End of term catch-up!



Salford Media City about 10pm. ( You can't see the dalek from here!)

 Just two weeks to the summer hols!  Has to be the fastest year yet.  As always, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of stuff which still remains to be done before we break up. This year as well, several people I've worked very closely with during my years in my job are retiring, leaving two more holes in our department.  I know there's a theory that no one is irreplaceable, but that isn't actually true.  Physically there may be people sitting in their rooms, doing the same jobs they did, but those new faces cannot replace the old at all.
Not going to get all philosophical about the state of education here or how my job has changed beyond belief in the last five or so years.  Instead, I'll sing the praises of the wonderful Hazelnut and Raspberry cake we ate at the Sage music centre yesterday afternoon to the accompaniment of a massed ukulele band!  Gloriously over-pink icing but a real raspberry taste!
Other than work (ie Ofsted inspection and aftermath) and cake what has gone on since April?  Well, the Kindle has become part of the family and a constant companion on my daily commute to work.  I think I truly love it! 
We've done Manchester in the pouring rain, wind and low low temperatures for ballet, staying in the heart of the new 'Media Centre' in Salford and met a 'real' dalek. 
We've done Birmingham in the baking heat 2 weeks later - again for ballet - and discovered a gorgeous part of the city we'd previously overlooked. 
I discovered the joy of buying old postcards on ebay and sang all the verses of 'American Pie' with Don McLean without having to brave Glastonbury mud. I photographed the Hogwarts Express and got up very close to Mallard at the Shildon railway museum.
I've narrowly missed out on seeing Ian Rankin in Edinburgh in August but managed to get a ticket to see Alfie Boe in concert in January, survived the experience of being in a theatre with 2000 Paolo Nuttini fans (has to be experienced to be believed!) but managed to avoid Take That (even though we started to suspect they were following us round!) Finally, I protested about the early closure of the wonderful Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Love Never Dies - and hastily rearranged a trip to go and see it YET AGAIN before it closes!
And  - last but not least - thirty two years after I fell head over heels in love with Adam Ant I finally got to see him live on stage and he was as amazing as ever.  I don't think either of us are wearing too badly! First gig I've ever been to alone - although there were people there I knew - and, surprisingly, it was fun!  This gentleman was the support act and for a while I did wonder if he was just a figment of my imagination...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOad0FU9zF8   I can only imagine what Grouse's comment would be!

Not a bad list, really.  Not very surprising that I didn't find time to blog!!

Kindle wakes...

After a week of trying to get the e-reader to talk to the router I finally brokered an agreement between them in the early hours of this morning and (touch wood!) they're still on speaking terms... Watch this space!

Spring Flings!

My camera, pointing straight up to the sky in the middle of Kensington Gardens last Tuesday, managed to capture this blossom-laiden tree and the blue above it.
It's been a wonderful, settled spring and it felt like summer here today, down by the river in Durham where the trees were all in leaf and the birdsong was orchestral!

I'm already into the second week of my Easter holidays - although thanks to the extra long Royal Wedding bank holiday weekend, I'll only be back at work for three days next week.  Last week was dominated by the London trip - marvellous exhibitions at the V&A and the Imperial War Museum and theatre in the form of 'Love Never Dies' - again!  Batteries recharged and soul restored, this week sees Birmingham Royal Ballet in Durham and York and the chance to interview one of my long-term dancing heroes!  And there's chocolate after that...

And did I manage my 'no book' resolution during Lent???
Well, it's not been easy.  There's been plenty of temptation thrown my way.  But with three noteable exceptions (listed below!), I've done quite well - well enough to have ordered a Kindle!  I still, however, have a very long wish-list...  Happy Easter!

