywood and the Kennedys. She married a Scottish lord, an English baronet and a Russian prince… and attracted a string of distinguished suitors (you get the general idea!). Frankly, I’d never previously heard of the woman and, on the face of it, reading about high society, privileged birthright, the cavorting idle rich and the ruling classes is hardly my idea of fun(!)… and yet the book DID make compelling and fascinating reading.
The Santa Klaus Murder (Mavis Doriel Hay): Yes, ridiculously, this is the second Christmas crime novel I’ve read this summer (I blame Moira!). Like the earlier book, this was also published in the 1930s (1935) – the golden age of British crime fiction according to the book’s blurb(?). It’s a very clever murder mystery set in a country house and involving an aristocratic setting, a dead earl and lots of red herrings. I liked the novel’s format of chapters written by a handful of the book’s characters (the Chief Constable being the major contributor) as the investigation unfolded. Well-conceived and well-executed (both the book and the murder!).

brown willy…

I went along to the Watershed (with Hannah and Felix) this afternoon to see a special screening of a rather special film, called Brown Willy (named after the hill in Cornwall – the highest point on Bodmin Moor)… which included a Q+A session with the film’s director, Brett Harvey, its producer/one of its two actors (Pete), Simon Harvey, and its cinematographer, Adam Laity… plus a live performance by Three Cane Whale (as you might already know, I’ve become one of their groupies!), who provided the musical backdrop to the film.
It was shot (quite brilliantly to my mind) in black+white on Bodmin Moor in just 10 days and on an absolutely minimum budget. The film’s only two characters (Michael and Pete) are getting together for a weekend on the Moor. Michael (played by Ben Dyson) is about to get married and the weekend takes the form of an alternative stag do. Michael and Pete (both 40 year-olds) have known each other since childhood, but have grown apart over recent years and don’t talk as often as they used to. Michael is a rather prim, uptight character while Pete doesn’t really seem to have grown up.
They end up getting drunk, then high… then lost on the Moor (as you do).
Moira had decided, having seen the Watershed’s blurb, that the film wasn’t for her (she thought it sounded a bit like an English version of Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” – and, in a way, she was right). Despite the film’s somewhat ludicrous premise (given Michael’s prim, organised nature – SURELY, he’d have taken a map and a compass on his trip?)(and, whilst you could get lost on Dartmoor, I suspect it’s rather harder to do so on Bodmin Moor!), it’s an entertaining, funny and, at times, quite poignant film. The cinematography is simply stunning (it certainly reminded me of my time on Dartmoor helping to train young people for Ten Tors) and the music is quite, quite brilliant (I might be slightly prejudiced here?). Interestingly, director Bret Harvey was already familiar with Three Cane Whale’s music and, having obtained their permission to use some of it for the film, played it as the crew’s constant “musical travelling companion” throughout its filming – which resulted in the film being edited to suit the music rather than the other way around… and it works perfectly.
If you get the chance to see this film (it’s not on general release), then you should definitely take it. It’s a charming film.
Photo: Three Cane Whale performing after the Q+A session.

 

notes on blindness

Moira+I went along to the Watershed (where else?) this afternoon to see Pete Middleton’s/James Spinney’s remarkable film “Notes on Blindness”. In 1983 (aged 45), after years of failing sight, theologian John Hull became completely blind. Understandably, he struggled to come to terms with the finality of his condition – he described himself as being stuck, “a sighted person who couldn’t see”. He went through an initial grieving process, before deciding that he had to record his thoughts about blindness on tape (which he did for the rest of the decade) "because if I didn't understand it, it would defeat me".
These numerous tapes (along with interviews with John and his wife Marilyn) form the basis of the film… with actors (excellent Dan Skinner and Simone Kirby) lip-synching the dialogue.
It’s a moving and profound film (certainly not sugary or over-romanticised)… about coping and adapting, about becoming more aware, about the need for identifiable structure and routine, about the importance of support (from family, friends and colleagues), and about the importance of the familiarity of surroundings.
But, as you might imagine, it’s also a film about huge regrets… about not being able to see his five children (some of whom he’d never seen) and his wife, about not being able to access information, and about losing his visual memory (“longing for optic stimulation”). For me, I would have like to have heard more about how Marilyn adjusted to John’s total blindness…
During the course of the film, I found myself reflecting on the magical importance of ALL our senses - sight, sound, taste, touch and smell being the five traditional recognised senses… and how much we simply take them for granted… a magical sunrise or sunset; the laughter of children; Italian ice cream; an embrace from loved-one; new-mown grass… (the list could go on for several pages!).

Thanks to the tapes and his philosophical approach, you sense that Hull (who died in July 2015) was able to come to terms with his blindness… but one can only imagine how difficult the journey was and, if the circumstances were reversed, how we might cope in Hull’s situation.

