Review of the year 2012

I know this is a little late, but I was very busy in the immediate run-up to New Year, and I've been wiped out since.  Still, I thought that late was better than never, so here it is: the review of the year for 2012

1. What has been your biggest achievement this year?

Getting my MA. It was worth the work, but I've been exhausted much of the time, battling with various aspects of ill-health, so it was something of a miracle that I got through the MA and did so well.

2. What made you laugh most this year?

Probably a very drunken night (which is unusual for me) with W doing origami.  For some reason - probably because of the alcohol - it was hilarious.

3. What unfulfilled hopes do you have for this past year?

To finish my book about my asthma and my hospital experiences.

4. What has been your favourite/most listened to piece of music this year?

Not one piece of music, but one (or rather two) CDs.  I've mentioned the Swing Bridge Singers before, and back at the beginning of 2008 I wrote about the 20th Anniversary concert that had just taken place.  That concert was recorded, and I ordered the CDs, but it took until this June to get them!  Those CDs were the only CDs in my car for at least two months, so it's safe to say that they have been the most listened to pieces of music for me in 2012.

5. What was your best holiday this year?

I enjoyed both my holidays this year - one in June with my mum and J in Northumberland, and one in September in Norfolk with W.  They offered different things so it's hard to say which was best.

6. What new skill, if any, have you acquired this year?

Crochet, sort of.  I've learnt the basics of how to do it, and I've made a small mat, though I don't really know what it's a mat for.  However, since making that I seem to have been unable to make a square with straight edges :o/  I'll have another go.

7. What's the best book you've read this year?

For some reason I only read 12 books last year, which is a bit lax for me.  Anyway, out of those 12, the best was probably a book for teens, 'My Name is Mina' by David Almond.  Definitely worth a read, and don't at all be put off by it being a book for teens.

8. What has been the biggest challenge of this year?

As ever, my health has been the biggest challenge.  In fact so much has happened since I posted 'Something else' that I really need to update you all, but not tonight.

9. What is your happiest/fondest memory of this year?

In question 4 I talked about the Swing Bridge Singers 20th Anniversary concert.  We've just had the Jubilee concert marking 25 years - one of the reasons I've been so exhausted since I got back from Edinburgh as the concert was on 30th December.  It was absolutely fantastic, and after some very difficult times before Christmas it was definitely the happiest I've been for a long while.

10. Of what one creation of the past year are you most proud or pleased?

The second cross stitch in a series of three in a Japanese style.  I'm currently working on the third in the series.  The second one was of 'Birds in Wisteria'.

11. What new hobby did you take up/old hobby did you reinstate this year?

Singing.  It's obviously a reinstating of an old hobby, but now that we've started Flotsam I'm singing in a structured way again, i.e. in a choir, and I'm loving it.

12. What one thing would you really like to do next year?

I would really like to finish both my current books and at least start along the track of getting them published.  However, at the moment I have an horrific problem - the memory stick on which  both my books are saved suddenly seems to have become corrupted!  I am having a slight meltdown about this, and I'm hoping beyond all hope that it can be saved.  Thankfully I have most of the important stuff on it printed out, but the thought of retyping all that work before I can continue on with it fills me with dread.

13. What was the saddest thing of this year?

Seeing someone I love disappearing in to dementia.  It's terrible, and there's been a rapid decline in the last twelve months.

14. What has been your best discovery of this year?

That it seems that I might, possibly, maybe, actually be able to write for children.  I mean, write in a child-friendly way with stories that they like.  Writing for children was excluded from either of the creative writing modules in my undergraduate degree, although it was something I always wanted to do.  It's been great to have the opportunity to try it in my MA and find that I seem to be okay at it.

15. What news story of this year has had the biggest impact on you/do you most remember?

The one that had the biggest emotional impact on me was probably the recent shootings in Conneticut.  They were so tragic, so terrible, so needless, so devastating.

16. What's the best film you've seen this year?

I've hardly been to the cinema at all this year.  Three times in all, I think.  One of those films was 'The Artist', which was masterful!

17. What was your best buy this year?

I would say my car, but as it's a Motability car then I haven't really bought it.  All the same, that will be my answer.  It's fantastic to have a car in which I can get my electric wheelchair - it's given me back my freedom.  I've already done more miles in it since the end of June, than I did in sixteen months of having my previous car simply because I can get my wheelchair in to it and be completely independent again.

