Gauguin Exhibition

15 Dec '10: We enjoyed a day in London, at the Tate Modern... rainy, cloudy and cold getting there, but the Tate Modern is always worth a visit - the restaurant is a great place to meet people even if you are not seeing the art exhibitions.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gauguin/
The exhibition is expertly curated, with a very clear range of Gauguin's paintings, drawings, woodcuts, pottery and sculpture, and supported by a lot of photos of contemporary Brittany, Tahiti or the Marquesas; and books, posters and letters from the time. The tour guides were adapted iPods with a good App on them that you can actually download from iTunes if you want to hear commentary on the paintings.

We also saw Ai WeiWei's  'Sunflower Seeds', the millions of tiny ceramic particles individually hand-painted by a team of chinese women. My idea is that they should allow Every visitor to have ONE seed, so part of the art idea is that we could see it go down slightly, and there would be no waste - it would be distributed to thousands, sorry, millions of homes, and continue to live somehow.

Buses
 The buses in London are really good, always friendly to wheelchair users. We only use buses as the London Tube is impossible for disabled access. Boris is mad to be trying to bring back rear entry buses, this is like 'war on the disabled'! The classic double decker bus is now the Leyland/Daimler one with front and centre entrance (and rear engine) and it has been evolving for 50 years everywhere else except London, and the proof of its excellence is that it is used in Hong Kong, home of the best public transport in the world. How can bringing back the early 20th Century 'London Routemaster' design be an improvement?
I know his motivation was to replace the Bendy Buses, but it must be said that Bendies are excellent on routes with long straight roads, and extremely good for disabled and elderly access - being a rail-less substitute for a tram. And as the standard double decker bus can only take one wheelchair or pushchair, there are often people left in the rain at bus stops because the bus already has one. This has happened to us sometimes, and today, we were the lucky ones on the bus, and a poor woman and child had to wait in the rain for the next bus to come by.
Boris's proposal for a new Routemaster will be absurdly expensive, and it still requires a side entrance for a single wheelchair, so no improvement there! Is it part of a Mayor's job to be inventing new types of bus that no other city in the world has found a necessity for? His motivation seems to be nostalgia.

Tall Building Students for lunch!

14 Dec '10: We invited the Tall Building students for lunch at Peveril. We couldn't do it earlier because the term has been so busy, and then we have some weeks of snow and icy roads making the house somewhat inaccessible.
It was a 'bring your own', so there was an interesting variety of food, and some students brought flowers - Thankyou!

One of the purposes was to discuss interseasonal storage, heat pumps, photovoltaic and underfloor heating all of which have some relevance to the high rise we are designing for New York.

Pre-Christmas at Wrington

12 December 2010: We plan to spend Christmas with Sophie in Norwich, so we did a short weekend visit to Oliver and Philippa in Wrington.

Bell's Walk is a welcoming house, not only for us but for many in Wrington	Oliver likes to make sure our tires and lights are in good condition before a long drive

Ruby is still in regular use

A night with Jools!

24 Nov '10: To the Royal Concert Hall for a wonderful evening with the big band of Jools Holland.... mostly we associate him with the small screen introducing other bands, but really, his own band is one of the most exciting you will ever hear - a genuine big band sound with great singers, pulsating excitement, and every member of the band an outstanding individual too.
  I never saw or heard Alison Moyet live before, but she now has another lifelong fan in me!

There were many songs in which the whole audience were standing up and dancing, it was very participatory. I bought a CD at the interval (right).
He is the most amazing pianist I have ever seen, his ability to allow any sound to pour out onto the keyboard, the ability to play very complex variations while looking around or aside, or singing.... there was a large screen above, so one had regular closeups of every thing that mattered.

The whole performance has to be repeated at Leicester the next day, and somewhere else the next, as the tour proceeds.... and yet somehow for Nottingham, Jools and the band brought a combination of freshness and smooth professionalism, and faultless display which made us feel that this is the first, final and bestest performance ever!

As a Postscript, I am highly complimented to discover that the official Jools Holland website master discovered the review and posted a link to this site! Thankyou very much, and good luck with the rest of the tour.

Merry Widow, by Opera North

16 Nov '10: We went to the Theatre Royal for the Opera North production of the Merry Widow, by Franz Lehar.

Unfortunately we bought these tickets a long time ago, and when Tuesday came round, we had Henry AND Sophie staying, the first time for a long time. And DNC had an invitation to be a panellist at a WB Ecohouses meeting on Renewable Technologies.
Never mind.... the Opera was great fun, and left us both humming all the way home.