Definitely a film I think you should see.
Losing sight, but gaining vision perhaps?

june 2016 books…

More book stuff:
Notes From A Small Island (Bill Bryson): I first read this book 20 years ago (I remember enjoying it but, frankly, couldn’t remember any significant details). After living here for nearly 20 years, Bryson decided to take a jaunt around the UK prior to returning to the USA with his family… and this is the subject of the book. Bryson is opinionated, sometimes a little boring, frequently rude… and consistently very funny. A light, affectionate and enjoyable book… perfect holiday reading material.
Stet (Diana Athill): For nearly five decades, Athill acted as editor for some of the most celebrated writers in the English language. This is the second Athill book I’ve read (“After A Funeral” was the first) and I found this elegant, beautifully-written and extraordinary memoir even better. The first half provides an insight into her profession and her own career journey, whilst the second part focuses on particular writers with whom she has worked (eg. VS Naipaul, Jean Rhys and Brian Moore).
The Forbidden Zone (Mary Borden): This is a gem of a little book (first published in 1929). Borden, born in Chicago, set up a hospital unit on the Western Front for French soldiers in WW1 and worked as a nurse there for four years. I’d expected the book to be something of a documented account of her time there and, whilst it certainly conveyed the terror, pain and suffering of the war, her memories and impressions are written in a wonderful, almost poetic, manner which is both powerful and intimate.
Liza Of Lambeth (W Somerset Maugham): I like Maugham as a writer. This short novel, first published in 1897, was his first book and it tells the story of the trials and tribulations of an 18 year-old girl (Liza) living in Lambeth, London (set some 40 years earlier). It paints a convincing picture of working-class life in degenerative slum conditions – although with a fair sense of humour too. I have to say that I found the dialogue rather cumbersome at times (the book’s full of sentences such as: “Wot ‘as ‘e got the needle abaht?”…) - but I suppose this was unavoidable. The book apparently “made a stir” when it was first published and helped launch on his writing career.
The Soulwater Pool (Claire Williamson): I went to a “Literary Evening” at St John on the Wall, Bristol recently and Claire Williamson (a friend of our daughter Ruth, as it turns out) was one of the authors/poets reading their work. This is a short book (published in 2008) explores a domestic drama unfolding over two tense days. It features five characters and is set out in short, poetic reflections (often just a single page long) – each given a heading in the form of the named character and their location (eg.”Ella: In the Park”). It’s a surprising and subtle book – enhanced by the starkness of its rather beautiful format. Excellent.   

when marnie was there

I’m a self-confessed Studio Ghibli “nut” and so I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see the studio’s 2014 film “When Marnie Was There” (directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi – and the last film before the studio's self-imposed hiatus following the retirement of its founder Hayao Miyazaki). There were just twelve of us in the audience (I counted!) – interestingly, 8 men and 4 women… and only 4 of us could be classed as “oldies”!
The film is based on Joan Robinson’s 1967 book (of the same name) – with the location being shifted from Norfolk to a Japanese coastal town. The principal character, Anna, is a lonely, troubled foster child who’s been sent to stay with relatives. She becomes fascinated by an apparently deserted mansion… where she befriends a mysterious, western blond girl of her own age. There’s a strange sense of déjà-vu about the mansion…
I’m not saying any more – apart from the fact that the two women in front of me were drying their eyes at the end!
It’s another beautiful Studio Ghibli film – a perfect story ripe for adaptation and, as usual, with stunning animation (the closing credits must list about 100 animators!).
If you love Studio Ghibli – or are prepared to be converted(!) – this film is for you!

EU referendum: where is the labour party?

I posted this on facebook about a month ago:
“I don’t know about you, but I’m completely fed up with the EU Referendum “debate”… (and we’ve still got 14 days to go!)… and I know I shouldn’t say this, but I also have great reservations about the electorate’s ability to understand (or care about?) the key issues… and, if they do vote, not to make decisions based purely on narrow prejudice”.
I reckon that more than 90% of my facebook friends favour staying in the EU. But, as we know from last year’s General Election, there’s clearly another facebook world out there that thinks entirely differently! The polls don’t all agree, but it really does seem that the referendum result is “too close to call” at this stage (but, hey, do we trust the polls?!).

It’s clear that, for the Tory Party, the EU Referendum marks, in part, an excuse for a leadership battle (which, in turn, would lead to the government moving still further to the right). However, given that less than 25% of registered voters actually voted Tory, then you’d think that, with Labour Party and the Scottish Nationalists backing the “Remain” option, the polls would be predicting a relatively large majority for a "yes" vote.