18. What has been your best day out this year?

Most likely the Friday towards the end of August when I first went to County Durham to see my older Godson the day before his birthday, and then I went up to Beamish Museum for the Paralympic Flame Event.  I didn't get to carry the flame, but as I'd been nominated to do so I got a VIP ticket to attend, and I had a fabulous time.

19. If there’s one thing you did this year that you’d do differently if you could, what would it be?

A difficult situation that I didn't deal with as well as I would have liked.

20. Is there anywhere you'd like to visit next year?

I would like to venture to the south coast again.  I think I said that last year, actually, and I didn't quite make it that far, but yes, I'd like to go somewhere along the south coast that I haven't been to in previous travels.  I may even take a holiday on my own down that way.

21. Name one thing you did this year that you'd like to do again?

Hmmm, it's been a strange old year so it's a difficult question... There's a place just a little way out of Edinburgh that I went to with Mum and J when I was up there a little while back.  I think it's called Flotterston, though I'm not too sure.  Anyway, I'd like to go back there.  It was beautiful.

22. Who gave you the best advice this year?

My GP.  She told me to keep living my life, even if I have to do it differently from how I would have hoped.

23. What new skill would you like to acquire next year?

The skill of finding an agent and a publisher ;o)

24. What was your favourite TV/radio programme this year?

My favourite TV programme was, once again, Miranda.  I love it.  It's hilarious and is guaranteed to make me laugh whatever mood I'm in.  Radio?  I don't think there's one specific programme, but I've really enjoyed some of the Radio 4 Afternoon Dramas this year.

25. What would you like to make more time for next year?

Writing.  I mean writing in a more self-structured way.  I don't have the discipline of university now, so I have to find a way to do this myself.  Ironically, I think that part of making sure I get down to the writing will entail me getting busier with some other things.  That way I'll be able to have a more structured life, and will have definite times when I know I can't write, so I will have to make time specifically for writing.

26. What has been the biggest disappointment this year?

Probably not managing to get to the 'meet' in Liverpool with a group of my OU friends.  On the morning that I was supposed to be setting off - the day before the meet - I woke up with terrible gastroenteritis and a sky-high temperature.  The actually day of the meet was when I ended up in hospital with anaphylaxis after taking rehydration salts.  I still don't know what it was in them that caused the reaction.  Anyway, I was extremely disappointed not to get to the meet as I'd been looking forward to it for a long while, and they are great friends.

27. What was the best or most enjoyable concert you went to this year?

I've had several concerts booked to go to, but haven't got to any of them because I've ended up in hospital each time instead.  I suppose then, that rather than it being a concert for which I was going to be in the audience, I will have to say that the most enjoyable concert I went to this year was the Swing Bridge Singers Jubilee concert on 30th December.  Brilliant!

28. What do you think was the best thing that you did for yourself during the last year?

Start seeing a psychologist again.  It's hard work - therapy always is - but it's worth it.  My health is crap and it gives me a lot to contend with.  It was getting on top of me and I'd hardly realised quite how much it was wearing me down.  Although I had to wait a long time between the referral, the initial assessment, and eventually starting session, it was actually fortuitous that I started them at a time when there have been so many new diagnoses possibilities flying around (I really must give an update about all of that) and a time of flux for other reasons.

29. What is the biggest difference in yourself from this time last year?

I think the biggest difference is that I'm not feeling very settled.  This time last year I knew where I was up to, what I was doing, where I was aiming for, what my goals were, and I had a structure to do all that.  Now there are so many uncertainties and no structure at all.

30. What are you most looking forward to about next year?

Writing and living.  I had an experience at the end of 2011 that made me doubt that I would be alive at the end of 2012 (I don't really want to say anything more about that for now), so yes, living and being a part of 2013 is my answer, and writing is a part of that.

So what about all of you?  Tell me your answers to some of these questions, even though it's a little late as a review of 2012.  I'd like to learn a little more about some of you.

A great night out

I had a fantastic evening on Sunday.  I went to The Sage on the Gateshead bank of the Tyne.  I love it at the The Sage - the building is magnificent, the views are wonderful, the atmosphere is welcoming, and I always feel a degree of sophistication whenever I go there, no matter what kind of concert I'm going to.  The concert I went to on Sunday was Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo were formed back in 1960 by the same guy who leads them now - Joseph Shabalala - but they were brought to international fame in 1986 when they worked with Paul Simon on his album 'Gracelands'.  Those of you in the UK may also know their music from the old Heinz baked beans ads on telly.

