Just watched the drama based on the story of Mo Mowlem, a lady who commanded so much respect from people across the political and religious divides. Played by Julie Walters, it was a moving and sometimes difficult programme to watch, but it brought back memories of the deep affection that so many people had for her. She was able to put her views to one side in an effort to try and broker an agreement, sometimes with people who she perhaps felt repelled by. Perhaps this has answered my previous post? Whilst I felt the programme took a little while to get going, and I felt it was missing some background, the last hour was compelling, and beautifully acted. I suspect that there will be a BAFTA or two headed in its direction, and a good job too. I’m sure it also made interesting viewing for some of Dr Mowlem’s colleagues at the time, and gave a reminder that it is difficult to expect friendships in politics.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Dealing with other opinions
A couple of times in recent days, I have found myself musing over a problem that I’m sure everyone has to deal with from time to time. What do you do, when someone you know, and perhaps like, comes out with a statement that either disgusts or repulses you? What if you are getting along with someone fine, and then they come out with something you find repugnant such as racism? This has happened recently to a friend of mine, who recently met someone who they thought they might get on with, only to find this person referring to people as “Pakis”. Now my friend tried to level this with the circumstances of the person in question, but is that acceptable? I have recently added several “friends” on Facebook, who, it would appear are such a long way from me politically, that I think I might find it hard to have a conversation with them, without it ending in tears. So what to do? Should I delete away? I think I might have to. I regularly get told to ignore people...but I also think that if you do not challenge them, then they will continue to spout this nasty crap. However, does that make me like one of those terrible born again types who try to convert everyone? In addition to this...what do I do about the less clear cut cases? There are friends of mine who are out and out Tories....Now if we talk politics, we invariably fall out, So I avoid it...but what if my ideology is so far from theirs? Does this mean it is impossible to be close to them? After all...I find it very hard to respect someone with views I detest....
Not sure I have the answer
Friday, 29 January 2010
Book Number one
Some time ago, I met half of my family for the first time, and said goodbye to the other half for the last time. It was a traumatic, life changing period of my life, and one that became a turning point in many ways. I started to try and make sense of everything, and as a result, I suppose I was trying to make sense of me. Anyway, to the point of this post. I started to write my life story for want of a better description. It was really an exercise in self analysis rather than anything else, but it worked as a good form of therapy at the time, along with the real therapy of course. Now, I tucked it all away, in what I thought was a semi finished state, and forgot all about it up until today. I read an article about self publishing, and found a few interesting companies...One of these does a nifty little online application (and yes...you guessed it..an iPhone app too), so I uploaded what I had written so far, and was surprised to see that I had written over 30,000 words. This is roughly four or five chapters short of being finished. Now, having re-read some of it, I am wondering of one last push might be worthwhile. I’m also wondering whether anyone would bother to read it, or more importantly I suppose, find it interesting. I feel I ought to make the effort really.
Iraq
Without seeing the whole enquiry, it is difficult to pass too much comment, but the “Blair Day” has been interesting more for the coverage than the content. As with all enquiries, it is easy to avoid answering questions in order to get your point across, and of course, politicians are good at it. I am more interested with the spin that the media are putting on it. There is a noticeable degree of bile being aimed in Blair’s direction. I am not necessarily against this, but it has struck me very clearly today.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
VNC
For my more geeky readers, I have been playing with VNC today...it stands for Virtual Network Computing. Basically, there is a rather superb little app for the iPhone (Yawn...here he goes again talking about that bloody iPhone) that gives you full remote access to a PC of your choice. This basically means that I can gain remote access to all of my files etc from anywhere. Now the possibilities of this seemed endless, and...well...I like a bit of a geeky challenge. I started this process at about 9.00pm, and here I sit four hours later bathing in my own triumph, after much frustration. After learning all about port forwarding and reconfiguring routers, I can now see my PV screen from the iPhone. I wonder if I will use this at all?
In other news, we have now made some more decisions about our major production in 2011...watch this space for further details.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Useful App
I downloaded an app for the iPhone called Trailguru. It basically uses the GPS facility of the phone to establish a trail on which you are walking. I tend to walk the same one of three routes each day, and up until now have only guessed at the distance. It is what appears to be a long walk around muddy fields, and I guessed about 1 and a half miles. Well Trailguru managed to tell me that it was 2.2 miles and I did it in 35 minutes...at an average speed of 3.4 mph!! How funny
A play wot I am riting
So I have changed my mind about something I’m writing. I’ve found that I need some spark of inspiration before I really get going, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has this requirement. With the “Urban Hymns” play, I have started to become frustrated with the limitations I have put upon myself by using one artist; The Verve, as inspiration. So using the title, I have decided to continue with the project but use other music as an influence too. I’ve been listening to the wonderful Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, and some of the characters seem to leap out of songs and onto the pages....though I should be careful to point out that this is stimulus rather than plagiarism. I will visit The Smiths and Suede next, and then perhaps something from the Clash. I am now listening to things that I wouldn’t usually. Stimulus is something that you will hear drama teachers banging on about all the time, and whilst I have always understood it, I have not really been able to practically apply it in any project I am doing. Ultimately, we tend to do mainly script work, so this project is a departure for me on several levels. It has also got me thinking about future projects, and the ideas are flowing thick and fast, but I am determined to get one thing done at a time, and not end up with 101 things left half finished. This will probably be the biggest challenge....All good fun. Writing is now becoming a habit rather than a one off, which is good, and my decision to write every day has just about been met, and only seemed like a chore once I think. Once we get into really busy times, with house moves and shows, I suspect it might become a little more difficult, but I shall persevere.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
iPhone - Review
Well I have had a good few days with which to play with and generally try to break my iPhone, so thought I would write my thoughts, especially in the light of a possible purchase of one by a friend of mine, “Young Missy Pops”.
