“alexa… please stop brexit”… (placard at last week’s march)

So, another week of frustration ahead in Westminster… and that’s just for the politicians (obviously, they’re so focussed on Party Politics that what might be best for the nation or their constituents seems to come quite a long way down the list)!
I genuinely fear a ‘No Deal’ at the end of all this.
What an utter disaster that would be...

Back in December, I blogged: “After a week of utter chaos at Westminster and a time when confidence in UK politicians appears to have hit an all-time low (in my lifetime, at least?), we’re left with an apparent choice between Mrs May’s ‘deal’ with the EU or ‘no deal’”.

In January, I blogged: “It’s almost as though the powers-that-be are running down the clock to ensure that we end up with an ‘acceptable deal’ that is only marginally less disastrous than a ‘no-deal’”.
Interesting (and worrying) reading Margaret Beckett’s thoughts in today’s ‘Observer’: “The more I look and listen to this woman (the prime minister) the more I think she’s capable of doing literally what she says, driving us right to the last minute, and then saying ‘it is my deal or no deal’… I have become increasingly worried that the house could decide something which is so far away from what people thought they were getting when they voted to leave that it could cause serious ructions. Some very strong Leavers say they don’t think people should have a second opportunity to be consulted because they might have changed their minds. That seems to me to be incredibly dangerous as well as completely indefensible.”

With the country in absolute despair, there are those (including the Labour Party, obviously) urging Mrs May to call a General Election. Of course (but what do I know?!), it won’t happen because the Tories fear it would merely expose the HUGE splits amongst its ‘party faithful’ (as if people weren’t aware already!!)… and they’d lose the election (although, with the UK electorate, who knows?). Of course, they wouldn’t admit such things… instead, they would maintain that an election would exacerbate the Brexit crisis and that, for this reason, it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the nation!!

Oh, thank you, thank you, oh wise ones!
I frankly don’t think that parliament (especially with the DUP ridiculously ‘calling the shots’) will be able to agree to ANY compromise deal within the required timeframe (and this after very nearly 3 years!)… and, although those annoying ERG oiks will pretend to shake their heads in quiet despair, they’ll actually be punching the air with glee… because a) the option of a second referendum will have been ‘kicked into touch’, b) remaining in the EU won’t happen and c) they can start making plans for ruling their increasingly small empires… and us.
Photo: Mrs May signing the Article 50 letter, March 2017

put it to the people march. london...

I was one of the thousands and thousands who participated in yesterday’s march demanding a People’s Vote. The organisers reckon there were more than a million marchers and various reports have speculated that it might actually have been the largest in the UK… ever – even bigger than the demonstration against the Iraq war in February 2003 (which I also attended).
It was quite an experience. I’ve never seen as many EU flags in my life! People everywhere - happy chanting marchers… applauding and waving spectators. Crowds of demonstrators literally inching their way down Piccadilly at the start of the march (it must have taken an hour and a half to cover the first half mile)... focussed, in very good spirits (and voice), peaceful, passionate and determined.
During the course of the march, I found myself (at various times) walking alongside two wonderful, colourful, talented drumming bands. Despite being a man of natural rhythm (well, in my head!!)(obviously), even I struggled to walk and jig along to the amazing beat - but some people actually DO have such talents! It was a simply wonderful atmosphere… and then, as you do, I came across a group/side of marching Morris dancers!! There’s something rather magical about being part of a large group of happy smiling people (ie. the dancers AND the rest of us). People of all ages; lots of old people like me, lots of enthusiastic young families and lots of ‘young people’ too.
A simply, brilliant memorable day.
I felt conscious that I was also representing lots of other family members and friends who weren’t able to be at the march… they were certainly with me in spirit (and I with them). This felt powerfully tangible and rather humbling.

So, will the politicians listen to us?

My first instinct (maybe I’ve just been buoyed up by yesterday’s events?) is that they simply MUST. However, I fear that the powers-that-be (and who knows who they will be over the coming days/weeks?!) will muddle on and fudge stuff once again.

