Random Jottings

A Baroque evening

Catching up on posts after lying around in a sweltering heap and I am currently in my bedroom with the curtain drawn so decided to get on with it.  Before the tennis season started and before I went to Queens and then spent two weeks yelling at the tv while watching Wimbledon, I had an evening of pure tranquility and delight.

I attended a concert of Baroque music at St Mary’s Church, Perivale. The concerts here are organised by Hugh, the father of my son in law James (wish there was a word to describe this relationship but there does not appear to be one) and though I have wanted to attend for some time this was the first occasion I actually managed to get there. It will not be the last.

The concerts at this church are on You tube video channels so do check them out and some of them are livestream so you can sit and home and watch in comfort if you so wish. Hugh has been running these concerts for years and he has a waiting list of performers who wish to come here. I hope to attend many more.

St Mary’s is small and beautiful. It is cheek by jowl to Ealing Golf Club which sounds an odd juxtoposition and I did wonder if any hard hit golf balls ever smashed a stained glass window.  It is tucked out of sight down a lane and I found it quite delightful. The night I attended it had been raining and then cleared and there was that gorgeous smell of wet earth and grass after a shower which I always find invigorating.

Now I have to own up here that I never used to like or appreciate baroque music. I am a fan of opera, Verdi and Wagner and I love a full orchestra going like the clappers and wallowing in Mahler etc.  But then I became involved in the Suffolk Villages Festival, music director Peter Holman, and my viewpoint changed. I originallly was drawn in as my then husband performed at the Festival and gradually I became interested. I joined the committee and ended up as Chairman. I viewed my role as Chairman as an organising one to ensure that the nuts and bolts of the Festival ran smoothly so that the musicians and performers had to worry about nothing but their music.   So I did not feel that my lack of knolwedge of this genre would stop me from fulfilling this role. I have to say that when I mentioned in passing to Peter Homan that I preferred Wagner to Vivaldi, he was giving me a lift at the time, he nearly put the car in the ditch...

But the longer I became involved the more I grew to love Arne, Purcell, Bach, Handel and other less well known composers. OK I will be honest. I had not heard of most of them.  There is a preciseness and cleanness in this kind of music, everything is pure and straight and uncluttered. It reminds me of reading a beautiful piece of prose or poetry with no fuss, no extra ornamentation (though quite a lot of that does turn up), it just feels right somehow. I am not expressing it very well. Let me just say that years ago after spending three years attending the English Ring Cycle at the ENO (nine performances of each four operas and then two complete cycles) I found I needed to listen to smaller music and I then turned to Mozart. Think of cleansing the palate after a huge meal.

This concert ‘Baroque Heroes’ featured Handel, Purcell, Bach, Fischer and that well known composer Anon. The performance was  given by the Florisma Baroque Ensemble with the soprano Penelope Appleyard and I sat back and loved every single moment of it. We had a harpsichord, baroque cello and an astonishing display of recorders and they all performed with style and virtuosity.

Do check out their website http://florismabaroque.com/ to learn more about them

After the concert was over we all went back to Ealing, I was lucky enough to be staying with Hugh and his wife Felicity (AKA The Other Grandparents) and we ended up chilling out with a glass of wine.

It was a perfect evening.

Random Reading

OK I have written enough about the tennis and ranted so time to get back to the nitty gritty and let you know about current reading.

In the summer months I tend to read much lighter stuff and save What I Call Proper Reading until the winter.So a whole slew of light frothy, Regency romances.  Years ago Georgette Heyer would remark wearily "oh the plagiarist is at it again" when a certain author published a book.   All I can say is after reading about ten titles in the last couple of weeks I found a certain glee in spotting which plotline had been lifted. Cries of "oh it is An Infamous Army or Frederica or The Grand Sophy" were uttered by me on a regular basis and in the case of one of them, I even recognised the dialogue.  Incredible.  There is another writer who lifted a plotline, dialogue, the lot from a Heyer which was so blatant i was staggered. That writer is still alive and still writing rubbish...

And, natch, I have been reading loads of crime.  At the moment I am reading Kate Rhodes. She wrote a series of books featuring a profiler, Alice Quintin, which I really enjoyed.  She then produced a series of books with a new protagonist set on the Scilly Isles, the Ben Kitto series.. I am reading these and enjoying them very much but wishing she would do another Alice book when I suddenly spot she has, Fatal Harmony. So flick of the finger and it is now on my Kindle. She is an excellent writer, good plotting and great characters. I can recommend them.

Death of a Busybody - George Bellairs. Love this author's books. I discovered him a while back, thanks to the British Library, and have spent a lot of time downloading his books - there are plenty available for Kindle. His Inspector is Littlejohn and he is a kindly and doughty character who I like immensely.

