Margo's Musings

Space Oddity

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:13:21 GMT

This is all over the internet, as it should be.

What could be better than Commander Chris Hadfield, real live Astronaut, performing a cover version of Bowie's 'Space Oddity' IN SPACE!

Truly, we are living in the future!

A Good Weekend

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:00:40 GMT

I had a bit of a shitty week, one way and another, so I was determined to enjoy the weekend, and to do some fun things.

If you've read my last post, you'll have seen that I spent parts of Saturday exploring Bristol via art. On Sunday I went for the arguably less high-brow option of going to see the new Iron Man film.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet so will keep it vague.

I enjoyed the film - it's more about Tony Stark than it is about Iron Man, I like the way it references the Avengers Assemble film, and the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously. I loved Ben Kingsley. And the little extra at the end of the credits.

There were a couple of things I didn't like- I would have liked a little more backstory for one or two of the characters, and there were a coupe of points at the end which left me going :-/ but on the whole I think it's a good, fun, film.

Also, there's lots of stuff getting blown up.

These Pages Fall Like Ash

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:03:13 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Nick Harkaway (@Harkaway) tweet about a project which both he, and Neil Gaiman have contributed to, together with Tom Abba and Artists' Collective, 'Circumstance'.

(Picture (c) the project)

The project, 'These Pages Fall Like Ash' is an interactive story, part book, part city exploration with downloaded content, part personal imagination.

I booked a ticket (or bought a book, depending how you chose to look at it) and on Saturday travelled to Bristol to take part. I picked up my book (beatifully packaged) from the Watershed, and got started.

The book is a beautiful little thing, made from wood and paper, and it tells two stories, or two halves of one story, one set in the Bristol we know, the other half set in a parallel city, with characters who may, or may not, know and remember one another.

The book also contains clues to locations within Bristol, at which you can download further parts of the story, using a smartphone or tablet. You have to find the right place; the content is stored on hidden hard drives, so you have to be in the right part of the city.

I wasn't able to complete the whole story (?stories) - the project hasn't been finished yet, there is still some digital content which hasn't yet been uploaded, and I had trouble with a couple of the sites, but it is a very interesting concept, and it caused me to look at the city in a way I hadn't done before.

I must have passed the hairdressers in St Nicholas Street numerous times, but had not noticed the veiled bust, for instance.

I hope I shall have time to go back and revisit while the project is up and complete, to finish the stories, but if I don't , I think some of the digital content will be available as a pdf once the project is over.

And I believe that there are plans for other, similar projects in other cities.

It's definitely an interesting and innovative piece of art, and I'm glad I joined in.

Very Old Things

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:05:22 GMT

Some time ago,I booked tickets for two of the British Museum's headline exhibitions for this year: - Ice Age art and Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, so Saturday morning saw me on a train to London, to visit the BM and see them both.

Phoenix

I started with Pompeii. Well, to be truthful, I started with a very nice lunch at a lovely little French bistro not far from the Museum, but after that I went into the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition.

I was lucky enough to able able to visit both cities, about 18 months ago, together with the Archaeological museum in Naples, so I was not sure whether there would be many things I hadn't already seen (although of course I had no problem with seeing them again!)

Kitchen Mural

The exhibition is arranged by rooms, a little as if looking around a Roman house - starting with the street, and moving in to an Atrium, Bedroom, Kitchen, Garden and so forth.

Many of the items were familiar - the 'Cave Canem' mosaic, for example, and the portrait of the Baker, Terentius Neo, and his wife, (which is the headline poster for the exhibition), others were less familiar.

I don't remember seeing the more technical exhibits, such as pipes and valves which looked startlingly modern, or the fountain head in the shape of a rabbit, before.

There were also various pieces of furniture which I had not seen before - the poignant carbonised cradle, for instance (I'd seen it in TV documentaries, but not in person), a small household alter, and personal items found with some of the bodies, such as a surgeon's implements, a child's charm-bracelet and a key.

There were also items such as loaves of bread, dishes of figs, pomegranates and grain, all carbonised, and therefore preserved for over 2,000 years, which are just astonishing!

Garden fresco

One of the most dramatic and memorable parts of the exhibition, however, has to be the Garden frescos - 3 walls of gardens, with gorgeous and life-like plants and birds.

The exhibition does include a small number of the famous casts - one of a guard dog, and others of a family of four - parents and two young children, but the exhibition focuses on life rather than death. It's very interesting, and I'm glad I went.

(There are more pictures in the Evening Standard's review, here, and on the Museum's own website)

After this, I wandered upstairs to visit ~~Noggin the Nog~~ the Lewis Chessmen, and a few other bits and pieces, while I waited for the time-slot for my entry into the Ice Age exhibition.

One of the things I like about the British Museum is how big it is, and how much stuff there is, so if (like me) you have a poor sense of direction, you tend to wander down a corridor, or turn a corner, and stumble upon the Mespotomanian Queen of the Night, or a glazed brick guardsman from the palace of Darius of Persia (both of which I saw in between Pompeii and the Ice Age..)

20,000 year old Bison sculpture

The Ice age exhibition was, to me, a little bit of a disappointment - they sell timed tickets, but seemed to have been greedy and overestimated how many people could reasonable view the (mainly small) at once. The exhibition itself is also fairly small. The curators have added some modern pieces, such as Matisse sketches and a Henry Moore sculpture, to highlight how close the relationships between modern and ancient art were.

Despite my grouching, there were some lovely pieces - a beautiful bison, and a lovely horse. And the swimming reindeer, which is part of the permanent collection, and one of my favourites.

It's fascinating to see the skill and accuracy of the sculptures, and to realise that they were created with nothing but bone and stone tools!

An interesting day. Long, but I'm glad had the chance to see both exhibitions.

Mitch Benn's Reduced Circumstances

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 19:43:54 GMT

Regular readers (if any of you are regular) will remember that I have several times been to see Mitch Benn, and as he's now touring, I got the chance to see him again, at the Rondo Theatre in Bath.

I like the Rondo - it's tiny (I think it seats about 80), so no matter where you sit, you're close to the stage, and it's run mainly by volunteers.

