Tuesday 29 September 2015

Disaster Strikes Our Mobility

What can I say? The car goes in for an MOT. Gets through the physical check... and when they roll it onto the emissions detector set-up... the back wheels fall off.
I mean... anyone would think the car had been made by Mrs D.

We have to buy another second-hand car toot suite! (Parp! Parp!)

Saturday 26 September 2015

Hard-Boiled Nightfall

A darkening room and the sound of two shots cracking out. In the blaze of light I see the stooped figure of The Old Man. He have flexed his knees, stood up and turned the light on. Supper time.
Watching "Beck" later.
Naturally.

Thursday 24 September 2015

Discussing St Ives

A friend says how much she would like to visit St. Ives... although she knows I don't like it much. I do explain again the changes it is undergoing in the building rush, etc., etc. She do look at me and say:
"But I thought the light is supposed to be so special in St Ives."

I explain that this is not a property of St. Ives per se. West Cornwall is a narrow peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean and as such is surrounded by sea... it is this that effects the quality of the light in the region.

Later... an image.... "The Myth of The Serotisation of The Light of St. Ives" do conjure up before my eyes.


Sunday 20 September 2015

Hard-boiled Foraging: Doll-Style

Pick your sloes. Wash them, stab them with a needle... several times. Pack them in a jar. Pour some sugar on them. Drown them in gin. Let them "stew" so to speak, for quite some time.
Then come Christmas... throw the sloes away and drink the gin.

Friday 18 September 2015

Scandi-Crime Saturdays Are Back On BBC Four

Starting last Saturday (12th September) ... I am sitting back in me telly chair for a Scandinavian crime drama slot on BBC Four... the Swedish series "Beck". I can't work out from their schedule if we have only two feature-length episodes ... so maybe next Saturday is the last of these already.
"Beck" is drawn from the books of the pioneers of Swedish crime writing as we think of it - the duo Per Wahloo and Mai Sjowall who established their detective Martin Beck back in the 1960s and 1970s.

It has also been announced that we are getting a second series of "Arne Dahl", the Swedish telly series centred on the A-Unit or Intercrime police unit created by Swedish crime writer Arne Dahl. I shall look forward to these as well although, having just finished reading Dahl's "To The Top Of The Mountain", I want to emphasise that the books are definitely worth reading even if you have seen the telly series. Dahl's writing has a depth to the characters and a wry style that is greater than Series One of the telly version would have us believe, enjoyable though that version is.

There is also supposed to be a return of "The Bridge" with Season 3 minus Kim Bodnia, co-star of the first two series.

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Nights Out in West Cornwall


Last night I went to Manderley... and did thoroughly enjoy Emma Rice's production of "Rebecca" at the Hall for Cornwall. The Kneehigh approach, working well, makes for a wonderful ensemble piece - and so it was. I admit that you might be lost if you have never read the book or seen the classic 1940 Olivier/Joan Fontaine film of same name. With this dramatic but quite rollicking production there is music, lights, flashes, booms, spirited dancing (Aah! The wonderful Katy Owen as houseboy Robert... I did love her... as did the whole audience, I think.) and a puppet dog. No. I said "puppet" not "puppy". I was not so sure about Emma Rice's final vision of the post-traumatic heroine, the ever nameless second Mrs De Winter, though. The set - an already partially ruined Manderley which embraces both boat and cove - worked well. The Old Man do ask why it was part-ruined already. And I was a bit puzzled... but decided to meself that in some ways the book/work is a recounting of memories... so a ruin is OK. Lord knows what the set designer thought... but contemplating what one has seen is about pondering what is/was communicated as much as having a good time. And I did have a good time. It be all good stuff. Give it a go if you can. It's still touring the country until Dec 5th.

So what's next for us furious gadabouts (more furious than gadding) confine to West Cornwall? Ah! That be a touch of the live relay opera again at our local cinema. Soon... early October... "Marriage of Figaro" from the Royal Opera House. Jolly good!

Sunday 13 September 2015

The Old Man As A Dog...

Today we have walked about on Long Rock beach... which is full of activity. People jog, run and cycle along the path and the air above the waves be full of surfing kites and waves be covered in  kite-surfers and wind-surfers. The tide is out, the sand is firm and so above all the place is full of dogs... running, ball-catching, meeting each other, trotting, jumping the waves... it looks like Lowry on sea out there.
So of course I ogle dogs. Part of me is a frustrated dog owner but the other part is the irresponsible flibbertigibbet that can fantasize about owning one... without taking the little critter for a walk or in any way looking after it. My latest passion has been a French Bull dog... and these must be "the thing" cos I saw two more on the beach today.

But it is all academic cos The Old Man be not keen. And the reason is, I do believe, that he be a dog himself. All the signs are there. The rushing to the door when someone knocks... followed by frequent growling and snapping if it is a stranger... and possibly over enthusiastic greeting if it be friend. Frequent requests for walks and an overwhelming interest in food do complete the picture... and the rushing out into the garden when he do spot a cat. So you see... there can be no competition indoors.

We come home. I bake a cake. And we indulge in an Incredible String Band fest.
Old curmudgeons... we try to make life sweeter.

Saturday 12 September 2015

The Old Man Glues His Ear To The Radio... The Corbyn Result

It's all go in the household this morning... baking bread, eating breakfast, washing up... but The Old Man is out of the house like greased lightning ... beetling off to get his paper so that he can rush back to hear The Result. He has to know if Corbyn will be the Labour leader or not.
And we do wonder if he is leader... how long he will survive as such. The knives have been sharpening all along... and they are rasping on the grindstone at hectic speed even now.
Ho-ho-ho. The joy of political discipline and good will.

Result: Jeremy Corbyn wins.
Tom Watson is Deputy Leader.

Tuesday 8 September 2015

The Doll Is Pointed Towards Michael Leunig.

The Doll was introduced to the work of  Australian artist and cartoonist Michael Leunig the other day. Although he do seem to have attracted a bit of flak recently with his "anti-Vax" (vaccination) cartoons.



Wednesday 2 September 2015

The Doll In Love - An Awful Lot Of Grey

It happened one afternoon. I saw him in the car park. He was short, muscular and dark. I looked at him. He looked at me. He stuck out his tongue and panted... and I was his and only his....

Where are you now, mon amour?

By fenway.faith (Own work) [<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AStella_Brindle_French_Bulldog.jpg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>
French Bulldog by fenway.faith
 CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons