Unheroic

I have just had a glass of cognac to round off the weekend but am feeling distinctly unheroic.

I decided not to stand as a candidate in the local borough elections in May this year. I took advice from Best Beloved and close friends before deciding it wasn't for me. I am still thinking about county council elections in 2009 but maybe the same reasons will dissuade me then as did this time. I have a splurge personality and can throw myself into an endeavour with a will and a real fervour. I believe I could have managed the elections but then would have found holding the post difficult. I like theatrical works because they are always of a limited duration. People who don't know me see me as extrovert. However those who know me well know that I am an introvert and that I act as a means of disguising this fact. The social aspects of being a councillor would have eventually worn me down. I think I could have coped with the paperwork and reading, the committee meetings and the full council. I am not sure I would have liked the political infighting as I am not particularly thick skinned just thick! The worst aspect, however, was the imposition of a new structure of time. I am coming round to the idea of a February winter sun break, a holiday in June and another one in September, especially if these are in term time, away from families and children. Being a councillor would mean being restricted to the recess month of August. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, didn't like it that much and don't want to go there again.

I am also interested in doing an M.A. in Theatre. Portsmouth University do one but I am not sure that my second class Bachelor of Education (Hons) is a good enough entry level. I am quite proud of my degree. I went to College in the late sixties when the degree courses were just starting to be offered for teachers. At the time I didn't want to put in the extra year of study and settled for a Certificate of Education with Distinction. Looking back and knowing what i know now I would probably stay on for that degree. Instead I waited until I had been teaching for about seven years and had two daughters before signing up for a three year part time degree course at was then Bishop Otter College, Chichester. Boy, was that a tough three years but I ended up with a second class Honours degree and two toddlers. I don't know whether I have the academic cojones to do it but next Tuesday i am going to the Postgraduate Open Day and finding out.

My second hope is that I can, with the help of my mate, David, get a local touring theatre company launched. A friend, Tim Taylor, runs the cloak and dagger murder mystery company and I'd like to run a similar troupe doing theatrical things. I am already talking to Herself about doing a Conor Macpherson monologue, which would come neatly under the auspices of our touring theatre company.

Okay I began this posting feeling unheroic but I seem to have a bit of a plan coming along - a cunning plan in fact. Pass the cognac.

Cognac for heroes

"Claret is for boys, port is for men and cognac is for those who would be heroes" so said Samuel Johnson or at least something like that as I may have paraphrased him a little. The quote came to mind as i read back over some of Trevor Hare's comments to my blogs at Christmas 2007. I like the bit where all his personal pleasures such as strong cheese and a particular brand of beer, which once were abhorred by his daughters, are now seen by them as pleasures too. He feels he is left with port as his own masculine pleasure. I like the image and raised a glass of port in salute last night. I like cognac but only rarely imbibe and usually after a meal as a degustif. Perhaps I need to be more heroic?

It was a very pleasant surprise in Friday's exercise class to find that Kate is also a reader of this blog as well as a sweating member of Debbie Hobbs' rehab regime. On Tuesday we were discussing the validity of the waist hip measurement ratio. Apparently there is a ratio of dividing the hip measurement into the waist measurement and this shows I am not sure what. I do know that for a healthy male the number 0.95 has been mentioned and something like 0.80 for women. WHR or waist hip ratio is the ratio of the circumference of the waist to that of the hips. It measures the proportion by which fat is distributed around the torso. (Wikipedia). The concept was originated by one Dr Devendra Singh in 1993 and is said to be a better measure of assessing aperson's risk of heart attack than Body Mass Index (BMI). A WHR of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Men are more healthy and fertile with less risk of protrate and testicular cancers. Western ideas of attractiveness in females is based on WHR. A WHR of 0.7 or the waist circumference is 70% of hip measurement includes such diverse beauty icons as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and the Venus de Milo. Their weights differed but their WHR was 0.7. The Wikipedia entry also says that women with a low WHR are said to be smarter. Having probably suceeded in alienating all my female readers, I must hasten to add that I am only interested in WHR from the male aspect of physical health and well being. I have attempted to lose weight and a couple of weeks ago I was crowing over the loss of a couple of pounds. I am sorry to report that I have since gained four punds in weight. Thus putting on the two pounds I lost and a further two pounds, hence my interest in other forms of health measurement. The idea was introduced to the Tuesday class by Terry the Tiger (an ardent Pompey fan) and by Debbie herself. I haven't yet measured myself in those two areas and am rather afraid of the result. Or more strictly, not being able to find my waist! I was very impressed when Debbie measured herself . I don't know what she is as a WHR and am a bit reluctant to do the necessary calculation in case Debbie herself reads this blog. She is definitely one of the main reasons for attending the exercise classes besides all the respectable ones about exercise being good for you especially after a heart incident.