I like Mitch Benn, too. This gig was part of his 'Reduced Circumstances' tour - just Mitch and a small guitar, no band, and with slightly more in the way of stand-up and slightly fewer songs than previous gigs I've seen. He talked about his very dramatic weight loss, about food as an addiction (and the difficulties of going 'cold turkey'!) and also talked about believers and atheism, and performed a series of new and older songs. (I have now heard Bouncy Druids song live, which was fun, and comes with commentary about the Olympics)

As those who've ever been to pone of Mitch's live gigs will know, he will take suggestions from the audience, just before the interval, about local or national news events, and write a brand new song during the interval, based on those suggestions.

This week, of course, there is only one News story, and there was a pause before anyone mentioned it... (Mitch commented that waiting to hear Jeremy Hardy on the new quiz, on the subject of Thatcher finally having died, would be worth hearing...) as was Mitch's song, which managed to include references to slasher movies, bedroom tax and Korea as well as the Iron Lady's final departure.(assuming of course that someone remembered the stake, and she is in fact gone for good)

It was a Good Gig. And it's near the start of the tour, so lots more chances for you to see it! Go. book here.

Things that Glow in the Dark

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:17:18 GMT

Tonic water and glass in normal light

So, about a year ago I heard about Uranium Glass (also known as radiation glass, or vaseline glass), which is made with small quantities of uranium, causing it to glow under black light, and I wondered, vaguely, whether the drinking glasses which used to be my Grannie's, might be made of Uranium Glass, but I didn't have any source of ultraviolet light to test it with.

Uranium glass in UV light

And then more recently I learned that the quinine in (proper, non-diet) tonic water also glows in the dark, under black light. I learned this in the context of realising that one can make G'n'T jellies, and who wouldn't love a glow-in-the-dark alcoholic jelly? (Well, my family, it turns out. I made some G'n'T jellies at christmas and it turns out that the flaw in the plan is that if you don't much like jelly, adding gin is just a waste of gin. Maybe if I'd had an ultraviolet light so it glowed in the dark we'd have liked it better)

In these circumstances, it was only a matter of time before I acquired a UV light and started to play..

Today was the day it arrived. And it's a weekend, so I was always going to be having some gin, so I'd have an excuse to play with tonic water...

It turns out that my glasses are uranium glass...

And tonic water does glow in the dark.

And you know what? Drinking a G'n'T out of the glass, you can get some very pretty effects!

Radioactive Gin and Tonic

Well, it kept me amused for a time!

I understand that the level of radioactivity involved in Uranium glass is so low it doesn't present any health risk (unless you grind up the glass and inhale it)

The Crane Wife

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:39:17 GMT

I've written before about Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, one of Bath's two splendid independent bookshops. They host wonderful author events (the last one I went to was with China Mieville, which I blogged here )

On Tuesday night, they were hosting the Patrick Ness, to celebrate the publication of his new novel, The Crane Wife. I missed Patrick when he visited for the publication of 'A Monster Calls', so I was particularly pleased to be able to get tickets this time!

And to meet some old friends and acquaintances - I knew that Cheryl was going to be there, what with our having bought the tickets together, and it was nice also to see Tamzin, (although my terrible face recognition skills meant I was confused for a moment, there)

As usual, the evening began with music from The Bookshop Band - with two new (and only just completed) songs inspired by the book. They were wonderful.

Patrick Ness

We then had the interview with Patrick, who apparently wrote the book at the same time as writing a new teen novel, (and has vowed never to do that again). The novel is inspired by a Japanese folk tale of the same name, which Patrick learned while a child in Hawaii. It's not one I am familiar with, but he made the point that, unlike most fairy tales / folk tales, it begins with an act of kindness, not an act of cruelty, so he was interested to explore the ideas of how a kind man would react to / deal with his desires.

The interview also covered other points - the fact that people are complicated ("People are Legion") and don't conform to simple stereotypes; one of the reasons why Patrick rarely writes out-and-out villains, the need to write from the heart - drawing on real emotions.

He read us a bit of the new book (with a few interpolated comments - "I said 'penis' to a room full of people') then there were some questions, followed by delicious food from Made by Ben, and mingling, then further questions, and book recommendations, from Patrick, and the bookshop staff, and guests. Recommendations included Cat Valente's books,(the 'Fairyland ones, pluis Six-Gun Snow White, Wildwood, The Armed Garden, Shadows on the Moon ,and the Cannongate Myths series.

Then the evening ended with Patrick signing copies of the Crane Wife and others of his books, with, inevitably, more conversation. A thoroughly fun evening.

Easter Weekend

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:48:47 GMT

I decided to go down to Devon for Easter weekend, to visit my parents and relax and unwind a little.

It was, inevitably, still cold, but also sunny, which made a nice change. And as it was a sunny day, we decided to go to the seaside, to the (Baggy Point end) of Woolacombe.

There were some brave souls surfing (although not, I think, with much success. The waves were big, but irregular and unpredictable) We stuck to the walking along wearing thick coats option, which was more comfortable. We also decided against having an ice cream. Even though it *was* the seaside.

Saturday evening was, of course, the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who - and my lovely parents arranged dinner to fit round it (and even brought me a pre-dinner drink as I watched!)

On Sunday the clocks went forward, and as it was Easter Sunday, there was a church service to ring for, which of course felt as though it was an hour early.

The church did look lovely, though - the church yard is full of daffodils and crocuses and primroses, and the sun was out.

After ringing, we went for a walk locally, through the beech woods, where the old railway used to run.

It was cold, but there are some lovely views. And lots of primroses and snowdrops in the hedge-bottoms. (We even found one violet, but it was the proverbial shrinking violet!)

I really enjoyed being able to relax and unwind. The house is so quiet - I love lying in bed listening to the birdsong, and the calling of the tiny lambs in the field outside, and I enjoy watching all the different birds which come to the feeders outside the living room windows.

The most frequent visitors are a gang of goldfinches, but there are also lots of sparrows, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, a greenfinch, and blackbirds and thrushes (mostly on the ground under the feeders) I'm told there is a coaltit sometimes, although I didn't see it this time, and there is a very territorial robin, too!

Oh, and I got a lovely chocolate Easter Egg despite being officially grown up!

In Which There is a Cathedral, An Abbey, and a Bogus Monk

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:36:48 GMT

I was able to take Monday off work in order to spend a bit more time with Wendy, and we decided to visit Wells and Glastonbury, both of which are within fairly easy reach of here.

It was another bitterly cold day, and kept trying to snow on us.

