Worse b4 Better

61st Birthday One Week Later Than Planned.....

Birthday Redux

And so, dear reader, my previous blog explained that I contracted 

SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2)

aka Covid-19

and that I hijacked a Craig David song to explain the Week 1 journey which largely involved coughing and a sore throat. Well, Week 2 has not been the same and involved silent hypoxia (ie low oxygen levels without realising) and a feverish temperature. Floppy boneless limbs applied to both weeks. Covid is a peculiar disease:

• Some, like me, have an “OK” first week, a shocking second week and then recover
• Some people are asymptomatic and hardly know they’ve had it
• Some people deteriorate rapidly and die
• Some people become very ill for a long time
• Some people, like me, develop silent hypoxia from which you can recover (as I did) but which can alternatively lead to a sudden plummeting of health, becoming desperately breathless and hospitalisation 
• And there are many variations and gradations between.

I’m in the recovery stage now, building up stamina, breathing consciously and deeply, increasing the walking distance each day, resting between exertions….

Anthony Quinn, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif

It is written…. Nothing is written….

A highlight of sofa-flopping has been indulging in long movies – like the widescreen version of Lawrence of Arabia (1962), a still astonishing feat of cinematography, editing and design with pitch-perfect performances, overwhelming music, and iconographic moments like the above entrance of Omar Sharif in the far distance, like a shimmering mirage; and the jump cut below between a burning match and the rising sun. Lawrence’s epic journey(s) through the burning deserts were a good match for how I felt dredging through my body’s responses to Covid-19. When William Potter burns himself extinguishing a match between his thumb and forefinger, he challenges Lawrence to explain “What’s the trick, then?” Lawrence answers: “The trick….is not minding that it hurts.”

Silenzio, Bruno

An altogether jolliier experience was the film that capped my delayed birthday – the Disney-Pixar film Luca, ravishingly animated and charmingly told. The themes were clear as an Italian blue sky: helicopter-parenting, family – both blood and constructed, unconventional-friendships, deceit, bullying, outsiders, prejudice, escape/freedom….

I have spoken

Experimenting with a Father Christmas look, gorgeous flowers, yummy fajitas

“I don’t know if you heard but the Empire is gone.”

Thus says Mando….

“When one chooses to walk the Way of the Mandalore, you are both hunter and prey….” (Hunter, prey; Yin, yang; Chicken, egg; Jedi, Sith; Innocence, experience.) This week I have mostly been watching The Mandalorian with asides for Pan’s Labyrinth (whilst ironing) and Independence Day (with the Harry Potter Film Club.) In other words, I have spent very little time on Planet Earth as it is, and when not escaping to fantastic Other Worlds (which, let’s face it, are all about Planet Earth’s deepest darkest What Ifs) I have been writing about the history of My Own Invented Other World, Rhenium. Creative writing and fictional fantasies can be powerful distractions but inevitably crash into reality when the parallels with Here and Now lurch into view:

family, fascism, identity, gender, loyalty, love, fear, courage, oppression, freedom, hatred, migration, the “outsider,” prejudice….

Are these the themes for Pan’s Labyrinth or The Mandalorian or Independence Day or Rhenium Tales….? Or do they exist in them all? Old history, repeated history; old tales, freshly-minted tales; Yin, yang; the same thing can be both comforting and depressing. As William Blake would have it, the struggle between contrary forces is necessary to human existence. The prose and the passion. Only connect. "I have spoken."

Pan's Labyrinth, The Mandalorian, Independence Day  - Fantasy or (Subconscious) Reality?

Miss Jean Louise, stand up....

