Motto

I am pleased to see the handover between Tony and Gordon completed. I like the solemnity of Gordon in contrast to the bright and breezy Blair. I was taken by the new prime minister's use of his school motto, "I will try my utmost", to launch his term of office. As a teacher I like the reference back to schooldays. I am not sure that it is a great motto though and much prefer my old school and Bradford's, "Labor Omnia Vincit" (Work Conquers All). One of the things which hastened my departure from the education scene was the innumerable initiatives and changes which seemed to pile up one on top of the other, before the preceding ones had been properly digested and applied. Therefore Gordon's promises of "changes" doesn't exactly fill me with the delight he might be expecting. One of the contributors on this morning's Today programme (required listening in this household) said something to the effect that what we don't want is more changes but rather the getting right of some of the changes already made. We need to work at getting things right first time rather than constantly changing to make up for the fact that we haven't quite solved the initial problem with the initiative we have just proposed. There seems to be a culture where we already have wide ranging laws which cover many of the situations to be found in our society. However rather than applying them with a dash or more of common sense, our legislators at all levels spend more and more time trying to write in the small print to cover ever more closely defined incidents. They disappear into ever decreasing circles of their own making rather than tackling the problem. We don't need more laws or rules just better and more sensible application of the ones we have already got.
I don't know very much about it but wonder if partition might be a solution to the Iraq situation. The country seems to this poor student of history to have been cobbled together anyway so why not let the Kurds form a state in the north and manage themselves. Is there a way to partition what is left into Shia and Shi'ite enclaves? Even give the south east corner to Iran if that helped. Leaving the south west corner to be the new Iraq or give it a new name altogether. The coalition would need to defend this corner but would be better placed on the borders against outside pressures while the interior was managed by a new Arab administration, and this could be democratically elected if that was the wish of the people there.
Last night the best beloved met the Bench artistic panel to show them her pitch for a production in the 2008 season. I have a couple of ideas in mind as well but couldn't get my act together in time for the play selection process which completes on Thursday July 5th with a vote by the whole company. I may have to delay my pitches until later this year for the July, September and November slots. Although one of the ideas might be the even year alternative to Supernova which takes place in odd years at the moment. This is something I am working on for the Bench and reporting to the committee and panel on in time for the Annual General Meeting in September. I am working as director of movement for the best beloved's proposal if it gets selected. I had better collect together some thoughts about the job but there is time yet.

Health check

I was signed off by the hospital cardiologists yesterday and told that my new arteries should last on average 10 years.
I was x rayed for my lower back problem and the x rays are being sent to my GP for further investigation. I also have to see my GP about my right shoulder problem as it is a separate issue from everything else going on.
I have been excused two lots of tablets - these were for water retention and diuretic purposes but asked to double the rampiril, an ACE inhibitor to widen blood vessels and lower blood vessel. The consultant said, though, that my blood pressure was fantastic.
She also answered, when asked what had caused my condition, that it was just "bad luck". The factors are prevalent in men between 45 and 60 and it is still not clear why some people succumb and others don't.
Smoking is an enormous factor and I am so glad I gave up smoking 30 years ago just before we started having children.

Flying

The Best Beloved and I spent four days in France at Duras with Terry and Robbie Cattermole, two of the most hospitable friends who are great company so a great deal of laughter ensued.

We decided to fly down to Bergerac where the Catz would collect us before making the 40 minute drive back to Duras. We flew from Southampton. Neither of us are great fliers - read previous blog about fear of heights and best beloved's problem with ears at altitude. MuleBoy can't understand why my fear of heights doesn't affect me too badly up in a plane. I think it is something to do with the fact that my brain can't really comprehend the idea of flying at all. I did have trouble with the idea of flying but read an excellent self help book which convinced me that aeroplanes are designed solely for flying (which is why take off and landing are the tricky bits) and that rather than trying to fly the plane by my own will power I should leave that task to the pilot and his crew.