It is without doubt, a stunning gadget. The screen is crystal clear, and the touch screen is excellent. I was concerned that my rather large fingers would struggle with the screen, but after a couple of days, it has become second nature. I have the 3GS model, and the reaction speed is stunning by comparison to the Nokia N95, which seems positively archaic now. The set up is simple enough through the dreaded iTunes, and I was up and running within a few minutes. I dislike iTunes intensely so this was a chore, but I have found iTunes to be of more use to me with an app called remote, which basically gives me access to my PC with all my music on it. It turns the iPhone into a remote control, and gives my control over iTunes from anywhere in the house, thus giving me a very cheap version of Sonos, which is fantastic. The email set up is excellent, the Safari Browser more than adequate and the Ipod facilty superb as ever. I was extremely impressed with the Camera, which surprised me. The N95 had a 5 mp camer, this is only 3mp, but the quality and clarity is quite excellent. The Video is also very good indeed. The list of apps available is quite astonishing, but once you have waded through the crap, there are not as many as you might think. Rather than wade through the app store, I would recommend searching for top apps on google and finding some lists. The following are essential for me; Facebook, Tweetdeck, The Guardian (Paid app), Sky Sports Football scores, Wordpress, Pic Posterous, Shakespeare, Spotify, Remote, Evernote. I am going to try”Trailguru” later which tells me distances and routes I have walked, and will help with the old fitness regime I hope. Basically, it is difficult to recommend apps, unless you know the person to which you are trying to recommend, but the above are all excellent, and free apart from the Guardian. Criticism? Well the battery is the major issue. A full days use for me needs more than one charge, so I am investigating battery packs and Juice packs as we speak, but when you consider how much I can do with it, then there can be no surprise in terms of the amount of charge it requires. It was a gamble really, as I entered into a contract for two years, but it is a decision I am glad I made. The only downside is having my eldest say “I told you so” every ten minutes!
Monday, 25 January 2010
Today's walk
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Another Sunday...another Walk
I was accompanied by youngest on today’s hike through the Bedfordshire countryside. Tried a few shots with the iPhone camera, and was quite pleased with the results by comparison to the Nokia. We have been enjoying a quiet and relaxed weekend for the first time in ages, and I think we all needed it. I fancy an early night with a good book tonight, but suspect that might not happen.
I have been trying to tidy up my ridiculously large music collection on the PC today, which is a job I think might take forever! I shall persevere though.
Hopefully the house will be on the market within a few days, so I suspect that things might start moving fairly quickly as a result. Updates as and when!
Friday, 22 January 2010
Back to the old methods
I am blogging using the old fashioned method of typing on a keyboard today.
In the course of writing my current project I have been doing a little bit of research into HIV/AIDS, and I am shocked at how shocked I have been. I remember the original “Don’t Die of Ignorance” campaign, and the furore surrounding the “Gay Plague” nonsense of the tabloids. My experience was one of being fairly close to the gay community at the time, and being impressed at the reaction to the virus, and the changes in habits and lifestyles, but in many cases it was tragically too late, and many of them have now left us. So the fact that I was around at the start of this, and remember it so clearly, couple with the fact that I read the newspapers still should mean that I cannot still be shocked by this surely. Well you would have thought so , but there are two levels that have shocked me. Firstly some of the estimated figures for HIV infection worldwide. I read from one source that it is at least 35 million that they know of. In trying to comprehend this, I realised that it represented half the UK population, adult and child.
Here are some figures courtesy of AIDS charity Avert (www.avert.org)
Global HIV/AIDS estimates, end of 2008
The latest statistics of the global HIV and AIDS were published by UNAIDS in November 2009, and refer to the end of 2008.
Estimate Range
People living with HIV/AIDS in 2008 33.4 million 31.1-35.8 million
Adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2008 31.3 million 29.2-33.7 million
Women living with HIV/AIDS in 2008 15.7 million 14.2-17.2 million
Children living with HIV/AIDS in 2008 2.1 million 1.2-2.9 million
People newly infected with HIV in 2008 2.7 million 2.4-3.0 million
Children newly infected with HIV in 2008 0.43 million 0.24-0.61 million
AIDS deaths in 2008 2.0 million 1.7-2.4 million
Child AIDS deaths in 2008 0.28 million 0.15-0.41 million
More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.
Africa has over 14 million AIDS orphans.
At the end of 2008, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide
In developing and transitional countries, 9.5 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 4 million (42%) are receiving the drugs.
Once I started to think of every other person I know or pass in the street, then it gave a little perspective. The other facet that shocked me was the levels of cynicism and ignorance that still exist.
Perhaps I should be disappointed in myself for not knowing this, or perhaps letting it slip from my mind. After all, I live in a leafy little village, that really doesn’t seem to have been affected by HIV/AIDS on the surface. In the 80’s it was a gay plague, for all the world, were you to believe the papers today it is now an exclusively African disease.