Golden Anniversary

During Lockdown Three Point Zero, you take your celebrations where you can. So, if The Harry Potter Film Club has to meet on Zoom, then so be it. The group started as a prelude to watching The Cursed Child at the the theatre (in the olden days of theatre-going) because one person had limited knowledge of the Wizarding World. But then it continued, fuelled by a love of wine and cake and sociable bonhomie. And we decided to mark the 50th film with dressing up as characters from films we’d already watched, thus, above:

• No-Face from Spirited Away
• Sadness from Inside Out
• Idgie Threadgoode from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café 
• Mr Perks from The Railway Children and
• Lina Lamont from Singin’ in the Rain

Hey, Boo, fifty films and counting

There have been

• 10 Fantasies
• 7 Comedies
• 5 Animations
• 5 Documentaries
• 4 Dramas
• 3 Historical Films
• 3 Crime Thrillers
• 3 Musicals
• 2 Biopics
• 2 Family Films
• 2 Literary Adaptations
• 2 SciFi Movies
• 1 Disaster Movie and
• 1 Satire.

Over half were made since the Millennium and the earliest so far was 1940's Pinocchio. The 50th anniversary film choice was Robert Mulligan’s 1962 movie of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird with landmark performances by Gregory Peck (as Atticus Finch), Estelle Evans (as Calpurnia), Mary Badham, Phillip Alford and John Megna (as Scout, Jem and Dill), Brock Peters (as Tom Robinson), and Robert Duvall (as Arthur (Boo) Radley.) With mood-perfect rhythms and music by Elmer Bernstein and a miraculously faithful adaptation by Horton Foote, the movie captures the spirit of the novel without simplifying any of the moral and legal complexities. The film remains light touch in the way a modern version, I think, would be far more heavy-handed.

Sue's stockings....

“You’re the bridge…. Bridges have two sides….”
Sue and Brian have featured in previous blogs (Pushing The Boat Out and Bring Me Laughter.) They live near York (and there’ve been plenty of blogs featuring York – see Tags opposite.) But the generosity of Sue and Brian is what has prompted me to reboot my blog in the 24 Days of Advent leading to Christmas Eve 2019. The quotation in the sub-heading is from Frozen II (yes, I’m a sucker for Disney films) and, although we have plenty of robust debate with Sue and Brian, there is a pretty sturdy bridge between us – ironic, really, since to get to their house you have to cross a very rickety wooden-slatted toll bridge!

Epictetus
The stoic philosopher from Ancient Greece, Epictetus, suggested: “Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.” Sue (Sally’s longest-standing friend from Primary School) gave us a present this year (the pictures in this blog should make it obvious what that present was.) That present became an example to follow – something borne of sheer will, love and dogged endeavour. Mark Twain might cynically suggest that “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” But Sue’s Advent Stockings had the opposite effect for me – they inspired me.

Daily Treats
It was a blast each day finding quizzes, walking routes, toiletries, sweeties, chocolates, coffee gizmos, useful gadgets (excellent torch, by the way) and miniature bottles of alcohol…. Sue and Brian are the kind of friends who build metaphorical bridges for others to walk across (click here for an example.) The 24 Advent Stockings spurred me on each day to walk across another bridge, post another blog, catch up with events over the past year. (I’d been a tad disheartened at the state of national and international politics and the only thing that made sense was to bury myself in the ongoing editing of my retirement hobby, Rhenium Tales. My imaginary planet made more sense than the real world.)

“All you can do is do the next right thing”
Yes, another quotation from Frozen II, this time from the Grand Pabbie (which Anna thankfully recalls at a key moment….) – so Sue’s stockings (as it were), made me do the next right thing. One day at a time. One word at a time. One picture at a time. All you can do is the next right thing. You can’t beat an inspirational Disney quotation! (Unsentimental Disney haters, look away now! - you might vomit....):

• A dream is a wish your heart makes
• A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart
• If everybody got somebody by the hand, maybe everyone could learn and understand
• Our fate lies within us – you only have to be brave enough to see it.**

** OK, OK – Pinocchio, Hercules, Little Mermaid and Brave.

Great British Christmas Decorations

Burton Agnes Hall and Gardens
Every year we mosey along the M62 to Burton Agnes Hall to admire their Christmas decorations and this year was no exception. There is something homely and admirable about the accessibility of the house and what they achieve with craft-based decorations, fully utilising material from the grounds.

House and Presents
The house itself is a glory with its impressive fireplace and marvellous Long Gallery at the top of the building, but the home-made decorations are charming because they are made by staff and local schoolchildren and the family who live there.

