21 Today!

At last the sun shone on Lawrence's birthday so we went to the site of his first disastrous (raining and cold) birthday in the UK 15 years ago for a photo shoot.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

I read this World Book Night 2012 gift along with the other members of the Hillside North End Reading Group.

Much Madness is divinest Sense -

To a discerning eye -

Much Sense - the starkest Madness -

'Tis the Majority

In this, as All, prevail -

Assent - and you are sane -

Demur - and you're straight away dangerous -

And handled with a chain - 

                                  Emily Dickinson

Maggie O'Farrell uses this epigraph at the beginning of this novel, first published in 2006.  I either skipped over or ignored it before but now I see how apposite it is.  

Euphemia (Esme) spends 61 years, five months and four days in a mental institution.  She was diagnosed with dementia praecox but her real condition was that she was an inconvenience to her family.  She is released to her great niece, who was unaware of her existence even though she has a photograph of her in her flat, because keeping her has become inconveniently costly to the local authority.  

The story of misunderstanding and revenge is told from three points of view, Esme's and her great niece Iris' in the third person, and the first person ramblings of Kitty, Esme's sister who has Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home.

I loved this book and got so much more from the second reading.  Its short and written in a very accessible style.  Look out for a copy there are doing the rounds as a World Book Night release.

What's not to like about Cricket?

Pimms? - don't mind if I do.  

At last the sun shone for the first day of the first test - England v S Africa at the Oval.  

Not only did we have a great day's cricket but look at this queue, right out the door, for the men's.

And this blue door behind the man in the blue shirt is the door to the Ladies'.  No queue there through the door or inside.  I thought it was worth a picture.

What did I read on holiday?

Anyone who knows me will know that my idea of a perfect holiday is one with a lot of reading.  Here are the books I chose for Barbados.

A lovely complicated story with lots of humorous elements (sneaking the dog into prohibited places in a backpack and off the cuff kidnapping).

Another appearance by Jackson Brodie that I'm certain we'll see dramatised like its forerunners including Case Histories.

I really enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone going on holiday or staying at home.

Two unrelated Korean babies are adopted by two unrelated and completely different American families.  On the same day they go to the airport to receive the children and they meet.  Without anything in common but the adoption they end up meeting annually for an 'Arrival Day' party.
Its a glimpse into the strange emotional world that the intensity and careful planning for children that childlessness can lead to.  A world that it is very difficult for people who have children without particular prior thought or planning, to completely understand.
Its a good catalyst to tell a story about a group of people with a variety of emotional and cultural baggage who are corralled together to celebrate a strangely surreal and tenuous bond.
Its the third of Anne Tyler's novels I have read and I enjoyed it enough to try another.

I finished this because I had started it but, like other more recent Grisham novels, it lacks the skill of his early books.  It feels like a contractual obligation work.
I wouldn't bother with it unless the only alternative is watching some sporting event on TV or reading mommy porn.

I chose this because it is another book written by my erstwhile neighbour Eva Hanagan who used to live at No 4.  The Heritage Hillside Reading Group read her novel Alice as our first choice and I enjoyed it so much I bought another.  Out of print sadly but there seem to be quite a lot of eBay opportunities to get hold of a copy.
I like her books - not much happens but you meet lovely eccentric characters doing slightly odd things.
... thought Flora, slamming a bowl of watercress in front of him.  A tiny creature like a minuscule lobster waved its legs in frantic protest before it and its supporting leaf disappeared below Fergus's moustache.  
 Her stories are uncomplicated and short but you feel as though you have got to know and understand the characters.  They make very good holiday reads.  

Not everyone's cup of tea but I really like Agatha Christie and it always surprises me that more people don't.
This one has been dramatised several times both for the small screen and radio but the book, as is usually the case, is a more satisfying journey.
An anachronistic comfortable London hotel is frequented by relics from a bygone era that seems so authentically stuck in time that it can't possibly be right.  Of course all is not what it seems and Miss Marple gets to the bottom of the matter.

This is hilarious.  I'm not keen on any activity that could lead to drowning but now that I've been on a short trip on the canal to Camden I think I would like to try a weekend trip a bit further afield on a narrow boat and I will take this with me to read it again.
Three of the least resourceful and smart friends go on a trip for which they are unsuited and ill prepared.