Not exactly a cheerful blog, but if nothing else, it is good to prick the conscience and remind yourself occasionally
Thursday, 21 January 2010
IPhone typing
iPhone
So the little shiny box of joy has arrived, and I am currently updating and personalising and trying to ignore fatuous additions to it and keep it as uncluttered as possible. How long will this last? Not long I suspect. I shall be using it mainly as a phone, which might seem weird, but that, as our American cousins might say, is how I roll. I have discovered that when you plug it in, it automatically adds all the apps that your eldest daughter uses on her iPhone, which I have now cleared off. Hopefully it will now load my apps onto her phone to see how she likes it. I have not been brave enough to attempt to blog from it just yet, but will do so I’m sure
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Cold Calling Part Two
Dear Ahmed
You are a very polite, well mannered man, who, if you don’t mind my saying, is a credit to his parents. It is however, with a hint of remorse, that I feel I have to be just ever so slightly critical of your decision to phone me this morning. Proud though I am, to be seen as such an important cog in the wheel of your Loft Insulation empire, I was surprised to find out that my telephone conversations with the lovely Chris yesterday had been subject to so much scrutiny. You were able to confirm to me, with a clarity and accuracy that took my breath away, exactly every syllable of every word I uttered. I was, and remain, impressed that my words exacted such inspiration in you, Chris, and your as yet unnamed manager, who was listening in to today’s conversation. I shall of course heed your advice, and I will try my hardest to refrain from using profanity, especially as it seems to have upset Chris to the extent, that I understand our relationship might be on the rocks. I can only seek solace in the fact that you have chosen not to take action on Chris, as he suffered such gross provocation from little old foul mouthed me. I will happily accede to your request that I try to think of the person’s feelings whilst carrying out their very important Insulation based tasks. I am rightly proud to have had the chance to talk to you all, when you have such important work to do. I also humbly apologise, for once again, accidently, and only slightly, using the vagina word again. It just slipped out when I felt that you were not quite clear as to the fact that I didn’t really want Loft insulation, and that despite your best efforts, it was a bit of a gamble to think I may have changed my mind within a week. However, should your boss wish to call me tomorrow once you have studied the tapes, I will be only too happy to compare him to various anatomical parts, of his choice if you like, I am, after all, your servant.
With love and Kisses
Mr Plug xxx
Hypnofail
I entirely failed to listen to any Hypnosis stuff last night, and, I slept very badly. I wonder if this is just a coincidence bearing in mind my nocturnal nature, or whether there is a link. I did start this little experiment off with a cynical approach if I am being entirely honest, but in the interests of fairness I feel I should be as open minded as I can be. The lack of sleep might be down to the fact that I drank too much coffee yesterday and also strained my back putting boxes away in the loft? I will need to hypnotise myself to ignore all stimulants, and heavy lifting to ensure the fairness of this highly scientific experiment.
Whoop Whoop - Geek Alert
Well happy Wednesday to all my readers. We start the day with the faint promise of snow, which I hope remains as unfulfilled as my dream to play for Tottenham is. Eldest is doing her Science GCSE today, which took me back to the first time I did a GCSE, or “O Level” as it was called back then. It was English Language, and the night before we had an almighty storm. I remember the combination of the storm, and the noisy neighbour feud that we had somehow got ourselves embroiled in left me feeling all bleary eyed and unprepared. I got a B, which back then was pretty good, and this was my last experience of getting exam results and feeling anything other than horror. I was sent on my way with the hopes and dreams of the whole family on my shoulders at exam time, and it genuinely felt tremendously nerve wracking. Today, we packed eldest off in a calm way, almost as if it were any other day. Is this because we are super confident of her abilities, or just a sign that exams are devalued? Obviously, if I suggest the latter, it also devalues all the hard work that her and her friends have clearly been putting in , but it does make me wonder about the standards. Perhaps the standard of teaching has rocketed to the extent that kids are just better prepared? Anyway, I await a text for the usual “It went OK” missive.
I have taken the plunge into the world of the “iPhone”. I took the plunge with an upgrade yesterday, and await my shiny little black box of wonderment with equal measures of excitement and foreboding. I am a bit of a geek at heart, and have always had a lot of love for PCs and the Internet in general. I have played with a Mac once or twice, but have always favoured the PC. This is not an anti Apple thing, it’s the comfortable pair of slippers thing. Now couple with this, I have pretty much always been a Nokia person as far as phones go as well, so this is a pretty major decision to take for me. I am concerned that if I don’t enjoy the experience that I am trapped in this contract for 2 years with no hope of breaking out of it without donating internal organs and the keys to my house. I am also concerned that I will find myself part of the “Smug iPhone owners club”. Charlie Brooker has written about it far more eloquently than I ever could, but in essence, I think anyone reading this will know what I mean. I think it is summed up by the auto signature that both iPhone and Blackberry users have. You know the one “This message was sent from my iPhone”....Ooooohhh was it? Oooohh aren’t you clever???!!! I’m SO jealous!!!! What that message actually says is one of two things; 1) I am so inadequate that I feel the need to boast about a phone or 2) I don’t know how to remove this standard signature. I await mine with interest, pretty much certain that now I have written this, I will not be able to remove that message for at least a year. I have also, so far, avoided the temptation to start looking at the myriad of useless “Apps” that will transform my life, and if I am being entirely honest, it’s been a struggle not to look. I think I may be teetering on the brink of uber-geekdom. However, if anyone catches me pretending that my phone is a Star Wars Light Sabre, you have my full permission to kill me.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Mr Cold Caller
Dear Mr Cold Caller (Chris)
It is heartening, even heart warming to know that in spite of the fact that I have joined the Telephone Preference service, you still choose me to speak to quite as regularly as you do. I am honoured, and even slightly humbled, that the mere fact that what you are doing is technically illegal, you still find it within yourself to brighten my day up with all your flirtatious chatter about loft insulation. You certainly know how to get a man going. 43 years of heterosexuality nearly went straight out of the window as you chose to ignore my requests to be left alone on four occasions this week. It is of course with deep regret that I took your call this afternoon, whereby you explained your distress at the way I spoke to you earlier. I thought it was all part of our deep courtship ritual whereby you continually irritated me until I exploded in a rather childish and petulant way, and not only cast aspersions as to the exact identity of your parents, but also used a very bad word that means vagina. The fact that you ended up phoning me to complain, perhaps explains the depths of my embarrassment for this unwarranted outburst. Rest assured, that no matter how much of a vagina I think you are, I promise that I will never tell you outright ever again, that would just spoil the romance wouldn’t it?
