Recital day

Today was something unusual for me.  I had the day off school.  I had earnt a day in lieu a year or so ago for when I took my children to Warwick as part of our winning a Shakespeare week composing competition.  Somehow, I never got around to using it so when my flute quartet/trio were asked to play at Chelmsford Cathedral because another ensemble had cancelled, I asked my head if I were able to use the day.  He agreed.

To be honest, the timing was, in some ways, a God-send. I am completely exhausted at the moment and I just keep losing my voice every week. Plus, I started to get a really nasty throat on Wednesday night and worse, last night, I choked on a bit of plastic or gristle in my Moussaka and something seems to have been stuck in my throat since then (I'm hoping it is just scratched from the trauma of something getting stuck but it does feel like the thing moves around a bit). Plus, I had three awful days in terms of behaviour this week so it was nice to have a break from children (although Fridays are my favourite classes).

We turned up around 11am and got ready to practice.  Even though the recital started at 12.30pm, there were people already arriving to get themselves a good seat, my Mum included!  As well as my dodgy throat, it was awful that the Mother of one of our trio had unexpectedly died last night so it was amazing she was still there.

One utter delight for me was the fact that my Mum had passed on details of the recital to family friends and ALL the lovely people who used to live round the corner from us and we always used to spend our Christmas day and Boxing Day evenings with all came to watch including one lovely lady who I haven't really seen for years!

The recital went well although my throat was utterly raw and I had drunk all my water by the end of the performance and found it quite hard to play!

We had a full church- I couldn't see any spare seats in either the central or the side passages so it was great to have such an appreciative audience- I took this picture a few minutes after the end of the concert. We had some really nice people come up to us and say how much they enjoyed it and one local composer has asked to write a piece for us!

They cleared the cathedral pretty quickly after the recital but I grabbed a quick photo in the chancel.

The organiser of the events was very taken by our trademark red heels and made reference to it so I thought I'd share them here too!

I must admit, it was lovely to then be able to walk out in the beautiful sun, not something I ever do at school!

I had to get back home quickly for a Doctor's appointment but it was lovely to take my time and arrive home in the daylight for a change!

Here's hoping we are invited back again!  The first time we ever played together was at Chelmsford Cathedral so it was nice to play there again, this time as the central feature.

If you are interested in these free lunchtime concerts, here is the website link to the cathedral.

xx

10 products that make me mad because of their packaging!

Single-use is the word of the year according to one famous dictionary.  But, as you know, there is an terrible, terrible environmental impact from all the plastic particularly that is just being used once and chucked out.   I am very glad to hear that the EU has made a pledge towards single-use items made of plastic but it isn't enough- there needs to be a lot of planning by the major companies in order to help the public in their bid to recycle or at least to save the fall out from those who don't have the correct recycling facilities in their area or lack the education to make them understand the importance of recycling.

Here are some of my chief bugbears when it comes to unnecessary packing. Do feel free to share yours in the comments.


1. Cheese- Greaseproof paper was good enough for years- why does cheese have to come in plastic?!

2. Toothbrushes:
I've swapped to Bamboo and it is great!  Every toothbrush I have ever used is still somewhere in landfill. THAT is scary! It's the same for you and the same for everyone else.

3.  Toothpaste:
These CAN come in reusable tubes and definitely not need to be plastic.  They were metal for years.

4.  Fruitshoots:  The item featuring in many a lunchbox.  They are basically fruit squash in a titchy bottle.  Which we all know can be made from the concentrate in about 10 seconds flat and put into a reusable bottle.  Seriously people, stop being conned into paying loads of money for bad quality orange squash!

5.  Christmas giftpacks:  Especially ones involving MAKE-UP!  You get a cardboard box (or worse, plastic) and then all the items (usually plastic) are encased in a layer of clear plastic to keep them in place. I understand this with breakable objects like baubles but oooh, a bottle of bubble bath is not going to break!  Just reduce the packaging size to fit the size of the items then they don't have to be encased in clear plastic moulds to make them look more fancy or generous!