Vicar's Close, Wells

We started with Wells, which happens to be my old home town, and which is a lovely little city. We started by looking at Vicar's Close, which lays claim to being the oldest planned, residential street in Europe. The houses were originally built in the 14th Century. Originally there were 44 houses, with a chapel and library at the end of the street (and a gate and walkway to the cathedral at the other) After the reformation, once priests were permitted to marry, many of the houses were combined to provide bigger living accommodation, so there are now 27. One of them is now a holiday home, so you can stay in the close if you wish.

It was pretty much deserted (except for a friendly Border Collie)

Wendy at Wells Cathedral

After the Close, we went to look around the cathedral itself. I always enjoy visiting it regardless of whether you are religious, it is a stunning building, both inside and out. (incidentally, it doubled as the interior of Southwark Catherdral, in the Doctor Who episode 'The Lazarus Experiment')

Astronomical Clock

We went to see the clock perform - It is an astronomical clock, and has 4 horsemen who joust every quarter of an hour, above the clockface.

It was made in around 1392, making it the 2nd oldest clock in England, after the one at Salisbury. (although the original mechanism is now in the Science Museum, having been replaced in the 17th Century.

There's a second clock on the outside, but that is less impressive. (It has no jousting knights, for a start)

Lady Chapel ceiling

We then went up to the Chapter House, which is a gorgeous octagonal building.

Chapter House

It's all white marble and arching roof (it was built in the early 14th Century, so I assume that originally some of this may have been painted or otherwise decorated), although if it was, there's now sign of it now.

It also has (as we found to our relief!) fairly effective, (presumably Victorian), heating. The Bishop and chapter don't meet there regularly there any longer, although it is still used on special occasions.

After all this uplifting architecture we had a spot of lunch at the City Arms, (which used to be the city gaol) before heading to Glastonbury, where we started by calling in on Liz Williams and Trevor Jones at their shop, Cat and Cauldron, before visiting the Abbey.

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey was the richest monastery in England when Domesday Book was written. In 1184, they had a fire, and then a few years later, they miraculously found the bones of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere were found there, which made them even more popular as a place of pilgrimage.. Which must have come in handy, for funding all the rebuilding.

Bogus monk at Glastonbury Abbey

There is also a legend that Joseph of Arimathea visited Glastonbury with the boy Jesus, and building the first church on England on the site. Joseph apparently returned later, and buried the Holy Grail near the Tor.

The Abbey has a number of guides who dress up as different characters (real and otherwise) from the Abbey's history, and we joined a self-proclaimed 'bogus monk' for a walk around the abbey - I don't normally go for guided tours, but I did find this one entertaining, as he was so delightfully cynical, and tongue-in-cheek about the abbey's history.

view down from the Tor

The Abbey was thoroughly dissolved under Henry VIII - it was at that time hugely wealthy (it owned a great deal of land, quite apart from the income from pilgrims) and the last Abbot was hung, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor in 1539.

Ninja Wendy at Glastonbury Tor

After leaving the Abbey, we decided to go up the Tor. It was bitterly cold, and very windy, but (I think) worth it!

There were not many people on the Tor, (perhaps most had more sense than to expose themselves to the icy winds!) but it meant that we had the tower to ourselves for a little while.

It was a pretty long day, but enjoyable, despite my car misbehaving a little on the way home! And despite the weather's best efforts, it didn't manage to snow properly on us.

Monday was Wendy's last day with me - Tuesday morning saw me back at work, and Wendy on a train to Bath, and then London, but it was lovely to have a chance to hang out together. And maybe one day I shall make it to New Orleans!

Fun and Fiends

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:34:14 GMT

My friend Wendy has been visiting England, and we'd arranged to meet up and for her to vist me for the first 2 days of her trip, so last Sunday I met her at Heathrow, and we drove back to Wiltshire via Stonehenge and Avebury.

It was very, very cold - there was snow on the ground when I got up, and it kept trying to snow on us all day.

We had a bracing walk around some of the stones at Avebury, then visited the Manor,which has recently been done up by the National Trust, by reproducing (rather than preserving) furniture and fittings, and have arranged different rooms as they may have been at different periods, ranging from a Tudor Hall and Bedroom, to a 1939 living room (complete with zebra-skin chair, and cocktail-shakers.)

Tudor Bedroom, Avebury Manor

Because almost everything is reproduction rather than original (things like the fireplaces, the ceilings and plasterwork etc are original), visitors are encouraged to touch and try - I didn't lie on the Tudor style four-poster because it has a feather mattress, and I am allergic to feathers, but I could have done, had I wished!

They have a tea-shop in the library, too, where Wendy was able to sample her first English cream tea :-) And we were both able to warm up enough to escape hypothermia. There were some very *bracing* breezes going on out among the stones..

And then, after visiting the Avebury museum (small; contains a lot of flint axes) back to my house, to defrost ourselves a little more.

Peter and Alice

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:57:27 GMT

Saturday evening, after our day spent mainly in the British Library, found us at the Noel Coward theatre, to see Peter and Alice, a new play by John Logan.

I booked the tickets last summer, as the premise sounded interesting, and I wanted to see both Judi Dench (who plays Alice) and Ben Whishaw (Peter). (I've had bad luck before - last time I had tickets to see Judi Dench she sprained her ankle the day before we saw the show, and her understudy was on instead..)

The starting point for 'Peter and Alice' is a real-life meeting between the 80 year old Alice Lidell Hargreaves (who was Lewis Carrol's inspiration and audience for 'Alice in Wonderland') and 35 year old Peter Llewelyn-Davies (who, with his brothers, inspired J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan). There's no record of what they said to one another, so Logan was free to speculate.

We begin by seeing Peter (a publisher) trying to convince Alice to publish her memoires, revealing, in the course of their conversation, that he 'is' "Peter Pan" just as she 'is' "Alice in Wonderland". things get odder from there, as we meet not only Carroll and Barrie, but also the Alice and Peter from the books. The set becomes fantastical - like a toy theatre decorated with images from both books, and both characters reveal more and more about their lives.

Whishaw is particularly strong; resentful of his borrowed notoriety, deeply scarred by his war-time experience and the loss of two of his brothers, and ultimately deeply pessimistic.

There are many entertaining moments in the play - Peter and Alice arguing with their literary alter-egos, Alice's imperious put downs, and the casual arrogance of the fictional Alice and Peter, too young and fearless to have learned to be afraid.