Happy Birthday Pops
Well Tuesday has started off pleasantly, in that I spoke to my very dear friend who is celebrating his birthday today, and I do not hear his voice enough. I am very excited about seeing him in a few weeks time, along with Mrs Pops of course.
I will spend the day with the continuation of the house clearing, and will spend a bit of time on dog walking as well.
I would like to get down to some serious writing as well, but I am finding the work of the crazymakers continues to impinge upon my good nature and most importantly my time. I shall be watching this situation very carefully for the next few weeks to ensure that I am making the best use of my time, as well as allowing for the possibility that I may have to inflict bile and nastiness in the general direction of aforementioned idiots.
The hypnosis continues, but as yet, I have not found any difference in my attitude towards, well.....just getting on with it. I see this blog as part of my working day, for reasons outlines before, but I continue to struggle to focus on anything for any length of time without drifting off somewhere. Perhaps I just need to accept that particular facet of my personality and continue as I always do? I shall persevere, and see what comes out of it, if for no other reason than the very future of hypnosis could rely on the outcome.
I am waiting for the postman to deliver a book on Dyslexia by Robert Langston, who was suggested to me by a lady called Rachel upon this very blog. Quite apart from the fact that I am looking forward to reading it and trying to apply any advice to my youngest, it is also quite thrilling that someone I do not know took the time to not only read this blog, but spend time replying in such a way. It fascinates me that people continue to describe the Internet as a tool of prevarication and pornography (or both) when there are so many worthwhile things going on as well.
You are sleeping
How I love my Tuesdays. Because of the unusual nature of my working week, the only way I can describe Tuesday is my “Half a weekend”. Of course it rarely pans out to be a restful day in front of the telly, but it does have a more relaxed feel to it, and I do find I can take my time over the cooking, and the dog walking etc as I do not have a session to run off to. This is always a good thing. So I sit here in anticipation of a thoroughly relaxing and artistic Tuesday, in the full knowledge that it almost certainly will not be.
My regular readers will of course be on the edge of their seats with anticipation as to how the hypnosis went. Well I gave it the best chance I could to work. The technique appears to be fairly standard, and I wish I hadn’t read quite so much about it in the first place, because I found myself analysing what the man was doing rather than actually trying to relax. On the other hand, I have to report that if nothing else, it was a very pleasant experience, and one which I shall be repeating. Whether this particular course will work, and I will stop my prevarication, I have my doubts, but I shall persevere, as if nothing else, it is a nice relaxation technique, and as someone who has difficulty being able to switch off, it might be useful. I also listened to the first part of a series that promises to teach me conversational French in just 12 hours...this is a challenge I must try!
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Look into my eyes....
In the course of my reading, research etc, I have discovered the wonderful world of hypnosis and self help recordings. A wide ranging set of different types of this particular genre now sits eagerly on my hard drive and are slowly making their way to my IPod for dog walks and night-time listening. There are a myriad of reasons why one might want to listen to these things, and currently I am trying to choose between learning French or attracting men. In all seriousness, one or two of them have been fascinating, in particular the Derren Brown ones. I have long admired the man, and I do so even more now. I listened to his recording on hypnosis, which was fascinating and informative, and whilst I cannot see myself ever hypnotising anyone, there were certainly some great insights into controlling an audience, and informing an audience which is always useful as an actor, but I think even more so as a Director. After all, what is a director trying to do that a hypnotist isn’t really? Of course I am not talking about the end of the pier hypnotist that persuades people to sexual abuse chair legs for the amusement of the audience, but more the hypnotherapist side of things. I will be trying out one or two little techniques over the next few weeks to see if my theories are correct and will report back. I also have one recording which will apparently hypnotise me and turn me into a proactive non-lazy person. I am desperately trying not to crack a joke about not being bothered to listen to it. I will however, listen to the whole thing in a while under the prescribed conditions, and report back tomorrow. It promises to help me to avoid prevarication, which will be a miracle if it achieve one step on a marathon of a journey in that direction.
In other news, my new found Woody Allen obsession is in full flow, and I am working my way through Manhattan at the moment. What a brilliant film it is. It is so beautifully shot in black and white that I genuinely think I could enjoy it with the sound off. I think I may have under estimated Woody Allen in the past as someone who just makes me laugh occasionally, and missed out on so much. I am trying to work my way though all of his films now, which will take some time, but I am loving the experience and I think learning a fair bit too.
The House is well on the way to being ready for Sale, so this week should start with tidying and finish with me getting on with some serious work, which I am looking forward to. I don’t think I have started a new year and continued it in such a positive outlook before, and I am rather enjoying it. I’m not sure what has happened, but I like it, and want to keep it like this.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Dumb Waiter
I was astounded last night, by the rudest waiter I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. We have always enjoyed the food and the service at the local Curry House, but last night this obnoxious little oaf ruined what was an otherwise enjoyable evening. We were accompanied by four people between the ages of 10 and 19, and I can only imagine that he either disliked young people, or took an instant dislike to us. At one point he asked another waiter to deal with us as he “Couldn’t deal with us”. I am usually quite bolshy in situations like this, but didn’t want to cause a scene and spoilt the mood. Quite how this man thought he was “Serving” us I am not sure, but I shall be popping in on Monday to complain about it.