Rainbow Butterflies
Swans, icicles, angels, wreaths; the outdoors and indoors mingling together. And who doesn't love butterflies arranging themselves in rainbow formation? Venturing outside in the crisp winter air, who doesn't wants to tap on the teeny tiny doors of the fairy dwellings? My brain might turn to mush at Christmas-time, but the World is a Harsh Place and my inner child just can't be suppressed!

Homely to Grand....
Chatsworth is on a different scale. Their themed decorations involve far more glamour and glitz than Burton Agnes and are awesome in their own way. In the pictures below spot Cinderella's coach (and pumpkin), kite-flying and a chimney sweep heralding the new Disney sequel to Mary Poppins.

Shadow Play
One of my favourite rooms this year at Chatsworth was an animated shadow-play version of Sleeping Beauty. Absolutely enchanting.

Fairy Tales of Childhood
The colours, lighting, stage settings and props in each room sparked both wonder and a bit of a chill, since childhood (and fairy tales) can be full or terror as well as fun.

Raffaele Monti's Veiled Vestal
Chatsworth is a breathtaking experience, not only for the glimpses high and low of the kind of luxury few people enjoy, but also of key artworks, including the famed veiled woman sculpted in 1846/47 having been commissioned in Monti's studio in Milan by the Sixth Duke of Devonshire (the current one is Twelfth.)  Originally displayed in a London house, it came to Chatsworth in 1999 and featured in the 2005 film of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Middle-sized House?
If Burton Agnes is Baby Bear and Chatsworth (See the Princess and the Pea bed above) is Daddy Bear, then Harewood House is Mummy Bear.... below are a few collages from their Christmas decorations, along with charming tales of times gone by. George and Gerald ascend the steps, determined to stay awake....

Simon Costin
The art designer Simon Costin has worked with big-named brands in the past and brought his skills to this year's Harewood House decorations, evoking the hopes and dreams of the real-life George and Gerald Lascelles in the year 1929. What seemed clever to me was the perspective of all the decorations was that of a small child, so you saw familiar things as you had never seen them before.

Child-eye view
A wedding dress became a Christmas tree, yellow flowers recalled The Wizard of Oz's famous road, an open window became an ice-nightmare recalling the Snow Queen's threat and, dominating my imagination, was a willow god Pan, over 12 feet high, looking equally benign and malign.

Lascelles Slavery Archive
I know Harewood the best of the three houses featured in this post because it is geographically nearer where I live. As a family we've spent hours at the Bird Garden and Adventure Playground when the children were young. It was the place where I got the first inklings of the connection between great houses and the slave trade. What impresses me these days is that Harewood's acknowledgement of its past, and its ongoing community work, was one step ahead of the current (justifiable) re-evaluation of Britain's empirical exploitation.

Great British Tony Christmas

This is me

What will I remember about Christmas 2018? Quite a bit of baking going on: fresh mince pies, chocolate cookies, apple crumbles to freeze. Quite a bit of quaffing of mulled wine, red wine, different gin flavours, cocktails, fizz and beer…. Table decorations to delight the eye…. groaning plates, Stilton bites, pigs in blankets, traditional films (White Christmas, some Disney, The Greatest Showman, you know the drill!)

Count your blessings (instead of sheep)

Of course it’s all about the people…. The family, the friends, the good will to most men…. Decking the halls and all that…. The pictures below include some personal memories from October that cement what the latter part of 2018 has been about in the emotional inner life of me: a Harvey Nichols’ cocktail meal-deal to cement Emily’s new abode… what changes will 2019 bring?

Ostel Bay and Inverary Castle

 

Ostel Bay

Jittery Scottish weather took us past lovely coastal viewpoints to Ostel Bay. Cloudy, drizzly at times…. But as the writer of many hiking books, Alfred Wainwright, said “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”

Tighnabruaich

The journey to Ostel Bay went via Tighnabruaich, a village on the Cowal Peninsula where fewer than 700 people live. It’s not easy to imagine myself living day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year in such a remote spot. But there’s something elemental and profound about visiting parts of Britain that still contain the pre-industrial landscape of the natural world.

