Some Comments on Life
And so another year is virtually over. We started it in the midst of one
of the coldest winters of recent times, and it finishes with record high
temperatures. Weather just isn’t what it used to be! Our Christmas was largely
spent on the road. Christmas day we had dinner in the Red Lion and Pineapple, with Kenny, Justyna & Jacob, and
Amanda’s brother Roger and family. Needless to say the
15 month old dominated proceedings! But having the pub facilities to help with
dinner and washing up was rather good. The next day we headed up to
Leicestershire where Tracey’s now fiancée (after a dramatic interval proposal
at the O2 last weekend) lives. As a break from sitting around drinking tea and
eating mince pies, Shane, Matthew and I went off to see Nottingham Forest lose
to Peterborough in a spectacularly inept display. Very
enjoyable, nonetheless, particularly for Matthew and I as we were neutrals.
We were supposed to be meeting Shane’s father in the pub Boxing Day evening,
but in fact we were ambushed by a surprise engagement party, so the evening
ended in mayhem! Tracey has clearly, and very rapidly, become part of Shane’s
family. But good to see both Kenny and Tracey set up for now
and both, in very different ways, very happy.
But we are now home and hoping
for a few days of doing very little apart from a few walks, a few household
tasks and the odd trip to the pub. Time for some rest and
some recuperation before next year. It seems doubtful 2012 will go down
as one of the best!
******
As many of you
will know, the St Pancras Hotel has reopened as a tribute to Gilbert Scott, the
original architect, and has attracted enormous praise from everyone. It would
be wonderful to stay there sometime, but not a very cheap prospect! However,
Amanda discovered that you have ‘supper’ there at a very reasonable cost. So we
headed over there on a recent Sunday evening, as much as a way of getting a
look round as for the meal. Neither the building nor the supper let us down. It
is fabulously done out and no detail has been spared. The food was very English,
but excellent, as was the service. Not a cheap evening, but a very good one.
Earlier we kept to the Victoriana
theme by visiting the William Morris exhibition at the extravagant Arts &
Crafts building at 2 Temple Place. Once again, it was hard to know which was
better, the exhibition or the setting. But as this was free, it hardly
mattered. It did confirm the feeling that the arts and crafts movement people
were all a bit weird, though!
In our own different ways, we are
entering into the historical life of Guildford. Amanda has been spinning yarn –
really, the try not to prick you finger sort of thing. I did my Bonking Bishops
talk for the Surrey Medieval History Forum and am now Meetings Secretary.
Amanda has volunteered to join the Guildford Angels, a group who look after the
walking wounded from a Saturday night out in Guildford, and I have now joined
the Academic Committee of the RGS Governors. We have been to a couple of school
events; the staff Panto, a splendidly politically
incorrect version of Robin Hood and also the school carol concert in the
Cathedral.
And I really ought to mention
that I have a new job role at work as well – Faculty Director of Consultancy.
This is only a one day a week job, and has no money attached, but it is a good
title! It essentially involves trying to get more members of the faculty to
undertake consultancy work for the greater good of the Institute. Much of this
is a proselytising role, so it means that I have to raise my own profile
somewhat at work. It means that I am now working as a
development offices, researcher, project manager, lecturer as well as
this role. Luckily, multitasking was always my forte!
******
This week saw
me once again donning black tie and suit. A second funeral in 6 weeks is bad
enough, but the second for someone younger than me in such a timescale is
deeply disturbing. Kevin Warne, a
long-time hobby associate, and once John Harrington’s zine
co-editor died of a heart attack. Not a drinker or smoker his main foible seems
to have been liking his food too much. He has had a
cholesterol crisis before, but it seems that there were no further chances.
As noted elsewhere, this has been
a particularly manic month, and also marks our first
year of being in Guildford. It has gone very quickly. Overall I think it has
been a very positive move. We still like the house very much, although getting
it ‘finished’ if that is ever possible – is taking longer than expected!
Current attention is on the garden and how to plan it. We love the proximity to
really good walking countryside and the wonderful array of pubs. The local
music scene is tremendous although the drama a little less vibrant. We are
slowly getting involved with local activities; I have joined the Surrey
Archaeological Society and am a Governor of the local Grammar School, Amanda
has been spinning wool and we are looking to volunteer for the nearby National
Trust property. So we really are trying to refocus from London. Generally I can
say that commuting is not too bad... but it is a drag when you go to something
that finishes late, particularly during the week.
One of the wonderful things about
London, however, is that you never know when some surreal happening may break
out. Hardly spontaneous but certainly weird was the BBC’s decision to perform
the final movement of Beethoven’s 9th symphony on the concourse of
St Pancras station. I had to go along and see for myself. Not perhaps the best
version I’ve heard, but the sound of a Eurostar entering
the station during the intro certainly added something!
