Some Comments on Life
Now we are sixty
As with all anniversaries, they seem so distant for so
long, then they actually come at you in a big rush! So with my 60th
birthday bash, a date in the diary then suddenly it was upon us. In all
honesty, if I could have cancelled it all a day or two beforehand I would, but
in the end it all went really well. The long weekend actually started on
Thursday evening when Amanda and I, her brother in law David and Graham D went
to see Joe Bonamassa at
Hammersmith Apollo (Odeon really!). Bonamassa has
really moved on since we last saw him at a tiny little festival 7 years ago.
These days he is a bona fide superstar who does his regular annual session at
the Albert Hall with Clapton and other luminaries. In essence he is a
desperately old-fashioned and, I would have thought, unfashionable blues rock
musician. Friday was dinner out at a local (and excellent) Thai restaurant with
Ken & Jeanette, Dave & Gill and Rod – essentially all my oldest friends.
Saturday was the party, but all my attention was on the musical bit. The
ambition, perhaps not explicitly stated, was that I would get through the
guitar solo from Come Up
and See Me, something unthinkable six months ago. The inner team, Ken,
Malcolm, Rod and I got into the pub at 4.00 to find nothing rigged. However by 5.30
once the more professional Rod was happy with the foldback
monitors, we were able to spend an hour running through openings and closings
before people began to arrive. And suddenly there were lots of people from
almost every decade of my life. The Richard
Walkerdine Memorial Formula One race was started
(winner P. Birks), food arrived and then we were on stage. Difficult to know
how it really 
went, but
it sounded OK from the stage and the phone recorded footage didn’t sound too
bad at all. I had one desperate moment when I pressed the wrong button on the
amplifier foot peddle and everything sounded wrong, but Ken sorted that and
yes, I did (at least) get through the solo before launching into an anarchic Sweet Jane to finish. I would love to
name check everyone but there are too many to mention and I would be bound to
forget someone, so just to say your presence was deeply appreciated, especially
those who travelled from the West country and West Midlands. It really was a
great evening.
But that wasn’t the end.
Sunday afternoon saw sixteen of us having Sunday lunch in the Grantly Arms in Wonnesh.
A few came back for tea and cake and eventually at about 5.30 we closed the
doors and sank down in the sofa to rest.
Tuesday was my ‘mystery’
holiday, arranged by Amanda which turned out to be Carlisle. A
great choice as I have never been there, and it is a great centre.
During our three full days we spent one on the Carlisle to Settle
railway, another on Hadrian’s Wall and the final day in Keswick and around Derwent Water. All in all, quite a week.
******
Who Knows Where the Time Goes, wrote Richard Thompson (and sang Sandy Denny). Who indeed? I can think
of no good reason why the past three months have hurtled past in a blur, but
they certainly has. I could blame the allotment, I
suppose; but the weather has mitigated against a great
deal of gardening so far. It seems to have either been raining, snowing or just
frozen. So we are rather behind with the veggies so far this year. We have
dismantled the greenhouse at Amanda’s parents, but have yet to attempt the
rebuild. We have been decorating, I have been organising a birthday party and
practicing the guitar quite a lot – but hardly that much. We have popped up to
Leicester to see Tracey & Shane and had a pre-Valentine weekend in Rye – at
the wonderful Mermaid Hotel. Then
there are my efforts organising meetings for the Medieval Studies Forum, which does seem to take more effort than I
was anticipating – but on the other hand last week’s really successful meeting
on the Pre-Conquest period with three excellent external speakers certainly
makes it seem worth it. I also seem to have been doing quite a lot in my
governor role at the Royal Grammar School, including a day following lots of
boys in their ‘Field Day’ activities – including army cadets in training,
scouts building bar-b-ques, sea rescue, mountain
climbing, music studies and community activities. We have managed a few plays, two Shakespeares and
the new Alan Bennett – but no music as yet. Oh and Phil Jones’ 60th
party in Brighton and Caroline’s 50th in Ealing and the excellent Man Ray exhibition...
But apart from that, I
really don’t think we have been doing that much.
And after the party
festivities this weekend, Amanda is whisking me off on holiday somewhere – I
know not where apart from the fact that it won’t be hot. Hardly narrowing it
down much!