6.  Crisp multipacks-  Ok, I know that the foil bags are supposed to keep the crisps fresher (but seriously, INVENT something that isn't plastic!  See Walkers petition...) but WHY do the exterior multipack bags have to be plastic?  Paper is FINE!

7.  Chocolate bars:  They were always FOIL and paper.  They lasted fine.  Why swap them to metallic plastic- something which can't be recycled?!?!!

8.  Tomato tubs-  Tescos used to sell their organic cherry tomatoes in these lovely stiff cardboard tubs- why do they need to be plastic now?   BUT, they still used to have a layer of clear plastic over them.  Why can we not have brown paper bags like the greengrocers used to do and count your own tomatoes?

9.  Carton drink straws- so there is a ban on plastic straws but what about all those ones that are attached to drinks cartons AND the plastic clear layer over them?  They are still ending up in landfill! We all know they are used by parents on school trips or in packed lunch boxes, they will never be recycled.  Get rid of them!

10.  Polystyrene takeaway containers: 
If you must, and you haven't got your own container, why can they not come in thick card or thick cardboard.  I bought some chips in an eco-container which was entirely biodegradable from a chipshop in Hexham- there should be a ban on polystyrene since it is SO detrimental to the environment.  We all know most people who buy a takeaway burger are not me and won't carry it round in their bag in order to recycle- they will just bin it or worse, put it on the ground.

I know there are MANY more highly irritating single use items.  What makes you annoyed?  Do feel free to rant in the comments!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Young Clara from The Rings of Akhaten

Hi there,

Greetings this dark and gloomy Monday night. I am feeling jubilant to be home at this time because I was covering for a flautist at a rehearsal in Walthamstow and due to the frankly egregious timings of trains and engineering works, I was due home around 1am.  However, due to some lovely discussion, I discovered a cellist actually lives in the town a few miles from here and she very kindly gave me a lift all the way home so I am back at 11.15pm rather!  Which made a tedious rehearsal seem less irritating since I didn't have to spend a 2.5hour train journey home wondering why I had bothered!

So, TARDIS Tuesday!  I thought I'd tackle one of those obscure Clara outfits today that featured very briefly in the episode.
In one of Clara's very first episodes, in series 7, The Rings of Akhaten, Clara's memories are very important.  She carries a book called '101 places to see' with her and a red leaf but she's never been anywhere.   This is because her mother Ellie Oswald died young so she never got to live her life so Clara's ambitions to travel were stifled and she never used that book that her Mother gave her.
In one of the flashbacks, we see youngish Clara at the graveside of her Mother.  She is wearing a red Duffle coat (from F&F at Tescos) and carries her 101 places to see book.

Image borrowed from This Pinterest

She holds her book as she tearfully regards her Mother's grave.  Not much of her outfit is visible except the Duffle Coat.

 Image borrowed from Cathoderaytube

And here are my photos.

I look absolutely terrible in these photos as I was performing with my flute trio at a church on Saturday at their Christmas fair and the graveyard is a very busy thoroughfare.  Originally, I was hoping my friend would take some photos for me but she had to dash off so I was reduced to balancing my camera very precariously on a low grave stone!

It was highly embarrassing taking these photos and trying to take them when no one was passing through.  I couldn't get the angle right, the focus right, the gravestone in the right place (I am obscuring it here), I forgot to take my sparkly star earrings out from the gig, the book wasn't at the right angle, I obscured its title, I obscured the toggles on my coat, my hair was a mess, I pulled daft facial expressions.... the list goes on...these are the best of a bad bunch!  At one point, a lady holding a cigarette actually stopped and offered to take the photos for me but no one else manages to work my camera properly, they were all lovely close ups but totally blurry so my 'camera balanced on a gravestone' were actually better!

My coat is actually the same coat as Clara's despite the colours looking different due to lighting.  I had a red duffle coat as a girl and my Mum bought me one around 9 years ago which was oversized but one by one, the toggles have broken off in an unfixable manner and when I saw someone selling the exact Clara duffle coat on eBay for not much, I jumped in.  It is extremely comfy and cosy and has already been worn a lot.