I have successfully adopted this approach and sat down to read the Guardian bought in the airport newsagent before embarkation. I discovered the following story told in the letters page. It was the culmination of a whole series of letters about a singing airline pilot.

One airline pilot used to arrive in civvies and seat himself amongst the passengers before the flight began. After a short while he would begin to complain loudly about the delay in the plane taking off. He would involve other passengers and the hapless cabin staff in loud conversations deploring the amount of time being spent on the tarmac. Finally he would leap from his seat and say something to the effect: "This is just too much. I can't wait any longer. I'll fly the bloody plane myself!" And with that he would disappear into the cockpit. I roared with laughter on reading the letter but am not sure what would have been my reaction if it had happened on a flight I was on.

On the day I came home I read another letter in the Guardian (they tend to come in self generating series) about the same pilot who would re-emerge just as the plane was about to land and say: "Does anyone know how to land this thing?"

Terry has a little rhyme about "farting" I must ask him to teach me.

I did hear the following on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in a completing the proverb round (it appealed to the retired teacher in me): "If you can't beat them....." "What's the point in teaching?"

We have decided that we might use the train to visit Duras next time. The flight wasn't bad but we do like to be on the ground. It might also lessen our carbon footprint, but make it difficult to reach New York, and apparently our patio heater isn't good for the carbon exchange thing.

Facebook

I am always very impressed by the other bloggers that I am linked to. Archimedes is a cat and he writes much more interesting blogs than I do. Mind you, I would love trying to drag a pigeon through a cat flap.
Thanks to my son in law Nathan I am now enrolled on Facebook and have signed up as friends with lots of people I already know from the Bench. Presumably as time goes by I will widen my circle of friends but at least I am keeping in contact. The younger membership of the Bench Theatre seem to be much more into Facebook so I enjoy communicating with the young women. I have a reputation as an old roue, which I have worked hard to acquire and I am not letting go of it yet. So far on Facebook I have joined the Bench Theatre group naturally, the Cucumber group run by Sian who should be revising and the Top Friends.
Tomorrow Ingrid and I fly from Southampton to Bergerac. We are spending four days with our friends the Cattermoles In Duras. We haven't seen them for years and the last time we did they showed us a plot of land in the vicinity of the fire station where they were having a house built. We are looking forward to seeing the house itself and of course chinwagging with our friends, who are extremely hospitable and good company. Both Robbie and Terry have been retired for some time now and so we will look for some sage advice and lots of laughs about how to spend time wisely and well.

I am working slowly on my touring theatre company idea but with the help of a friend who has been there and done that I might begin to put flesh on the idea very soon.

Babes in Arms

Babes in Arms is this season's musical offering at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Written in 1939 by the Rodgers and Hart team, it is the original "Let's do the Show right here!" musical. Richard Rodgers is the composer whose famed partnership with Oscar Hammerstein produced many of the finest musicals in the golden age of musicals. The best remembered Rodgers and Hart musical is probably Pal Joey.
A group of youngsters are doing a season in a Massachusetts theatre for a tyrannical producer. Their talents aren't appreciated. They are roped into doing a "worthy" play written by a pretentious Southern playwright when what they really want to do is an up-to-date revue. Despite many hindrances on the way, true love and the staging of the revue finally overcome all obstacles in a finale that had the Chichester audience on their feet at the press night.
This is an entertaining show with good voices and songs backed up by imaginative choreography. The duets by Mark McGee (Valentine) and Donna Steele (Billie) are beautifully judged and clearly delivered. The lyrics of Hart are witty and clever. There is a super comic duo in Matthew Hart (Gus) and Kay Murphy (Dolores). The voices of Sophia Ragevelas (Baby Rose) and Lorna Luft (Phyllis) soar and belt out some really hot numbers. The movie version starred Judy Garland and of course Lorna Luft is Judy's daughter - and you can see the family likeness in stage presence and singing voice.
The musical direction of the dozen strong orchestra by Mark Warman is bright and breezy throughout. The choreography by Bill Deamer covers a wide range of styles and uses the company to the full. The lead male dancer is in the Gene Kelly mould, which I prefer to the willowier Fred Astaire. I like male dancers who dance like men.
The director, Martin Connor, keeps the show moving with verve throughout and has lots of inventive ideas. This is the sort of show in which to disengage the brain but just let the music and spectacle carry you along. Recommended weekend treat.