Miss Tither, the busybody of the title, is a nasty piece of work seeking out scandal and bombarding the villagers with religious tracts. She is found face down in a septic tank, a suitable end one might think, and there are no shortage of suspects.   The vicar in this title has the incredible name of Ethelred Claplady. Wonderful!

Death in Dark Glasses - George Bellairs. I came across this title in a second hand bookshop in Cromer. I admit I found this one very convoluted and rambling and not as good as some of the others . As Bellairs wrote about a hundred I gather it is hardly surprising there is the odd dud.

Murder in the Mill Race - E C R Lorac.  Since the British Library published this author, I have tracked down quite a few titles, some are mind boggling they are so expensive, but I have managed to get hold of a few. I do hope that more of these are produced by the BL in the future. I am delighted to say that it was I who suggested this title last year as I purchased a battered old edition and enjoyed it.

Sister Monica, warden of the local children's home, is found floating in the mill-race.  She is loathed by most of the villagers as she hunts out their nasty little secrets (much like the Busybody above) and the locals are unwilling to tell what they know. Inspector Macdonald, another lovely character, arrives to sort it all out. Another excellent read.

I have also read two titles by Carol Carnac, the other name used by E C R Lorac. Inspector Rivers is in  in these and is a laconic rather elegant man, shades of Roderick Alleyn I think, but are written in a different less easy style than under her other name. More wordy and less action and can get bogged down. I enjoyed them though. One was Affair at Helen's Court and the other Death in Triplicate.

And, as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the murders and detection, I read Mohawk Valley by Ronald Welch. I have this fantastic series of books about the Carey family from Slightly Foxed who republished them all a couple of years ago.  I loved reading these as a teenager and they tell the story of the Carey family starting with the Crusades and coming up to World War 1.  I have been saving the last two titles as I wanted to savour them and suddenly the time was right to read them.  They are so good and I am hoping that my two grandchildren might read them later.

And today I read If I were you by PG Wodehouse. Not one of his funniest, it did not have me with tears pouring down my face or reducing me to hysterics like some of his other titles have done, but just sheer joy to read such elegant, pointed prose, falling into place and giving me a lovely mellow feeling. Re the butler "Slingsby loomed in the doorway like a dignified cloudbank"

Perfect.

Wimbledon 2019 - Random Rant

 

Breaking News.  Sir Andy Murray is BACK. He has had a HIP OPERATION. REMEMBER WHEN HE LIMPED OUT OF WIMBLEDON AGAINST SAM QUERRY? TRAGEDY.

Now he is back and it is:

1. A miracle
2. Lovely to see him smiling again and pain free
3. He looks so happy to be on the Court
4. Who would have thought we would see him again
5. Remember his tears at the Australian Open?
6. He just wants to play tennis (er YES)
7. He has no expectations
8. He is not worried if he wins or not (oh Yes he is)
9. Who would have thought...blah blah blah

Ok repeat 1-9 ad nauseam Don’t get me wrong I have missed Andy and yes it IS wonderful to have him back and the crowds are loving it too, but blimey, cannot the likes of Andrew Castle and John Lloyd and the other drones think of something else to say.

Now did you know that DAN EVANS HAD A DRUG BAN AND IS BACK?

So here he is and it is:

1. A joy to see
2. He has learned his lesson
3. Owes so much to those who stood by him
4. Particularly his lovely girlfriend
5. He has grown up at last
6. Now finally fulfilling his talent
7. He has gone on the road to redemption (yes really somebody said that)
8. Who would have thought blah blah blah

OK repeat 1-9 ad nauseam.

He came off court after a good match, sweat pouring down him and almost in tears and some Dopey Woman asks “Were you thinking of all those who supported you when you were out after your DRUGS BAN when you were playing?” He replied he was grateful to the crowd who got behind him though by the look on his face he just wanted to tell her to bugger off.

COCO GRAUFF HAS ELECTRIFIED WIMBLEDON

Did you know

1. She beat VENUS WILLIAMS in the first round? You didn’t? Where have you been?
2. She is only fifteen
3. She is a breath of fresh air
4. A STAR IS BORN
5. She is sooo composed on court
6. She will win this (McEnroe was the only sensible one who said he hoped it was not this year)
7. Gosh when was the last time somebody this young won Wimbledon (it was Martina Hingis actually)
8. She is the darling of the fans
9. She is the darling of the Press

OK repeat 1-9 ad nauseam

Leave her alone. The media attention she is going to get will be appalling and I guarantee when she hits a bad streak they will be in full What did I tell you mode. Seen it all before.

You get my drift.  The moronic commenting team lead by those Doughty Stalwarts John Lloyd and Andrew Castle leave no stone unturned in their use of every single cliche in the book (and I have just used one...) On and on they drone, non stop, thought the match in between each game, each stroke giving us the benefit of their piercing insights.  I do wonder what Castle and Lloyd do in between each Championship as the other majors, thankfully, do not make use of their services. (I did see Andrew Castle do an ad for life insurance or something on TV, awful and of course he was on Strictly Come Dancing a few years back. He was awful) John Lloyd lives in Florida I gather and I have no idea of what he does in the non tennis season.