The eagle-eyed of you will notice I am carrying the same book as Clara.  I'm not really but I somehow managed to do some sneaky editing in MS Publisher of some images this design AND print a page with the front cover.  I then just taped it to the front of another book of a similar size.  If you look at the image of me holding it open, you will see I couldn't get the angle right on the book so it hid the fact the front and the back of the book don't match!

Ah, well, the effort was there, even if the execution of it was a bit shoddy!  And I hope you appreciate the effort at finding a graveyard to photograph in.

What do you think?

xx

Vienna Viennese composers- visiting Schoenberg, Beethoven, Strauss, Schubert and Hadyn

When we told people we were planning to go to Vienna, they said to us that they presumed we would be planning to go to some concerts since of course, Vienna is famous for its music and composers.  The Vienna Philharmonic is considered by many to be the best orchestra in the world.

My Dad told us we would see many Mozarts wandering around the street on their mobile phones. He was not wrong.

When we arrived in Vienna, we did look up concerts, particularly with the Vienna Phil, however, they were out of town on tour.  There are various other orchestras in the city and there are concerts every night BUT, to be honest, they were all offering Strauss and Mozart, standard fare at very expensive prices and we weren't all that bothered about going to watch that,

Anyway, we did decide to try and make some musical pilgrimages to visit some places or monuments linked to famous composers.

Our first stop was the Vienna Philharmonie- the concert hall which is home to the Vienna Philharmonic.  It is an impressive building and has stars built into the pavement like those in Hollywood with the names of some illustrious composers.

On our first full day in Vienna, we ended our day by heading to the Arnold Schoenberg centre.  CBC really wanted to visit here. I confess that I wasn't that bothered, but actually, I loved it!

It is located in a confusing building, you have to go up in a lift to floor 1.5!

Inside, you walk in and pay a small amount and are given a short English talk/tour first before looking around.

They have recreated Schoneberg's study which was incredibly interesting. There was lots to nosy.

One of the many things I didn't know was that Schoenberg was an inventor as well as a composer.  He invented the sellotape dispenser!   Can you see it?

Also, see those 5 pencils joined to a piece of wood? This was so he could draw his own musical staves to write his music on.

 Inside the main museum, which is small but has LOTS of interactive elements and things to look at (I could have stayed for hours!) there was lots of information on his composing technique, 12 tone serialism.  His idea was:


It's a bit more complicated than that, but you make yourself a tone row and you compose from that point.

I also discovered that he was an artist too- there were several of his paintings on show.

 Part of his inventions included the game, Coalition chess.

 Here you can see the main gallery space.  There are i-pads with in-depth videos, artistes who knew him, musicians who play his music, interviews and many other elements and opportunities to listen to his music.  I found myself having a sudden appreciation for his music and a keeness to play some of it. I was given the opportunity to play in his HUGE work Gurrelieder this Summer which I declined but I found myself wishing I had.

It is a great place for researchers to come and study.

The centre can be found at:

Arnold Schönberg Center 
Schwarzenbergplatz 6
Zaunergasse 1-3 (Entrance)
A-1030 Wien 

Later on, we decided to go and visit the monuments to famous composers.

Although Beethoven was German, he spent lots of time in Vienna so he is honoured.

Who can fail to think of The Blue Danube waltz and many others when they think of New Year's day concert live from Vienna.  Johann Strauss was the father of the waltz and he had a suitably camp golden statue!

When studying A'level music, we all felt sorry for Franz Schubert who was incredibly shy (and died from Syphillis aged 35) and used to sit in a cafe where Beethoven went but was too shy to actually go and talk to him. He was a great composer!  He was in the same park as Strauss.

Near where we were staying outside town, we kept seeing the Schubert Parkplatz- a carpark was built below where Schubert was originally buried. We went for a look and discovered it was indeed his first resting place but the bodies had been moved.

