A tale of two theatres
Two very different theatrical experiences over the weekend. In the first I knew what to expect, in the second less so. The first was a performance of my play, ‘The Door’ at the Keynes Library, Birkbeck’s School of Arts before a full, and enthusiastic, house. Naturally, I know the play intimately and also this production […]
Pied pipers
I had the pleasure of attending a show by years 3 and 4 of my granddaughter’s school today. The show was the Pied Piper, the production was fun, the children thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the audience. Not a tough audience but they deserved the applause. From the lad who always got left behind […]
Preparing for power. And for publication.
Where it all started Baildon Moor. Not strictly speaking where it all started of course. I was born in a nursing home on the edge of Saltaire, but Baildon Moor formed the backdrop to my early years and remains significant. It is also the backdrop to the early years of two of the characters in […]
Democracy Inaction
Image courtesy of Frank Doyle via Flickr Failure to represent Talking to a fellow dog walker this morning, I was reminded just how inadequate our elected bodies can be. We have a local issue which concerns a proposal to drill for oil on Leith Hill. The list of reasons why this is a bad idea […]
Looking forward – the planning conundrum
Photo courtesy of Yale Richmond; Creative Commons Spontaneous demonstrations A feature of some of the totalitarian societies which sprang up in the 20th century was the spontaneous demonstration in support of the leader, the party or the government. We were asked to believe that large numbers of people suddenly took into their heads to meet […]
Pianos, without which no house is complete?
Image courtesy of Iwan Gabrovitch and Flickr; Creative Commons Pianos and me I’ve been thinking about pianos. I’d hate to be without one, though admittedly the same applies to guitars and saxophones. The difference, I think, is that the piano sits in the main living room, or one of them, available for anyone to sit […]
Choices
Image courtesy of Dave Morrison Photography and Flickr: Creative Commons What to write… Speaking with others who blog it seems our main concern is the fear of running out of material. Not an issue this week, clearly. The post election political situation remains fascinating, the issues with President Trump continue to develop, and we have a […]
Etiquette, Politics, and Facebook
Image courtesy of Kevin Ott and Flickr; Creative commons. Permitted subjects over dinner It used to be said that polite dinner guests did not discuss sex, religion or politics. That might make the dinner party boring but at least you finish the evening with everyone on speaking terms. No such restrictions seem to be applied […]
Personal attacks and the ‘real’ world
Image courtesy of mariusz kluzniak and Flickr Creative Commons Margaret Thatcher I never thought I’d start a blog with that heading but it was Margaret Thatcher who insisted that personal attacks on political opponents merely demonstrated a lack of anything worthwhile to say, a lack of policies. Her current successor appears to have forgotten this but […]
That was the week that was
Rollercoasters – emotional and otherwise This week started with a big and joyous family Easter and ends with the completion of the next draft of the novel and the satisfaction of clicking send as it goes off for the next stage of the submission process with Valley Press. It’s a good feeling to get this […]