Rev Stan's other stuff

The 2012 stuff blog projects - a celebration of 20 years in London

I've been neglectful of this blog, I know. Used to regularly update but it's been weeks (nearly two months) since my last post. Gosh that sounds like I'm in confession.

Anyway, I'm not promising that my posting levels will go back up to previous levels, just that it will be a little more regular. My other two blogs Film and Theatre take up a big chunk of my time - I saw 186 plays/films in 2011, all of which I wrote about.

But I don't want Stuff to fall into a permanant decline and I need an outlet for, well, the other stuff. And I have some plans or projects. A couple of challenges I suppose I'm setting myself for the year. Nothing huge or life changing but something that will inspire and maybe exercise my creativity.

Project 1: V&A photography project

During my time off over Christmas and New Year I went to the V&A for the first time in ages. The first thing that struck me was what fun I could have there with my camera, had I brought it with me. There are so many beautiful objects, rooms and rooms of them most of which you can photograph. So I got thinking, why not explore the museum a section at a time and record it with my camera. 

I actually started today so the first fruits of the project should be appearing just as soon as I've edited the photos.

Project 2: Stan's 20 years in London 

This year, in September to be completely accurate, I'll have lived in London for 20 years. When I was growing up in a small market town in the East Midlands the thought of living and working in London terrified me but now I can't imagine living and working anywhere else. I love it. No where else feels like home and no where else feels as vibrant and full of history, art, culture, entertainment and possibility. It is also a beautiful city that never ceases to take my breath away or put a small smile on my face.

So in this project I want to celebrate London - not just the theatre and film offering I heavily indulge in - and the 20 years I've spent here (and hopefully the 20 more). I want to discover new bits of London, visit places and parts I've not been to before maybe do something I've not done before.

My aim is to tot up 20 new 'things' and record them here on this blog. Not sure how easy or difficult I'll find that but we'll see. I already have some ideas, there are a bunch of museums I've never visited for a start and I'm ashamed to say I've never visited Keats' house in Hampstead for example but if anyone has any suggestions, I'll endeavour to include them.

So here's to the the 2012 stuff projects and the enjoyment they will bring.

 

Postcard from my life: Weeks 18 & 19 or growing stuff

Ever since a former neighbour put spade into the grass in the communal garden of our block of flats and started growing some flowers and some veg, I've wanted to have a go myself. I was brought up on home-grown veg, some of my fondest childhood memories is helping out in the garden, digging up potatoes, picking broad beans or stringing runner beans ready to be blanched for the freezer.

But life excuses have got in the way and I thought I'd left it too late, once again to plant anything this season until a friend who has an allotment told me different. Bouyed by a growing-veggies-for-simpletons type book and a few packets of easy to grow seeds I set about with my similarly-minded neighbour Franesca to have a go at growing stuff.

We dug a very small border using a trowel, which is all the equipment we had on that first gardening session, mixing some compost in to the barren, grey looking earth. Then with our seeds in hand we divided up our modest plot into sections planting, in a rather slap-dash fashion, various herbs, radishes and peas. The idea being if it grows great, if not then we haven't wasted much time and money.

Postcard from my life: Week 17 or The Birthday

Wow I think it is going to take me a week to recover from this. Spent my 4oth birthday doing this:

And this:

Etc. The one above is Oblivion and it scared the living day lights out of me. I was petrified, unlike any other ride I went on, whole new streams of expletives were invented. It pauses at the top of a 150ft drops - dangling you over the edge before plunging down into a big, black hole. My hands are sweating just writing about it.

Song 1: Probably my all time favourite song

Well here we are, the fortieth song. It's been great fun - a real trip down memory lane and good rummage around into the far corners of the record collection.

I was going to put a birthday related song today but the one I wanted I couldn't find anywhere mainly because I can't remember who it's by or what it's called! But I always knew I'd include this one and the further through the list I got the more I knew it had to be one of the final two.

It is difficult to describe quite why I like this song so much and why it is probably my all time favourite. Although it is being challenged all the time and most recently by a song by the same band.

Not surprisingly I find it beautiful. It is a rich, multi-layered song but also contradictory. It took me a while to work out what it was about and I'm still not 100% sure. It actually seems very bitter, twisted and resentful when you read the lyrics. And I like that it sounds the way it does when it could have been very angry sounding.

It is by one of my favourite bands: Radiohead. They are a band that have evolved and some of the evolutions I haven't always liked but I always come back to them. Their music is complex, emotive and evocative. I've liked them from the very start back in their days of raw guitar rock and although I still love their early work and think it's some of their best, I also love what they've become.

The song is Nude from In Rainbows which is probably the album I listen to most. It also reminds me of my brother because he said he listened to it a lot when our Dad died and it made him cry.

Download 03 Nude

Song 2: The beautiful song with the claim to fame connection

This is probably the second most beautiful song in my music library. It was one of those rare songs that I loved from about 20 seconds in of the first play. I think I actually burst into tears.

Partly because I can identify with a lot of sentiment expressed and because it feels as if it has been written with heartfelt honesty from genuine experience. If it hasn't then all the more genius.

But it also has the most beautiful, haunting piece of violin that lingers long after the song has finished.

And the claim to fame comes from the fact that one of the band members - Urby - used to work for the same company as me. I didn't know him any more than a smile of acknowledgement when our paths crossed in the kitchen or elsewhere in the office.

He was one of those people that everyone knew of mainly because he always looked dishevelled, wore a trilby and he played in a band. He always had a cheery smile on his face probably because at night while we were parked in front of the telly with our tea on our lap he was off playing gigs.