Life shows no sign of calming down, and we have continued a
fairly hectic pace since returning from Siena. It is
noted below that we went to the opening night of our new venue GLive. As it happens it was rather more interesting than
you might expect an evening of Tchaikovsky to be. Half way through the first
movement of the First Piano Concerto, played with stunning virtuosity by Daniil Trifonov, the lights went
out! In true performing spirit, the pianist and conductor never missed a beat.
One or two of the second violinists near us looked a bit put out, but various
torches and little lights appeared and the performance continued.
Unsurprisingly at the end soloist was treated to a rapturous standing ovation.
I think he’ll be welcome back at any time. I suppose any opening night may have
problems. We’re next here for Bill Wyman, who I suspect will put a slightly
higher demand on their power supplies!
Astonishing to return from
Italy in September and find the temperature higher at home. It has given us an
opportunity to tidy up the garden for winter and discover yet more lovely
waterside pubs – the latest, the Stag on the Water at Eashing).
We have also gone to a local theatre group performing The
Dolls House, an evening at Shalford Mill on
soup and breadmaking, and back in town a discussion
at the Jewish Museum on the Battle of Cable Street. There has also been Jacob’s
first birthday party, but apart from that....
******
On Tuesday we attended Hazel Beattie’s funeral.
I first met Hazel, wife of Molinare work colleague Malcolm, just over 30 years ago. I have a memory – quite possibly a false one – of Hazel suddenly appearing in the library at the end of my first week with the words ‘It’s Friday night and we’re going to PARTY!’ True or not, it would have been typical of Hazel who was always full of life and fun. She worked for many years in some of the better Soho and Covent Garden restaurants as a Maitre d’, so understandably liked good food and wine (she showed me the real way to taste the wine – just sniff it!). She adored dance and ballet and singing but her obsession was Wimbledon. For two weeks a year Hazel was unobtainable, either being at SW19 or laid out in front of the TV. Sadly she didn’t make it down for our party a few weeks ago, Malcolm coming by himself as Hazel was being ‘auntie’. We were looking for a time for them both to come to dinner. She would have been 56 the day after the funeral.
This is all just so wrong.
******
Joe Finnegan said on the phone the other day that we didn’t seem to be doing less since we moved, just in different locations. A very reasonable comment. In fact I am a bit puzzled as to why it is that after getting in a long walk virtually every weekend in the winter and spring, we haven’t done a decent walk in about three months. One reason is music; Guilfest, Beautiful Days and Weyfest have given us our best summer music in years. And we have tickets pinned on the board for another half dozen gigs over the autumn. We did just one Promenade concert this year (Mozart & Bruckner) and we are off to see some populist Tchaikovsky at the newly opened Guildford venue (GLive). We have been to a couple of exhibitions, most recently the Italian Alter Pieces at the National Gallery – superb! – and have been dashing around Surrey for Open House week (including the Lovelace Mausoleum in East Horsley, pictured). Family has been much in evidence too, with visits to and from babies Jacob and Ethan including Ethan’s ‘Naming Ceremony’ up at the gorgeous Burgh House in Hampstead. We have also had to find out way to deepest, darkest Acton to Kenny’s pub The Red Lion & Pineapple. Finally there have been domestic matters, including the great successes of our garden (brilliant beans, good squash, salad, potatoes and tomatoes, slightly disappointing courgette and no sign of the rhubarb!), pulling out the decking, completing blinds and curtains and now having the kitchen ripped out and replaced, which should be finished this week. Irritatingly, on our way back from a visit to my sister in Hove I picked up my first ever speeding ticket... After over 35years of driving! I have opted to go to a ‘driving awareness’ scheme, or something like that....
******
In all honesty, the riots
have largely passed me by; there has been no disruption in either my leafy homeplace or workplace. However, Amanda’s children have
been rather closer to the scenes of violence and Amanda herself was sent home
from a ‘very tense’ Holloway earlier this week. And the constantly televised
images of looting in Clapham focussed on a shop I have known very well for many
years, so perhaps not so far away as all that.
It took a while for a consensus
to emerge, but I think it is safe to say that, outside of Tottenham this has
been an exercise in criminality rather than politics; essentially a ‘law and
order’ affair. Even Al Jazeera commented that you don’t protest about an
unlawful killing by stealing trainers. The rioting has nothing to do with the
‘cuts’, lack of youth clubs, abandonment of EMA and so on.