I don’t happen to think that Messrs Cameron and Osborne have been particularly convincing in the EU Referendum debate (just don’t get me started on Boris, Gove and IDS!), but why has the Labour Party NOT been at the forefront of the “Remain” campaign too? The situation demands a powerful Labour voice but, sadly, I don’t think that Labour has been pulling its weight. Too many Labour politicians – and that includes Jeremy Corbyn and senior members of the Party - seem too ready to sit on their hands so far. Alan Johnson (a bit of a political hero of mine) has been leading “Labour In For Britain” campaign – and I feel sure he’s been arguing the case at public meetings throughout the land - but how often have I seen him being interviewed on television interviews or news programmes or in extensive newspaper articles and the like? Not enough for my liking. I cannot understand this… when SO much is at stake.

This article in The Telegraph (7 June) gave an interesting, albeit somewhat depressing, picture. Amongst its findings were:

·         73 per cent of those aged between 18-29 want to remain in the EU, while 63 per cent of those aged over 60 want to leave.

·         Guardian and Times readers are “yes”, while Mirror, Telegraph, Sun, Mail and Express are “no”.

·         Northern Ireland, Scotland, London, Wales and North-East England are “yes”, while the rest of England is “no” (with East Midlands, West Midlands, East Anglia and Yorkshire+Humberside apparently leading the “no” vote).

·         University-educated people are more likely to be “yes”.

Clearly, it seems that Immigration is one of the key issues… and, for me, Polly Toynbee (writing in The Guardian on 7 June) summed up the situation pretty well:

“Immigration is Brexit’s winner. The bottom 10% do lose out by importing unskilled labour, according to the Bank of England. For them, that’s a real effect all governments have failed to remedy. But the focus on migrants conveniently displaces deeper causes of discontent about the loss of good jobs, as a third of people are left behind, never to be property owners. It wasn’t always that way: the late 1970s were the most equal time in our history, when boardrooms dared not pay themselves obscene sums and unions stopped pay falling back. But since Margaret Thatcher took the lid off “aspiration” for the top few, inequality soared and never recovered. Labour redistributed with tax credits and invested in public services – but that’s been swept away. Brexit would reap whirlwinds for the inequality sowed over the past 35 years.
The right has used immigration and a diet of lies about the EU to distract from austerity-stricken public services, most damaging to those whose living standards have stagnated for over a decade. University education has expanded, leaving little for the other school leavers but shoddy false apprenticeships and stripped-down further education colleges. Social mobility has fossilised. There would be an awful justice if that lack of education finally did the country in.
Economists, including the governor of the Bank of England, warn that inequality is the great economic risk. Capitalism eats itself when too many get left too far behind to consume its products. Insane investment in over-inflated house prices instead of job-creating production devours the nation’s wealth. If the dispossessed up-end the economy with a leave vote, it may serve the country right – though as ever, the poorest would lose most.
Out on the doorstep over the last weeks, the class divide jumps off the canvass forms as lower income Labour voters go Brexit, and Labour MPs turn ashen-faced. Yet when confronted with what a Johnson/Gove/Farage government meant, I found many did change their mind. Will enough Labour people get out there, making the case? Jeremy Corbyn’s contribution has been more saboteur than saviour, dismissing the remain case as ‘histrionic’, ‘myth-making’, ‘prophecies of doom’. But Labour canvassers talking to their own side are good persuaders – and there is still time”.
As a nation, we’re not used to holding a referendum. For me, one of the problems about the EU Referendum is that it’s NOT really about the EU… it’s become a fight for the leadership of Tory Party.
The trouble is that, yes, in 2020 there’ll be another General Election and, if we want to, we can vote out the current government… but, once we opt out of the EU, there won't be a chance for us to simply opt back in if we feel like changing our minds.
Photo: it's from Emma Chapman's facebook page... and I think it's VERY good!

