The Summer of ‘78

I was driving into Gloucester yesterday and choosing not to listen to a programme about rhino poaching, I switched to a different channel and was immediately transported to another time, another place – another life!  Suddenly, in my mind, I wasn’t driving down the Cotswold edge but I was somewhere in Northern Germany; in Ostholstein to be precise, travelling with the Isle of Wight Youth Orchestra who were playing a series of concerts.  The programme included Tchaikovsky's 2nd Symphony and as I hummed along to the radio I was back there in the orchestra.

In July 1978, I’d just completed my first year of teaching science in a middle school on the Island and had allowed myself to be persuaded to work with the Junior Orchestra every Saturday. One of the delights (and a huge contrast to the rest of my working week) was that whenever I lifted my baton, twenty or thirty small faces would look up and obey my every move!  Well, I’m not sure they did, but at the time it was a pretty interesting experience, I can tell you

Anyway, two weeks before the big Youth Orchestra was due to leave for a tour of the Isle of Wight’s twin county in Germany, someone discovered they were short of a female member of staff and I didn’t need to be asked twice if I’d like to go along.  That I could speak pretty fluent German and could earn my keep as an additional violinist probably counted in my favour as well. All rather last minute, but I was unattached and fancy free – what was to lose?

We had a great time and the tour was a great success.  But as I listened to the symphony on the radio it didn’t prompt the usual sheet of music memory which is generally imprinted on my brain following weeks of practice – probably because I didn’t have that experience in that particular case.  I couldn’t picture any of the concert halls or indeed, remember much of the rest of the programme.  Instead, I found myself listening for the sound of a gong: a somewhat strange memory to associate with all of that, but sure enough, as I waited at the traffic lights, almost at my destination, there it was.

Bong!

If ever you travelled with a bunch of excited youngsters and their assorted “stuff”, their instruments and other essential paraphernalia like music (!) on a two week tour of maybe five different venues in a foreign country, then perhaps you’d know why the principal picture which came into my mind as I heard that particular symphony was of a small boy carrying a huge gong.  Because, bless him, he carried that blooming gong for the whole of those two weeks for that single note!  I’d like to think that Tchaikovsky was smiling as he included that essential feature in his work, or that maybe he’s looked on with amusement as orchestras around the world have schlepped the most unwieldy of instruments to far flung concert halls for a single moment of glory.

The whole symphony is on YouTube (of course), not played by the Isle of Wight Youth Orchestra of 1978 sadly and the moment of which I write occurs at around the 34 minute mark.

So there we are, the Summer of ‘78.

Well, it didn’t finish there, did it, because within a week of returning home I’d met my hero; we’d become better acquainted over the last two weeks of the school holidays and I returned to the Isle of Wight very reluctantly indeed.  By half term, we were engaged and the rest is history!

Cue Barry Manilow?

Roaming in foaming billows

Not really a reference to the weather this weekend, but to the performance of Haydn’s Creation by the St Anne’s Choral Society which we heard on Saturday evening.  Our drive to Lancashire was accompanied by the sobering news from Paris which made us feel particularly thankful for the comfort and company of good friends.

Actually, the foaming billows might also have been a reference to the clouds of chocolate cream on the top of my Tiramisu Latte before they were squashed by the lid.  Our hot drinks took the barista an age to prepare as he diligently followed the recipe for each one before covering his handiwork with the takeaway lid.  I’d paid scant attention to what was going on and as a result, was surprised to find gold stars sticking to my teeth as I drank, prompting me to take off the lid and investigate further.

I might have harrumphed at this point.  No wonder we had to wait so long in the queue.  No wonder that drink cost £3.65.

Gold stars indeed.

I think we’d both built up a bit of a grump listening to Saturday Live in the car, wincing at a couple of liguistic forms – surveilled ?  Shortly after we’d got over that one (and I’d looked it up and identified which part of the world the speaker had acquired that one from)  came  “I’d like to caveat that”.  What?  Again, perfectly correct, I discover, but it doesn’t sound right and there has to be a more elegant way to say the same thing, I’m sure.

Then came instinctual.  Ouch.  What happened to instinctive?

By now, we were inured to it all, so much so that a discussion centred on  Design and Beauty produced no more than a sideways glance and a raised eyebrow.  I mean, how would you react to consuming a product which would make you sweat perfume?  A colour?  I really don’t know what I think about Lucy McRae’s description of her work in the beauty continuum (for heaven’s sake!)  I’m generally pretty positive about new developments and consider scientific research to be essential to creating a better world for us all, but most of this made me question where we are going with all of this.

Gold stars on a cup of coffee?

Thankfully, friends whose bookshelves look like this provide the perfect antidote to any such nonsense and an evening of Haydn, intelligent conversation and a bit of nostalgia (40 years of shared history in some cases) accompanied by a glass or two (or three…) is the perfect way to restore the spirit.

Until the next news bulletin, that is.

Watching, waiting, listening

I don’t think I’m the only Archers listener around here, am I?  If not, then perhaps I’m not the only one to be amused at the latest storyline and the way the BBC has taken a multimedia approach to the story.

Firstly, there was this.