His dishevelled look, I found out, was often because he got home very late having had to travel far and wide to play. Good for him I say. The hard graft has certainly paid off as he eventually took a gamble and jacked-in the day job to work on the band - Noah and the Whale - full time.

And the song? It's The First Days of Spring and it still pricks tears in my eyes when I hear it.

Download 01 The First Days Of Spring

Postcard from my life: Weeks 15 & 16 or the sun and celebs

Been a bit neglectful hence the two in one to catch up but I'm using the bank holidays as an excuse.  Two consecutive four-day weekends coupled with lovely sunny weather and I've been out and about, rather a lot which usually means writing posts for other blogs, particularly as there has been a good dose of celeb influence to add to the excitement.

So how to sum up the past two weeks. Well there has been lots of sun - April has been the warmest and driest since records began apparently:

Song 6: The one that annoyed my friends at Uni

While we on the subject of me annoying people with songs I thought I might as well throw this cheesy little one in. It is Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor which I loved. It's not playing it a lot that annoyed my friends at Uni, it was the fact that I used to sing it to myself, all the time. And I'm not a great singer.

It became known as 'that bloody song'.

I do, still, really like it. I think Sinead O'Connor has an amazingly pure voice and at the time I remember liking the fact that she cut off her hair so being long-haired and beautiful couldn't be used by the record company as a marketing ploy.

To me she represented a beautiful, talented and a strong woman who was going to do things her way. She is also a singer who can portray great emotion and feeling in her voice. It's a cover version but you'd think she experienced everything she sings about.

It's not my favourite song of hers, that is Troy, which is probably up their in my top 10 favourite songs of all time.

Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U by MovieFanQS 

Song 7: The one the annoyed the hell out of my Dad

Picture the scene: a small council house, badly built, with thin walls and creaky floorboards. A teenage girl, in her bedroom which is above the living room, playing the same song over and over and over again, while working out her own little dance routine to said song.

I think my Dad's comment was when I eventually gave up and came downstairs was: "Now I like that song but after the hundreth time!!!!"

And the song? It was Take My Breath Away by Berlin because we were all into Top Gun back then.

Just listen, you can imagine what it sounded like through the ceiling. (Still know all the words but fortunately can't remember my dance routine.)

Download 2-04 Take My Breath Away (Love Theme From _Top Gun_)

 

Song 8: The second band I saw live, the jacket and the song that reminds me of Jen

Having started out quite promisingly seeing The Cult, some might think that I let myself down a bit with my next outing to see some live music but I'm still proud that I went to see INXS on their Kick tour. I actually saw them twice on the same tour, first at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester then again at the Birmingham NEC - they must have added the dates at bigger venues later as a response to demand.

At the NEC it was all seating and we were on the front row of a block quite far back so I couldn't actually see anything, for some inexplicable reason a security guard asked if Rose and I would like to go nearer the front. Er...tricky one that. We had to leave Rose's husband and brother in law behind but we were taken right to the front so we had an amazing view.

At the end of the gig they opened a barrier and let a bunch of people go back stage but we couldn't really go skipping off to meet the band with the boys waiting for us at the back. Besides as a 15/16 year-old I was far too shy to do something like that anyway.

I'd liked INXS for a while, again another band I got into before they made it big in the UK and already had a couple of their albums before they released Kick. My brother, who is now a graphic designer painted the logo from the Kick album on the back of denim jacket. It was actually my sister's jacket that she'd lent me, it became a more permanent addition to my wardrobe after that.

The song I've chosen always reminds me of my bezzie mate Jen as it's one we always danced to at Sixth Form Socials. I guarantee that if Jen was here now, and it was playing, we'd both be dancing.

New Sensation

The big 50 question meme

 

Haven't done one of these for a while but an old Vox neighbour posted this and I love them so here goes:

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE.

Yes there was an American family down the road who had a daughter with the same name. My parents had great imagination when it came to names (see the Sarcasm question). And no Stan isn't my real name but I'm not telling, unless you know me.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED.

Yesterday watching an episode of Merlin. I'm a sap, I cry at everything.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING

No. I was banned from using biro's at school because my handwriting was so scruffy. Fountain pens and ink cartridges for me. Now I use inky roller-ball pens or fibre-tips. Hate biros.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT

Whatever I'm in the mood for but usually chicken because that's what I've got in the freezer.

Song 19: The one that reminds me of my brother and sister

No 70s childhood is complete without a bit of Abba. They are the archetypal 70s pop band and my sister was a fan but then so was my brother Derren, yes he of Nirvana stage-diving fame. Who'd have thought it?

It's not just that Abba reminds me of my sister singing along to their records in our bedroom or that they are a great sing along band but also because they intrigue me. Beneath the frothy but ridiculously catchy pop tunes there are some very dark lyrics.

Towards the later years of their recording career the two marriages in the band were collapsing and it spawned some beautifully sad songs (you might be getting the impression by now that I like sad songs and I do).

This song, The Winner Takes It All, is probably the most obvious but the next time to you listen to Abba Gold (I know you have it in your collection) remember the heart break and bitterness between the band members, it will add a new depth. Trust me.

The Winer Takes It All

 

 

Postcard from my life: Week 14 or the Bro's big birthday

My brother moved back to London last year and it's great having him in town again. It means we meet up more often, usually on the spur of the moment.

It was his 40th yesterday (which means it's three weeks and five days until mine!) and so I sent him a text to see if he fancied lunch or coffee and cake or something and said 'both'. He likes his food.

