The rage has subsided.....all thanks to Tony Curtis...

A few days ago I ranted away the workday blues....today I am chilled and at one with the world. Yesterday was the best day. We saw Stephen Fry at the festival, speaking about America. He reminded us of something. Our habit of laughing and looking down on the Americans is a bad one, we seem to have acquired a bad habit (unfounded, in his opinion) of thinking that just because we have a history and know literature well enough to speak about it in an articulate way that we are somehow superior. His travels around the US have taught him otherwise, he says. They are such a smart race, and we should not underestimate them. (George W Bush aside of course!!) A lesson in humility here.

7pm and we saw, in my opinion, one of the greatest movie stars of our time, Tony Curtis. Aged 83, still with a twinkle in his eye and a sharp and sardonic humour! What a privilege it was too. And for him too, he said. The stories kept coming, he commanded the stage and audience alike, despite a frail body (a stroke 3 years ago), he is a true fighter. He even stood up on stage and attempted to show us how he perfected a woman's walk for "Some Like it Hot", nearly falling off stage in the process but he laughed it off - much to the interviewers distress I might add!

Two power cuts did not faze him either. He just kept on chatting to the front row, as if nothing had happened. Actually he was chatting up an attractive woman in row two. Life in the old dog yet!! Afterwards, we ran round to the bookshop to get his book signed. A first for me - I don't do the "autograph thing", just admire from afar. We had our friend's six year old with us, who was totally oblivious to who he was or what he represented. AfterTony signed his book for my Mum, he then had a chat with Max - I always think it is so lovely when an old person sees a child - for a few minutes they regress and enter their world. Their eyes light up, their smile widens, and they totally engage with them. Max was probably wondering why on earth this old man was talking to him! He then grabbed another piece of paper and wrote on it "Max - A pleasure - Tony Curtis". I then plucked up courage and shook his hand - such smooth skin for an old fella, and he smiled and winked as we went on our way.
It totally made my day! Perhaps I'll pluck up more courage to do the "autograph thing" in the future. But I'll choose wisely.

Hay Rage

You've heard of road rage, well I have just experienced a new phenomenon, "Hay Rage"!! (copyright Rob Thompson!) I knew it would take a few days to shake off the heavy cloak of work stress, but I thought a glorious sunny day in a beautiful place would help the blues melt away. Until a short stroll this afternoon from the village of Hay on Wye to the festival site half a mile down the road. Perhaps my intolerance levels are still high, or perhaps I should have taken that "chill pill". They stretched 5 abreast in front of us. There was not a millimetre of pavement left. Still they kept coming.There were just three of us, and what seemed like three hundred of them! By "them" I mean our fellow festival goers, who seem to live on the planet rude and inconsiderate. Obviously that phone call they were making at the time was sooo important, or the conversation so in depth that our very existence passed them by. We were invisible. We shouldn't be surprised. The London crowd (or so they sounded) acted as if they were still fighting the crowds in, well, London! "Sorry" we kept saying, as we moved out of their way (why do we do that?). "Don't worry, I'll walk in the road and play with the traffic!" No, I didn't say that last one out loud. Well it is Bank Holiday I suppose. We English are used to cramming in some enjoyment into three short days of what we hope to be mostly sunshine this year. It isn't all like that thank God. Yesterday we met a lovely old lady who was in a wheel chair, and we sat and chatted while we had tea. "I am hoping to come and see my friend Roger McGough" she said, in a most unpretentious-like manner. I was impressed. We had a lovely chat, about what the festival was like years ago, before the site moved to the outreaches of the town. Most of the people are lovely though. And the site is especially lovely at night, and on Tuesdays, after the weekenders toddle off back to London town or wherever their busy and important lives lead them to. I sound like an old cynic don't I? Or a grouchy old woman? But all I want is for a few old fashioned manners and a bit of consideration for fellow human beings. After all, we are all here for the same reason aren't we? Never mind, another glass or ten of wine will make it all seem better I'm sure!

Holidays

We're off on holiday next week to Wales. But not just any old holiday. I am stupidly excited as it will be my third visit to the Hay on Wye literary festival. My friend Jane and I have been eagerly monitoring the website for months now, waiting for news about who is going to be appearing. In a bit of a frenzy some weeks ago we logged on to try & book to see some of our favourite authors, musicians and national treasures. What makes its special is its accessibility. The tickets are relatively cheap, you get to listen to someone you really admire for an hour or so, and then you can buy their book and get them to sign it in the bookshop afterwards if you want to. The place is just buzzing with excitement, everyone with a common love of literature and the Arts. Last year we came out of a session with Ian McKewan only to find our other halves sitting at one of the picnic benches having a chat with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. What a lovely man!! After I had lifted my jaw off of the floor, we wandered over to say hello, and he offered me his seat (which is now my claim to fame!!). He had just finished doing a podcast for the radio, and had been chatting to my husband about Richard II's place in history, and how Maggie Thatcher may be seen a hundred years from now by comparison. As you do!! This year we are seeing Alan Bennett, Graham Swift, Kate Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Simon Armitage and Carol Ann Duffy to name but a few. Our friends are taking their 6 year old to see lots of children's authors such as Jacqueline Wilson and Julia Donaldson. Each year we say we'll have a break from it the following year, but the lure of the place is just too much......