I didn't finish this one, and still haven't.
This is the sort of book you read once to get the bones in your head and then go back and read again at leisure to enjoy it properly.  I'm still at stage one.
Getting to grips with it is complicated by all the characters (and there are quite a lot) all seeming to have the same name.
I'll get back to you when I've read it properly.

The Cliff - dessert

It start off dark but the light comes on after a few seconds.

I ♥ Barbados

By offering this holiday at half price and restricting it to one week British Airways are doing the equivalent of offering free drugs to school children.  How will I be able to resist going back for more whatever the price?
A (very strong) rum punch welcomed us to the hotel and we sat drinking this while the charming  receptionist checked us in and arranged for our bags to be taken to the room.  We were shown around the resort on our way to the room.

We even had a rainbow to greet us.

Adrian does some of his famous rustling as we prepare to go to the gate at Gatwick.  Alison I put this picture in especially for you.  Nothing changes.

Complimentary afternoon tea.  Small sandwiches, cake and scones with cream and jam, just what you expect in the Caribbean.

We couldn't resist the chance to go in the submarine.  

Shipwreck

Gregory's cooler

Breadfruit tree 

This is me in front of one of the trees the island got its name from. 

Adrian is in this picture to prove it's a real sunset.

The Cliff - need I say more! 

The pool

Standing in the same position pointing the other way.

The Woman in the Fifth

This is the sort of story where you have to be careful not to give the end away as that would spoil it for many people.  I don't think I've read any of Douglas Kennedy's other novels but I think I'll give another one a go as I found myself taking this one with me to the shops - a good sign.
Not having read him before the twists in the plot came as a surprise to me and some of the places Kennedy takes you in this book feel quite real, then in retrospect rather surreal.  Lorraine L'Herbert's salon is a truly bizarre picture, I'm sure if I ever found myself in such a place I'd be out on the balcony having a fag planning an early escape.
I wouldn't want to meet any of the characters, they are a pretty grim lot without redeeming features that I could detect. There are some unexplained events - not sure what the chlamydia is all about and who gave it to him and why its in the story.  And why the lung damaging fire? At times I felt that this was a bit of a contractual obligation story but I enjoyed it notwithstanding this.

Jubilee

Sunday - We got a good view of individual boats through a gap in the buildings but had got up too late to get a really good viewpoint.  There was a long wait and it was cool and damp then the pageant got near us and it absolutely bucketed down with rain and we got soaked.  

  

The Committee - from an idea at a Christmas party to 200 plus people partying in the street in less than 6 months.   

Chair of the Committee rings the bell to start the party.

Monday 4 June

And then gets into trouble with the law.

Svidrigailov got into the Jubilee spirit with his personal bunting - although he spent most of the party asleep on a cushion.  He prefers his humans one at a time, not in big noisy groups.

It's true it was dull and the sun was not sunny but you can see we had lots of good fun that was funny (with apologies to Dr Seuss).

The Importance of Being Earnest

I was enjoying the performance too much to take any pictures at the time and by the time I thought about it full cast in costume were not around.
I loved the way Witness Theatre interpreted this work.  Played out in an impossibly small territory (including on top of the counter) at the Red Roaster Coffee Shop in Brighton the play spills into the audience quite skilfully from time to time (without scaring or embarrassing anyone).  The immediacy of the action enhanced the experience for me although I think the idea of the characters introducing themselves to the audience as they were settling into their seats is quite daring.  It could have backfired with patrons not familiar with the play.  Had I known to expect to meet Miss Prism and Mr Worthing before the performance started I might have been put off going but in retrospect this rather bold idea got me engaged with the performance right from the start.
The script of this play is a dream to work with and I'm sure the actors had as much fun with it as the audience did.

Alone in Berlin - Hans Fallada

Published in Germany in 1947 and in the UK in 2010 this fictionalised account, based on a true story, of an ordinary German couple and their campaign against Nazism in the early 1940's.  Translated into English 62 years after it was first published in Germany the story has also been dramatised a few times but not yet in English.
As WWII moves further away from us and the number of people with any personal experience of those times diminishes it's likely that a more balanced view of he period will emerge.  History is always written with some bias and usually by the victor (or one presented as victor however precarious or accurate the presentation is) so its important to consider all sides of a story and this book has been a good start for me.  It took me to a Berlin of deprivation and fear where the tacitly understood hierarchy of society has turned on it head and upstart thuggish children have the power of life and death over their formerly respected neighbours.  Life seems to have become cheap, a formerly well ordered society is disordered and petty thieving and delight in violence is disguised and excused as political necessity.
The collection of people you meet in this story are from a wide range of Berlin society, Fallada brings them to life using them skilfully to reveal different perspectives on the story he is telling.
One of the best books I have read for a long time, can't recommend it highly enough.