I love their music and have done ever since I first heard them, but I've always had a love of traditional African music or music based upon traditional African music.  The close harmonies are fantastic, and sometimes a little unexpected; when they perform live LBM perform without instruments so musical texture is produced entirely through voice; the performances are always vibrant and energy-packed, with an awful lot of the guys kicking their height, something I haven't been able to do for years, but even Mr Shabalala can do it and he's probably about 70 years old now!

The tour Ladysmith Black Mambazo are doing at the moment is promoting their new album, 'Songs From a Zulu Farm', which they describe as 'Taking the many songs and stories of their youth and adding new lyrics.'  Of course, they did some of their older songs known by the audience as well, but much of their performance on Sunday was taken from the new album.

Just before the penultimate song they said that we might recognise what they were about to sing, and that if we did then we should join in.  No doubt about it, the audience did all recognise the song.  It was 'Old MacDonald had a farm'  :o)   Okay, as a largely British audience we didn't know it in Zulu, which is what LBM sang it in, but a chicken sounds pretty much like a chicken whichever part of the world you come from, so we duly sang along ... and some of us even did the actions.  How many concerts have you been to where a couple of thousand adults sing 'Old MacDonald had a farm' whilst flapping their arms like a chicken?  No, I didn't think it'd be many ;o)

Here are a couple more photos of LBM...

The bloke on the far right of the last photo is Muntu Valdo. 

He was the support act.  I'd never heard of him before (though isn't that often the way with support acts?), but really liked his stuff.  He was very different from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, in both style and presentation, and it took a while for him to relax and engage with the audience, but once he did he was great.  It was just him and his guitar, but he mixed sound on stage, building up layers of guitar lines and/or vocal lines so that it sounded as though he was playing with a group or with a backing CD.  Actually, the point at which he really seemed to relax was when he told us about his on-stage mixing and demonstrated it.  From that moment on he talked to us a lot more and had us joining in singing and clapping.

The whole evening was wonderful, and reminded me of how much I love to do these things; how much I love engaging with life and making it happen.  In keeping with the spirit of making life happen, I booked another concert today, this time at to see Nigel Kennedy at Newcastle City Hall.  Nigel Kennedy is very different again from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but I have a rather eclectic taste in music and I'm greatly looking forward to this concert as well, although it's not until September.  There's a lot of life to make happen before then.

Twelfth night

It's twelfth night and therefore officially the end of the festive season so all the decorations have to come down :o( Not that I had put any decorations up other than my cards on ribbons, because there didn't seem to be a great deal of point seeing as I was away for most of the festive period. However, this coming Saturday I'm having a (not) New Year's Eve party to celebrate it being (not) New Year's Eve. In other words, it's an excuse for a get together of friends and friends of friends as lots of people have been away and not had a chance to catch up with each other, and now the long slog through the rest of the dark, cold, winter days begins with nothing to look forward to until Easter. So you may not be aware of this, but it's actually still December and Saturday is the 41st of the month :oD I had meant to record the fireworks off the telly on 31st, but I forgot :o( so at midnight on Saturday we're going to have to make do with the bongs on Radio 4 ... though I might, if I remember and decide I can afford it, I might get a few fireworks to set off in the back lane. Tee hee. That'll confuse the neighbours ;o)

Other than taking down Christmas cards and decorations, what does one do on twelfth night? Well traditionally I don't do anything specific, except perhaps feel a bit sad about disassembling the festivities, but tonight I have been to the pantomime at Newcastle's Theatre Royal :o) It was Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates and it was great fun, though perhaps rather risque for some of the young kids there. Most of it will have gone over their heads, but I'm not convinced that all of it will have done. Anyway, it was wonderful fun and the 3D effects they had were fantastic. It also tickled me that the friend I went with and I had no children with us - we were unashamedly there for ourselves without the security of a small child to pass off as our reason for going :o)

Going back a while, but keeping with the festive theme, I wanted to tell you about something that happened in the 12th December. A small group of us from church went carol singing around the streets near church. We weren't collecting money, just providing a bit of festive entertainment and reaching out into the community as a church to remind people what Christmas is really about. Although it was cold and damp, and later started to spit with the kind of rain that feels like needles on your skin, we all had a fun time and lots of people seemed to enjoy our efforts, with one or two even joining in themselves. When it got too chilly for us and we'd been out a while we went off to the vicarage to warm up with mulled wine and mince pies. Well, most people did, but seeing as either of those would've killed me (allergies) I gave them a miss and opted for a decaf tea instead, which eventually helped me to defrost. It was a lovely evening, with lots of fun, lots of festivity, lots of singing and a fair bit of dampness.