We have spent the day recovering from last night, painting, cleaning and generally clearing up for the move. The In-Laws came to help, and we have had a productive day. I am going to attempt to watch another Woody Allen film tonight rather than the mindless pap that is currently being served up on the television. Manhattan for me I think.
Friday, 15 January 2010
Up the Passage..........to India
I’ve been looking forward to today all week. I have a day of writing planned and then a session, and then a night out at the local curry house. As is traditional at Plug Acres after mention of a curry, I am now wandering the house singing the infernal “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby” by the Kaiser Chiefs. This is of course an homage to the wonder that is Rhyming slang, something that, as a Londoner, I feel I am not really embracing as fully as I ought. Ruby is short for Ruby Murray, that rhymes with Curry. I am not sure who Ruby Murray is, but I feel sure that writing will be prevaricated upon in order for me to research this vital fact in order that I may regale our guests with it later.
Writing-wise, I have been spending a little time this week watching “Annie Hall”. I have never actually watched it all the way through, so it was a real pleasure to find out that it really was as good as everyone said. Some fascinating little devices that have been imitated since, but never quite equalled in my opinion. I shall shamelessly steal a few ideas for my play.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Contact from the past
I awoke to find a friend request on Facebook from a very old and cherished friend who I have not seen for 20 years. It really brightened the day for me, thinking about him, and raised many happy memories from when life seemed so much simpler. He seems to have led a quite similar life to me in terms of when he had kids, and changing lifestyles in our 40s, the only difference being that his last 20 years have been spent in New Zealand. He is one of just a small handful of people I miss from back then really, and I truly hope we can meet up at some point in the not too distant future. For now, I will have to put up with the prospect of a long distance Social Media based relationship, which is better than nothing!
My post the other day with regard to crazymakers continues to be relevant, and I am still managing to keep smiling in spite of lots of pressure otherwise. I shall be trying to make some serious changes to this particular project, and if I get my way, some of the people involved in it.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Decorating
Well another day of decorating faces me. This day it takes me to youngest’s bedroom. We were told in no uncertain terms last night that she would like photos taking of the room before it is painted. I think that this anxiety about change is quite normal in all of us. I have to say that I felt similar emotions after having painted our bedroom. Whilst I am excited about the move and clearing debts etc, I am very much looking back a lot over the years we have spent building this place. I suppose it is like a house of cards in many ways, you feel that satisfaction in putting the last ones on the top, but the joy of knocking them down and starting again is also quite addictive.
Crazymakers
I do get frustrated with people who seem to be hell bent on stifling creativity. One of the many projects I am involved with seems to be no more than a group of people who are careering headlong to the central reservation, and instead of being in a panic, seem to be unbuckling their seat belts and laughing as they go. The thing that they don’t seem to be able to realise is that it is they, not anyone else, who will suffer, and this has started to happen. In the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, she describes such people as “Crazymakers”, and it is a phrase that seems to have crept into our life quite a lot. Her definition is as follows;
"Crazymakers are those personalities that create storm centers. They are often charismatic, frequently charming, highly inventive and powerfully persuasive. And for the creative person in their vicinity, they are enormously destructive.
"Crazymakers create dramas--but seldom where they belong. Crazymakers are often blocked creatives themselves. Afraid to effectively tap their own creativity, they loath to allow that same creativity in others. It makes them jealous. It makes them threatened. It makes them threatened at your expense."
Now Julia’s book might appear a little too righteous for my cynical old mind, but the phrase seems perfect for this kind of person. I will await the next week of ructions, over-reactions, criticism and outright lying, and I will spend that time telling myself that this is just a bunch of “Crazymakers”. It makes me smile, and in some ways seems to help, so I shall be forever indebted to Julia for this lovely phrase.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Skoolin 'n' that
Amongst the deluge in the house clearing exercise, we found youngest’s list of new year’s resolutions which were brilliant. I will put them on here soon, as they were quite revealing, and could only have been written by one person. She has recently been diagnosed as dyslexic, which I think in many ways has been a great relief to us all. We have been talking to the schools about it for years, and have always been dismissed. Finally someone has taken the time and trouble to look carefully at her situation, and came to a conclusion that we came to years ago. She is a very bright intelligent girl, who is being held back by this fug of frustration that we now know is dyslexia. I have become increasingly frustrated by some of the behaviour of some of the educational establishments I have dealt with lately. I know that SO many good people work in schools, and this is not aimed at them, but there is the stink of failure about the system at the moment. A system that dictates who has a condition like dyslexia based on the financial viability of any possible treatment. We have spoken to several teachers who have told us that as soon as someone is diagnosed, that they take up more budget, and that of course this budget is finite. As a result, the simplest way to deal with this is to only diagnose the severe cases, and to refute the more mild cases. This way, there is no obligation to deal with the problem, and ultimately pay for it. Whilst I cannot guarantee that this is the case with us, it would certainly seem to fit. We had her independently assessed by a specialist who spotted something immediately. Was this because of the incompetence of the many teachers she has worked with? I just can’t accept that this degree of incompetence could go unnoticed in a system. So I can only conclude that they were aware of it, and also aware that they could not afford to deal with it. The confidence issues that she has been dealing with are as a result of this problem, and could have been dealt with so much earlier. So what is the answer? Should the teachers have raised their head above the trenches and made more noise? Well they have their jobs and mortgages to think of, so perhaps not. The head teachers perhaps...well the same applies. The education authorities are the ones in my opinion, who have failed us here, along with government. We have suffered years of failure from governments who have repeated the mantra of “Education, Education, Education” but also repeated the systematic failure of their predecessors. To trot out the old cliché, these kids are the future of the country, and we owe them the very basic standard of education that we are simply failing to deliver on so many levels. Before anyone who knows me leaps to the defence of the local schools, I am aware that they are of a comparatively high standard, and that I am lucky, and I accept and realise that. The country as a whole though, is not as lucky. Travel for half an hour down the M1, and you will find schools that are systematically failing to deliver anything of worth to the children, because they are obsessed with SATS, and OFSTED visits rather than the real reason they are there.