Olly Alexander made an excellent Peter Pan, capturing just the right feel of the boy who never grew up, and to me, it seemed that the play was far more about Peter Davies than anyone else.

Ultimately, however, the play was slightly disappointing - I enjoyed it, but the players outshone the play; there was rather too much telling, and not quite enough showing, and I suspect that without the superb Whishaw and Dench, the play (which at less than 90 minutes is pretty short) would drag)

The play is a new one one, and only opened on 9th March, so perhaps the author will consider some re-writes to tighten it up a little... or perhaps not.

I'd give it 5 out of 5 stars, I think - 5/5 for the acting, a little less for the production. But I'm very glad I went, and frankly I'd go to see Judi Dench if she were reading the phone book!

Emperors, Murder and Brains

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:37:41 GMT

It's been a busy few days.
On Friday I drove up to London, to visit relations, and to go to the theatre on Saturday. It wasn't a fun drive, lots of rain, sleet and spray, so I was very glad to arrive.
On Saturday, we woke to find it was snowing. Which is not usual, here, at the end of March. And which made the prospect of going Out rather less appealing. But we did.

My cousin J and I went into London - we started off with a trip to the British Library, so see their exhibition about the Mughal Empire, which was fascinating. Being the British Library, the majority of the exhibits were books and other documents, although they did have a rather splendid armoured horse, and a very fancy crown (which they borrowed from the Queen, who apparently has enough to spare one for a bit).

The exhibition showed how the culture of the Mughal Empire influenced and was influenced by western european visitors, and gave the opportunity to see some lovely pieces of art, and illuminated manuscripts which are not normally on display. Towards the end of the exhibition there were some early photographs, too, taken after the Indian 'Mutiny' of 1857 and showing deserted and looted palaces.

It was well worth seeing, and seemed to be very popular.
While we were at the Library, we also saw their mini exhibition 'Murder in the Library: and A-Z of Crime Fiction', which was entertaining, even if they had to stretch a little for one or two of the letters of the alphabet.
I learned that Baroness Orczy wrote crime fiction (as well as the Scarlet Pimpernel) - stories featuring a plucky female detective, written in around 1910.
We then went on, to visit the Hunterian Museum, which is part of the Royal College of Surgeons.It grew from an original collection begun by John Hunter, and bought by the government in 1799. It's full of bottled body-parts (animal and human) including half of the brain of Charles Babbage, and other medical curiosities. Interestingly, although it seems that many of the specimens were bought, or (in the case of the earlier ones in particular) acquired from 'resurrection men') others were acquired with the donor's full knowledge and consent - a sort of 'celebrity body parts...'

As well ass the human remains, there are various fossils, and zoological specimens, including delicate examples of dissected insects, some of them 200 years old. (This is all the more remarkable when you learn that the museum suffered significant bomb damage during WWII: firebombs and 1000s or specimens pickled in alcohol are not a good combination)

While we were there, there was a 'Promenade performance' by first year drama/design students from the Rose Bruford college of performing arts. The students were moving around among the visitors wearing costumes, and giving a performance both inspired by the collection. It was .. odd.

All of this took us well into the afternoon, so we decided to finish up with a nice cup of tea, and a visit to Foyles, before we went to the theatre. (Yes, of course I ended up buying several books. Was there really any question?)

It carried on snowing the whole time, but wasn't settling ion the roads or pavements, so other than the cold it didn't really effect us.

Family and Work and Things

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:40:51 GMT

It's been a busy week. We had a Partner's meeting on Wednesday, which means a late night, and one of our partners is retiring, with Friday as her final day in the office, so we have sticky buns and champagne at lunchtime, which I'm not sure amounts to a balanced diet, but which is not bad, as an occasional thing.

Then on Friday night I visited my second cousin, M, who lives about 40 minutes drive from here, for dinner. It was an enjoyable evening - we talked about all sorts of things, travel, and gardening, and the inanity of banks, and I learned about a few things from M which I'd never hear of before - including the time that Aristotle and Jackie Onassis gatecrashed a picnic M was attending, and her memories of meeting [Sir] Peter Scott back in 1948, not long after he established Slimbridge.

Saturday was quiet - I have been doing various bits and pieces around the house, and spent an hour listening to the 1st Episode of 'Neverwhere', on Radio 4 - I was concerned that it wouldn't (couldn't) live up to my expectations, but I thought it was excellent - I particularly enjoyed Mr Gaiman's cameo role as The Fop With No Name, and we've still got Benedict Cumberbatch's Angel Islington to look forward to in future episodes...

And I found out on Saturday that Neil Gaiman is coming to Bath, through the machinations of Topping and Co. Bookshop, in June, which is definitely something to look forward to. (and having checked my diary, it's the same week as I am going to see The Cripple of Inishmaan and Bill Bailey which I think you'll agree is going to be a pretty good week!

This weekend is that last I've got for about 4 weeks when I'm not doing anything - next week I'm going to London, and then bringing a friend back for a visit, then it is Easter weekend, when I shall be seeing my parents, then the following weekend I'm getting together with my oldest friend and her partner. Lots of good things to look forward to.

Cold, and Car troubles

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:10:02 GMT

It's turned very cold again. It snowed a little on Sunday night, and again today (although none of it settled) and it all proved too much for my car battery, which gave up the ghost overnight, and could summon up only a tiny, pathetic cough this morning, rather that, y'know, actually starting the car.

Fortunately, I do have breakdown cover (including Home Start) and it must be admitted that if you are going to have a non-working car, the best place to have it must be at home. At least I was able to wait inside, in the warm, and to get on with some work while I waited.

I would not have been impressed with a wait of almost 3 hours had I been sitting miserably at the side of the road!

On the plus side, I have a new car battery, so I shouldn't have the trouble again.

But I am so very ready for it to start being properly Spring-like, now.

Psychopaths and Swearing

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:57:18 GMT

This year's Bath Literature Festival ends tonight, and the last event I attended (possibly the last event of the Festival) was a talk by Jon Ronson, about his most recent book, 'Lost at Sea', and the one before that, 'The Psychopath Test'.

I've long enjoyed Jon Ronson's work - he used to have a column in the weekend Guardian, and is the author of 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' and 'Them'. In fact, I blogged about his last Bath Literature Festival appearance, 4 years ago.