Thankfully the BBC are starting to make use of Annabel Croft who is an excellent commentator and knows her stuff. She is on SKY a lot with Greg Rusedski who is also good but we cannot have him at Wimbledon as he is not really British you know.  Also he is a bit acerbic and tends to say what he thinks and that is McEnroe territory.

But apart from all the above there have been some great matches, exciting tennis and the sun has stayed out and the rain stayed away. We have the usual Women Shriekers who really are unbearable and makes watching their tennis pretty unpleasant and, in the interest of equality, I have to say that some of the men are pretty noisy too. The guy from Portugal who played Dan Evans last night (WHO IS BACK FROM A DRUGS BAN) was making a ghastly noise which was enhanced when the roof was closed.

I have managed quite easily to avoid watching St Roger of Federer who is greeted with a sycophantic lavishness by the entire team at the BBC which really turns the stomach. When his feet tread the Sacred Turf of the Centre Court they go into full gush mode, so much so that if the Pope had turned up to canonise him on the the spot it would not have surprised me....

And unless some of the NextGen as they are so wittily called step up to the plate (CLICHE ALERT) then we are doomed to an endless ever decreasing circle of finals with Rog, Raf and Djokovic.  So come on Tsitsipas, Zverev, Shapavalov, Auger Allisime, Thiem get your game going and start challenging these guys.

And finally, most people would say that if there was a prize for the biggest Dickhead in tennis then it would be a shoe-in for Nick Kyrgios.  Yeh, well watch this space. Medvedev is challenging for it. Petulant, stupid and down right rude to the umpire it is a mystery to me why these two are not slung off the court.

And the Prize for I cannot be Bothered is, naturally, given to Bernard Tomic (known as Tomic the Tank Engine) for an appalling display against Tsonga for which he has to forfeit his first round prize money of £45,000. He did not care. He has millions in the bank and says so.

So that is that. First week over. Gosh I forgot. WHY do we have Sue Barker on the Centre Court on the Saturday introducing all the sports stars in the Royal Box? WHY?  I see enough of that miserable git James Anderson throughout the year and I certainly have no desire to see Alastair Cook’s gormless face again either.

One year they had US movie star Bradley Cooper there. Now that is more like it.....

Felixstowe Book Festival

I have had a very busy week or two so apologies for the lack of posts. I am writing this in an attempt to bring a little bit of sanity to what I am watching on the tv. Kyrgios v Nadal.  If this manages to finish without an almighty row I shall be surprised.

Still, that is for another day.

The Felixstowe Book Festival has been going for several years now and gets better every year. I remember the first one which was such a stonking success and it has all grown from there. Now a highly organised event with a slick and efficient operation and this is due to the Director, Meg Reid and a fantastic bunch of volunteers who man the bookstall, steward, help with tickets, looking after authors etc. All simply wonderful.

I was introducing three events and attended three and had a busy time in between taking photos and Tweeting and Facebooking throughout the weekend which was great fun.  

the Festival opened with James Runcie, author of the Grantchester novels, and hw was brilliant. Witty and amusing and also spoke with great feeling about faith and love. An terrific opening.

The highlight for me were meeting Jane Thynne, author of the Clara Vine books which I love. We have been FB friends for a long time and it was delightful to meet her and have a chat. Her talk on the background to her books in pre-war Berlin was excellent.

(Left to right: the Bookshop run by Stillwater Books, Liz Trenow signing her books,Jane Thynne in her Clara Vine talk, second row: Duncan Barratt, Elizabeth Simchin, James Runcie and at the bottom Jane with Simon Heffer)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

She also chaired a talk with Simon Heffer about his book The Age of Decadence covering the late Victorian and Edwardian era. He had words to say about Queen VIctoria with which I strongly disagreed and did say so.

I introduced Duncan Barratt who has written a wonderful book about the Channel Island occupation which I have mentioned before. A sell out chat with a queue waiting for returns. None were forthcoming sadly.

Liz Trenow was a welcome return speaker and I would have loved to have gone to her talk but she clashed with Jane Thynne. I have known Liz for years and had a chat with her and she quite understood thank goodness.

Then later Elizabeth Semchin on a talk about Felixstowe Ferry which I, in my ignorance, thought was a boat. Turns out it is a place and one I have visited so I felt a bit of a dope when I looked it up. Fortunately, I did so before my intro!  Packed event as well.

And then in the afternoon Alison Weir came along to chat about her latest book on the wives of Henry VIII and we are up to Anne of Cleves who I have always found the most interesting of those he married. And unique in that she survived.

Sun shone all weekend, loads of attendees and I had lots of discussions and chats with attendees. It was simply great and I am already looking forward to next year.

So watch this space....