And so we met up for what turned out to be an afternoon of eating in the sun, people watching, car watching (we were near the King's Road) and catching up. There was a brief sniff around the shops to see if we could find the sunglasses he wanted but that was about it.

Simple but lovely.

 

 

Postcard from my life: Week 8 or Spring is in the air

After seemingly endless gloom there were a couple of days this week that were mild and sunny and very Spring-like. The days are getting noticeably longer - if I leave the office on time there is still a bit of light in the sky by the time I get home which helps lift the spirits immensely.

Today started out bright and sunny and I got out with my camera for the first time. The brightness soon turn to heavy clouds and rain, some very damp washing on my return home the stark reminder that we aren't quite over winter yet. But I did get a few pics of the first signs of Spring before the weather turned:

 

A day less ordinary

Yesterday was not 'one of those days' because describing it as such implies I've had more than one day like it. And I haven't. I've had elements but not all in the same 12 hours period.

It was a real mix of delight and the bizarre, starting off with having my photo taken at work for some marketing material:

Hands in skirt pockets. Hand in jacket pockets. Arms folded. Arms down by sides. Arms behind back. Jacket off. Chin up. Chin down. Smile with teeth. Smile without teeth. Turn slightly right. Turn slightly left...

And all the while doing my best Tyra-impressing 'smeyes' which means I'll probably look demented.

After work I went to my first proper Tweet Up. Not just an informal gathering that is sparked by a dose of coincidence but a proper, bona fide, organised by real organisers Tweet Up. And it had the cute name of Twespians.

It was sort of equivalent of a Star Trek convention but for theatre folks (without costumes): People like me who are a little bit obsessed with going to the theatre, others who are a lot obsessed plus those involved in producing, acting, reviewing and marketing.

Got to meet some people I've conversed with a lot on Twitter, some I just follow and some new people and it was a real buzz. I'm slightly bemused that this thought is heading onto the screen but I can understand the appeal of conventions now - meeting up with like-minded people.

If I hadn't got a ticket to a preview of Never Let Me Go at the BFI I would have stayed the whole evening. But if I hadn't had the ticket I wouldn't have a) seen a film that made me snot-cry and b) had my viewing enjoyment disturbed half way through by a commotion at the back of the auditorium which culminated in someone shouting 'is there a doctor in the audience?'. Someone had taken ill, couldn't see what was going on but I heard paramedics mentioned afterwards. And yes there was doctor in the audience who dutifully responded to the call.

But my day less ordinary didn't end there. I didn't realise that the film was followed by a Q&A with Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote the novel on which the film is based (it is one of my favourite books). Can I just write that again because I still can't quite believe it: Kazuo Ishiguro, booker short-listed three times and one-time winner. I was in awe which adds to the level of nerdyness I feel I'm building up during this post.

The only bit of all this that I can confidently say 'it was one of those days' about is that it reminded me why I love living in London.

I'll be writing up my thoughts on Never Let Me Go plus a bit about the Q&A over the next few days when I've stopped welling up everytime I think about it.

 

Postcard from my life: Week 5 or that was January

Phew. It's over for another 11 months. January is done and dusted. And I'm feeling quite smug because I seem to have come through it without feeling any blues.

I put it down to just keeping busy, not having regrets and seeing life as something that changes organically not because the year has a different number on the end of it. But mainly keeping busy.

It's been a cracking month of films particularly and theatre and there is plenty to look forward to this month. I'm particularly excited about seeing little Colin Morgan on stage this Friday.

Work is cranking up nicely towards our busiest period and the much dreaded and enjoyed work trip to Cannes at the beginning of March. Tomorrow we are having our photo taken for the marketing material which will be a first. Must try not to grin inanely. We've apparently to look approachable, I'll just settle for not looking like an idiot.

Anyway January was:

7 London plays

1 Edinburgh play

5 films

88 miles cycled too and from work

3 cities visited for work which equated to 992 train miles

12 camomile and courgette cupcakes I made for my Mum's birthday (a new recipe, pictured)

Twice I had ribs for tea. Love ribs.

 

 

Postcard from my life: Week 4 or the old mystery Valentine card

An old school friend contacted me this week asking for help in identifying the examining boards on our O-level and A-level school certificates. She'd lost her originals and needed the names to apply for copies.

It took some searching to find them but when they eventually turned up they were in a cardboard pocket file full of old diaries, letters, cards, poems and other tokens from my childhood and through my teens.

I only had time to skim through a handful of these delightful memories but one of the first things that I put my hand to was my first ever Valentine Card (right). I was 14 and had crushes on at least six different boys at the time but I never did find out who sent it. Still, nice to know someone fancied me, even if they were too scared to admit it.

Not quite such a fond memory was a letter my first boyfriend wrote to me. We were 17 and I was losing interest in him and he could sense it. He put into words what he couldn't confront me with, that he felt I didn't want to spend time with him anymore.

Postcard from my life: Week 2 or cold fighting

Sometimes you have to know when to give in; to rest and let your body use all its energy to fight whatever bug is infecting you. That moment came on Tuesday morning. Having struggled through Monday feeling bunged up and washed out with this head cold, I was half way through my breakfast feeling just as bunged up and washed out when I thought "it is time to throw in the towel".

So I got back into my jim-jams and back into bed. It was the right thing to do. Now it wasn't an instant cure, the cold has lingered and developed a cough but I certainly was feeling a little more human by Wednesday.