Having heard him speak before, I was confident that I was in for an entertaining evening, and I was not disappointed.

Jon started with reading a story which hasn't (yet) made it into a book, about his son, Joel, at the age of 8, wanting to know whether there was a worse swear-word than 'fuck', and if so, what it was., which rapidly caused Ronson, in an attempt to avoid teaching his son anything inappropriate, to become mired in a swamp of lies, an 8-year old temporarily convinced he has learned the Worst Swear Word in the World, and, increasing guilt "I'd rather he was foul mouthed and accurate than this"

After this light-hearted anecdote Ronson spoke about the starting point for his book, 'The Psychopath Test'.

He described started out by leafing through the DSM ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and determining that he has 12 different mental disorders, including general anxiety and malingering, which led to thoughts about the dangers of self-diagnoses, and then, by a series of steps which all sounded very logical when described, via Scientologists to a prisoner names Tony, who spent 14 years in Broadmoor after faking madness in the hope of avoiding a prison sentence (of 5-7 years) for assault, to the worrying knowledge that around 1% of the population is believed to be a psychopath, but the figure rises to around 4% if you look at CEOs and other people in positions of power...

We also learned that if you have been on a course to become a certified psychopath spotter, and wish to interview important people to work out whether they are psychopaths, it's best not to write and ask them whether you can interview them to test for psychopathic traits. Asking if you can interview them to ascertain whether they have a specific brain anomaly which may be linked to business success, works rather better..

Ronson then moved on to talk about some of the articles in 'Lost at Sea', such as what happens when you borrow a car from Aston Martin in order to recreate James Bond's drive in 'Goldfinger' (flatulence and dislike, mostly), about debt and credit cards, and who they are offered to, and about rich and poor in America.

The evening ended with a Q and A session, and discussion about the NHS and differences between US and UK attitudes, after which I was able to get my copy of 'Lost at Sea' signed, and to have a quick word with Jon. He's a nice man.

It was a very entertaining evening. Despite the cold, and the snow.

In Which there is a Booker Prize Winner

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:56:22 GMT

After Friday night's soiree with J.K. Rowling, last night's treat was an event with Hilary Mantel, author of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring up the Bodies' and twice winner of the booker Prize.

I have to confess that I have only read a couple of her books, but they (particularly the historical ones) are high on my reading list, and I was also interested to hear her speak, based on her reputation.

It was an interesting interview, once an initial problem with her microphone was fixed. She confirmed that while journalists love to write stories about 'overnight success', she has of course been having books published since 1974, and has been writing all her life. She described herself as having loved stories from before she could read, and having had a book about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table which she demanded any adult she came across read her, so she learned many of the stories before learning to read, so started school with a baroque vocabulary of 'base seneshals' and 'varlets'.

She then discovered Shakespeare through an extract from Julius Caesar and became a "distressing child, wandering around the house muttering 'if you have tears, prepare to shed them now'" She described Shakespeare as being, for her, more of a "principal of life, or a Demi-god", than anything else, and commented that when writing the books she has to remember that she is writing pre-Shakespeare, and try not to be too influenced by his vocabulary.

She described her early education from Catholic nuns as being a study in superstition rather than religion, and described herself as being a 16th C peasant, rather than a theologian.

Although the main focus of the evening was on the Tudor books, Mantel also talked about her other work. She revealed that she started writing Historical fiction as she saw it as needing less imagination, as the characters make the story, and described herself as being "little miss card-index, with a filing cabinet for a heart". In researching Beyond Black,her novel featuring a psychic, she saw a palm-reader whose initial comment was "Oh dear, you don't have much imagination, do you?" I think it is fair to say that the audience did not agree!

She also made the point that if you talk to dead people you get sectioned, but if you get paid for it, whether as a novelist or as a psychic or medium, you're fine!

In answering questions at the end of the interview, Mantel made it clear that she has never seen her novels as satire on, or comments about, current politics. As she said - they are political, but they are about the people they are about, not an allegory of anyone else.

After the interview, Mantel signed books, so I was able to get my copy of Wolf Hall signed, and was able to ask her how it felt to have the books adapted for the stage for the RSC - she told me she was very excited, particularly that it was the RSC at Stratford.

All in all, a highly enjoyable evening.

In Which There is a Very Famous Writer

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:31:06 GMT

As you'll have seen from my last post, I wasn't very efficient in booking tickets for this years Bath Festival of Literature, and ended up missing some events I'd like to have seen. One I didn't miss, however, was last night's interview with J.K. Rowling.

Rowling was being interviewed by James Runcie, who, as well as being a novelist in his own right, is Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival and also a long-standing friend of Rowling's, which came through in the interview, as they laughed and joked together.

The event was held in the Forum, which seats around 1,600 people, and which was pretty full - I think the event was sold out, or pretty close. Having booked late, I was seated in the very back row of the circle. This may have been a good thing. There were some pretty intense fans nearer the front, from what I can gather!

The event was primarily an opportunity to talk about Rowling's recent adult novel, The Casual Vacancy but also covered aspects of the writers life and, inevitably, Harry Potter.

'The Casual Vacancy' has some very troubled teenage characters, and Rowling was asked about her own teenage years, and specifically, her first French kiss (She was 12. He tasted of cheese and onion crisps). She counter attacked, asking Runcie about his, and he revealed he was 17, pointing out that as a ginger with glasses he was at a disadvantage!

She explained her wish to write realistic teenagers, and that she felt that all of the characters in the novel were real, in that they are not exaggerated - she had known people like that, when growing up, and while working as a teacher (but also stressed that she does not put actual people into the books), and that without seeking to claim to be a 'modern Trollope or Gaskell' that she did the novel as being in a similar tradition of parochial, fiction, looking at a small and limited group of people. She also mentioned that she drew on aspects of herself in writing Hermione, and was very clear that she wanted Hermione to be, not 'the pretty girl' or 'the tomboy' but a clever girl, and for that to be OK, and to be someone whom she would have identified with as a child.

Rowling described how liberating she had found it, after finishing the Harry Potter series, to be writing without a deadline, and knowing that nothing would ever be the same as Potter - she described having been on a train at Kings Cross organised by her publishers in around 2000, thinking "you will never top this" and feeling, now, that she could either dwell on knowing she'll never top Potter, or that she can see how lucky she is to be free to write whatever she, knowing she can pay the bills even if only 5 people like the new book!