More about it at:
http://www.operanorth.co.uk/events/merry-widow/

Henry and Sophie.... and?

16 Nov '10: We had our first meeting with Barney, Sophie's dog. He is a black retriever - what a wonderfully friendly young hound, he just loves human company. Unfortunately he is too excitable when he thinks Becks is around, so we have to be a bit careful to ensure that Becks has an escape route, through an opening too small for Barney - i.e. his catflap.
We were lucky to have both Sophie and Henry here at the same time.
    Henry has been thinking of changing job, so it has been a good chance to discuss it. We don't want him to move south (i.e. not visit us so often), but he has to do what is right for him.
 Sophie has been making good progress with her art classes on Saturdays (and homework between) and she brought some of her sketchbooks over.

Nottingham Contemporary

31 Oct '10: Here is the famous Zebra at Nottingham Contemporary. We went there to see an exhibition, but as I am completing this a year later, I can't remember the exhibition - Soviet Art, I think....

Frida, a most moving film

7 Nov '10: We went (with Adrian and Maureen Harms) to the Broadway cinema for a one-night-only showing of the film FRIDA, a wonderful representation of the life of the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.
What an extraordinary life, and so sad that she should achieve so much while suffering so much pain.

The Habit of Art

6 Nov '10: We went to the Theatre Royal for a performance of 'The Habit of Art' by Alan Bennett.
As a Play within a Play it was amusing and thought provoking, and I am glad I was able to google (at half time) some info on Auden and Brittain.
Here's the National Theatre page about it.

I remember Malcolm Sinclair (right) taking the lead part in Peer Gynt in the heat wave of 1976, at the Nottingham Playhouse. Actually, his acting is so good, you forget he is acting, he just seems to be the character. Desmond Borritt was playing the part of a sort of 'Ralph Richardson' character who is rather weary of it all, and declaims to the auditorium.

Nottingham Contemporary

31 Oct '10: We decided to go to the Nottingham Contemporary for lunch - there is the major exhibition of British contemporary that does a circuit of the UK, starting in Nottingham.
Yes, that is a Zebra you see, standing by the entrance - he is encouraging us to enter!
We had lunch, although they still have coffee cups that are far too thick and far too small!

Robert Dobbie Birthday party

25 Oct 10: We travelled down to Ashford, Middlesex for Robert's 70th birthday party, taking Flo Cole with us (from Lenton Hall). Good drive both ways. Robert is my oldest cousin (on the Dickey side), and we see Robert and Jane quite frequently. It was the first chance to meet Carol and Stuart Henderson since about 1975, and Charles Dobbie since about 1989. Desmond Cole was also there with Felix. Henry and Carol joined us from Woking.
 We feel privileged to be there for Robert's special occasion, and thankful that he made it, considering his serious operation of about 3 years ago.

Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe

2 Oct '10: We went to Royal Concert Hall to see a dance performance by Alvin Ailey dance troupe of New York, who have now been evolving dance for 50 years or more. AA himself died in 1989, but the rest have kept it going with some good artistic directors.
  The first section was a succession of dances based on soul music, with references to contemporary life in New York. The second section was more rhythmic with a lot of instrumental music.  The final section was very affecting as it was based on negro spirituals, and it made one think of the sufferings of the africans who were brought over in hulks to be slaves, never to return - and yet, despite the white version of christianity that permitted them to be enslaved (based on the Old Testament), the form that developed with the slaves, being mostly New Testament in nature, seems more sincere.

Field trip to London 1 oct, for tall building students

1 October '10: DNC went to London with Phil and the 25 students of the Tall Buildings module. It rained all day, but the buildings were good, especially the Broadgate tower... we went up to the 17th and 21st floors. In this photo from the Building Centre, there is a giant model of central London, with new buildings and even proposed buildings displayed.
  We started with the Building Centre, moved to the Broadgate tower, lunch at Liverpool St Station, then walked down Bishopsgate past Heron Tower to the Swiss Re and Lloyds and Leadenhall. Then got the tube from Bank to Canary Wharf for the rest of the day.
More about the London trip in postings on the MArch STB website.

Stomp - a hit with us

22 Sept 2010: We went to see Stomp at the Theatre Royal.
See this YouTube clip for an idea of what its about!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu15Ou-jKM0

Wonderful stuff, and one's head is filled with resolutions to learn how to play the spoons or the bucket or just make noises with one's hands, but fortunately these are soon forgotten, or the neighbours would have no peace!