The silver lining is that while I was nursing my cold, having grown tired of day-time telly (after about 10 mins - who watches that crap????) I flicked onto Twitter to see what was going on. The Young Vic had just launched a retweet competition for which the prize was a priority booking pass for their new season (worth £50). I had been planning to go halves with PolyG so we can get decent Michael Sheen Hamlet tickets when they go on sale next month so I retweeted and forgot all about it.

Postcard from my life: Week 1 or keeping the January blues at bay

Mindful of the terrible neglect I've been inflincting on this blog (can you inflict neglect?) and inspired by some of my fellow ex-voxers weekly and daily projects last year, I thought I should come up with something that would at least give me a weekly topic now that film and theatre are dealt with elsewhere.

And so I thought of a post about the week past, the trials and tribulations, things I learnt, things I observed, anything really that strikes me. Fingers-crossed I keep it up...

-

So this is the end of the first full, working week back in January. Usually a slightly depressing time, in recent years I've developed tactics for dealing with the post holiday flat feeling. Working on a features section in a weekly magazine that has its topics carved in stone for the year can make the first days back tough to face as you see the working year with all its pressure points stretched out in front of you.

So these are my rules:

1. Never, ever go back to work on the 2nd, it brings festivities to such an abrupt end it heightens the risk resentment towards the office. This year was easy because New Year's Day was a Saturday so the bank holiday was added to the Monday giving us two extra days before the return to work. Yay!

2. Order yourself something on the internet which will arrive the first week back - always nice to have a little treat. I went a bit mad this year (well I don't buy or receive Christmas presents so I save my pennies for the sales) and ordered a new food processor and a DAB radio iPod dock for the kitchen.

 

3. Book one or two things into the diary. Nothing gets you through those early days back at work better than something diverting to look forward to in the evening

4. Fill out your calendar/diary for the year, preferably with lots of nice things to look forward to. Doing it the first week back adds as a reminder that it is not just the start of the working year but the start of all sort of other adventures.

And with all that in place the week streaked by leaving me quite exhausted. There was one hitch, well two if you count coming down with my annual head cold on Friday. I'd booked to see the King's Speech with a post screening Q&A with director Tom Hooper for Wednesday evening. Loved the film when I saw it at the London film festival and was really excited to see it again and hear what the director had to say.

Guess what I'm watching on Christmas Eve

Comedy and Harry Potter

 

Rev Stan diving and the sharks

Bit later than I anticipated writing this as my trip was a month ago now but recent tragic news about shark attacks Sharm el Sheik has given me a little nudge.

The fourth and final day of my PADI open water diving course was from a boat moored right where the german lady that was attacked and died was snorkelling. I was snorkelling on the same reef - more of why I was snorkelling and not diving later.

I've been following progress on the Dive Bunnie site which is run by one of the instructors at Ocean College where I did my training and also the College's facebook page.

There doesn't seem to be an explanation yet for the attacks although there was one hilarious headline I've just seen on the BBC website: Shark attacks not linked to Mossad says Israel

I kid you not, that is a genuine headline. I have visions of that Austin Powers Dr Evil scene: 'Is it too much to ask for sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads?' 

Anyway back to the serious stuff. Naturally its awful that someone has been killed and others injured but I will be surprised if it turns out that this extremely rare event has not been because of man's interference with the shark's environment.

Theories circulated so far include animal carcasses being dumped from a ship into the water, over fishing of sharks natural prey and also tourists feeding the fish on the reefs. The latter is something I saw a lot of in Sharm despite warnings not too.

Tourists think a few innocent bits of bread to make the pretty fish come close is harmless but it isn't. Not only does it upset the natural balance of the underwater eco system but it also creates a feeding frenzy among the smaller fish which attracts biggers fish, which attracts even bigger fish... you get the picture.

Lots to write about

Just got back from a weeks holiday on the Red Sea (34C every day *beams*) and the weekend before that I went to Dublin to see a play with Poly so I've got a bit of catching up to do.

And of course while I'm away there is only a Ben Whishaw announcement - he's finally got another project in the pipeline so I'm going to have to say a word or two about that.

So bare with me. I'm downloading photos as I type.....

A day at the London office

When I got my first job in London, back in the early 90's, I worked in a building that was also occupied by two national newspapers. It was around the time of the Bishopgate bomb and  several times we had to evacuate our building because of perceived threats - the newspapers made us a particular target.

Those days eventually became part of the past until the July 7th, 2005. I was working for a new company in a different part of central London. Fortunately that day I was working from home but my colleagues were asked to stay in doors as the bus that was blown up was just up the road and the tube station adjacent was on one of the lines and just one stop away from one of the tube bombs.

I spent most of the day checking that colleagues and friends in London were all OK, the TV on in the background to keep up with any news. Friends and family were also on the phone - even from the other side of the world - to check I was OK.

Things were a bit scary for sometime after that. There was a nervousness about using buses and tubes that took a long time to dissipate. Everyone either knew someone or knew someone who knew someone who had been caught up in those bombings.

We haven't had any scares at our building since. Until today. I saw people crowded around the windows at the other end of our floor and went to see what was up. All the roads around the tube were cordoned off and there were police cars everywhere. People were being cleared from the area.

A quick check of Twitter revealed that there was a security alert and people in buildings near the tube were being asked to stay put. It was getting on for 4.45pm and so colleagues were anxious to know whether we would be able to leave or not. The message was "yes" leave at your normal time but use the loading bay ext at the rear of the building. The blinds were drawn in the part of the building fronting the area.