My Lenten lapses

1. A book from the fabulous 'Pleasures of Past Times'  run by David Drummond in Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road: the shop specialises in 2nd hand theatre books but isn't open at weekends.  Since we were there mid week and it was open it would have been criminal not to go in and once in...well, I'm only human!
2. The catalogue from the V&A Aesthetic exhibition.  As it is a catalogue, maybe it doesn't really count as a book?  Also, the paperback is only available from the exhibition shop and is almost half the price of the hardback so again it would have been foolish to wait till next week.  If it makes it any better, I've left the cellophane wrapper on for now!
3. No excuses for this one - in my internet browsing I came across a book called 'Victorian CSI' - a reprint of an 1890s book on Forensic Medicine.  I needed it.  Immediately.  It arrived yesterday. I'm half way through already and it's wonderful...

Elbow and after

Wednesday of this week was a very special evening.  Elbow - the best band in the world, ever, without question (no -this is not open to debate and everyone is entitled to my opinion!) - played Newcastle Arena and for a couple of hours on a cold misty drizzly night in March I was transported to the foothills of heaven.  The after-glow lasted until today - now I just wish I could repeat the experience.  My brother and I have seen them play live four times in a variety of venues and every time it's magic. Even the barn of a building that is the arena didn't manage to dim their brilliance.  I came out smiling and walking on air.  Fabulous.  We started off the night in a Persian restaurant which was delicious so cake of the week has to be the baklava we woolfed down in record time - sweet, sticky, cardomum-y - yummy!  Not too worried about the calories - I think I probably danced, sang and clapped them off before the night was over!
http://elbow.co.uk/

40 days and 40 nights...

I couldn't get through my front door tonight.  There was a big parcel wedged behind it with the Society of Theatre Research's annual publication in it.  STR is a wonderful organisation for theatre history junkies like me because they send you a gorgeous hard back book every year as a present - it price is paid for by your annual subscription.  Thisyear's offering is about Pantomime and I'm drooling already at the prospect of starting it.
It's come at the right time: Lent starts today and once again, I'm giving up buying books.  It makes sense: I need to find homes for all the volumes that have wandered in since Christmas and give the postman a bit of a break from the endless Amazon deliveries.   
It isn't going to be a problem. I can do this. I don't need to buy books.  I really don't.  I've got plenty to be going on with.  In fact, my final spending splurge from the weekend should be arriving any day now...

To Kindle or not to Kindle?

That is the question.  Yes, I'm debating about whether I should join the e-book revolution and become a Kindle reader or not.  I'm fascinated, I must admit and the list of pros is outnumbering the cons at the moment.  I'm still up to my ears in research and it would be very much easier to do it via Kindle - and probably cheaper in the long run. It would be portable - meaning the train journey could be put to better use. A lot of the stuff I'm reading at the moment is on PDF anyway - and  is out of copyright. And there's the fact that my poor over-loaded bookshelves couldn't cope with another 3,500 volumes...However, the literary Luddite that is me is holding out a) until the price comes down a bit b) until I'm sure Kindle isn't going to be a Betamax c) until I can have a test drive on someone elses!!  So today (last day of half-term holiday so work avoidance technique #1) I've been downloading more old, potentially unloved books from the internet and spending a little more of my ill gotten gains on Abe books.  Kindle might be instant, but there's still something satisfying about ordering, waiting and then unwrapping the brown paper/envelope/jiffy bag from a new book!  I don't want to lose the romance of re-homing books in a flurry of e-reading!  Maybe I'll just wait a bit longer...

Mourning The Book Inn, Billingham

One of the best little independent bookshops I've ever been in has closed, leaving Billingham Town Centre an even greater cultural wasteland than ever before.  I had many dealings with the Book Inn over the years, taking advantage of their fantastic ordering service, friendly staff and serious bargains.  When I first started work, I was in there at least once a week, buying a book to get me through the next week's train travel. I always bought book tokens there and they did some excellent deals for our staff reading group. It was a tiny shop, not much to look at, but always crammed with good stuff, it smelled of paperback books - ink, paper, laminated card... There was a little stationery section at the back, and a friendly (sometimes!) cat who would look at your purchases with distain as they were bagged up to be taken away.  I loved it. I never came out empty handed.  Sadly, Billingham has lost yet another retailer and the town seems destined to be bookshop-less from now on.  What has happened to the town centre in general is nothing short of scandalous, but the loss of The Book Inn is an absolute tragedy.