And yet.... I didn’t expect to see riot
police outside Guildford station, and I was correct. Nor did I see signs of
disruption in Weybridge, or Beaconsfield or Winchester. Tottenham, Enfield,
Hackney, Clapham, Croydon... while there may be no causal link between
individual aspects of disadvantage, the cumulative result is there to be seen.
The rioters/criminals/gangs did choose deprived areas in which to assemble. It
is glib to ‘blame the Tories’ for the disorder, but equally glib not to accept
that disadvantage does not play some part.
The problem is that everyone
is to blame. Yes, the Tories for the lack of care they have shown in pushing through
their deficit programme, New Labour for failing to tackle any of these
long-term issues when times were good, preferring to simply paying off
non-working citizens with benefits and grants. As far as building a society
without moral values where making money is the only thing that counts, the list
is as long as you like: the media with its obsession with celebrity ‘values’,
the bankers who bankrupted the country but still retain their barely
conceivable salaries, footballers demanding more per week than most earn in a
year, politicians who stole public money to fund personal foibles (yes, I do
mean moats and duck houses), public sector chiefs with their excessive
salaries, the BBC for paying non-entities colossal fees and even an ex
Metropolitan Commissioner who didn’t see a problem in accepting a gift of
£12,000.... Don’t blame black men for not being decent role models, blame the
whole of society!
The other accepted view is
that the Police ‘got it wrong’.
If the Coalition Government
still possessed the energy of a year ago, they would be pointing out that the
policing of the riots has been a classic example of
New Labour target setting culture. The policy, which appears to have been to
not intervene when witnessing looting or arson but watch, ensure CCTV footage
is obtained and then arrest as many of the perpetrators later using
photographic evidence. As a policy dreamed up by senior officers in a policy
meeting it makes a great deal of sense: You don’t subject your officers to
unnecessary health and safety risks, you avoid the potential of being heavy
handed with rioters and being condemned for it, you maximise prosecutions and
probably conviction rates as well as you are prosecuting people you have
photographic evidence on. As an example of top-down, KPI centred approach it
really does make sense.
It would not, of course, have
last 10 seconds if passed by any small business; they see the police’s job as
protecting them and their business, not achieving policy targets. It seems to
me obvious that the public’s perception of the police is that it is there to
protect them from just such incidents and, as we are seeing all over London and
Birmingham. And if the police won’t protect you, there are plenty within the
community who are happy to do so themselves. Vigilantism may yet become part of
Cameron’s Big Society.
So why isn’t the
Government out explaining how this is a product of the New Labour managerial
approach? Presumably because they have no alternatives to
offer. Their conviction that the Police service
(force? Or service? It is suddenly a relevant question) can save money
without reducing ‘front-line staff’ is based on a similar managerial approach.
Personally I have yet to see a better example of the perverse results of
over-using targets and KPIs. We know that schools have become adept at getting
their students through valueless qualifications just to inflate their own
targets, and that hospitals know where to deposit patients while allowing them
to meet waiting time requirements. Now we see the police would prefer to let
the City burn and simply pick up the guilty at a later date.
The fallout over the
events of the past few days suggest many things in UK public life are in need
of examination, and the discredited target culture 
must surely be added to them.
********
Interesting
how busy we seem to be, but in different ways. In the past month we have had
various friends round for lunch/dinner, been to Guilfest,
visited Wanborough Barn, the oldest barn in Surrey (1388)
where Amanda decided she wants to spin wool as a hobby, been to a Civil
Ceremony, been to see Surrey play Warwickshire in a 40 over game of cricket,
visited the Treasures of Heaven exhibition at the British Museum, the
archaeological dig at Woking Palace, not to mention
finished painting the bathrooms and started excavating the decking in the
garden.... And on it goes!
As cricket fans may know, Surrey CC decamps to Guildford for a week every summer; to be precise they go to the cricket ground at the bottom of Recreation Road, several minutes away. We took Amanda’s parents (despite lines form Ken like – not as good as when I was in Sabina Park) to a very close and exciting 40 over game against Warwickshire. It was a hot and sunny day, there wasn’t a spare seat and either side could have won down to the last few deliveries. Who says County Cricket is dead? Next year I may look to take a day off and go to the County Match as well.
Treasures from Heaven was typically excellent, given that British Museum has a good choice of the best artefacts in the world. It was top quality stuff, lots of reliquaries for bits of the ‘True Cross’ and the ‘Crown of Thorns’, and some very high quality Roman material. Well captioned and explained it only started to get a bit silly when you get relics of Charles I or even Martin Luther! Really good, but perhaps lacking the commonplace; Relics worship was universal throughout most of the Middle Ages, and every tiny little church will have had relics and reliquaries, but in this exhibition there was no sign of the non-elite or popular religion.