Cycle ride to commemorate Luke Day

May 29: As a wonderful act of commemoration of Luke, 17 brave friends of Sophie and Luke cycled from Walney Island near Barrow to the Wear rivermouth at Sunderland over the Bank holiday weekend.
See Sophie's album of photos on Facebook.
They kept us entertained along the way with regular text or Facebook updates (until Henry fell in a ford and dunked his iPhone, which was dried out a couple of days later).

The Tan Hill Inn is the highest point on the route.

All arrived safely at the North Sea, near Sunderland.

Architecture Ball

13 May : Following an interim crit of the Tall Buildings group, it was the Architects' Ball, at Colwick Hall. Plenty of last year's and last semester's tall building students were there, but I fear that we have tired out our present group as only 4 were at the ball (three of them pictured).

Pictured: DNC, Aurelia, Rain and Ben

Bike ride to Attenborough

23 April : We have family staying, and the garage is full of bicycles and the decks are being cleared for Sally's birthday party on Sunday.

During the afternoon, daughter Sophie and DNC went for a 30 kilometre bike ride - some things are more important than mucking about with drills, screwdrivers and wire! Quality time! We went to Attenborough Nature reserve and back, along the Trent.

I rode on Henry's bike, a 'Specialised', and my daughter has a similar bike - so seemed like an easy ride - and during the afternoon, my son took my bike (a 30yr old Dawes) and gave it a thorough service.

Walkabout in Holme Pierrepont

18 April: We decided to make a visit to the white water rafting course in Holme Pierrepont - we actually went down this in boats back in about 1991.

I had a nostalgic moment seeing the Nottingham sailing club nearby of which I used to be a member... but after about 5 years, I didn't stay because the winds along the Trent are so fickle, and I made the mistake of selling my Laser dinghy. So it has been windsurfing (occasionally) since then.

Sunny weekend in March

A lovely sunny weekend at the end of March has preceded a horrible cold week of rain to follow (with blizzards in the north). On Sunday 28th, the PV roof panels and the sunboxes on the south wall both did splendidly - each taking nearly 15 kWhrs from the sun and sending either to the grid or into the ground!

We took a trip into town, and enjoyed seeing the Red Star exhibition in the Nottingham Contemporary, the Nottingham Eye in Market Square, and finished at the Vienna Restaurant for a late carvery lunch!

Hedda Gabler

28 March 10: We had Theatre Royal tickets for Hedda Gabler, starring Rosamund Pike.
As one always does with tragedies, one can't help thinking 'Why can't they just be nice to each other', but of course it wouldn't be a tragedy if they did that! Tragedies are mostly about personality flaws coinciding towards a fatal ending - Hedda has plenty of those.
I remember almost every word, as we did it in English in about 1965 (taking turns to read it through) - I had a very good teacher called Crawley who loved reading through plays with us - we did Hedda, and quite a few Bernard Shaw plays too.

Oliver Perks 90th birthday

Feb 13: We had a very large family gathering to celebrate Oliver Perks 90th birthday - it was held at the White Hart in Wrington, with champagne starter, a toast to the birthday boy, some speeches, and then a very good birthday lunch.
Backrow: DNC, Daniel, Henry, Oliver, Libby, Ange,
Middle row: Carol, Phil, Paul, Alex, Fran, Rose, Chris, Hugo,
Frontrow: Jack, Sophie P, Rachel, Philippa, Rosemary, Judith, Sophie D,
Seated: Sally NC.

Tragedy Strikes

Jan 19: Monday morning, we had a terrible phone call from daughter Sophie in Aswan to say that her husband Luke, our beloved son-in-law, was drowned in a nocturnal felucca boat capsize in the Nile during a freak electric thunderstorm. This is an indescribable loss, and it's difficult to write more on this.
We spent all Monday on the phone either to her, or to her insurance people or to the British embassy, or the hotel in Aswan, arranging for her return. I booked a flight to Cairo because she had lost her passport, but then she had one bit of luck which is that locals found all the luggage and passports and returned them.
By Tuesday we had Sophie back in England, and Henry brought her up from Heathrow.

If there was a deity who could talk or listen, what bargain would one strike to reverse time and change the result?

Winter sports at Sharp hill

Winter sports at Sharp hill just behind our house - viewed through the scaffolding. The light is so good (was full moon at new year, the yells of the children go on late into the night. What fun! (I am tempted to try out that old plastic toboggan in the garage.... )