Moving house
We made the decision towards the end of last year that we were going to sell the house. We thought that this was the most practical way to clear our debts as we have quite a bit of equity in the current house. We would then rent somewhere and live a debt free life, and one in which we could actually enjoy what we do without the constant thought that the money we were earning was just paying interest on a debt that we would probably never clear. So, we have started the new year scrubbing grouting and clearing out old junk. As a result of this we have found all sorts of items of sentimental value that we had long forgotten about. The tint little flowery bathing suit that used to belong to youngest, much loved childhood books, the tiny little Halloween costume we bought for Benjie. As with all of these things, it has reduced us to tears on far too many occasions this weekend. I wonder what we will be like when we finally move? Will the emotion of it all be too much to bear?
Vermin
No, not some Daily Mail style rant about immigrants...well not really anyway. We have been troubled for some time by a resident rat. Those who have been following this blog will remember the nights I stayed up with my useless dog trying to catch the rat. Well he seemed to disappear, and all was well. Up until recently, we thought we were vermin free and lived a suitably carefree and joyous life. Up until the moment recently when we moved a lot of the junk out of the garden in preparation for our move and we found three of the little buggers, living happily in a plastic crate we kept an old inflatable swimming pool in. Needless to say, these creatures were sent on their way with a stern word or two warning against their return, but all of this was to no avail. We have four Guinea Pigs who live in a hutch in the garden. They roam free in the garden during the day, and generally have a blissful existence. Well they did until the Rats returned....with friends and family. One family has moved in under the shed, and one under the studio. We sat in blissful family harmony over breakfast yesterday, watching them gently skipping around the garden. Now, it is fairly unusual for them to be so brave, but the recent cold snap has some positives, one of which is that the little buggers are starving. Here they were shinning up bird tables, and hopping through the snow. At one point, there were three little faces peering out from under the shed, almost pleading. I decided that now was the time to “unleash the beast”, which is not only quite scary, but also my favourite euphemism. Pepper, is, generally a bit of a tart. He barks at Squirrels, but apart from that has shown no interest whatsoever in the mindless slaughter of another species. Well today was a different matter altogether as he chased the little sweethearts all over the garden. My major worry now is that he is no longer dedicated to being my best friend. He is not as we speak lying at my feet looking up adoringly, but laying full length on a cold stone floor staring unflinchingly down the garden on the lookout for rats. I have lost my faithful friend to the pursuit of blood. Unless I am eating bacon of course.
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Another goodbye
We are off to the leaving do of some more friends who are leaving Bedfordshire...this time to go to Australia. I’m awful at saying goodbye, so I hope it’s not too awful. I’m sure the party will be good though. Photos later hopefully.
Been a great first week back at work, and so chuffed how many of them have made it to sessions when you bear in mind the weather.
Friday, 8 January 2010
No Fear
As the great freeze continues, it occurs to me that we have become a nation who have become obsessed with fear. A friend of mine commented yesterday that he believes the reason that so many schools have closed, is that they are scared of the possible Health and Safety implications of someone slipping over. Working in theatre, I find myself constantly having to read and abide by rules and regulations that are designed to instil fear. If I don’t abide by this that and the other, I could face a custodial sentence. If I so much as look at a child in the wrong way, I could face prosecution. People have stayed at home where I live because they are scared of Ice...It’s always been there, but the media is full of figures as to how many people are hospitalised. We are scared to make jokes about anything for fear of a “Sachsgate” style backlash. Anyone wishing to make Television or Radio has to go on a compliance course. I wonder what has happened that the nation has arrived at this place? Is it the apparently lazy assertion that we have become another state of the USA? I’m not so sure. There are certainly aspects of the American way of life that have forever stamped themselves on our lives. Fast food, Massive choices in Television channels etc etc. The culture of suing and counter suing definitely started in the USA, but are we not a nation who are used to standing up to other nations of we don’t agree? As Morrissey once said, he couldn’t understand why the troops were not called in when MacDonalds started to set up shop in this country. My biggest fear is that we are now trying to lose the freedom of speech. How many people are calling for “Extremists” to not be allowed to speak? Are we going to go back to the ridiculous days when Gerry Adams had a voiceover on every TV appearance? What good did that do for the peace process in the long run? Are we that afraid of what these people have to say? Or is it more that we are afraid of our reactions? Are we afraid that we might just be wrong on things? Do we really have no courage in our convictions? I for one was delighted when the BNP were allowed to appear on Question time, because at no point did it even cross my mind that they might come across as intelligent or correct in any way shape or form, so why were people against the appearance....Are they not sure of what they believe in? Do they really think that little of the human race? I find the concept all rather sad.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
The Daily Mail win again
So Jonathan Ross is quitting the BBC, and the airwaves are yet again awash with the debate as to whether he is any good or worth the money he is being paid, all of which has been done to death so I will refrain from comment. What saddens me is that I am pretty certain that his decision would not have been taken without the input and pressure of the Daily Mail and their readership. The self appointed moral majority didn’t like the “Bullying of an old man”, even though the majority of those commenting hadn’t actually heard the programme. I watched a repeat episode of Have I got News for You” yesterday, and in it, Hislop was ranting about Ross and Brand’s behaviour, but then went on to make jokes at the expense of people based on their age and their disabilities, which is of course OK, because the Daily Mail says we shouldn’t bow to “The PC Brigade”. Whether you like Ross and Brand or not, I think the majority of right minded people do not want our sense of moral obligation to be coloured by that of a Tabloid editorial team, and I hope that people start to stand up to it. You may not care that Ross has left the BBC, but the next person to be forced to leave may well be a favourite of yours, and the next after that, until we end up with a watered down world were Terry and June is held up to be the high point of all things comedic, and Graham Norton is considered to be “Edgy”.