Those hoping for the possibility of new stories set in the Potterverse were doomed to disappointment - while she admitted one can never say never, she has no plans for any new books; she commented that prequels are, in her view, rarely successful, and that in adding the Epilogue to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows she had made it very clear how things turned out, and that there was a happy ending. "A lot of people didn't like it, but. . .My Characters, My Rules"

However, she did disclose that is she is currently writing a new children's book, but nothing further - the conversation was;
-"Would you like to tell us anything about it?"

- "No."

During the QandA session at the end of the interview there were more questions about Harry Potter. Asked whether she felt that Grindelwald loved Dumbledore back, she said no, that she'd always felt he manipulated Albus, and that he was never able to fully trust or love another after that. She went on to say that one of her proudest moments had been when, after her disclosure that Dumbledore was gay, a young man at the signing told her had just come out, as a direct result!

In response to a question about Harry Potter gaming she said her first experience of them was seeing one of her children playing the Harry Potter Lego game, and repeatedly running Ron over...!

Rowling was very articulate about her love of books and reading, and reported that she'd been asked by one of the children whether she would chose them or books, if she had to chose. Her reply? "You. But I'd be really grumpy"

It was an interesting evening. I came away liking the lady, as well as her books.

Maps and Philosophy

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:06:20 GMT

It's March, which means that the Bath Literature Festival is on. I was not very organised this year, and left it late to book tickets, so there were some events, such as Sandi Toksvig's, which I didn't get to go to because they sold out too fast.

However, all was not lost.

The first event I went to this year was on Saturday, to hear Prof. Jerry Brotton, speak about his recent book, A History of the World in Twelve Maps. I had not read the book, but it sounded as if it could be interesting, and it was.

Saturday was also the day of the Bath 1/2 Marathon, which meant that a lot of roads were closed, so I travelled in early, by train, and treated myself to a pub lunch and a pint before heading to the Guildhall for the talk. The marathon had mostly finished by the time I arrived in Bath, but there were still an awful lot of people wandering round wrapped in tin-foil. Fortunately the pub I picked wasn't too crowded - maybe people who run (half) marathons are not very pub-orientated?

Jerry Brotton

Brotton explained that he is not a geographer,he is a professor of Renaissance Studies, and that his interest is in looking at the philosophy of map making. He then took us through his 12 maps, starting with a 7th C. Babylonian map (showing Babylon and the centre, and the wild places outside), an Islamic map from the 11th C (with South at the top) a Ptolemiac map, (noting that Ptolemy, in 150 BC, was writing about the difficulty of representing a globe, on a flat piece of paper) before moving on to speak about a Korean Map of 1409 (based on Chinese maps, and the first of the maps shown to be orientated with North at the top), the Hereford Mappa Mundi, which includes the Garden of Eden, and is orientated to the East, and a then a 1492 Globe (unfortunately produced before Columbus came home, and therefore completely blank so far as the Americas are concerned)

All of these maps are what he described as 'egocentric mapping'; centred upon, and giving greatest prominence to, the nation where it was produced.

He then moved on to speak about different projections, pointing out that Mercator's projection, and maps (1569) work very well for the purpose for which they were created; i.e. sailing the trade routes. He made the point that the earlier maps were not created with a view to helping you to get from A to B, and that once you start wanting to use maps for that purpose, your needs, and the way in which you design the maps, has to change.

Which led on to talking about more recent maps, including the Peters Projection (aimed to get away from egocentric mapping to equal representation) and right up to Google maps, and the issue of whether it is a good thing to monetise geography in this way.

Brotton finished by explaining that he is a also involved in a project for the 2015 Venice Biennale, where a 3D map of the world is being created, using hydrographic maps to accurately represent the seabed and depth, as well as a relief map of the land surface. The finished map will be around the size of a football pitch, and will then be flooded to show the correct sea level.

It's a fascinating subject, and I'm glad I went, although there wasn't much in the talk itself which was completely new to me - I think Prof. Brotton may have slightly underestimated the level of general knowledge about the subject (People mostly know that the Greeks and Egyptians etc. knew the world was a globe, don't they?) but it was, nevertheless, an interesting overview.

Fences

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:06:59 GMT

Last night I was in Bath, to see August Wilson's Fences, starring Lenny Henry.

The play is set in Pittsburgh, starting in 1957, and concluding some 7 or 8 years later. Lenny Henry plays the lead character, Troy Maxson, a garbage-man, whose hopes of a professional baseball career were unfulfilled due to segregation.

He's not a lovable character; the play gets darker as it progresses, and we learn that despite Troy's strengths - his close friendship with Jim Bono (Colin McFarlane), his love for his wife, Rose (Tanya Moodie) and his apparent care for his brain injured brother, Gabe (Terence Maynard), he has very deep flaws, too.

He prevents his son, Cory (Ashley Zhanghaza) from trying for a football scholarship, and we learn that he has been having an affair (resulting in the birth of a child). We also learn, as the play progresses, of his own very bleak past, which goes some way towards explaining, if not excusing, his conduct.

Despite this, the play has a lot of lighter moments, and ends on a hopeful note, with Cory having made a career for himself in the US Marine Corps. Rose gives a very moving description of Troy, and of her life with him, after his death.. "Sometimes where he touched, he bruised".... and of their relationship " I didn't know that to keep his strength I had to give up little pieces of mine" - a portrait of a hard life, creating a hard man.

I freely admit that I booked my ticket on the strength of Lenny Henry's name; having seen his performance as Othello and I wasn't disappointed; he made the character totally believable, but he wasn't alone. The rest of the cast were equally strong, and particular praise has to go to Tanya Moodie, and to Ashley Zhanghaza who gave terrific performances as Troy's wife and son.

The performance I saw was the last one in Bath, but the production is transferring to the Richmond Theatre in London, and to Milton Keynes, so there is still time to see it. It's well worth it.

Still Cold

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:25:39 GMT

Brrrrrr. Is actually the main thing I'm thinking at present. It's not even that wonderful bright, clear cold you sometimes get in winter. It's cold, grey and overcast, which seems unfair.

This week I've been doing a lot of dull stuff, too, to match the weather - mostly sorting and throwing away old magazines and other junk from my office, reviewing my budget and making a few financial tweaks, and things like that.