And as a footnote…

As I travelled home to Bristol Temple Meads on the train last night, I found myself reflecting on the day. It had been a huge demonstration of ‘people power’… really encouraging and perceptibly powerful. It was all incredibly civilised and ‘very British’ I suppose… but it also spoke of the very best of our society and civilisation.
I was very proud to have been part of it.
But as I pondered, I also found myself realising that the marchers had been a somewhat predominantly middle-class group of individuals – and articulate, well-educated and liberal to boot. Yes, I’d be the first to acknowledge that this is a HUGE generalisation (clearly, I have absolutely no idea… it was just a ‘sense’ that I took from the day!) and, yes, I’m well aware that there are lots of passionate Brexiteers who could be described in a similar manner (ok, well maybe not liberal!). But this, in turn, reminded me of various political analyses undertaken after the Referendum and, indeed, after the 2017 General Election… which identified a significant group of disaffected, largely poorly-educated(?) members of our population for whom politics represents an unimportant, meaningless desert in their lives… many clearly feel completely forgotten and ignored by all those ‘in power’ (not just the government) and so, having been duly fed by what I regard as bigoted newspapers, ’certain’ politicians etc, have reacted accordingly when presented with their chance of ‘making a difference’. Yes, as I say, a huge generalisation… I know.
But, after my own brilliant, uplifting day with my fellow marchers, it left me feeling very dejected and sad.
Yes, I’m only too aware that, over the past three years or so (don’t remind of the Thatcher years!), I’ve also frequently felt irritated, hopeless and helpless by the actions and inactions of our politicians. The only difference between the ‘disillusioned’ and me perhaps is that I want to fight for what I believe… f for hope and for the things that are fundamentally important.or hope and for the things that are fundamentally important… and they simply feel ignored and unimportant?
I wish it was all so different.
Photo: random images from the day…

february-march 2019 books

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead (Olga Tokarczuk): Man Booker International Prize-winner Olga Tokarezuk is a remarkable writer. This beautifully-written (and beautifully-translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) noir novel is set in a remote Polish village and is an account given by an eccentric, reclusive woman in her sixties (who believes in the stars, prefers animals to people… and is fond of the poetry of William Blake) following the disappearance of her two dogs. I found its calm-but-quirky, narrative voice strangely compelling. It’s essentially a thought-provoking, humorous crime story… and yet, it’s much more than that: it’s also about animal rights, about injustice against marginalised people and about what many would see as the hypocrisy of traditional religion. I really really enjoyed it.
The Book Of Books (Melvyn Bragg): This is a rather magnificent book. I’m rather late in reading it (it was first published in 2011 to coincide with the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible), despite the fact that Bragg is one of my true heroes (I’ve always found the Radio4 “In Our Time” discussion programmes absolutely fascinating and found his book “Credo” – an epic novel about Christian faith set in 7^th century Britain – quite brilliant). Significantly, the Kings James version of the Bible was the first English translation and Bragg provides convincing argument the book has driven the making of the English-speaking world over the past 400 years. Bragg (fortunately from my perspective!) isn’t one of those ‘the Bible is the word of God’ people, but he writes about the effects that the book has offered to ‘ordinary’ people: its role in the movement to abolish slavery; its place in the charitable endeavours of the Victorian social reformers such as Octavia Hill; its worth as literature; and its capacity for invigorating writers as different as John Milton and DH Lawrence. Bragg’s analysis also takes into account the atheist views of Richard Dawkins – who Bragg accuses of being someone who “preys on anecdotal evidence", "worships statistics" and "swoops into neuroscience" (amongst other things)(which both amused and encouraged me). Despite the fact that every page is crammed full of facts and references, Bragg’s writing style and his story-telling abilities make it all effortless, compelling reading.
White Nights (Ann Cleeves): As I think I’ve previously mentioned, I absolutely love the ‘Shetland’ TV series, but this is only the second of the Shetland books I’ve read. A body hanging from a thick noose… it looked like a straightforward case of suicide… but no! Another wonderfully-crafted crime mystery coupled with the appealing calmness of Inspector Jimmy Perez… and set against the gentle(?) rhythm of island life. This ticked all the boxes for me… utterly pleasurable, escapist, hunkering-down reading!   
Bobby Denise Is Reigning Rampant (Daniel Ross): This book was written by our good friend Dan, who co-owns our wonderful local bookshop (StorySmith Books).  The novel tells the story of an acclaimed stage magician in Las Vegas, back in 1985, whose prized white tiger mauled and killed an audience member during a sell-out show. As if that wasn’t bad enough, this nightmare gets worse… (but, hey, no spoilers!). The magician ends up being sent to gaol… for a long time. 31 years later, out of gaol, he just wants to live out his days in peace. But, as you might guess, it doesn’t quite work out like that. Initially, I didn’t think this would be ‘my kind of novel’, but how wrong I was! It took me a little time to get into it, but I soon became engrossed by story. The book is very well conceived and hugely entertaining (with surprisingly believable Vegas characters)… and I really enjoyed it! Highly-recommended.
Scar (Alice Broadway): The final book in our daughter Alice’s ‘Ink’ trilogy. How exciting!! After reading the first two novels, I’ve found the last 12 months an agonising wait for the concluding story. I know an awful lot of people who are reading (or are about to read) this book at the moment, so I’m going to keep this very brief (I’ll blog about it elsewhere in due course) and I promise there won’t be any spoilers in this short review! It might be labelled as a ‘Young Adult’ (YA) novel, but it has a message for young and old alike. Even if she is our daughter, I think she’s an absolutely natural writer and an utterly brilliant storyteller! The wait was SO worth it… Thought-provoking, powerful and wise. I LOVED it.