That snow way of learning
Well it seems that I cannot avoid the subject that the rest of the country is obsessing about at the moment; that of the snow. It is not so much the snow that bothers me, even though I have never particularly cared for it. It is the attitude to it that amazes me. I have heard of young people refusing to walk for ten minutes to get somewhere, because of the snow. People in their 20’s saying that roads are impassable, when they are clearly not. A headmaster telling his pupils that it is their choice to make as to whether they attend school or not. Our public broadcasting channel deciding that it will put on a “Snow Special” on primetime television. There has been snow in the North of England and Scotland for the last two weeks, but all of a sudden, there is snow in London and we all have to hear about it.
These are just a few of so many examples of a change in attitude. It is difficult to make the point without sounding like a grumpy old man, so I shall do it in style. “When I were a lad”, I remember walking through snow that was knee deep, and spending the day at school with cold wet feet, in classrooms that were not heated. We just got on with it. If you couldn’t drive, you walked. If it was cold, you used to put on an extra jumper, or a hat. I have seen school kids wandering the streets wearing no coats and moaning that they are cold. The thing is, with the attitude that so many schools seem to be taking, and the fact that 40% of the workforce didn’t turn up to work yesterday, what chance do we stand? Have the schools given the kids anything to do at home today? Did they use the opportunity of the Internet to perhaps set some work for them to do at home? Are there any contingency plans for the fact that there could be another couple of weeks of this? What do we think? It is clearly a totally new experience this snow business. We have never experienced it before, and my childhood memories are clearly figments of my imagination. Where I live, the kids will all be up at the local hills, flinging themselves down slopes treating this as a day off, and when they get older, and are working for a living, they will all stay in bed at the slightest sign of a snowflake. This will be our fault, and we will have no right to complain about it, because we are encouraging it now. I shall be dropping the headmaster of our local school a line to ask him why he took the decision he did, and updating with any reply, sensible or otherwise. That is of course, if the inclement weather has not prevented him from typing a reply. I have a daughter who is going to be taking GCSE’s this year, and probably thinks that my attitude stinks, as her friends all appear to be spending the day in bed, and this is largely because of idiots in positions of power making ridiculous knee jerk reactions and decisions.
As I type, the BBC news is running a feature on “Snow through the ages”. Astonishing!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Snow Day Update
Shockingly, both the schools have opened today. Eldest lay in bed awaiting the world to advise her that the school was open, rather than assume it was open unless she heard otherwise. In fact Facebook was a buzz with complaints that no-one had told them what was going on. This was not of course the case. They were upset because no-one had told them what they wanted to hear! There were several instances of pupils announcing that the decision to open was “rediculous” or “ridiculus”. I would strongly suggest that there have been far too many snow days if that is the standard of spelling. Eldest has just reported to me that she is the only one who is at school in her form. I hope the School are going to question those that didn’t turn up. It is hardly an incentive for those that did make the effort. I await news that they are sending them home any minute.
In other news, I shall be venturing out into the “Blizzard” type conditions that have been reported by the local kids on Facebook in a moment. After about 2 minutes of slow last night, one or two of the young ladies were reporting 3 or 4 inches of snow....well all I can say is that if they think that is 3 or 4 inches, then they will go through life very happy.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Snow Day
There is a new term that seems to have entered our lexicon, that of “Snow Day”. I’m sure it was not known as that when I were a lad....Anyway, more importantly, the Weather Forecasts have gone from “A Chance of snow”, to “Heavy Snow”, to “Snow deeper than the Earth’s Crust” basically.....So I shall await the falling of 2cms over night then. The youth of Bedfordshire are collectively praying for a “Snow Day”, so that they might either a) Hurtle down the hills at break neck speed and break necks, or b) Stay in bed all day, or c) Stay in the house on Facebook all day moaning that they are bored. I wonder what my two urchins will do given the chance?
Stupid Causes
Here’s a radical idea....Instead of creating Facebook Groups to express your outrage at the Islam4UK march proposal, why not ignore them? If, as many people are stating, the organisation is a tawdry little insignificant one, then ignore it. Do not give it the oxygen of publicity and it will go away. The fact is, this organisation has managed to now get quotes all over the mainstream media as a result of the “Outrage” expressed on a Facebook group. If the Facebook group wanted to do something sensible, then it would arrange for everyone in Wootton Basset to go out for the day....close the place. We have freedom of Speech in this country, and we should be rightly proud of it. Part of the joy of this freedom is also the freedom to ignore....let’s exercise it.