Play selection

In the Supernova play script selection, I would like to make the comment that if a play was rejected it was because it wasn't considered that Supernova was the correct vehicle for that play in its present form. This is quite different from saying a play failed or was rejected or wasn't good enough.
Some of the plays not selected needed more work than would be possible in the time allocated in the Supernova schedule. Some of the plays selected were of uneven quality but were more capable of being presented within the Supernova format and schedule.
Some of the plays selected were haunting and stayed in the mind for days after reading. Some of the plays selected were glib and efficient. This applied to some of the plays not selected as well. In the end it all boils down to the subjectivity of this particular panel of judges - another trio may have made different selections - but in the main we feel that the selection offered has the best interests of Supernova in mind and the majority of plays chosen would have been in any list by any panel.

Firstborn

Our Firstborn is starting a new job today as a Course Administrator at the University of Portsmouth. This means we have both daughters (Kitten is our younger) employed as Course Administrators at the University of Portsmouth but in different departments or faculties, as I think they are called.

Now our Firstborn is a mature young woman who has been married five years come the 4th of August. You would think that parental concern would be somewhat limited. If I was in full time work I suppose I would only be able to give fleeting attention to her situation but because I am at home, I feel nervous on her account.

I know she will do an excellent job as she is as conscientious as they come. Her contract is only for six months but she has a position at the University where she wants to be so will use some of her time there looking for the next position. We are delighted for her as she needs a regular job with regular hours. She has enjoyed her time as Box Office Manager but the hours were unsociable especially when acting as Duty Manager for late evening events. At least she shouldn't have the responsibility to lock up the entire University at midnight as was sometimes the case in her previous job.

We wish her well but like most parents we still wish we could face the anxieties and situations on the behalf of our children. We have never mollycoddled but the temptation has been deep and primeval.

The house

Ingrid and I have been discussing the house. This is our house as we paid off the mortgage at the beginning of the year. We had an estate agent come round in the week to look the house over and to evaluate its market value, which is approx £265000. We might be able to get a bit more and we might have to shave off some in order to get a buyer depending on the state of the market. However what it did was make us look more closely at what we have and what we want and perhaps also what we need. We are going to look at other houses but more to investigate what they have in comparison to ours.

We had been toying with the idea of an en suite bathroom attached to our main bedroom as we are officially a four bedroom house. Another idea was using the loft more creatively. Extending the lounge into the garden by means of a conservatory was another thought. The kitchen is looking tired and needs an overhaul. The estate agent convinced us that all these were good ideas if we intended staying but were not projects to embark upon if selling because the outlay would not be recouped.

Today we sat in our wonderful garden for lunch and the conversation turned to thoughts about the house. At the moment we have two bedrooms set up as bedrooms and two bedrooms set up as his and her studies. I make no apology for the bourgeois idea of a study as I like a private space to which to retire and these days occasionally to work ( total agreement with son in law Nathan there). This is sufficient provision for guests staying at the moment and one or other of the studies could provide temporary overnight accommodation if needed. Therefore there is no real pressing need for an en suite .

Ingrid loves entertaining much more than I do. I like it when its happening but I don't go out of my way to make it happen, if you see what I mean. The conservatory was intended to make the living room more spacious but my contention is that there would still be a metaphysical divide between those sat in the lounge and those sat in the conservatory, however cleverly the two were conjoined. It would also be a major investment and would use up a large proportion of our savings which we need to think about eking out more over a longer period. We decided the conservatory wasn't as good an idea as it had first sounded. I also pointed out that major family gatherings in winter will strain any establishment and should really occur in the summer when the garden can be used.