A small step for man a massive step for Stan

DIY scares me a little. Well OK a lot. I have a vivid imagination. Everything I could do wrong from the expensive damage I could cause to the flat to the injury I could do myself go through my head.

I've had my own flat for 10 years now and up until today the only DIY I'd done to speak of was putting a shower riser rail up in the bathroom. I had to drill through two tiles and was terrified they would crack and result in an expensive re-tiling job.

Luckily my Dad was still around in those day, not to do it for me but to talk me through what I needed to do and give me handy little tips. I did all the preparation and got ready to drill the first hole and was a nervous as hell. It went fine but I'd got so worked up that I had to have a little rest to psych myself up for the second.

Anyway it all went fine and I was a proud as anything that I'd actually done it and not cocked it up. I think I went back into the bathroom half a dozen times to check that I'd actually done it.

That was about nine years ago and yesterday evening I went to switch my kitchen light off after finishing dinner preparations and the light switch was jammed in the on position. Nothing I could do would budge it and at the back of my mind I knew that something inside would have to snap and most likely break completely in order to switch the lights off.

Despite this I harboured a faint hope that in leaving it alone for a bit it would magically start working again. But of course it didn't. In the past I would have sweet talked my boyfriend into fixing it but that is no longer an option so I was faced either a) a kitchen light on permanently, b) getting in an electrician or c) fixing it myself.

But me dealing with electrics, potentially electricuting myself or destroying the electrics in the flat? Buoyed in the knowledge that I'd learnt to wire a plug at school (how much more complicated could a light switch be?) I decided to give it a go.

First I needed someone who knows what they are doing to talk me through it and my Dad is no longer with us so that wasn't an option. Cue my friend Nick.

Now that's what I call making the most of Saturday

It was a lovely day so I went walking with my camera:

Smithfield meat market

City weeds

Reflections

Then I met up with Poly for a back stage tour of the Almeida Theatre as it was Open House weekend (all the pics are over here on Theatre if you are interested

After that we got the bus back into town and had a lunch stop at the lovely Soho Thai where I used to eat  when I worked around the corner on Wardour Street:

Then we went to the Curzon for a sneaky glass of wine on the comfy leather sofa's while we waited to see I'm Still Here which is definitely a mockumentary, I've since discovered, although I'd pretty much made up my mind it was when I saw it. Listed my reasons and what I thought of it generally over on film

After that we headed out west to Shepherds Bush for a cuppa and then my first trip to the tiny Bush Theatre where Ralph Little of Royle Family fame and Mackenzie Crook of The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean fame were starring in an American play called The Aliens.

Small things that make me go grrr

1. When Starbucks give me peppermint tea instead of green tea and I don't realise until it is too late (it's happened three times in as many weeks)

2. Hotels that have broadband but not wifi. I don't want to sit in a very straight backed chair at a desk that is the wrong height especially when there is a very comfortable bed with assorted pillows and cushions to prop myself against.

3. Taxi drivers who decide to writing a receipt should take as long as writing Anna Karenina, which only ever happens when you are in a hurry.

4. When you politely ask a simple question of someone whose job it is to answer such questions and they are curt in their response

And to counterbalance the negatives here are four things that are making me smile at the moment:

1. The cheque for £25 I got from NSI because one of my premium bonds came up

2. The prospect of sleeping in my own bed tonight after a night away for work and a hectic week

3. Having a lovely day tomorrow with the fab @polyg starting off with a tour around the Almeida Theatre, then a film, then a play.

4. Finally planning and hopefully booking a holiday to Egypt.

The curious story of the neighbour

I've been meaning to write about this for some time as it regularly crops up in conversation with friends.

My neighbour has disappeared. Not seen since last November time, her flat has been abandoned in a state which suggests someone just upping and leaving - food half prepared on the counter in the kitchen for example.

OK so there has been a little bit of a development since November. We know she's not dead. In fact she is alive and well and living not far away in some sort of weird, oblivious, parallel life.

It was rare moment of detective acumen on my part that discovered her existence via the power of Twitter and naturally my fellow neighbours and I were relieved to know that nothing dreadful had happened.

But the discovery of her existence doesn't make the story any less perplexing. The red bills have been piling up although recently she was persuaded, via Twitter, to return to check on her flat. She collected the bills and closed the living room curtains before disappearing once more.

And we understand that repossession is a threat which begs the question, why let it get to that stage and risk having your credit rating decimated and all the future difficulties with finances that that engenders? She's rented her flat out before so why not do that again if it's a matter of finance?

What sort of state of mind would you have to be in to be living in apparent denial of the flat you've owned for 9/10 years? This is someone who is intelligent  and has or at least had a good career.

It is all most bizarre.

Summer sort of returns - captured on iPhone

August has seen some particularly poo weather - even for England. In fact it has been so cool and wet, tights even made a reappearance for the Rev Stan wardrobe this week. Tights! In August! I'm still in shock as you can tell from the exclamation marks. Here's another one just to make the point!

As a consequence there hasn't been a great deal of point in taking the camera out. Today the forecast was for more settled weather but it was gloomy so camera stayed at home once again. But when I emerged from a basement restaurant in Soho with my friend Kate, after eating half our body weight in ribs, to find newly drenched pavements but beautiful blue skies I was glad to give my new baby an opportunity to perform.

 

 

Bit o' lunch for Mrs Squirrel (Staycation days #4 & #5

Bit o' lunch for Mrs Squirrel, originally uploaded by Rev Stan.