Tuesday Morning Feeling
What a happy atmosphere there was at Plug Acres this morning before we all set off on our working days! The Social Media world was alight with regretful statements from the under 16s when they saw that the promised snow had yet to fall. According to the Met Office it would seem that particular treat is on its way this evening. In fact they are predicting one of the coldest winters in history, so we have lots to look forward to.
So I have started off my working year by leaping straight into my blog rather than doing anything constructive. Is this because I am a lazy arse, or perhaps the fact that it is so early and I am not quite awake? I was reading an article on the BBC website about the first day back at work, and how so much of the first day is taken up with chatting and catching up on gossip etc. I of course do not suffer the inconvenience of colleagues, so perhaps this is my way of catching up? That is possibly the worse excuse I have ever heard for not working really, but I shall stick with it for the moment.
My week is planned as follows;
Today – Session plans for the rest of the month, clean out broken Dishwasher before it stinks the house out.
Tomorrow – Finish Bathroom, and paint ceiling – Run Session
Thursday – Start on our bedroom – Run Session
Friday – Finish our bedroom – Run Session – Play Bowls!
What a rock and Roll way to end the week.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Back to School
I think I am experiencing that terrible feeling we used to get as kids on the last day of the holidays. The kids go back in the morning, and we get back into the swing of life again as well. In many ways, I think I would prefer it if the Christmas Holidays were shorter and the Easter or Summer were longer, at least we could enjoy the weather more.
I will spend most of tomorrow writing session plans and getting diaries and planners up to date in readiness for what will be a hugely busy year. In particular, the first four months are going to be insane, and I think that is why I have that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. We are going to attempt to move house as well as be involved in about ten productions. The Pottery needs to continue, and hopefully Kirsty will get a place on the PGCE course for next year also. This is couples with various GCSE’s for eldest, and the planning required for the rest of the year and beyond. It has been a welcome period of being able to switch off to a degree, which I think we all needed, but I’m not sure it is ever good to switch off for too long. I am looking forward to Wednesday and the first session back after Christmas. It’s always good to see everyone again and I think I thrive off of their energy in some ways.
In terms of health I had not been well from the end of October right the way through until a few days ago, when I started to feel like some energy was returning. I used to find some solace on being ill as a child. I think I enjoyed the moping around and the chance to do nothing but read. However, now I am a grown up (Apparently) I find nothing more frustrating, and I am delighted to feel a little more alive than I have done in what seems an age. Hopefully a few constructive days will follow and I can begin to relax a little more into what is going to be a tough period for us.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Fim Review - An Education
A kind of coming of age story set in the 1960s starring the previously unknown Carey Mulligan. Firstly it looks amazing, perhaps because I am a sucker for that period, but every shot just oozes sumptuousness and class. Carey Mulligan in particular, who transforms from a 16 year old schoolgirl into an Audrey Hepburn lookalike, and carries off the coming of age with aplomb. It is refreshing to see a British film that keeps you engrossed without any sex scenes, violence or even any swearing that I can remember, and these are not the words of an old Mary Whitehouse clone, but it was just noticeable. Other notable performances were Alfred Molina as a naive, frustrated Father and Emma Thompson as a dreadful old crone of a headmistress, who only appears in two scenes but totally owns the screen. Adapted by Nick Hornby from a Lynn Barber story, and Directed by Lone Scherfig, the film is also enhanced greatly by a fabulous soundtrack of original music from the period, but also some jazz standards rerecorded by Duffy and Beth Rowley. Absorbing and enjoyable from start to finish.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Cleaning up
I have spent a long time today in the bathroom with some heavy duty chemicals and a scrubbing brush revitalising my grouting. I shall have to make more of an effort to stop sounding like I am talking fluent euphemism from now on. Tomorrow the cleaning blitz will continue, disturbed only by the occasional dog walk and glimpse at the football.
We met eldest’s boyfriend today, who seemed very nice. I think I was well behaved, but I have to admit, I felt slightly like there was a role reversal going on with me being ticked off for what I was saying. I’m sure it will all work out for the best. Spent a couple of hours in the kitchen with youngest cooking a meal, which was lots of fun. It’s amazing how the simple things in life can bring so much pleasure.
I shall be spending a few hours trying to install a software based media server which should make things easier in terms of watching the vast collection of films etc on my PC...I shall update with progress on this as and when it happens.
Friday, 1 January 2010
Happy New Year
So the first day of the year has passed fairly quietly. For the first time ever, we took down the decorations today which whilst it has sad echoes of yesteryear, is always a nice feeling now. The house feels much clearer already, as it should anyway with our new regime. As we are putting the house on the market, we have started the exercise of clearing the house in readiness. Oven cleaner and Limescale remover have been purchased, and I have waged chemical warfare on several surfaces already today. It helped that the sun was out of course, but even after about 5 hours sleep and a huge intake of alcohol, I felt quite bright today, and long may it last.
I have just recovered from the emotional ending of David Tennant as Doctor Who. A predictably sentimental ending from Russell T Davis, but I personally would have been slightly disappointed had it not been like that. Now of course we must listen to months of speculation and opinion as to how good Matt Smith is going to be, and how he will never be as good as David Tennant. I say give the man a break and let him give it a good go. The people who have been working on the new series have been raving about him, so I am looking forward to it!
I shall continue with the big clean up tomorrow, and wish to remain in fairly good spirits for as long as possible