Ostel Bay

Far horizons

Ostel Bay itself was wild, windy and wrapped around, hidden from view, in dunes as far as the eye could see. The sea met the sky in a spot which seemed All Horizon. And of course the waves shushed in and shushed out again across the shingled sands.

Ferry to Bute (top right) and the magnificent Inverary Castle

Ferry to Bute

Across the car ferry to Bute included a memorable visit to Mount Stuart which I blogged about here. But first we visited Inverary Castle with its Disney-like exterior. The semi-gothic, semi-Palladian pile was inspired by a sketch by the ridiculously talented man who designed Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace as well as writing successful Restoration comedies: John Vanbrugh. The foundation stone was laid in 1746.

Turrets and Fires

The current building is what was raised and completed after a devastating fire in 1877 when the conical towers were added to give its current fairytale appearance.

Home of the Duke of Argyll

Parts of the interior, though awesome, are also homely and lived-in and the martial history of turbulent events in the history of Scotland are well displayed and explained by vivid guides.

Split walks

For some of the time on our holiday we divided for walks and the above and below collages are of the walk to the end of the Cowal Peninsula undertaken by Harriet and Chris.

Above two collages are photos taken by Harriet and Chris

Widescreen Birthday

Birthday boy with Nick Shelton artwork, prezzies, Spiderman cake, family dinner

Aug 2014 to Oct 2018
Happy Birthday to me on October 15th – I aim to space out my blog posts evenly but Life has a way of hijacking best intentions – but the images are enjoyable memories for me, even if they are a bit removed from the original date. Looking back to 2014 when I started this blog, my birthday post was about Shakespeare and Fargo’s Marge (“it’s a beautiful day”) Gunderson; in 2015 I presented gruesome evidence of a cyst on my back; in 2016 I had begun a routine of writing three days a week as my main retirement hobby; and in 2017 I began writing Book 2 of Rhenium Tales after finishing the first draft of Book 1. What now?

Brothers, sister, wife, daughters, friends....

2018
I’ve submitted material to some agents and started my collection of BadgesOfHonour rejection notices…. but also had some specific tips and insights to act upon. So Phase Two of My Writing Career begins…. Chris Grimley is a significant other in the family…. Empty Nest Syndrome is on the brink of happening again…. and I got my wishes for a birthday tea of salmon on lentils and treacle sponge pudding and custard…. Life! How did I get here from where I was?

First Man, Looper, The Age of Innocence, Lady and the Tramp with Theo Gluck, The Wife 

Film season
Movies have been a big part of September and October with the National Media Museum’s Widescreen Weekend in Pictureville allowing us to enjoy brilliant screenings of Scorcese’s The Age of Innocence, and Disney’s Lady and the Tramp (introduced in person by Theo Gluck, all the way from Hollywood; he’s the Head of Library and Restoration at Disney Studios.) I got rattled to bits by an IMAX First Man, admired Glenn Close in the preposterous but atmospheric The Wife, and loved Emily Blunt (Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis) in the mind-bending Looper. Lots more films to look forward to later in the year, I think.

J B Priestley statue, Barry Cryer and Sophie Fyson, Joanna Trollope, Jenni Murray

Ilkley Literature Festival
Wrapping up my October birthday memories is my record of the Ilkley Literature Festival where Lee Hanson, Chair of the Priestley Society introduced the witty Barry Cryer and the gracious Sophie Fyson who spoke about the memoir of Sophie’s mum, Rosalie Batten, recently published by Great Northern Books: Priestley at Kissing Tree House. Rosalie was the secretary of great writer, humanitarian and Yorkshireman, J B Priestley, and has written with fascinating insight and disarming candour. Joanna Trollope and Jenni Murray both also provoked plenty of food for thought about writing, successful women and feminism today.

My birthday season colours....