This weekend ought to be more interesting.

Tomorrow is my parents' wedding anniversary (which I admit is more interesting for them than for me), but I shall probably speak to them at some point. It reminds me that they were snowed on on their wedding day, which I suppose puts our current weather into perspective.. They will have been married for 44 years!

Then at the weekend, after spending Saturday morning at work, I shall be going to the theatre in the evening, to see Lenny Henry in 'Fences'. I saw his 'Othello' a few years back, and was really impressed, so I'm very much looking forward to it.

And the Bath Literature Festival starts this weekend, and I shall be going to my first event on Sunday - a talk about maps.

In Which I Am Cold

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:28:13 GMT

Yesterday was icy cold - it kept trying to snow; there would be a few flakes of snow, then it would give up again.

I went into Bath to pick up some books and tickets from the wonderful Mr B's, and to run a few other errands - including popping into the Post Office to buy some of the new Jane Austen stamps, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. There's something rather nice about being able to send a stamp featuring 'Persuasion', from Bath. Although I am not sure whether there'll be a legible postmark.

I love this building. Even though it's not a Library any more.

Today I woke to find we had had a tiny bit of snow overnight. Just a light dusting, visible of the roofs of the cars, and on windowsills, and gone within an hour of sunrise. However, the cold makes me think I must have a touch of squirrel, or bear, in my ancestry, as I just was to curl up and hibernate, emerging occasionally for honey and nuts.

I learned yesterday evening that my application to be a giver for World Book Night again this year has been successful, so I shall be handing out copies of Patrick Ness's 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' on or around 23rd April, which makes me happy. It's great sharing books, and I loved watching twitter last night and seeing lots of other people getting equally excited about joining in, too.

Family, and the Right Kind of Sparkly Vampire

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:44:44 GMT

This post is a bit late, for obvious reasons.

Last weekend, I travelled up to Birmingham, to visit my sister, and to see Sleeping Beauty at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Originally, the plan was for both of my sisters to be there, but K couldn't make it (which was a shame)

I haven't been to a ballet for a while, and I don't think I have ever seen Sleeping Beauty, so I came to it with an open mind. Having seen, and enjoyed, several of Matthew Bourne's previous productions I was expecting something non-traditional, and, light-hearted, and that's what we got.

The ballet opens in 1890 (which, in a neat twist, is the year that the original ballet was first performed), with the Princess's coming of age being in 1911, and the ending, when the sleepers wake up, in 2011.

(Photo (c) Sadlers Wells Theatre)

Bourne has got around the somewhat troubling idea of a total stranger kissing an comatose young woman who immediately falls in love with him by introducing as the Princess Aurora's love interest the gardener, Leo. And the Lilac Fairy (the original Fairy Godmother) is in the production 'Count Lilac', a Vampire Fairy (or Fairy Vampire?) with fangs and wings, who bites Leo so he can survive long enough to wake Aurora. I think I can live with a sparkly vampire who is also a fairy godmother!

The ballet was on the Saturday evening, and on Sunday my cousin and her husband and son came over for lunch - I haven't seen them since my sister's wedding in the summer, and J is not quite 2 and a half yet, so as can be imagined, he has changed and grown a good deal since then.I like him. We had a fun afternoon, and I was sorry to have to leave, especially as it was snowing as I set out, so not a lot of fun to drive in!

R.I.P. Tybalt 1998 - 2013

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:40:28 GMT

This is a really hard post to write. I'm sitting in a house which feels a lot colder and emptier than it ever did before.
I
met Tybalt in 1998. I'd just managed to move out of shared, rented accommodation into a place of my own, so pets became a possibility, and I pretty much immediately started to look around for a kitten.

Kitten!

There was a card in one of the local pet shops offering grey kittens, free to good homes, and I'd always rather fancied a grey cat, so I arranged to go round to see them. They were adorable, and then their owners said 'oh, and there's a tabby kitten from another litter. He's a bit older" so I explained that no, I really wanted a grey one.

And so, inevitably, 20 minutes later I was driving home with a small, fuzzy, annoyed tabby kitten in a cardboard box on the seat beside me, and he has been with me ever since.

I named him Tybalt, after the character in 'Romeo and Juliet' and on the basis of the notes on my school copy of the play, which said that Tybalt was a common name for pet cats in Shakespeare's day.

He never lived up to his name. He wasn't a rat-catcher, he wasn't a fighter. Indeed, if I didn't love him so much I might be tempted to say he was a bit of a wuss. He did run away from a rabbit, once. Admittedly, it was a large, and aggressive rabbit, but still. He used to moths, and the odd wasp which got itself trapped against the glass in the windows, and he tried to catch the vultures on David Attenborough's 'Life of Birds' (I had a really small TV then)

He was very nervous, to start with, and would rush off if I had the temerity to cough, or move, or breathe too heavily while he was sitting on me, but as he got older he got more relaxed. After 10 years or so he would even, occasionally, sit on people other than me, if I wasn't available.

Unlike many cats, he was unfazed by travelling, and after a few minutes complaining, would settle down in the car and snooze his way through the drive, and would then be perfectly happy in whatever new house I took him to.

He came to my parents home for Christmas, when he was younger he came with me to my grandmother's house (where it took him around 5 minutes to find the airing cupboard) and after these visits, he would always remember the houses, and be able to find his way to the warm spots, and to whichever bed I was sleeping in, without any difficulty, even after over a year.

He could be playful - my friend Stacy sent him a quilt filled with catnip, which he loved (the video was from when it first arrived)

He could be beautiful, and elegant, and sometimes he could be goofy as anything.

about 18 months ago he developed thyroid problems, and lost a lot of weight before he was properly diagnosed and stabilised, and he's started to slow down.

He spent a bit more time lounging and snoozing, and a little less playing, but he still enjoyed life, and in particular the extra treats and meals he got to try to get his weight back up.

He continued to hold me responsible for the weather, and for anything else of which he disapproved,

Whenever I went away, leaving him to the tender mercies of visiting minions, he would loudly proclaim, on my return (and often while standing next to a well-filled bowl of cat biscuits) that he had been cruelly starved and neglected in my absence, and he would always forget and forgave, and be curled up on my lap purring loudly within minutes.