Sad day

I heard some sad news today. A colleague at work, who retired early at the end of last month died last night after a battle with cancer. She was so brave. We all thought she was winning her battle, she was obviously trying to spare us. She leaves behind a father and sister. I had known her for many years, although we were not close friends she was a beautiful person, both inside and out. She always had a kind word to say, never spoke badly of other people and always had time for others. Sometimes words are not enough, but I felt moved enough to write a small tribute to her. Here it is.

Flying now

Last night a beautiful one soared
Leaving behind ominous pain
This morning she sprinkled us
With her tears of April rain.
An unexpected departure,
Tears of disbelief spill over
And how appropriate is our grief
Compared with patriarchal loss.
Sparing us the details
We hoped for some respite
But prayers went unanswered
When she soared away last night.

Rest in peace x

Time for a rant!

Spellcheck


Oh it’s a pet hate of mine. Articles, letters, emails, you name it, anything I happen to read that contains terrible spelling.

The usual culprits which annoy me most…

Loose instead of lose (when you’ve lost something!)

Freind instead of Friend (“i” before “e” except after “c” we were taught at school!)

And don’t get me started on punctuation! I would write a book on it if Eats, Shoots and Leaves had not already been published!

The worse use of grammar one is by the media - “Hotel”. Since when was it “an hotel” with a silent “H”?? The Oxford Dictionary clearly states, as did my English teacher at school that it is “a hotel” and the “h” is definitely NOT silent!!

Proper use of grammar, punctuation and spelling is all being lost in a silent murk of text-speak, email language and the dreaded Americanisation of the spellchecker. No, we do not always use a Z when pluralising words!! I had to type that word twice as the auto-spellchecker changed it to a Z – that really says it all. I have tried to install UK English in my spell checker, but the bloody American software changes it back! Sorry I don’t mean to offend any American readers of my blog.

I don’t have kids, so I am not sure what is being taught in school these days. Most of my grounding in spelling and grammar however, was in Junior school (aged 7-11) and was ingrained in me by the time I went to Secondary school. I guess sloppy use of grammar and so on in the media is not helping, our eyes and ears are seeped with it a lot of the time, so perhaps we are persuaded something is right when it is wrong simply because we see it so often.

But it doesn’t stop me being irritated by it, and here is an ideal opportunity to have a jolly good rant about it! Thanks for listening…..

Disappointed...

.....in the great British public!

Today we did a "Table Top" sale at the local church hall. Primarily to try & get rid of some of our stuff we've accumulated over the years including many (sob!) books. I was sure people would want to buy some, most of them were in excellent condition. There were some Booker prize winners in there, plus some Clive Barker books (hardback) in mint condition and a couple of classics as well.

Well, do you know we did not sell a single one! Oh, they came in their droves to buy keyrings, ornaments, garden lanterns, a dog bed and even some tatty old football programmes. We made the princely sum of £13 for a couple of freezing cold hours in the church hall, did our bit for the community but still left with a car boot full of, well, mainly books!!

I hope the local charity shop fares a little better, 'cos that's where they destined.....as for the great British public today, well they will never know what hours of delight they have missed!

Work work bizzy bizzy bang bang!!

I haven’t blogged for a while, been busy busy busy! So much is going on at work, loads of people are leaving (taking redundancy) or retiring (early retirement package) so it’s been a round of collections and cards, laughter and tears. The stalwarts of the organisation are leaving, and these are the people I grew up around, as I’ve been there since I left school at 16. It will seem so strange to watch a new bunch of people take over pivotal roles, and interesting to see how well they cope in such tough and demanding times. I have mixed feeling over this. Part of me says that it’s time for a younger bunch to take over, but another part of me is scared for them, I would not want to be in their shoes. Me? I am happy to come in and do a good job and go home again these days. I used to think I wanted to be a manager, but realised I cannot cope with some of the bullying and unfairness that goes on. I just take it all too personally and get too stressed! Life is too precious to let a silly thing like work make you ill. Been there, done that, and don’t want that T shirt any more! So it’s time to knuckle down and get on with what I want to do – my OU course, some writing here and there, and keep my head down until we know what is happening with our jobs!