As previously mentioned:
Josh
Nice football moment
Shaz and I went to see the Super-bees yesterday. The perce on his cruise. West Ham again!
A nice thing to witness was the reaction of the crowd when Josh Da Silva came on as a late replacement. He has been at the club for 7 or 8 years? He has been severely affected by injuries. Initially his hip and then knee. This was his first appearance in two years. It was great to see his welcome from the crowd. They were calling for him to come on with 15 minutes to go. His touches were cheered and after the final whistle he was serenaded.
He is a good player who could have done a lot in the premier league. Hopefully he will stay fit now and have the chance to prove himself.
PS. Back in 6th and ‘European football’ back on!?
Manchester
A weekend in Sale. Originally to see Brentford play Man United but game moved to Monday evening.
We went anyway to explore.
Nice time other than Shaz’s trip and injuries.
Nice time along the canal in the sunshine.
Rigoletto at Covent Garden
Thursday evening was another episode in our making use of London.
A relative rush to town after work but seeing in good time thanks to the ‘Lizzie Line’🙄
I think this was our third sighting and we found the presentations more stimulating in Wellington. The previous two performances were more lavish and the later one with a more modern mafia set.
We found this a little dark and staid. Perhaps more traditional and more in keeping with with the original format. The critics seemed to like it.
We still lived the story and some great musical moments.
Also Shaz quite happy with the seats for a change 🥳.
L’étranger
A new venue yesterday evening for our cinema experience. A 5pm start along with the other old gits at Chiswick Cinema.
So Shaz read the book when doing her A levels and I read it a while back.
My memory was of finding it difficult to to fathom. I assumed because of my imperfect French. However after watching the film we both decided that the story itself is not straightforward to comprehend!
An interesting film and the shooting in black and white adds to its ambience. A challenge understand the different threads of the story.
A good experience 😁😆.
Inter alia play
A Friday evening trip to London’s West End or ‘Theatre Land’ to see a well regarded play.
Originally a big success at the National Theatre, the play has transferred to the commercial sector. That is good for us as we missed the chance to see a performance at the NT. We were in the ‘gods’; high up and steep!
It must be good as Tom loved it.
The reviews are positive; The Guardian loved it and Time Out appreciative and more from the Standard.
On the walk back to the Elizabeth Line it sparked discussion with Shaz. Yes a good play, a great personal performance but still a 4stars rather than 5.
The performance by Rosamund Pike is very much worthy of the praise and awards. Amazing of her to maintain the intensity and versatility throughout and for so long.
The content of the play was everything experienced by a professional woman. Career v caring for your son, the guilt of the imperfect parenting job, the protection of your son, professional challenges as a woman; the sexist male lawyers, the jealousy at home of the barrister husband who has not made it to the bench, the conflict of professional role and protecting your son- accused of rape when as a judge you handle rape cases. Of course he husband plays the guitar. A smorgasbord of interactions that seem to lack direction and with so many, plausibility.
I feel more in line with The Observer view point;
‘Yet Miller’s play does not live up to the threat of its subject: a teenage boy accused, a family in disarray. Too much is familiar; too much is spelled out.’
Blog technical
Just a little note to acknowledge that this version of the blog is a transfer from professional hosting to an old laptop in the lounge.
Relying on a self-hosting platform Yunohost. The software is opensource and simplified to allow installation of a number of programmes; incuding WordPress.
So assuming things go well then I will no longer need to pay for a hosting site and the record will continue.
Romeo and Juliet
An afternoon trip to the Globe. Apparently a young persons version and certainly it was a young audience as planned.
A modern interpretation which worked, with modern. version of gang violence and suitable track suits/ shell suits with matching trainers.
Another successful read
Another Christmas present read.
A short book but intense to read. I can see why it has such positive reviews. An intriguing story or PTSD, alcohol addiction and resulting jealousy and violent abuse.
A Review:
https://abookforants.substack.com/p/russian-gothic-by-aleksandr-skorobogatov
Good one.
On to the next.
Ridgeway Trail
A new walk today though one we have looked at for a while.
We started at Princes Risborough walking east towards Wendover. We did not make it that far but did a there and back of about 14 km.
We reached Chequers, not knowing that it was in the area. Slightly weird with the signs making not clear crossing fences was a criminal offence. A far few cameras on display too.
A beautiful area with great views in the mist early on.