may-june 2016 books…

More book stuff:
The Village Cricket Match (John Parker): I must have read this book three or four times since I bought it in 1979… but I thought it was about time I read it again (it is the cricket season afterall!). Actually, it’s probably more than 20 years since I last read it… my memory of the book was that I liked its predictability, its familiarity and the cricketing memories that it evoked – a bit like sporting comfort food! It’s full of descriptions of the preparations, routines and typical characters involved in a typical Sunday afternoon cricket match in an English village. Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps (for me, at least!), I found myself getting quite irritated by the affectionate, enthusiastic, almost sugary, prose (written in the 1970s, but it felt as it could have been written 50 years earlier) – and it frequently seemed as if I was reading a story from one of my boyhood comics. My book is on its very last legs (its pages are about to fall out)… so I suspect this might be the last time I read it. Definitely not a literary classic, but hey!
Occupied Territories (Garth Hewitt): Garth Hewitt is the founder of the Amos Trust (“a small, creative Christian human rights agency that works with vibrant grassroots partners around the world”). I briefly acted as one of its volunteers at Greenbelt perhaps 10 years ago and again met Garth and his wife Gill on Iona in 2012 when they attended a conference to discuss the division of the West Bank, the encroachment of Israeli settlements and the impact on the lives of Palestinians. I bought this book when I attended an evening organised by Kairos Palestine in Bristol in mid-May 2016. Specifically, the book talks about the occupied city of Bethlehem (and now surrounded by a wall that reaches 25 feet high). It’s an incredibly impressive book which bluntly describes life in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. It talks about a non-violent response to the current, depressing situation – one that is both pro-Palestinian AND pro-Israeli; and one that reflects the views and advice from Jewish and Muslim individuals who have committed themselves to stand for justice. Again and again, I found myself underlining passages from the book (frequently quotes from prominent academics, politicians or church leaders)(I’ve put some of them together in this blog post). Thought-provoking and challenging.
And Still I Rise (Maya Angelou): This is a book of some of Angelou’s poems… she definitely had a way with words! She wrote with such wisdom and courage, but also with wit and generosity. This is lovely book – which I’ll no doubt read again and again over the years – which is both accessible and challenging. Reading her words, you can almost hear her performing her poetry.
A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess): Like most people, I suspect, I’ve seen the film… but I’d never read the book (published in 1962) until now. It’s a shocking, frightening book about a subculture of extreme youth violence. It’s set in the “near future” (could the future be now?!) and the book’s teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. Alex’s confessions are written in “nadsat” (a secret language), which makes the book quite difficult to read… and yet I found it was a bit like reading/hearing a Shakespeare play – once your brain had adapted to the strangeness of the language, it was relatively easy to follow. It’s brilliantly inventive, but the violent subject matter makes for uncomfortable reading. Very impressive nevertheless.
The Case Of The Late Pig (Margery Allingham): Some light summer reading… my first “classic crime” novel by Margery Allingham (first published in 1937)… and, therefore, my first of her books featuring detective Albert Campion in the leading role. Campion’s somewhat mysterious world is very much that of upper-class England – marginally watered-down by the fact that he is aided in his work by his manservant Lugg (somewhat uncouth and with a background in burglary!). This short novel was enjoyable, but certainly not particularly remarkable or notable. I have to say, I wasn’t particularly “taken” by Campion as a character, but perhaps I need to read more of his adventures before being able to make a valid judgement?

versus: the life and films of ken loach…

As you might know (or be able to guess!), Ken Loach is a bit of a hero of mine!
This afternoon, I went along to the Watershed to see Louise Osmond’s impressive documentary about the great man and his work (it was its opening screening at the Watershed… and, sadly, there were only another SIX fans in the audience to appreciate the film!). This year will see Loach celebrate his 80^th birthday, release his 50^th major work and commemorate the 50^th anniversary of his landmark television drama Cathy Come Home(!).
Loach used to run up against the establishment figures and corporations on a regular basis and he frequently found that this ideas and views ran against those who were due to provide the financial backing for a project (eg. television companies who received the bulk of their income from the government of the day) – and, so, many projects had to be abandoned. Indeed, Loach didn’t direct a single film for 12 years in the 1980s/90s.
The documentary is a funny, provocative, revealing account of Loach’s life and career – in fact, his unexpected humour and often “riotous conflict” both came as somewhat surprising. Indeed, Loach’s long-term producer, Rebecca O’Brien, was wonderfully quoted in the programme notes as saying that “Ken can start a row in an empty room”!
He’s clearly one of the most determinedly political filmmakers in the history of cinema… he’s fearless and utterly determined in his work. In fact, he had decided to retire in 2013, but was so incensed by the Tory 2015 General Election victory that he felt he still had more to say… and the resulting film, “I, Daniel Blake”, duly won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last month (can’t wait to see it).
When Loach eventually dies (hopefully not for several years yet), Louise Osmond’s documentary will be shown throughout the world… but, in the meantime, I would definitely recommend that you see it NOW!
PS: The last Loach film I saw at the cinema was the excellent “The Spirit of ’45” (2013). Two of my all-time favourite Loach films are the brilliant “Kes” (1969) and “Looking For Eric” (2009)… but, as the bloke sitting a few seats away from me this afternoon observed: “I think they need to have a special Loach Season at the Watershed!”.
Absolutely!
PPS: IMPORTANT: Ken Loach will be at the 6pm (pay-what-you-can) screening this Sunday 5 June for a Q+A session… it’s tickets only (although I suspect it will already be a sell-out).