This is for the main site, not the R&B section
Private Gallery | 2017-2021
Back from our first holiday since the stroke. over three months after the dreadful deed. Unusually, Denise arranged it all, booking us into the Flitwick Manor for three nights DB&B, which was nicely situated for both the English Heritage and secretive world of the codebreakers.
Well, the good news is I’m still alive. And in a ‘for what it’s worth’ sort of a way, so is Denise. The reason for the complete lack of activity on the site is that we’ve both been very unwell. Denise went down with the very nasty ophthalmic shingles and in a desperate attempt not to be seen as some pathetic, peripheral outsider, I attracted attention by pulling off a (literal) masterstroke. The core of the story and the whole sorry timeline went something like this….
Just back from a Monday to Friday break in Carcassonne. Ashamed to say we knew nothing of this Unesco site until we saw a “48 hours in” feature in one of the Sunday papers, decided it looked promising and made a note! Decided we needed a boost after a few health issues (some ongoing) and hoped October would still be holding some warmth and that the worst of the tourist crowds would have diminished a little.
Following the excellent surprise that was Le Vent Du Nord the previous evening, on Thursday we were back with old favourites Show Of Hands, with Steve Knightley and Phil Beer again accompanied by the double bassist and vocalist Miranda Sykes in the now familiar trio setting. The set was split between the newer material in the first half and a selection of favourites in the second.
The first of two consecutive nights at Snape, Wednesday saw us taking a chance on the progressive of the Québecois roots band Le Vent Du Nord. A chance in the sense that we’d heard little of their recorded work, although I’m convinced that we did previously catch a portion of their set at one of our early sojourns to the Cambridge Folk Festival.
For reasons to banal to repeat here, I noticed recently I haven’t made a significant entry about sport on this site for well over two years. I began to ponder the reason and realised that, at least by way of generalisation, I’ve become quite disenchanted by the professional sporting world. There are clearly some sporting specifics, and then there are the stories that some would say are peripheral to sporting excellence but for me are symptomatic of a deeper malaise.
Been a fan of Rosanne Cash ever since I picked up her “Retrospective” Best Of many, many years ago. Followed that up with the “Interiors” and “The Wheel” albums but then didn’t pick up on anything further until the superlative “The List” in 2009. Had never seen her live, so it was too good an opportunity to miss when we saw she was appearing at the Snape Proms – oddly, another Sunday night performance!
Back from two nights in London yesterday. Had a couple of bits of less than stellar news recently so decided to catch a couple of theatre shows to compensate, coupled with a couple of nights stay at the Rubens in St. James. Even managed to squeeze in a visit to an English Heritage site.
Another Sunday, another night a Snape. No idea why the gigs we chose to attend are frequently on a Sunday night but there you go. This was supposed to the second of two jazz events we had booked to see, but unfortunately we had to cry off the Clare Teal gig because of a health related incident that I won’t expand on here….
Another Sunday evening at the Riverside last night for the latest in the Riverside Nights series. A very entertaining interview with the talented Mr. Gatiss, covering everything from his early life in the North East, his time at the Edinburgh fringe, through to his varied TV successes such as The League of Gentlemen, Dr. Who and, of course, Sherlock. His film choice for the evening …
A day trip to London yesterday to catch a matinee of “The Comedy About A Bank Robbery” at the Criterion. Produced by the same team that put together the hilarious “The Play That Goes Wrong“, it’s another farce but this one relies a lot more on comedy staging and acting than its predecessor.