Get your hankie out

It was Morris Festival time again in Horsham this Saturday last.  The town was knee deep in groups of people drinking suspicious looking home brew poured from 5 litre plastic bottles, withdrawn from under tables and within wicker baskets, into pewter tankards.  The cacophony of bells worn from the knee down was deafening but the sun shone and good fun was had by all.

Weekend in Dublin

Starting with a teetotal early night this was not one of THOSE weekends in Dublin.
One of the peculiarities of running as a hobby is that completing a long run makes you want to immediately sign up for another.
On 31 October 2011 Adrian and I completed the Great South Run for the first time and while the old legs were still wobbling I looked for our next opportunity and came across the Great Ireland Run, 15 April in Dublin.  As neither of us had visited Ireland we signed up and added a couple of days afterwards for recovery deciding that if Dublin was not for us we could sit about, drink Guinness and read.
We needn't have worried because even for those not on a stag or hen weekend Dublin is a great city to visit.
The run in Phoenix Park (twice the size of NY Central Park!) had more hills than I would have chosen but the rain held off and we both completed 10k in times were were happy with, along with 11,000 others.  The winner (neither of us) completed the course in an eye watering 27 minutes - fastest 10k this year so far.  After the brief period of abstinence for training purposes we didn't have to look very far for our first pint of Guinness.  There are not many things more delicious than a pint of Guinness to replace the calories and minerals lost during a run.
Dublin is an interesting city, signs of the Celtic Tiger and its recent taming are evident all over the city and some of these are quite sad.  On the up side we didn't find it extraordinarily expensive, meals and drinks were reasonably priced.  We stayed in O'Connell St opposite the Spire, a 121m spike sticking up into the sky.  This monument, winner in a sculpture competition, was erected in 2001 on the site of Nelson's Pillar which had been blown up in 1966.  It's not popular with Dubliners but we found it a very useful tool for getting back to our hotel as you can see it from miles away.

On Monday, following the run we went on a coach tour out of the city to Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland and source of the water used to make Guinness.  We visited a place known as the Meeting of the Waters where the Avonmor (Abhainn Mhór, meaning "Big River") and the Avonbeg (Abhainn Bheag, meaning "Small River"). As you can see Guinness even starts its life looking good.

Not only is the water good to look at but the area must have some magic in it as we visited a monastery where we saw the headstone of Walter Byrne, who died in 1750 - aged 106!
On our way out of the city for this tour we went past the National Concert Hall and our guide talked about the events that take place there.  Pub crawling not being an activity best undertaken with one's spouse we decided to give the concert hall a try and on Tuesday afternoon we strolled there on the off chance there would be something on that evening and that tickets would be available.
Well we got lucky although the booking clerk had tickets available she did express some doubt about whether that night's concert would be our 'cup of tea'. We took a chance and Sharon Shannon with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in an evening of what she described as 'posh diddly i' was brilliant.
On Wednesday morning before heading back to the airport we visited the most interesting General Post Office.  In most cities the post office is a bit of a non event, not in Dublin.  The building is a neo Classical beauty and the interior does not disappoint either.  It reminded me of Grand Central station in New York in being far to grand for its rather mundane function.  Not only is the post office a visual feast its also the site of events that shook Ireland to its core and the restored building houses a museum both to the Irish postal service and this major political event.  I won't describe this here because I think you should visit Dublin and have a look for yourself - you won't be disappointed.

