The set was enough to confirm that I had made a good decision. The stage was sparse with little more than a wooden door and a small table as standard props and these were complemented by oddities like rocks hanging from cords.
The thoughts and experiences of a man who enjoys challenging arts, unplanned wanderings and intelligent conversations.
11 November 2021
The Seven Pomegranate Seeds at Rose Theatre was remarkable
The set was enough to confirm that I had made a good decision. The stage was sparse with little more than a wooden door and a small table as standard props and these were complemented by oddities like rocks hanging from cords.
5 September 2021
30km to Uxbridge
10 August 2021
A less scenic route to Feltham
The walk started well enough as we went through the centre of Bushy Park. There was more traffic there than we would have liked despite the through route being closed as cars were still allowed to access the two car parks in the centre. Still, it was quiet enough for us to walk along the road.
6 August 2021
Once more to Feltham
I had walked every section of this route several times before but this is the first time that I had strung them together like this. My choice or route kept changing on the day depending on my mood as each decision had to be made.
20 July 2021
L’amico Fritz at Opera Holland Park
L’amico Fritz is a light comedy with one of the simplest plots ever staged, a rich young man and a confirmed bachelor falls in love with the local farmer's daughter, and she with him, but it takes them about an hour to realise this, which is long after everyone else has.
17 July 2021
Learning about The Buildings of Ham Common
I know the buildings on Ham Common pretty well and have photographed them all, often many times, for my community blog HamPhotos, but I was still absorbing new insights on their design and construction at a prodigious rate of knots.
16 July 2021
The Game of Love and Chance at Arcola Outside was very jolly
My return to theatregoing is still tentative but Arcola Theatre is one of my favourites and I was keen to get back there. The Game of Love and Chance gave me the chance to do that with the promise of some easy laughs.
The play itself was a simply constructed farce where only two of the players and we, the audience, knew what was really going on. The trick was people swapping roles to great comic effect.
12 July 2021
Delighted by Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser at V&A
I was not sure what to expect from the exhibition, I rarely do, and I was pleased to discover that it largely focussed on the iconic imagery and little was said about the text, other than putting it in the context of the time it was written.
There were also posters from plays, album covers, books of foreign adaptations and quite a few other things that I paid too little attention as I rushed round in the little time that I had (about an hour).
6 July 2021
Following the Brent to Perivale
29 June 2021
Out West at Lyric Hammersmith was a gratifying return to theatre
25 June 2021
The Father at Curzon Richmond was superb
22 June 2021
Exploring linear parks in South London
The first part of the journey was an uneventful trek along roads apart from the discovery of Arment Pie, Mash & Eel House somewhere around Walworth, possibly.
- Russia Dock Woodland
- Lower Pepys Park
- Upper Pepys Park
- The Dog & Bell (beer break)
- Broadway Fields
- Brookmill Park
- Ladywell Fields
- Ravensbourne Park Gardens
- Blythe Hill Fields
- One Tree Hill
- The Peckham Round (coffee and cake)
- Peckham Rye Park
- Peckham Rye Common
- Burgess Park
20 June 2021
The Honeyslides (abridged) at The Half Moon (20 Jun 21)
16 June 2021
Il turco in Italia at Glyndebourne (2021)
I will come on to the opera but after a year and a half of covid this was the story of returning to Glyndebourne.
5 May 2021
Public sector outsourcing has three intractable problems
- The motivation of the two parties are different
- It leaks money out of the process
- The balance is always in favour of the supplier.
4 May 2021
Planning walking routes around constraints
20 April 2021
London parks and hills
19 April 2021
A simple route and an excellent walk
6 April 2021
Bedfont and back, almost according to plan
The first part I am not happy about is trying to follow River Crane as it runs alongside, but not in, Hounslow Heath. The maps on the information boards suggest that there is a path that follows the river closely but I have not been able to find it and I was further away than I would have liked at times, though never that far. It does not help that the river runs underground for a while.
It also helped that it had not rained much at all in recent weeks and so a lot of the mud had gone. There was enough left to remind me just how wet it can be.
The best thing about the various walks taking in River Crane, Duke of Northumberland's River and Longford River is the range of possibilities offered by these rivers and the many parks along the way so that no two walks need be the same. The worst thing is that the rivers have a habit of hiding from time to time forcing you to walk along main roads and through urban areas.
1 March 2021
Revisiting The Defenders after forty plus years
Kraft was stuck with the poor team and I think that the only physical fight the The Defenders actually won unambiguously was against Scorpio's Zodiac warriors in issue 48 (June 1977). Still, I do not read comics for the fight scenes and I find the idea of super-humans throwing punches at each other somewhat idiotic, I read them for the stories and the art and these issues of The Defenders delivered on both.
19 February 2021
Looking for Longford, finding Feltham
The next bit I wanted to improve on was following Rive Crane past Hounslow Heath. Again the maps were not much use here and to stay close to the river I had to use paths on them and a certain amount of trial and error. I am not sure that I followed the best route, i.e. the one closest to the river, at all times but it was a big improvement on last time when I followed the main path which diverged from the river by some distance.
18 February 2021
Renaissance is superlative Science Fantasy
The story kept me engaged and in suspense throughout (slight spoiler, some of the good people die). I liked that the story was centred around 2 aliens, recently married, with different roles in the rescue of Humanity as this gave the story an additional dimension.
The setting is so obviously alien yet it looks functional too, you could sit on that chair or climb those stairs. The detail is staggering for just one panel that does not even mage dialogue to slow the reader down. It is gorgeous and makes me want to hunt out more of Emem (Matthieu Ménage)'s work.
16 February 2021
Exploring the Feltham Loop (badly)
This is when I knew that I was wearing the wrong shoes.
22 January 2021
I walked to Hounslow
I am trying to keep to the rules of Lockdown 3 and if that means only one exercise walk a day then it has to be a long one, and this was a long one - 33 km in almost seven hours.
There was a plan, of sorts, but the final route and duration was due to a combination of last minute decisions and mistakes.
The first part of the journey did go according to the original plan. I have a standard route that takes me through Bushy Park to Hampton where I got my first coffee and cake of the day from regular haunt Paws for Coffee.The minimal plan worked this time so I will try it again on my next long walk, I just hope that I find some interesting cafes along the way.
14 January 2021
Daredevil by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark is brilliant
The detail of the background in wonderful and the grace of the movement of Iron Fist and Daredevil is gorgeous. There are a lot of scenes like this in the book and they are a thing of beauty. They also help to make Hells Kitchen one of the main characters in the story, which it should be as that is Daredevil's only natural territory.
5 January 2021
Lockdown 3: Day 1: 37 kilometres
The worst part of the walk was also in this section. River Crane flows easily under Piccadilly Line and Great South-West Road (A30) but pedestrians are meant to walk a few hundred metres one way to a crossing and then all the way back again. That was my plan too until the lack of traffic tempted me to walk across the dual carriage way and to climb across the barrier in the middle. There really ought to be a request pedestrian crossing at that point.