I can’t say that visiting Woking Palace was one of the features that drew us to Guildford. In fact, I never knew Woking had a Palace. Quite a decent one though, largely built by Henry VII, much used by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and based on a 12th Century Manor House. We went to the Surrey Archaeology Society talk after this year’s three-week dig. It was both extremely well done – we spent three hours on the site – and extremely interesting. As local history goes, this was very high end. Perhaps next year we should go down and get the trowels out....
********
Good to see (feel?) that
summer has returned to normal. After the glorious weather of April, the drought
of May we are back to wet, cold, windy weather in June. I am writing this in a
tiny cottage on the West Sussex coast where we have retreated for a few days to
get away from – well, everything! Luckily we weren’t really requiring good
weather so we have not been disappointed. But what exactly are we retreating
from? Work – very hectic for both of us, working on the house – currently
painting the upstairs bathroom, the decking needs to be ripped up, there is a
kitchen to plan, curtains to make, garden to be weeded and still stuff to sort
out. Essentially a lot to do!
We had a really lovely little
gathering a few weeks ago, and lots of people found their way to our new house.
Our fist guest arrived at 12.20 and the last one left at 9.30pm and there was a
constant flow of people in between. As good a party as I can remember.
I have also now done my
second history paper, at the South East Hub for History at the University of
Kent in Canterbury. Really good fun and the paper was
well received. For me a lot of this is about getting some confidence and
feeling I can be taken seriously as a Historian. After giving two papers inside
a month and indeed being taken far more seriously by others than I do myself,
perhaps I have got there? Next time I may try something slightly more serious.
But the next priority must be to get the Clerical Celibacy web site finished,
so I can start to refer to some of my evidence.
My move towards establishment
respectability is confirmed by my becoming a Governor of the Royal Grammar School in Guildford. This
is very similar to my own old school in being a direct grant grammar which
opted to go public rather than embrace the comprehensive ideal. My few visits
have already provided me with plenty of food for thought, and I look forward to
my time working with the school.
Baby Update:
We haven’t seen baby Ethan
recently, but we can report that baby Jacob is now a fine crawler. Non parents
may not realise the difference between putting a baby on the floor and they
stay there, and putting a baby on the floor and they are in control of their
space, knowing where they want to e and how to get there. Kenny, Justyna and
Jacob are off to Poland tomorrow and by the time they return i am sure Jacob will be walking. What fund!!!
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Whitsun: another weekend,
another bank holiday. At least there was a return to normality when, half way
through Monday afternoon, it actually rained! It has been a long time since it
rained in drought-stricken Surrey!
On Saturday I attended a BirkBeck conference called Angles 3 which was concentrating on unusual approaches to topics.
It was really very interesting, far more than I was expecting, with some
excellent papers and mostly really well presented. I was there largely to
present a paper I had written looking at the effectiveness of using statistical analysis on
medieval sources. This is part of my new campaign to ‘become an academic’;
I have another paper to present (errr, and write!) in
Canterbury on June 15th.
Thereafter it was family,
with Amanda’s grandson Jacob paying us a visit (accompanied by his parents I
should add!) leading to lots of family visits and an amount of
babysitting. I have to say, I find Grand parenting (or pseudo-grand
parenting) a lot less stressful than the real thing.
*********
Paris
in the Spring! Actually, so often chilly, damp and deeply
disappointing, but no criticisms this year. Amanda and I, together with
a mob of ex-Birkbeck students, enjoyed a long weekend
characterised by sun, warmth and glorious blue skies. We stayed at the same
hotel as our last visit, close to Gare du Nord and to
the Canal St Martin, a
mixed but interesting area just north of Republique.
The bar at the end of the road acted as an excellent rendezvous point, and
highlights included a long walk through Belleville, a stroll wound the
magnificently ridiculous Pere lachaise,
shopping for materials in Montmartre, a Revolutionary Walk round Paris with US
student Travis and visiting the magnificent Sainte Chappelle
chapel in the Palais de Justice. Oh, and buying the
cheapest bottle of champagne at the St Pancras Champagne bar – don’t ask!
Interestingly, Paris did not seem
as expensive as last time we were there. I assume this simply means that London
has got more expensive in the interim! We
certainly had two excellent meals, seriously well cooked if basic bistro food,
and generous proportions at around 30-40 Euros a head which we thought good
value.
The picture? Another group we saw while doing the French
Revolution, a sightseeing tour of Paris from a different perspective....