This little beauty I managed to capture while strolling across St James' Park on my way home on Thursday afternoon. OK so cards on the table, I'd had to use the loo and the attendant was standing in the doorway feeding this beautiful mummy squirrel. With nobody else around she was quite content to just eat and have her photo taken. (More piccies over on Flickr).
But this was towards the end of Thursday, my slightly chilled day, having had a nice massage at Relax and then treated myself to tea and cake at the fabulous Mrs Murengo's or rather raspberry and chocolate truffle cake and green tea. All gluten and dairy free, yum, yum, yum in my tum.

Mrs Murengo's magical raspberry and chocolate truffle cake

On a chocolate high I drifted over to the Apollo to see the new Angelina Jolie movie Salt. Now there's a woman who could do with a slice of Mrs Murengo's raspberry and chocolate truffle cake, or any cake really.
Then after the popcorn for the eyes it was time for a bit of filet mignon in the form of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. So glad I didn't have to pay as it was particularly pretension and unexciting this year. There is usually at least one thing that makes me smile and a handful of stand out pieces that if I had lots of money I'd want to buy. But aside from one interesting take on a London map and a gorilla coat hanger sculpture (same style as this one at the Royal Courts of Justice) there was nothing else that particularly stood out.
And that brings me back to Mrs Squirrel.
Friday? Well Friday I really did chill, met up with my friend Kate for drinks and dinner, no photos or culture but I don't think I'd been slacking this week.
And so ended my staycation. It's been really cool to have the time to see new bits of London and revisit some old favourites and pound the streets with my camera - I've clocked up nearly 60km in five days. Go to the theatre and not have to get up early for work the next day and go to the cinema with the old folk or when there are only two others (and it's cheaper).
The only downside is in packing it all in, I'm knackered and need another break now. Better get on the internet and book my bit of winter sun...

Staycation days #2 and #3

Slight cheat by combining two days in one post but Tuesday was overcast so I didn't fancy going out with my camera. Instead I went to the cinema to see the latest installment in the Chanel story: Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky which I wrote about over on my film blog.
Then in the evening I headed over to West London to see the European premiere of a new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Suzan-Lori Park at the tiny pub theatre the Finborough which I've written about on my theatre blog.
Sooo that was Tuesday and on to yesterday.
Weather forecast was a bit more promising so I headed up into town to visit the Banqueting House on Whitehall. Pass it all the time but have never visited. It's in the care of the Royal Palaces being the only remaining building of the Palace of Whitehall which Henry VIII had built. There isn't actually anything left from Henry's original Palace but BH dates from James I who had it built on the site.
There is only one room to look around but, wow, what a room. It was built for ambassadors' receptions and masques which were lavish part theatre/part ball affairs. The partying came to an end though when James commissioned painter Reubens to create a series of pictures for the ceiling at a cost of £3,000 (bear in mind that was an phenomenal amount of money back in the C17th) and didn't want them messed up.
The paintings are significant also because they symbolise the extravagance and lavish lifestyle of Charles who was to earn the wrath of Parliament and spark civil war. He was beheaded on a scaffold built outside the Banqueting House and accessed from just outside the room with the beautiful paintings he spent so much money on.
All very interesting and educational.

 

My second cultural visit of the day was an old favourite of mine the National Portrait Gallery. I never seem to make it past the ground floor as there is always new stuff to see and they also had an exhibition for BP's Portrait Award which is always worth a look. Great thing is it's free.
And then I finished off with my theatre trip to see All My Sons which was absolutely amazing and I'll be writing about it, well you know where.

Staycation diary: day #1

A combination of replenishing holiday savings, never having had any more than a day or two off at home during the summer (or what passes for one here) and my deputy about to go off on maternity has led me to deciding on a week's staycation.
Not one for doing too much practical stuff around the home, I want to make the most of London visiting exhibitions and museums and of course going to the theatre and cinema. And as I'd normally keep a journal on holiday thought I'd keep up the tradition here.
So yesterday was technically my first working day off and I had some theatre tickets to buy. I've already got a ticket for a new play at the wonderful pub theatre the Finborough, for Tuesday (technically tonight now) but I got some theatre tokens for my birthday which I save for those specially selected expensive West End plays I really want to see, to help keep the cost down.
So first stop was the Old Vic in Waterloo to pick up something for their production of Noel Coward's Design for Living at the beginning of September (love a bit of Noel Coward).
Then as I was in that part of town I walked over to Tate Modern. Ok, so I'm going to confess, I have this thing which a friend has so appropriately labelled 'bladder leash' which basically means, owing to having a bladder the size of a walnut, I plan my routes according to where I know there are loos. I wasn't planning to actually go to the Tate Modern but I needed a comfort break and knew they could oblige.
And I'm glad I did head there because they have a great exhibition on at the moment called: Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance & the Camera which I decided to stop and see.
It explores photography in which the subjects are unsuspecting, a lot of great candid stuff of people just going about their own thing. There are also rooms devoted to the voyeuristic elements of photography with some moving pictures from wars including that famous one from Vietnam of the girl running crying naked away from a bomb.
It's well worth the £10 entry fee and really inspiring. In fact I came out and immediately started trying to take pictures of unsuspecting subjects:

 

So then I had a fuel stop and headed over the lovely Millenium Bridge:

Millennium Bridge taken from Tate Modern balcony

My intention was to visit St Paul's as it's been years since I went inside and I thought it would have some great photo opportunities. However, when I got there I discovered that you have to pay to go in and photography isn't allowed so decided to leave it for another time.
Using my brand new iPhone to check the easiest route, I sort of planned to head over to the Renoir cinema to catch a film but the Dickens Museum marked on the google map caught my eye. It's only five minutes walk from where I work and I discovered it on a lunch time stroll ages ago but have never visited. So I checked opening times and headed over.
It's a relatively small museum based in the house he lived in for two years when he was newly married. He wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby there and it's definitely worth a visit if you are a fan of his books or just interested in the man himself.
I particularly like the room about his many female friends. I get the impression that Dickens was a bit of a romantic despite having had his heart broken in his youth.

Dickens Museum, London

The final thing on my day's agenda was to see if I could get a ticket to see All My Sons which has been getting rave reviews. It's another theatre-token show and definitely one for popping to the box office in person to see if there are any decent single seats left. Really want to see it this week and as luck would have it there was seat available for the front row for tomorrow night.
It probably means I'll be sat virtually underneath the stage and have to scoot right down in my seat to save my neck but I'd much rather that than be on row M and have a fat head blocking my view and not be able to see the actors faces.
Naturally I'm very excited:

Pleased with my first day's staycation activities and feeling rather weary it was time to head home. By the time I got there I'd clocked up over 12km on my pedometer, no wonder I was tired.

I'm definitely not happy

I'm definitely not happy, originally uploaded by Rev Stan.

Spent a few days up north with my friend Chris for her wedding.

Chris has a cat called Billy. Billy likes routine. Billy especially likes his 'mummy', Chris's husband-to-be.

So he was not best pleased that hubby was away for the night before the wedding and told us so at frequent intervals during the night after tapping at our doors, just to make sure we were awake.

And he certainly wasn't happy the next morning being in a house with an increasingly nervous and excited bride and maid of honour getting ready for the wedding but decided to save his display of disapproval for later.

"Ha! I'll teach them!" he thought to himself as he was sat on Chris' bed, when the house was finally quiet, and was then sick.

Happy Wedding Day from Billy so to speak.

Stan goes back to school

Well, not really school, an adult education college for a three day intro to digital photography course.

Met some great people and picked up some great tips. Almost understand aperture/depth of field now and I know how to use a few more setting on my camera.

I must confess it wasn't quite what I expected and we didn't cover as much as I thought we would but it has certainly whet my appetite to maybe do another course.

Our instructor was Dominic Harris who is a professional photographer. He was one of the people chosen to spend an hour on the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormley One and Other installation. He did some time lapse photography which you can find on his website. Unfortunately the site is down at the moment but will add a link in when I can get it to work but in the meantime it's www.dominicharris.co.uk.

I've embeded a slide show of my shots, some are just cropped and had a bit of colour work and others have had a bit more work done in photo shop, removing stray hairs and bits of dust etc.

 

QotD: Endings

Do you think it's true that "All good things must come to an end?"

To a certain extent yes. I'm not a negative person I try always to look on the bright side, the cup half full etc. But if things were wonderful all the time, they would lose their edge of wonderfulness. You need a little bit of not so good to fully appreciate the good.

 

QotD: Work Locale

Do you work in an office, at home, in the field or somewhere else? Would you change where you work if you could? What would you miss?

I work in an office mostly, occasionally from home, sometimes on a train or in a coffee shop or a hotel room. Or sometimes in various other companies offices around the country when I'm out and about having meetings and sometimes in restaurants and bars when I'm at an event or hosting an event.

What would I change? Well I'm lucky enough to work in an office in central London and while Holborn is a good location it isn't Soho where our office used to be. So if I was going to be picky it would be back in Soho in a nice warehouse conversion office with exposed brick walls and big arched windows that you can open to get fresh air occasionally instead of having to rely on air conditioning all the time which is never the right temperature.

I could pop to Fresh and Wild (or Whole Foods as it's become) for lunch and spot celebs when I'm out for a stroll - you don't get celebs in Holborn but I have some pretty impressive spots from my days in Soho. I was about to write that the only thing Holborn has got that Soho hasn't is a Waitrose but John Lewis on Oxford Street has a food hall now and while not quite as good, it is a food hall nonetheless...

I'm rambling now. I'll shut up.

QotD: Early Retirement

If you could retire tomorrow, what would you do to fill the time?

Take day trips to places to photograph and do a photography course. I'd also see more films and plays ...you can get cheaper tickets during the week. 

Me + camera + sun = happy

 

Birthday celebrations part 1

The election yesterday was just a side show to the main event: mine and George Clooney's birthdays (and my mate Alan's, my mate Chris's mums and Tony Blair's).
And I am today feeling the effects of that main event but it was worth it.
There was a bit of a theme to the day: chocolate and champagne. My friends know me so well.
Nadia made me this gorgeous chocolate cake (she's such an amazing cook she made the recipe up adapting a non-gluten free cake she likes). It had nearly half a kilo of chocolate in it. Enough said.

Chocolate birthday cake

 

You know you are past your youth when you get excited about a tupperware cake box with cake-lifter inside as a gift. I got excited - fellow office cake-baker, Alison has one from back home in NZ which I've always coveted but Lakeland (a shop I get excited visiting which is another indicator of my having traversed past youth) has just started stocking them. It was Nadia's gift alongside a gluten-free baking recipe book. She's already picked out the cake she wants me to make her...
Anyway so my day in the office was pretty much chocolate-cake fuelled which set me up for an evening of cocktails and food with friends.
Went to the London Cocktail Club, which I'd never been to before but chose because it looked like it had the right level of sophistication without the prices to match. In fact when I ordered the first round I discovered it was two for one, so that was us all set up for pre-dinner drinks. We just swapped around our second drinks so we could sample something different.
The menu is extensive, the staff really friendly and skilled at turning out the most elegant looking drinks:

Porn Star Martini (the chaser is champagne and goes with the PSM) and a Champagne cocktail

Then there was more well chosen presents (theatre tokens/chocolate) and larks for the camera - thanks to Kate for wrestling it from me and doing a marvellous job:

Sadly one present didn't make it home in one piece and it wasn't anything to do with the amount of champagne drunk. The handles of the bag snapped :0( I will be emailing the evidence to Montezuma's as it was their bag and their jar of chocolate buttons.