Messages from Ruth appeared on Mumsnet and a whole conversation followed.

Then, last night, there were weather reports for Borsetshire on the BBC.  I even watched a weather forecast for the area.

Then, just now, I had an email with a live update and a flood warning for the Am vale area.

I love it!  So clever to embrace all the social media, round out the programme with other strands of information and background details to enrich the story.  After every programme, The Archers FB page hums with thoughts, opinions and general chatter.  Even if the current storyline is raising eyebrows and receiving a fair bit of negative feedback, you’ve got to hand it to the producers for creating a stir.

So in a couple of hours, we’ll drop in and see what’s what, learn how the flood is progressing – except, is it Tuesday lunchtime in Ambridge, or is it Monday evening?  I’m never very sure…

Meanwhile, we’re watching another website with regular updates of water levels.  This one’s measuring the current depth of the Areyarwady River (formerly known as the Irrawaddy) in Myanmar.  We’re especially interested in the stretch between Bagan and Mandalay, because in just a couple of weeks from now, we’ll get on board and look forward to spending three lovely days on the Sanctuary Ananda as part of our adventures.

But our travel agent has warned us that the Areyarwady isn’t flowing quite so fast as the Am right now and there’s a chance that we might not be able to sail the whole way and might have to reach Mandalay by alternative means. So, I’m watching weather forecasts and wondering what to pack.

Myanmar Daily Weather Report

(Issued at 7:00 pm on Monday 2^nd March, 2015)

BAY INFERENCE: Weather is partly cloudy in the Andaman Sea and South Bay and generally fair elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.

FORECAST VALID UNTIL EVENING OF THE 3^rd March, 2015: Light rain or thundershowers are likely to be isolated in Taninthayi Region and Kachin State, weather will be partly cloudy in Upper Sagaing, Yangon and Ayeyarwady Regions, Kayin and Mon States and generally fair in the remaining Regions and States. Degree of certainty is (60%).

STATE OF THE SEA: Seas will be moderate in Myanmar waters.

OUTLOOK FOR SUBSEQUENT TWO DAYS: Likelihood of isolated light rain or thundershowers in the Northern Myanmar areas.

FORECAST FOR NAYPYITAW AND NEIGHBOURING AREA FOR 3^rd March, 2015: Generally fair weather.

FORECAST FOR YANGON AND NEIGHBOURING AREA FOR 3^rd March, 2015: Partly cloudy.

FORECAST FOR MANDALAY AND NEIGHBOURING AREA FOR 3^rd March, 2015: Generally fair weather.

Friends have suggested a pair of wellies.

Back to school

Yesterday morning, there I was in the bathroom with Radio 3 playing one minute and the next, I was back at school.  More accurately, I was standing in morning assembly listening to my music teacher and virtuoso organist play the most thrilling and memorable piece as the headmaster made his entrance.

Picture the scene.

Not only did I stop and listen to the whole piece on the radio, I came straight downstairs and played it over again on Spotify.  Magic!

Today I learned

all sorts of things.  Keeping my notebook close to hand and jotting down this and that throughout the day is a great exercise and though I’ve usually got a small book to hand with a pencil tucked inside, Shimelle’s class prompts me to pay a little more attention and take a few more notes.

For example, a conversation with a WI friend this morning gave me cause to investigate the Order of St Lazarus and St John and the Queenhithe Ward Club.  I was writing a report for our monthly newsletter about the lovely people we’ve entertained to lunch during the past month and of course, instantly learned a great deal from five minutes googling.

Would I feature this on my daily page?  Possibly.

But a little later on, I was in the kitchen listening to Radio 3 and heard Sarah Walker play Rameau’s La Poule.  She introduced it by stating it was her favourite piece of music featuring chickens.

Huh?

My hero and I mulled over this and considered alternatives, if indeed there were any?  The first one he came up with was the Funky Chicken or the Birdie Song and reacting quickly before this could be taken any further (please, use your imagination!) I was humming the tune I associated with chickens.

“You know, da da da-da da, da da da-da da, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo..” (as so on).

Well, I was up to my elbows in flour and sugar at the time, baking a birthday cake for a colleague to take to my meeting yesterday afternoon.

My hero sighed and realised I wasn’t going to leave it there.  He got out his iphone and looked for “chicken” on Spotify.  There appeared a long list of weird and totally offbeat answers, none of which bore any resemblance to the music I was thinking of.

“It’s by Debussy or Mussorgsky,” I said.  “Might be Pictures at an Exhibition.  you know…da da da-da da, da da da-da da, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo..”

One click and it was playing.  Baba Yaga’s Hut on Chicken Legs.

So, my page for today’s LSNED class features the story presented in the same format as I’m working in for this book.  The page is an envelope made from a magazine page (I think this was a photo of a staircase in a grand house), the brief journalling is printed onto a shipping label (happily acccepted by my HP printer if I whisper “epson” very quietly in its ear as I press the “print” button) and the full story on a card inside the envelope, together with any other ephemera from the day.  The picture is from a favourite film, Howls Moving Castle, which was loosely based on the Baba Yaga story.

What on earth will I learn today?!