In a previous blog I mentioned "Rosie", my fantasy greyhound. I have been thinking about taking on a retired greyhound in the twilight of my years but am delaying the decision until 2009. I got an impassioned plea from Kitten asking me to bring my decision forward as she is staying with us at the present time and would look after the dog in any holiday absence. We always try to have an evening meal around the dining room table and a Sunday family meal. We have time and occasion to talk but obviously Kitten was so taken by my last blog she had to write a comment. I didn't want to paint a picture of a non-conversational household, communicating only electronically. Anyway, Kitten, having thought over your proposal, I am still reluctant to get a dog at this time. In the summer we are having an extension built and for at least two or three months there will be considerable upheaval with builders etc. Also I would want to bring a dog into a settled household rather than one in disarray. I would also want to bring a dog into the family when I can spend a lot of time with it to make sure it feels settled and at home. This would be best between the May and the late September holidays. Notice how easily I have begun to construct a timetable for the year. Your idea has one basic flaw, Kitten, in that you work during the daytime. I am not of the opinion that dogs should be left at home while their owners are out at work. I think cats can survive like this but they are very different and individual creatures from the pack animal that is a dog. My feeling is that I want eventually to be able to take the dog with me whenever and wherever possible, even on holidays camping in France. I would want the doggie passport and correct injections etc to make it possible. We would still have the problem with the February winter sun holiday as that will mean flying out to somewhere warm. The May holidays after 2009 and September holidays from 2009 will probably be reachable by car packed with tent and dog.

I have signed up as the local British Heart Foundation walkabout co-ordinator. I am working on a historic walk in Winchester for early September with Mary Bareham, the regional director. Mary has done the walk before so all the hard work has already been domne. However it enables me to learn the ropes (Imitate, imitate lots more, innovate and invent: Pie Corbett model of learning) before drawing up a similar walk for Historic Portsmouth. In the meantime I am working on a local walk starting at Broadmarsh and taking in the Farlington Marshes. I will try this out with the rehab class members sometime in May I hope.

As treasurer of the Havant Literary Festival I am in the process of organising bank accounts and book keeping. Lucy Flannery is the Secretary and Director of the Festival and I have been mightily impressed by her energy and creativity.

Finally I am looking at the pros and cons of standing as a Liberal Democrat councillor in my own ward of Bedhampton. The Tories rule Havant and have a huge majority. We have only 3 Liberal Democrats on the Council. I think local politics works better with a narrower margin as huge majorities make the incumbent party complacent. On second thoughts, this applies to our national government as well. I need to decide this week as the election campaign draws near. The pros are good but there are some substantial cons as well.

Anyway gentle reader I will leave you there. My thoughts on the play selection process at the Bench Theatre, which chose its plays for the July and September 2008 slots last Thursday, and on Pompey's match at Bolton, where they meet old boys, Matt Taylor and Andy O'Brien, can be found on my sister blog, Hamlet 2008. I will also give an account of my first visit to West Leigh Park as a supporter of the Hawks. I have been to West Leigh before for Pompey reserve games but never before as a supporter of my local team. An inveterate bandwagon jumper am I! Usually I jump just as the bandwagon starts moving and miss the bloody vehicle all together. Still it is hard for an old leopard to change his spots!

Nah then, ar lad!

"Nah then. ar lad!"

Immortal words uttered in a West Yorkshire accent from somewhere around Huddersfield.

The Best Beloved and I spent five days in Los Alcazeres in Spain last week. We caught an Easyjet flight to Murcia and stayed at an apartment owned by some good friends. On the Friday before coming back on the Saturday, we decided to catch the bus to Cartagena. The friends had recommended it as a worthwhile day trip out so we pondered over which bus to catch. Should we go for the earlier bus at 0930 or the later one at 1130? This was the choice - not like one evry 10 minutes - you understand? We decided to have a more leisurely morning and go for the 1130 and arrive just in time for lunch in Cartagena. We had a bit of a search for the bus stop as there is a different in season as to where the bus decides to stop. We had a bit of a wait so chatted amicably with the steadily growing queue. Best Beloved climbed on first to pay the driver for dos. I followed her on and up the aisle.

"Nah then, ar lad! What the 'ell are yer doing on this 'ere bus?"

Now I am not often gobsmacked or at a loss for words but this was one of those occasions when I did my goldfish impression. There, as large as life, was my cousin Robert and his wiife Anne, grinning at us from their seats. The last time I had seen him was at his mother's (my Auntie Annie) funeral and wake last year. We see each other very occasionally but sure enough here he was.

Later we discovered they are spending nine weeks in the area at a villa they rent and will be there until the end of March. Anne's brother and wife were with them. By sheer chance they had decided for no particular reason to visit Cartegena that day and to use the 1130 bus.

Cartegena was lovely and the city are renovating a glorious Roman ampitheatre discovered by chance under the front door of the old cathedral accidentally when some demolition work was been done. As a young guide told us there had lonng been folk tales about its existence but it had only recently come to light. Cartegena was founded and known by the Romans as Nuova Cartage after the Punic wars to celebrate their victories over Hannibal and his lot.

One of the things we discussed with Robert was a world cruise they had gone on when they first retired about seven years ago. We don't want to emulat their exploits but what was interesting was the fact that once they had completed their world trip, they didn't want to do such a big trip again. They were now more than satisfied with much less ambitious holidays such a sthe curent one in Spain! I got to thinking and have now resurrected an earlier idea I had. I would love to do the USA Coast to Coast by train. You fly out to New York for a few days, you then cross the country in a series of rail journeys, taking in some specialised tours such as the Grand canyon, the Rockies, Monument Valley, etc, ending up in San Francisco. From there you fly back to the UK. I am thinking of making the trip in May 2009 to celebrate the Best Beloved's 60th! It is expensive but nothing as compared to this year's extension plan.

After that we would tailor our holidays to the February, early summer and early autumn periods and flying only if necessary. That way I might finally be able to consider rescuing a greyhound as a pet. I would hope we would be able to take it with us on our camping trips rather than leaving it with others or putting it in kennels. I would like a bitch (having grown used to a feminine household) and call her perhaps "Rosie" , although she would probably come with a name already.