Birthday breakage

It was a lovely, lovely day and now I'm looking forward to birthday celebrations part 2, details coming soon....

QotD: Change for the Better?

We all have something we'd like to change about ourselves. Inside or out... what would you change if you could?

Outside: I have a problem with the tops of my thighs which I think bulge out disproportionately to the rest of my legs so I'd love to have the buggers lipo'd - just an inch or two would make so much difference.

Inside: More tact. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I don't mean to hurt or offend but sometimes it just comes out that way.

QotD: Adding to My Many Talents...

If you could wake up tomorrow and have one new talent, which talent would you choose?

I think I've answered this one before. To be able to sleep anywhere and as soon as my head hit the pillow. It would make such a big difference to the quality of my life.

QotD: Sleep Tight

What time do you go to bed at night? Do you get enough sleep or would you prefer to get a few more zzzzzs? How often do you dream?

Have never been a good sleeper, even as a child I remember it taking ages to get to sleep. The older I've got the earlier I've started going but then I get up earlier too. Ideally I like to be in bed with a book by 10 light off at 10.30-10.45 depending on how tired I am. But it takes me up to an hour most nights to get to sleep sometimes longer.

I'd love to get more sleep by being able to fall asleep quickly. I'm intensely jealous of people who can sleep anywhere and fall asleep momentarily after their heads hit the people.

 

QotD: I Love You

Who is the last person you said, "I love you" to and when was that?

My Mum when I visited her in her nursing home a couple of weekends ago. I say it to her regularly these days. I've always been very, very selective about using the 'L' word in the past as I think it can get overused and lose meaning and sincerity but I wasn't expecting my Mum to live to see 2010 so every time is precious and has meaning now.

Brother's love

Spent the day with my Bro and Mrs Bro today. Bro loves his Staffordshire Bull Terrier Boris.

 

 

QotD: The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done...

What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

Go through a split after 14-years together. It was mutual but it hurt like hell and still hurts at times.

QotD: All-Season

If possible, would you live year-round in your favorite season?

Well, as we don't really have clearly defined seasons in the UK then yes. I'd go for late spring/early summer which can range from really hot weather to cool, wet and windy. It doesn't get too cold though and the flowers and light on sunny days is beautiful so that would be good enough for me. And at least the days would be long.

Sanctuary on a hot summer's day in London

Cromer Pier after summer rain

In the Cannes

Hurray. My annual trip to the South of France for work is over for another year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that I get to work in sunny Cannes for a week. But three 18-hour days sandwiched by two early starts to travel there and back takes its toll.

It is fun but I am physically and mentally exhausted, my stomach is grumpy and my body is still on work/Cannes time and woke me up at 6am. Quiet weekend with maybe the odd afternoon cinema trip thrown in I think. Anyway I couldn't resist taking the odd non-work piccie...

The calm of the night before it all kicks off:

 

 

I'm very, very, very lucky to get put in a nice hotel. Very lucky. A lot of journalists end up on sofa beds in flea pits a 30Euro cab ride outside Cannes. I've stayed in the same hotel for the last three years and this year they've given the lobby a rose and lily theme. Although I must say that I didn't immediately think of a rose when I saw the chair...

Lily flower arrangements

And I'm not sure there were quite enough pillows on my bed.

How many pillows?

And then there was the food. Some good and some, well some just down right strange and unappetising:

 

QotD: Dream View

If you could have any view from your "back porch," what would it be?

I'd love to live in central London and in particular Covent Garden so a view towards the river (from the balcony of my loft apartment ;0) over the roof tops towards Westminster and the South Bank would be my first choice.

Right better go and buy a lottery ticket.

Company names that reveal a lot about the people who 'thought' them up

Company names that reveal just a bit too much about the people who thought them up, originally uploaded by Rev Stan.

QotD: Would You Rather... (Career)

Would you rather be a great musician, athlete, scientist, artist, politician or writer?

I'd love to be a great writer and write the sort of books I love to read and can only dream of being competent, dedicated and talented enough to write.

I'd like to be a writer like Ian McEwan or Sarah Waters or Stephen Fry (when he was still writing novels).

QotD: Final Words

What would you like to be said about you at your funeral?

Who?

QotD: Cry Me a River

When's the last time you cried? What caused the tears?

On Tuesday night at the theatre. First, because I was laughing so much. Then again because it was A Midsummer Night's Dream which was a favourite of my Dad's having seen our local am-dram group perform it when I was a teen. The really funny scene made me suddenly think of him and how much he would have enjoyed it. And that made me feel sad and a bit teary.

Shingo works his magic once again

Didn't go to the hair dressers yesterday with any intention of getting anything other than a bit of a trim and a tidy but Shingo thought differently.
I'm loving the lack of hair at the back and the wedge cut over the ears. We'll see how it washes and copes with cycle helmet although Shingo is very good at giving me practical as well as edgy cuts.

Another new haircut