bristol metropolitan orchestra at st george’s…

Last night, thanks to the suggestion and generosity of my very good friend Edward Kay, I went along to St George’s to hear/see the Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra perform.
Ed plays the French Horn in the orchestra (but he’s also a highly-acclaimed conductor, composer, teacher and accompanist). Of course, St George’s is a brilliant concert venue – superb acoustics and general ambiance – and it was quite intoxicating to hear a large orchestra in full voice, as it were.
Last night’s programme included Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’; Joan Tower’s ‘Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman’; Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto (featuring the excellent Ben Baker as soloist) and finishing with Sibelius’s Symphony no.2 – which I thought was superb.
It was the first time I’d heard the BMO perform (conductor: Michael Cobb) and, I can assure you, they are a bit special! I’ve certainly made a note of their next concert (Saturday 13 July, Clifton Cathedral when they play Ethyl Smyth’s ‘The Wreckers’ and, wonderfully as far as I’m concerned, Mahler’s 5^th Symphony).
A really lovely, enjoyable and stimulating evening.

hitting seventy... reflections

Apologies for this, but over the past few weeks (since reaching the three-score-years-and-ten milestone), I’ve been reflecting on various aspects of my life… counting my blessings (literally) and laughing(?) at all my mistakes/naïve decisions made throughout my life (I say “my life” when actually I mean “our lives”!).

Thinking back to perhaps my late 20s, I probably envisaged our retirement as consisting of trips far-flung countries around the world (India, Japan and China come to mind). Well, strangely, 40 years or so later, such ambitions no longer seem to matter or feature in our ‘wish-lists’… I think, by the way we’ve lived our lives and perhaps our changed attitude towards the environment(?), our expectations and desires have altered and we find ourselves very content to embrace much simpler opportunities and ambitions.

The family has always been the most important thing in our lives (although, perhaps, I was at times too focussed on trying to ‘earn a living’/maintain/develop my architectural practice – which clearly had knock-on effects on family life?). My architectural career was both hugely rewarding (but not necessarily financially!) and somewhat frustrating. Sustaining a medium-sized architectural practice can be difficult at times, but I really enjoyed developing what I felt was the right ‘ethos’ for the firm and working with really lovely, inspiring colleagues. My frustrations probably lie in the fact that I didn’t devote more time in trying to become a better all-round architect (I never really enjoyed the ‘practical’ side and was always happy to delegate much of the technical aspects of the job to others). I think I was a pretty talented designer and was good at working with clients, other building team members and staff… but there’s probably a part of me that regrets not being a little more selfish in pushing my own design concepts and ideas (I remember working for John Madin at The John Madin Design Group in Birmingham in my ‘year-out’ in 1970 – and him ‘touring’ the office with his 6B pencil and scribbling all over everyone’s drawings and telling people to follow his various ‘commands’!). I can’t really see me ever working in such a way, but…