*********
Whatever job I have ever done,
the run up to Easter has always been hard; in the past few years we have had a
succession of early Easters, which created their own
problems, but this year we have to get used to a very long haul! And it is
starting to feel it. Still almost there and a few Spring
mornings goes a long way to help. Amanda and I are managing to sneak in a few
days holiday here and there. Paris this weekend – a group trip with Amanda’s Birkbeck crowd. Should be interesting and I think alcohol
may be consumed! The end of April is a
total write-off for work, so we thought we’d escape the Royal Wedding by going
to stay in a pub in Devon for a long weekend. If the weather is good, it should
be wonderful. Not really sure about long holidays yet, but after a fallow
couple of years we would like to hit the festivals a bit harder this year.
The Bathrooms are finally done –
or at least the builder’s part since they now need to be painted. And with the
return of some sun, the focus moves to the garden. Last weekend we were up and
out digging up the lawn by 10.00am, then went off for a long walk afterwards!
However I think the garden has to be seen as a long term project. The aim for
this year is to dig it over and grow a few vegs – so
more of an allotment really! Overall we have done pretty well over the winter
with decorating and organising, so my aim is to get the garden up to a level
that we can sit in it and drink wine after work....
Amanda is more inclined to watch
an hour’s TV of an evening than I, with the result that I have also watched
more TV than for a very long time. All of it – well most of it – good though.
Current favourite is teh Biblical archaeology
programme featuring the highly visual Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou. The first programme, looking at hard
historical evidence for the existence of a Jewish empire in 1000BCE was good,
but this week examining the idea that Judaism was not really monotheistic until
a few centuries before Christ was fascinating. It was full of facts I was
unaware of, and the idea of Yahweh having a consort is brilliant! The BBC blogs
are quite a hoot too, full of comments like – the BBC wouldn’t dare to d o a
programme like this about he Koran. It is
anti-Christian....
Just as entertaining, and almost
as thought provoking is Dream School. And yes, Starkey is a twat, but at least he
has hung in and tried to win his group over.
all its dire methodology, populist agenda, succession
of self-serving celebrities, Jamie is not quite capable of making anything
entirely stupid. So for many the breathtaking tantrums of Harlem and her ilk
will have come as a revelation; yes, that is the state of much of urban youth
and somehow teachers have to deal with it. US Mathematician Alvin Hall had it
when he called them the most egotistical generation ever. The worked is about
them and there is just no space left for the rest of the world.
*********
March already and a
whiff offspring in the air as I write this on a train heading back from a day
in Newcastle. What have we been doing with ourselves, you may wonder? Certainly not writing up
the website, that’s for sure. Well, we have been quite busy. Firstly I
had forgotten how much there is to do when you move into a house – it being
some years since I last did it. Currently we have both bathrooms being done
over = or possibly done in since one is just a shell at the moment. We have
also largely finished decorating the living room – curtains (Amanda). Curtain
rail (Amanda’s brother), Picture rail (me), wallpapering (Amanda) and painting
(both of us). Just lighting and flooring to be done. We have also bought
furniture for the room which should be delivered in the next few days, and no
weekend is complete without a visit to Homebase – and we have yet to start on the garden!
While the commute is fine, it still takes time. We get up 45 minutes earlier of a morning and arrive home 40 minutes later of an evening. The good side effect is that I have been walking from Waterloo to work, which when combined with the walk to Guildford Station makes 90 minutes walking a day. All good – but it takes time. And there is the small matter of work. So far this year I have been to Arbroath, Plymouth (twice), Exeter, Portsmouth and Newcastle and there are a few more trips left to do in the next couple of weeks. My overnight in Plymouth was interesting as I stayed in the Wardroom – essentially the Officer’s Mess. Very pleasant rooms and an excellent 3 course dinner. I spent the evening in the bar being bought drinks by a group of nuclear physicists....
We have been trying out different places of entertainment too. So far we have been to Gainsborough (vie heroique) - a French ‘art’ film (well, it was subtitled and suitably surreal in places) - at The Electric Theatre, the National’s tour of Hamlet with Rory Kinnear at the New Palace Woking, the Tallis Scholars at the Cathedral, True Grit at the local Odeon and the traditional Mummers at a selection of pubs on the High Street.music.htm I’ve booked a gig in Havant (!) and hope to visit The Maltings in Farnborough soon. And finally there is walking. One of the aims of this move was to spend a lot more time walking, and so far most weekend’s we have managed a fairly decent walk, usually on the Downs somewhere. It is an area of breathtaking beauty and it is very easy to get completely away from everyone. We have also found some amazing pubs; perhaps I should flashback to the NMR! Pub Guide and share some of the best with you?