24 Nov 2012: Oh dear, It has been a long time since my last posting in May and we have done so much, including our holiday in Limoges in August. Maybe I should go back and fill in some gaps!

Don Giovanni from the Opera North website

We went to the Theatre Royal to see Mozart's Don Giovanni, by Opera North. The music is always good, and we quite enjoyed the innovative staging, the metaphor of the puppet show, the historically mixed costumes and even the 'pig' scene later.
Opera North page about the production
Interview with Claire Wild, the soprano who plays Zerlina.
As a little story, we turned up to the Theatre exactly a week earlier and were escorted to our seats by the usher, but found them full. The lack of an orchestra was a clue. We had come a full week too early and were about to watch 'Horrible Histories'!

Food and Drink at Hardwick

27 May 2012: The Sunday after a week of continuous sunshine, I went to do time on the Sharphill work party in the morning, clearing undergrowth from around some newly planted infant-trees, mostly on the fringes of the wood. 

The Peveril Solar house, seen from the pathway up to Sharp Hill. A sea of yellow rapeseed flowers.

 Sharphill wood is typical Nottinghamshire forest, with sunny glades and not overcrowded trees. This doesn't come totally naturally, work has been done on cutting out invasive species. I wish people wouldn't be so hard on Sycamore, but the argument is that a strong non indigenous species drives out the older species.

 We took the M1 up to Hardwick Hall, to see the Derbyshire Food and Drink festival 2012. Very well organised and attended, and plenty of stalls with food to graze from. Where did all the money go! :)
In this picture, there was an impressively shiny Airstream caravan as a coffee bar.

Rose birthday at Hebden Bridge

6th May 2012: We travelled to Yorkshirt, to take part in Sally's sister Rose's birthday celebration. It was at La Perla in Hebden Bridge, and a fine time was has by all - great food and a superb band.

The band 'Mean Business', originally called Doris and the Dinner Ladies. Excellent all round, the brass, the vocals, drumming and guitar. A great repertoire too.

 Rose and Paul in the foreground. MB really got people up and dancing!

Paul makes a small speech at the start to wish Rose a happy birthday. Thanks for organising such a splendid birthday party!

See below for some links to Youtube for some of the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN1sA61Gdko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ6pMVoqy00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOOA__CGXOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGi9Nzpv3Zg

One amusing observation: we stayed at the White Lion in the centre of Hebden Bridge. We have heard the 'urban myth' that HB is the 'gay capital' of Yorkshire.... well, perhaps that is right. The TV in the hotel room was only able to tune into two stations. Channel 1 and 2 which should be BBC were Gay Rabbit1 and Gay Rabbit2 !!
Something needs to be done about the 3G reception there! It was a relief to get back to Nottingham and some good phone reception. 

Mary Shelley

28 April 2012: We had dinner with the Harms and went on to the Nottingham Playhouse for the play Mary Shelley, by Helen Edmundson. Very powerful and moving, and urged me to read up on the true story. Mary Shelley is famous as the writer of Frankenstein (at the age of 18). People with such powerful and creative minds always seem destined to suffer tragedy. On the face of it, Shelley seems to be in the wrong, seducing and eloping with an infatuated teenager... but without it, some great literature might never have been created. Its possible to find the entire text of Frankenstein on line, and the other books if you look a bit harder.

Find out more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley

http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shelleybio.html

Here's the site from the theatre company Shared Experience, about their production of Mary Shelley.

Tall Building Students visit

3 April 2012: The term has ended, and we took the earliest opportunity to have a social gathering. Most of the Tall Building studio made it over to our house in West Bridgford for an extended lunch. As usual, everybody brought a little something to eat, so there was plenty to go around. Some of the students are looking forward to a New York field trip. Everybody is relieved to have got past the end of term crit. There are a few weeks now to recharge batteries, think about dissertation, and reflect on ways to advance the design project.

 Veronica, Phil, Sayali, Rishika, Zuzar, Udayan

DNC, Wezha, Ronssi, Noura, Deepika, Pelin and Alejandro

Norma by Opera North

25 Feb 2012: We went to the Theatre Royal to see the opera Norma by Bellini.

Picture of Norma from Opera North website

I have a mixed reaction to it. The music is wonderful, I am told it's a fine example of Bel Canto (very elaborate singing) and it was certainly that - it was amazing to hear the sounds that Norma was able to produce, and I recommend anybody to do some research on YouTube to see examples of Callas or Sutherland performing Casta Diva, the greatest song of the opera.
  We felt that the story was lousy, or perhaps it didn't come across well to us in the production. The idea that the high priestess would have had a long love affair with the Roman pro-consul and have two boy children and nobody would know of this secret (while she is busy declaring war on the Romans) seemed absurd. The entire plot hinge on the fact that the roman was a serial seducer who should have had his arse kicked very early on. Of course, without plots like these, opera would not exist, I have often felt this about opera - Rigoletto is another example of lousy plots. I suppose it was thought in late 18th and early 19th century that you could fall in love with a mere glance, but the idea that this could lead to such major tragedy just annoys modern people.
  Still.... wonderful music!
 The soprano, Annemarie Kremer, in the Opera North production was quite brilliant, but for the ultimate, see the video on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ2L_B7VOWs
See some clips of the opera North production with an interview with Annemarie. She is Dutch, and the whole opera is sung in the original Italian:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1A1OojEcqc
Looking at these clips, I appreciate it more, and enjoy the acting and music and worry less about the story!

Fringford meeting

15 Jan 2012: Fringford in Oxfordshire is better known as Candleford in the Larkrise to Candleford books and TV series, although I confess to never having watched it, and didn't know this when we booked a lunch at the Butchers Arms in Fringford. It is halfway between Nottingham and Southampton. We didn't meet Henry and Carol over Xmas due to distance and things, so this was a late Xmas dinner, hence the red hat.
  I would recommend it in future, a fine carvery meal, with nice veggies too, easy to find, ample parking and a good atmosphere.
  There was the most unbelievable percentage of houses in Fringford with solar photovoltaic panels, either up or currently being put up (scaffolding still up). Apparently, a housing association owns several of the houses, so this is a combined effort - although they seem to have missed the December 2011 deadline for the higher tariff.