I certainly enjoyed helping to establish and promote what I felt to be an architectural practice that had style, treated people well, recognised each other’s talents and acknowledged other people’s views and opinions. I’ve often heard some architects being described as arrogant and egotistic. I don’t think such labels applied to me but, perhaps, if I had been more ‘arrogant and egotistic’, I might have had a more impressive/fulfilling(?) personal architectural portfolio. As it was, I feel very privileged to have worked on some excellent projects for some wonderful clients, especially earlier in my career, such as: Student Housing for Lincoln College and St Hilda’s College, Oxford; National Westminster Bank, High Wycombe; Old Bank House, High Wycombe; British Aluminium Limited, Chalfont St Peter and then in later years, for example, four large projects at Wittington House near Marlow for Crest Estates/SAS Institute (two Design Awards); Bush Walk, Wokingham (another Design Award)… and much, much more.

It’s strange reflecting back on our somewhat chaotic, but very enjoyable, family life as our three daughters grew up. It now all seems a bit of a blur… Moira is constantly reminding me of stuff that happened when we were living in Oxford and Thame (and, frequently, I find that I have only vague memories… or, worse, none at all!). I used to get to the office at stupid o’clock (in later years, frequently by 6am) but always tried to ensure I was home by 6.30pm. Moira and I always shared the domestic routines (at the start of our marriage, we would take it in turns to alternate the cooking/washing up duties on a weekly basis) and children’s bedtimes/nappies etc were always shared duties. I suspect I’m a much better grandfather than I was a father (but, again, that might just be down to the vagueness of my memory!).

In 2003, after nearly 30 years of running an architectural practice (where one of my principal tasks was to try to ensure we had sufficient work – and for staff to be able to pay their mortages/rents etc)(a huge sense of responsibility), our children had all more or less left home and Moira and I started to imagine the ‘rest of our lives’. We decided that I would retire early from Brocklehurst Architects and that we would move to Bristol (where Ruth+Stuart were living)… initially with the intention of perhaps opening an art studio/gallery or something along those lines. In the event, we came to the conclusion that this would be a really good way to lose a lot of money and so, instead, bought our current house and converted the basement into studio space… and this has worked very well (Ruth and Moira use the two studio spaces and each year we’ve opened up the basement for the annual local Arts Trail and get 700+ visitors over a typical Trail weekend).

Taking early retirement from architecture (albeit that I then worked in a comprehensive school for 6 years as a mentor/Assistant House Head – which was very enjoyable, but poorly paid), was probably ‘financially stupid’ – in that I could have earned reasonable money for much longer, so that we might afford to have more holidays and/or nicer things. But, looking back, would I change things? Probably not.
Since I retired from Brocklehurst Architects (I stayed on a couple of years until 2005), we’ve ‘gained’ six grandchildren and it’s been an absolute blessing to have had the opportunity to be with them and see them growing up/blossom (and what lovely, funny, talented, inspiring individuals they are too!).
What value can put on such things? What a privilege!
We live pretty simply and that ‘suits us fine’ (particularly in today’s materialist/must-have world and against a backdrop of Climate Change and environmental concerns).

Moira and I have been very fortunate to have enjoyed good health thus far (apart the usual ageing process and, in my case, the odd health scare and a new hip). I recall talking to my brother Alan some 10-15 years ago and agreeing that, if we could sign a contract which guaranteed us good health until we were 72 (why 72?) and then ‘pass on’, then we’d both happily do so. Well, with only two years to go in my case, perhaps it’s time to try to extend the warranty!!

For my part, as people so often say once they’ve retired, “I can’t imagine how I fitted in work with all the other stuff I do”. I walk an awful lot (we got rid of our car getting on for three ago and now rely on ‘public’ transport and our local CarClub when required), draw virtually every day, take lots of photographs, read endlessly, inhabit cafés, visit the cinema/theatre on a regular basis, watch cricket and rugby, get involved in various groups (including church), drink red wine… and enjoy my lovely family and friends.
Life is (very) good.
Photo: Family pic, taken in 1982?