This led to the thought that we should extend and improve our patio and is the one idea we are going to look into as a practical idea as soon as possible this summer. This would have the effect of changing our water feature and perhaps compressing our flower beds into smaller more compact ones with more in them.

We are toying with the idea of extending the double glazing in our dining room to the overhang which would match what our neighbours next door have done. Another idea was having awnings over the patio to provide shade in the summer months. We will investigate these two ideas to see how practical they are.

Thank you for your indulgence, dear reader, but this post has helped me to clarify some ideas. It has also helped Ingrid and I to decide that for the next few years we intend staying here and our next move will be a downsize to perhaps even sheltered accommodation in our seventies so we our not a burden to each other or our children. They won't have any money left to them but, hey, what the hell?

Macbeth

I have signed up to see every show in this season at the Chichester Festival Theatre. One of the highlights had to be Patrick Stewart and a company doing both Macbeth and Twelfth Night.

Patrick Stewart is 67 in July of this year and I am sorry to say this shows in his Macbeth. The production is innovative with lots of good and clever ideas. It is also one of the clearest retelling of the plot or story that I have seen in a very long time. However it is a tale of passion and fury and unfortunately the title performance is too controlled. The Macbeth we meet in the opening scenes is a beserker, a leader who leads from the front bravely if rashly, with no thought for consequences or personal danger. He is promoted beyond his means by an indulgent king and tempted beyond his dreams by dark forces. Mr Stewart's first appearance in combat fatigues and shaven head does not disguise the fact that he carries himself with greater gravitas than the King Duncan of Paul Shelley dressed as a Soviet style generalissimo. The Soviet theme is carried through and the quotes from Joseph Stalin/ George Orwell in the programme underpin the approach here.

Perhaps there is too much deference to Stewart the star actor rather than to the performance itself. He is certainly provided with one of the best Lady Macbeths I have seen in Kate Fleetwood. She is sex and passion combined and her curse inviting in the forces of darkness is indeed tremble making. At times we see her whole body quiver with ambition and the fearfulness of the endeavour upon which she encourages her husband to embark. Her famous breakdown later in the play is clearly forestalled and anticipated by the burning energy the actress imparts into the opening scenes. If anyone has had the good fortune to see Judi Dench in the RSC production deliver "all the scents of Arabia" speech in the handwashing scene, they will know what perfection can be achieved in these great Shakespearian "arias". Miss Fleetwood does not achieve such status but then I found that all the arias or monologues subdued in this production perhaps smothered by the business.

Unfortunately the first encounter between the Macbeths is too restrained and too controlled - a senior diplomat returning home to his trophy wife was one image that flickered through my brain. The brutal co-joining of a man and woman, both surrendering to the impulses of their bodies, both listening to the pounding of the blood in their temples, goes some way to explaining the recklessness with which they abandon sense and surrender to the temptations offered by the forces of darkness.

The forces of darkness are well integrated into this version of the Scottish play and I particularly liked the scene set in a morgue where the weird sisters show Macbeth the future lineage of Scottish kings descended from Banquo. The sense of evil is palpable but without a God, can there be a devil?

The scenes on either side of the interval, where the ghost of Banquo mars the feast, are brilliant and unexpected. Occasionally the production and performances reach unsuspected heights. One such performance must be that of Michael Feast as Macduff. Another older actor, perhaps to match the Macbeth, Michael Feast brings real emotion to the part and perhaps uses the space at the Minerva better than most.

I would encourage everyone to see the production for the clarity of its telling the story of Macbeth. My reservation is that Mr Stewart, a renowned Shakesperian actor, left his playing of the title role till a little too late in his career.