World Book Night 2012

I'm not quite bold enough to accost complete strangers in the street and grill them about their reading habits before offering them a copy of A Tale of Two Cities but as you can see I was brazen enough to ask Peter James to appear with me in a photograph.
Horsham Library arranged for Peter to come and talk to local book lovers (and promote his latest book) as a WBN2012 event.  I didn't know about the event as I am a little afraid of libraries.  My past experiences being expensive occasions when I've ended up paying for a book (fines) but having to give it back as well.  Once (not in the UK) I paid for a library book via the local equivalent of council tax and that was very costly.  Anyway after having a cuddle with Mr James I am now a firm fan of the library and might even try borrowing a book again.  Thanks to my lovely neighbour Cheryl for telling me about the event and organising our tickets.  I repaid her act of generosity by taking a photo of her with the writer but not being gifted as a photographer I managed to omit her head from the picture.  Sorry Cheryl.
There were a few WBN2012 Givers at the event and quite a lot of books were given away.  Peter James was interesting, funny and a bit gory at times and very patiently signed lots of books and chatted to fans.  I am delighted to hear that Roy Grace is being dramatised and might even venture to the cinema to see the film when it is released.  Anyone who knows me will know that the cinema is not usually more than an annual event for me but I will make the effort for the detective who drives past my place of work in the same car I drive.  Perhaps in future he could turn up our driveway and involve us in one of his cases.
Congratulations to Jamie Byng both for completing the London Marathon and for starting WBN, please  keep it going.
Far from being a detriment to booksellers (claimed by Vanessa Robertson of the Edinburgh Book Shop according to the Guardian website) it has been an inspiration for many.  My own experience as one of the thousands of Givers has been brilliant.  I've got to know my neighbours and we now have a reading group up and running.

Good Friday? Yes I think it was

So many people in Horsham on a sunny bank holiday afternoon.  What can possibly be the attraction?
The opera singers on the bandstand were quite popular.
The olives and cheese and delicious Italian comestibles were more popular.
But the most popular by far were the, I kid you not, something between 40 and 70 Ferraris.

They were a pretty spectacular sight and these pictures are not really representative of the cars because at least 90% of them were red.  I've included the yellow one because its my favourite colour.
I know nothing about cars they all look more or less them same to me.  You can tell the newer ones because they are much bigger (like all modern cars too wide for your garage) but this bunch were all equally shiny and quite clearly the much loved treasures of their drivers.
And the drivers had an astonishing similarity too.  To a man (and I didn't see one female driver) they were all middle aged.  It sort of made the parade seem like a series of mid life crises.  How very Horsham.

After the excitement died down and the smoke cleared Adrian and I went for a drink at the Anchor Hotel where the barman made a special concession and mixed a cocktail for me.  We took our drinks outside to find that a brand new cocktail bar, Octopvs, had opened next door.  So we were forced to go there for a proper cocktail.

Octopvs is the second branch of what is probably destined to become a chain.  The first branch is in Crawley and it shows.  The free bar snacks are miniature scotch eggs cut in half, small sausage rolls cut into 3, cocktail sausages cut on the bias and a few peanuts.  The cocktail menu is quite extensive and I had an odd but pleasant mixture of Amaretto, Southern Comfort, Red Bull and something else I can't remember.  

On a cocktail run we decided to go to the other end of the cocktail bar spectrum and for the first time we went to Wabi, the Japanese restaurant that replaced the bar shut down by the drug squad some time ago.  One thing (including a James Bond style martini) led to another and we stayed for dinner too.  So much delicious food we had to ask for the sushi selection in a doggy bag and its in the fridge now.  I do hope James Bond didn't ever get behind the wheel of his Aston Martin after a vodka martini, it was very strong, almost pure alcohol.  Wabi do a ladies night on a Tuesday, I look forward to trying that.

Need Cheering Up?

I was feeling a bit glum yesterday morning, a return to wintery conditions and still recovering from my bout of Sheffieldism I was trudging towards Harcourt St when I passed this graffito.

I was listening to my ipod and fighting my way around a group of tourists on the pavement but it caught my eye and made me smile so I went back to take a picture and hope it will make someone else smile.

Thanks to the artist - the thought of someone sneaking around in the dead of night with a paintbrush and paint doing this makes it even better.

March Photo a Day - Where I relax

The Fantastic Four.

Adrian thought we looked more like Yul Brynner's mob but 57% of the Magnificent Seven doesn't have the same ring.














View from the top (of Gypsey)

Tray and Ray share a smile and look forward to a post ride snack.

 Not content with riding one horse Jo has a photo with a stable mate.

Horse food does not look very appetising.