Beethoven was also buried here originally.

Sadly, we didn't manage to find their eventual resting places in the time we were there.

Our final composer to visit was Josef Hadyn.
Hadyn is called The Father of the Symphony. 
In case you don't know, a symphony is a large scale work for full orchestra (depending on the period it was composed in, the number and type of instruments varies).  It is usually split up in 3-4 movements (what we call little pieces) with contrasting tempos/speeds.    Most of what we call the Great Composers composed symphonies but Hadyn was the most prolific.  He wrote 104 of them.  (By comparison, Mozart wrote 41, Shostakovitch wrote 15, Mahler wrote 9 (one unfinished), Beethoven wrote 9, Brahms wrote 4).  He was considered theFather of the Symphony as he set the form of a symphony. For instance, the first movement is in what we call Sonata form which means it is in a sort of Sandwich structure:

Anyway, we went to visit Hadyn's House.  This was the house he lived in for the last 15 years or so of his life.

It was a lovely building and Hadyn himself had it extended from when he first built it.

There were lots of information displays and many examples of his original manuscripts.

We enjoyed looking at the correspondence as we negociated the incredibly creaky floorboards.

Here was Hadyn's own instrument.  

On the wall above here were lots of fun musical rounds that Hadyn wrote.

One stairwell named many of the illustrious visitors who came to visit Hadyn including Mozart's son.  He was incredibly famous in Europe at the time, unbelievably popular and his belongings fetched incredibly prices after he died.  When he was younger, he worked for Prince Esterhazy and was considered a servant by his family. After he died, he was not kept on and this is when he moved.  But in his dotage, the Esterhazy family visited him as friends, not as employers.

Hadyn bought a grey parrot which sold for an extraordinary amount when he died. In fact, 15 years after he bought it, it fetched more money than he paid for his house!!

There was also a section in the house on Johannes Brahms, another famous composer although this wasn't as interesting as the exhibits on Hadyn.

The outside grounds of his house were very pleasant.

So, although CBC and I didn't hear a concert, we did think we managed to make a lot of the musical connections whilst we were there.

Hope you enjoyed my composer tour.

xx

The joy of organic homegrown tomatoes

I know this is a daft post to write but it's my blog so there!
I've mentioned the tomatoes that we have grown this year.  How 3 plants have yielded over 250 tomatoes.
And I consider that utterly miraculous.  Three plants, which I must add, I did not do the correct thing to- I did not pinch out most of the side shoots that you are supposed to. I went away for weeks on end in that scorching weather and they weren't watered apart from my Mum's weekly water.
The flavour of these beauties is just like no other tomato I have bought in recent years.
Also, they have been absolutely crammed full of juice and seeds.  When I made a pasta with vegetables, the tomatoes provided so much moisture and liquid that I just wouldn't get from shop-bought tomatoes.  When I chop them, I see it spilling out.  They have provided so many dinners.  They last for ages too.
Perhaps the exceedingly sunny and dry weather is the reason their flavour and prolific yield was so perfect? Perhaps I won't experience this again. But, I am grateful, truly grateful that I have had them this year.

Ode to a Tomato:

Tomatoes so perfect in shape
Oh round gems of ruby lustre
Many of you have graced our garden
Amazing flavour.
Tempting in every meal.
Oh please return next year!

TARDIS Tuesday- Jon Pertwee's 3rd Doctor in The Time Warrior

Hi there!
Hope you are well.
I thought, for a change, for a TARDIS Tuesday, I would dress as one of the original Doctors.  I have done this before HERE back in 2013- in fact this outfit, but slightly different- only the jacket is the same.

So, in an episode called The Time Warrior, where he meets Sarah Jane Smith for the first he wears an olive green velvet smoking jacket, white ruffle-fronted shirt, a greeny/grey bow tie and some black trousers.

Image borrowed from this Pinterest

The ruffle-fronted shirt is quintessential Jon Pertwee for me- he was indeed a Dandy in Doctor Who.