This morning, when I came downstairs to give him his breakfast, he was as pleased to see me as he normally is, but I found he had not eaten his supper, and he had no interest in his breakfast, or even in his sardine (the delivery method of choice for his medication) and he was wheezing and not breathing well.

He couldn't be bothered to hide when I got his carrier out, or to protest when I put him in it, or to hiss at the vet when we got there. I had to leave him there, so they could start treatment for likely acute anaemia, and do tests to see what was causing it. I got a call about 2 hours later, to confirm that the blood counts showed he was very anaemic, but that he was sleepy, not too stressed, and they were going to treat the symptoms while they waited for more test results to identify the cause, but then an hour or so later there was another call. He wasn't responding to the treatments, his condition had deteriorated a lot, very rapidly, and he was fitting. They didn't think he would make it long enough for me to get back to the vets so I could be with him while they put him to sleep, or fair to him to make him wait for me.

And now I am sitting here, in this suddenly empty house, with tears running down onto my keyboard, because I've just been able to write a whole post, without anyone walking over my keyboard, or butting at my hands until I remember that laps are for cats, not laptops, and move it so he can sit there.

Tybalt. 1998-2013

(PS - please don't quote the 'Rainbow Bridge'. I know it's kindly meant, but, please don't.)

Fun and UnFun Things

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:29:56 GMT

It's been a busy couple of weeks. last Friday I was due to meet my dad's cousin, M, for a meal, and to go to the theatre to se The Mousetrap n Bath.

We'd booked at a nice restaurant near the theatre, we had out tickets, I arranged to take a short lunch break in order to leave work a little early, to give myself time to go home and change, and it was all intended to me a nice, relaxed evening.

It didn't work out quite like that.

On my way home from work, I stopped to fill up the car. And when I got back in the car, it wouldn't start. It made a little feeble cough and that was it.

So, I called the RAC. Who said, cheerfully, that it would be about 2 hours for them to get to me. Which would mean they wouldn't even arrive until 45 minutes after out restaurant reservation, and I'd be lucky to get to the theatre at all. However, it seemed that it was the battery, so I kept my fingers crossed that it might recover on it's own, enough to start, given a little rest. It didn't, but after a Looooong rest, it did condescend to start. So I called my cousin to arrange to meet at her home rather than in town (on the basis that then if it did it again when I stopped, I would be stranded at her home, not in the middle of Bath) And I was hopeful that the time spent with the engine running outside my house, and then the drive to hers, would be enough to recharge the battery enough to allow me to go home.

We didn't have time to eat together, but did make it in to Bath in time for the show. It's fun, in a predictable way - and despite the murders, it has a lot of very funny moments. The touring production is going all over the UK, I think the tour as a whole lasts about a year, although this is nothing compared to the London production. I can't help but feel it must get a little dull for the actors, though. According to the programme notes, there have been actors who have stayed in the show for 10 year !

Oh, and my car did start again, so I think it was probably just the cold, plus not having driven much for the two days beforehand. I shall pop into the garage and see about getting a new battery, as I suspect that it perhaps getting towards the end of it's life!

At the weekend, I met up with my parents, as my christmas gift from my brother was delivered to their home (late. It should have got there in time for christmas, when he and I were both there). We thought it would be a good excuse to meet halfway and have lunch, rather than them just posting it to me. And it was. We met up at a pub, and had a leisurely lunch (including succumbing to the lure of the dessert cabinet) and I got to come home with Vol.3 of the Absolute Sandman, so it was a bit of a win all round.

Transport and Theatre

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:42:02 GMT

It stopped snowing yesterday afternoon, but stayed very cold, so today the pavements and the road in my street are all sheets of ice, as there's been enough traffic to compact the snow, but not enough to clear it. It looks as through the roads further out are mostly clear, so I should be able to get to work on Monday, provided we don't get more snow. Although getting to the end of my own road is likely to be interesting, knowing that the road is clear beyond that is reassuring.

I went out this morning to see how bad the going was likely to be, and then walked down to the station in order to get a train into Bath, to go to the theatre.

The train was late, and horribly crowded - to the extent that there were people unable to get on, at Avoncliffe. It turns out that Bath Rugby were playing at home this afternoon, which no doubt was part of the reason for it being so crowded. It makes me hopping mad that they never put on any extra trains (or even extra coaches) despite that fact that trains on match days are *always* packed. I imagine that the snow and the lateness made it even worse than usual. And they have just put the fares up. Grr.

Once I got to Bath, I grabbed a pasty for lunch, and took a few photos of nice buildings with snow on them, then back to the theatre to see 'Quartermaine's Terms'

The play, by Simon Gray, is set in a school teaching English as a foreign language, in Cambridge in the 1960s, and is presented as a series of scenes in the staff room, over a period of around 2 years.

There are lots of funny moments, but the play is ultimately a tragic one.

All of the characters experience their own personal disasters, whether in the shape of an unfaithful husband, a dependent and critical mother and unsuccessful love life, a daughter's suicide, a partner's death, snobbery and lack of professional appreciation or family breakdown and failure as a novelist. Everything is presented through the medium of staff room conversation, so practically all of the drama takes place off stage, and we only ever get a partial and understated view of anything.

Quartermaine himself (Rowan Atkinson) presents as, perhaps the saddest of all. He appears to be a well-meaning but ineffectual teacher, and to have no life beyond his job. Throughout the play he is ignored or taken advantage of by his colleagues, who use him as a babysitter for their children, but forget or turn down his own invitations, and the play finally sees him facing the loss of his job.

There was a little too much of Mr Bean in Rowan Atkinson's performance for my taste, pushing his character from pathos to ridiculous once or twice, but despite this is was an interesting play, and I'm glad I was able to see it.

It is going to the West End now, for (I think) a couple of months - I shall be interested to see what the critics make of it.

My train home was late, which was actually a good thing for me - it meant I was able to get on a train 10 minutes after getting to the station, instead of missing one by 3 minutes and having to wait half an hour, and it was reasonably empty, too, so I got a seat.

The walk home from the station was hard work, due to the ice, but having spent a lot of time over the past 48 hours looking for my yaktrax I gave up and bought some new ones (well these) when I was Bath, so I was able to walk safely.

And I called into one of the local mini markets on the way home and bought a lime, so the well-earned G'n'T I gave myself when I got home could be properly garnished.

Tomorrow, I think I shall try to make another batch of marmalade. It's a nice, warm, indoor occupation.