Legend of the Sword

All things Camelot
I have blogged about King Arthur before (links at the bottom): not as many times as Shakespeare, but looking at the Label tally opposite, more often than Jesus. All things Camelot caught my imagination at a formative age and I am a sucker for lapping up Arthurian projects – not uncritically, I have to say. I was the perfect target audience for a recent book about Arthur as “dragon of the north” – yes, King Arthur from Yorkshire, count me in – but I found it unconvincing and tenuous. So, with a professional interest and a critical eye, I went to the cinema on my own to see King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, just in case it made me weep like a colicky baby. I wasn’t alone on Friday afternoon – one woman (who fell asleep in the middle) was there with a Charlie Hunnam lookalike (might have been him, I suppose); and the rest of the audience were individual men like me, looking like they spent too much time indoors reading….

Swords and Serpents….

My favourite thing in the film was Excalibur. Not just the prop, which was beautifully made, but the way Charlie Hunnam handled it, the way Guy Ritchie filmed it, its place in the story, its journey from the stone to battle to mud to water to more battles to various supernatural nuclear-Moana-goddess–Mordor-fire-Sauron-type explosions and ripples. It was a very busy sword. The script made me laugh – out loud twice. It looked excellent, as far as CGI films can. The spin on the legend was intriguing, though I would have liked more agency from Annabelle Wallis’s Maggie, a potentially beguiling character, Poppy Delevingne’s Igraine and Nicola Wren’s Lucy. The one female character who wasn’t doomed, a Mage played by Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, certainly made her presence felt as an acolyte of (the unseen) Merlin. From my understanding of Arthurian Romance, Guy Ritchie was tapping into Welsh interpretations of Arthur as a hero who battled demons and giant serpents, although in this film, Arthur has his own serpent thing going on.

More please

I believe Guy Ritchie was hoping to use this film to launch a series of Arthurian films and, after seeing this one, I’d sign up for another in the hope that he’ll build in more scenes in the future for his daughters to enjoy. I loved the design angle that Ye Olde Londinium still had plenty of Roman ruins in evidence. And Daniel Pemberton’s score was a rumpy-pumpy blast.

• Charlie Hunnam is a convincing reluctant hero, pulled up by his boot straps from his childhood as brothel orphan 
• Djimon Hounsou is magnificently charismatic and noble as Sir Bedivere 
• Aiden Gillen is always wry value as crack archer, Goosefat Bill (Bill?) 
• Jude Law eats the scenery and swivels his eyes in demented villain mode 
• Geoff Bell always gives great geezer, this time as someone called (I think) John 
• Eric Bana is memorable as the ghost of old Hamlet (not quite, but if you see it you’ll know what I mean).
• The small parts were sketched quickly and boldly: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Wet Stick, Tom Wu as George, Neil Maskell as Blue’s dad, Black Lack, David Beckham as (did they say Trigger?)

Overall it felt like a version of King Arthur that some mates down the pub might act out. (If they had a multi-million pound budget.) But it passed a rainy afternoon for this Arthurian geek quite nicely, thank you. PS, there was a very smart performance by young actor Bleu Landau as Blue.

Past blogs about King Arthur
Reading Arthurian Romance:
The Sword in the Stone
The Once and Future King
One Brief Shining Moment

Road trip with Emily to Arthurian sites:
Road to Avalon
Road to Glastonbury
Road to Stonehenge and Winchester 

Thanks, Mr Ritchie, for adding to the Arthurian canon

I must go down to the sea again

Formy Beach and Woodlands

On a recommendation we drove over to the coast between Liverpool and Southport for an alternative to cobweb-blowing walks on the Yorkshire moors. The National Trust look after an area of the coast centred on Formby. It was a spirit-lifting day: pine woodlands, sand dunes and what seems like miles and miles of beach to walk along.

Why are humans drawn to the sea? Is it the sound of the womb-like waves? Is it some ancestral call to an earlier phase of evolution when we travelled the sea for survival (as in Disney’s We Know The Way from Moana!)? Or is it just the memory of childhood holidays of buckets and spades?

The sea makes me feel insignificant as it ebbs and flows but I also feel curiously connected to the planet knowing that on the other side of the expanse of waves there are other people with the same worries, griefs, joys and hopes as me. At primary school I had to learn the following poem so maybe Mrs Hawcroft, my Year 6 teacher, is the inspiration for my love of the sea.

Sea Fever by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.