Image borrowed from Metro

And here is my version:

I should point out that most of the outfit is charity-shopped and not for the purpose of this outfit.

Let's start with the jacket.  I bought this Per Una Olive-green corduroy  jacket from a charity-shop well over 12 years ago and it has proved really versatile. I remember CBC being very envious of it when we first met.  It's not as long as his but then it is a female shape.

The trousers are a pair of ASOS trousers I charity-shopped not so long ago, a few months and they were brand-new with tags and I have worn them lots already- at least 10 times if not more.

My brown men's brogues are the only brand-new item here- they come from the men's section of Clarks- where size 8 shoes are significantly cheaper in the sale.

The one piece I DID buy with Jon Pertwee in mind is the Boden ruffled shirt.  I saw it in a charity-shop a few months ago and thought, "Oooooooooooooooh, that is LOVELY and looks very Jon Pertwee!!"

Look at those ruffles!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, I do worry about whether my ironing skills are up to it once I wash it. I am going to have to wash it since I spilt Indonesian Soto Ayam (which has Tumeric in it! AHGHGHGH!) down it on Sunday at the Indonesian Embassy!

The bow-tie is also second-hand but it came from a vintage shop in Hexham that I always feel sorry for and worry it will close down!  It is an amazing labyrinthine building with so many sections to peruse!

And there we have it- my first male TARDIS Tuesday in quite a while?

What do you think?

x

Memories of Bali- kitties and cuisine

Today, I spent the day at the Indonesian Embassy in London.  I was there to attend a reunion of people who had been in receipt of the Darmasiswa Scholarship, a programme run by the Indonesian Government by which people from other countries under the age of 35 are able to go and spend a year in a college/university/institution studying an aspect of Indonesian life- this might be music, dance, batik, carving, Puppetry, photography, language, general art.

I went there 16 years ago to study music.

I was sadly unable to attend yesterday when there were many wonderful workshops and performances from alumni from the programme but I hear it was fabulous.

I went along today and saw some performances, talked about feedback from the programme from different generations, talked about the future, ate wonderful Indonesian food and took part in some workshops. It was lovely to see some people I hadn't seen for ages and to meet some people I had heard about but not met such as the amazing Neil Sorrell, professor at York university.

We had one session where we were talking about feedback from the programe and I was struck by the fact we talked quite a bit about things that didn't work so well. However, I really wish I had stood up and said, despite all that, it was the most interesting experience of my life and despite all the difficulties, I am so glad for it.

They are putting together a book of alumni and we were asked to submit some photos of ourselves then and now if we could.

I was looking in the garage and found a box of my Bali photos from the pre-digital era and thought it might be nice share some of them here that I've never shared since that was life Pre-blog!

This picture brings back so many memories.

Oh, there were so many cats in Bali.  Tiny, scrawny mangy, scabby, pathetic creatures who I felt so sorry for.  In retrospect, I wish I had done more to feed them but I was on an extremely limited budget and meat was comparatively expensive to the largely vegetarian fare I ate most of the time. 

One place where the kitties didn't look too scruffy was a warung I used to eat my lunch in.  A warung was like a cafe/restaurant- this could be in a market place on a wheeled stall or in a fixed building.

These kitties could be found in what we called, 'The internet warung' as it was situated next to the Internet cafe, Nusahindahnet (a play on words on the road name).

I am very much a creature of habit and I adored the food in this warung and ate there practically every day. I never got bored of the same dishes.

How it worked was that you are served a bowl of boiled rice and there are a series of dishes on shelves which you point to and the server adds a little of that dish to your bowl of rice.

You go and sit down and eat it.

I liked this warung for the large selection of dishes they had and the cheap rice.   My daily lunch cost around 4000Rp (at the time the exchange rate was 13,600 Rp to the pound).

They had lots of different vegetable dishes which was not always the case everywhere.   They also had a really tasty shredded beef (you got a tiny little bit), nice little mini-omelette piece, a nice individual prawn in batter and delicious tofu and tempeh dishes.

Plus, I always ordered Ice tea, which you have to order WITHOUT sugar or they make it WITH sugar- they didn't charge me for my 'Es Teh Tawar' because it was the sugar that cost!

The girls in there were really friendly and I loved the little kitties who used to run around on the floor and would sneak them a bit of my shredded beef.

This photo was taken on my last day when I was going to say goodbye to the girls in the Warung and eat my last meal- I wanted to have my photo taken with my sweet little kitty companions!

It was amazing to eat Indonesian food today and it brought back memories of how happy I was in terms of diet during my year in Indonesia.  I never took meals there for granted and daily couldn't believe I got to eat so much delicious food.

And this photo, reminds me of the simplicity of my life there and I think, fixed my palate for life.  South East Asian food all the way for me!

x

Vienna- The Schonbrunn Gardens mazes

CBC and I travelled to Vienna in  Austria during our half term holiday.   We flew from our local airport which was incredibly easy and stayed in an Air BnB apartment.

On our penultimate day, we travelled to the Schonbrunn Palace.   Having spent several days in museums and art galleries, we were keen to explore the gardens.  Happily, there was no cost for these.

Schonbrun was very impressive looking and there was plenty of space for all the visitors to walk in the gardens without it feeling at all cramped.

 A myriad statues flanked the gardens.

 I adore mazes and was very happy to discover you could pay to go into the Schonbrunn mazes.  The mazes were designed by my favourite maze maker, Adrian Fisher and were highly entertaining.

The first thing we did was to enter the main maze. You had to reach a raised platform with stairs in the centre.  CBC and I went together.

 We took a few wrong turns but eventually reached the centre were we got some nice views of all around.

 CBC almost always beats me in any sort of physical challenge or race (I win on the board game front) so we decided to have a competition to see who could find their way out the maze quicker.
He went first and I timed him until he was out the main entrance.  Then it was my turn.  I confess to watching him very carefully, as much as I could, however, when I am actually trying to find my way, I do get very disorientated.  I was giggling really nervously.  I heard him give me a 10 second countdown to when I was going to go over his time- I ran frantically and...

 BEAT HIM BY just over 1 second! I NEVER win these things!!!

 Next, we headed into a lower maze where there were different things to find...

 In one place, we found these fun wobble board, like in that game, Screwball Scramble.

 Then there was a sea-saw water pump....

 My personal favourite was this musical item- it was like a glockenspiel that you played with your feet!

Here you can see CBC playing it.

Then there were some big speakers in the middle of the maze and the outside you could speak through.  CBC pretended it was the Crystal maze through the loudspeaker and I had 10 seconds to reach him outside the maze- the last challenge was these stepping stones.

In another place, there was a kaleidoscope of mirrors- we spent ages there being silly.  

 Next, there was a more rustic looking maze, made of more conventional trees rather than Box and again there were things and challenges to find.

 Adrian Fisher makes these fun maths challenges.

 On this one, you had to start on the +1 and try to find your way to the centre of it.  There were two ways to play it.  In the first, you ignore the plus and minus signs and just move left, right, forwards or backwards by that exact number of spaces.
The second version, you do exactly the same, but you have to keep track of a sum in your head and try and end up with a final answer of zero when you reach the centre. 

 CBC spent AGES trying to work this out!

There were some impossible poles to climb!

 Then there was the kids playground with musical challenges. I liked this pentatonic instrument which was a cross between tubular bells and an mbira!

There was an Archimedes screw...

 and there were other challenges.

After that, we headed out further into the gardens for a walk. We stopped for an outrageously expensive cup of tea.  A cup of tea was so expensive in Vienna 4.50 Euros +.  If you got a big pot of tea, it wouldn't be so bad but you get a tiny glass and a tiny teapot which barely makes even 1.5 cups!

It was definitely good to get outside and the mazes made it really fun!

I hope to make a few more posts about Vienna but I do find holiday posts like this quite daunting so I won't promise anything!

x