When I got home I was feeling all cheery and festively fuzzy inside. I needed some milk from the shop though so rather than going in and getting all cosy warm and then having to go back out into the stinging rain I went as soon as I got out of the car. Outside the shop was a young man sitting on the ground, wrapped in a worn out coat, getting very wet, obviously cold, and begging. This is a residential area, not the centre of town and I don't think I've ever seen anyone begging in the area before. He was leaning against the window at the far end of the Spar shop, but when he saw me heading towards the door he asked me if I could spare a few pence. The temptation with beggars is to ignore them, to bypass them without often without acknowledgement, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't brush aside those words of 'good will to all men' that I'd just been singing about. I couldn't pretend I hadn't seen him. I approached him and he told me that he needed to make £15 so that he could stay in the hostel over night, that he'd managed to scrape together the money the night before, but that when he'd got there they were full. He told me he'd then bought alcohol with yesterday's £15 to help block out the cold as he spent the night on the street. And therein lies the dilemma we face when someone begs you for money - do you give them the money in the hope that they will spend it on food, hot drinks, or a place to stay, rather than alcohol, or do you suspect that it'll go on booze so don't give them what they're asking for. It's a difficult call, and really who am I to say that someone who's sleeping rough and is freezing cold shouldn't do whatever it takes for them to get some rest, even if that means drinking themselves into a stupor, but at the end of the day I rarely do give money. I didn't give money to this young man either, and I still don't know if I did the right thing. However, when I was in the shop I noticed they were doing a two for one offer on those enormous bars of Dairy Milk. It wouldn't give nutrition, but it would give calories, and the young man on the street looked like he needed calories, so I bought him the chocolate. When I came out of the shop, he reached out his hand to me and said, 'I need a miracle. Please, can you help me?' Christmas is a time for miracles, but they're not something I've ever performed, or ever expect to be able to. I knelt down and said that I didn't have a miracle, but I did have some chocolate for him and I could pray for him and the miracle he needed if he wanted me to. This is something that I have never done before - prayed for a stranger in the street like that. It's not really me, but it was all I had to offer this desperate young man sitting on the ground in my community. I don't think I'd expected him to accept my offer of prayer, but he did, so I held his hand and quietly prayed with him for the miracle he needed of getting somewhere warm and dry to stay for the night, for longer than that one night, and for the chance to get his life back on track. Afterwards he was almost in tears. He clutched his big bars of chocolate and asked if he could hug me. Again, this is something that I've never done before - hugged a homeless person - and I wavered for a second or two, but it struck me that one of the things that this man needed was human touch, and something other than that given by the police as he's moved on from wet patch of pavement to wet patch of pavement. I hugged him and he cried and he thanked me and he hugged me some more. I felt inadequate, and I felt humbled by this man's simple acceptance of prayer and chocolate as my offering to him on such a cold, wet night when what he really needed was a warm bed. I wished that I could have offered him a place to stay, but I couldn't. After a few minutes I got up and came home, but as I passed by the door to the shop also passed one of the shop keepers who was looking at the young man with disdain, and then threatened to call the police to have him moved on. I was angry. He hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't have any place to move on to. There was a genuine desperation in his eyes and I had made the choice to talk to him - he hadn't forced me to, and he hadn't forced me to give him the chocolate. I was almost mute in my anger though, and all I could think to say was, 'You'll be closing up soon. He'll go then.'

I haven't seen him since, but I have thought about him a lot. There was something about him that stirred something in me. Maybe it was that he was in the middle of my local community, rather than in the impersonal city centre. Maybe it was the desperation in his eyes. Maybe it was the time of year - the approaching festivities and the fun evening of joyful carol singing that I'd just had. Maybe it was his plea for a miracle and my inability to provide one. You find God in the strangest of places and in the most unexpect of places and people, but there was something about this young man that suggested God's presence ...

I still pray for him. I still wish I'd been able to do something more for him. I do hope that he's okay.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Well nothing much has happened lung-wise - they're still being rather unpredictable and intermittently unco-operative, but things haven't progressed into a downward spiral towards hospital (yet). I am having to be a bit more careful than usual about what I get up to, because I'm finding things generally more tiring at the moment as a result of lack of continuity in the breathing department, but I'm still getting on with life and making sure that I'm having fun amidst the study and the precarious lung situation.

The past week has been a bit of a mix of things really. I'm not going to bore you with details, but I've done quite a bit of study ... not enough if I'm ever to catch up (which is seeming more and more unlikely), but still a fair amount - about two and a half week's worth in seven days.

On Thursday afternoon I went up to the Woodhorn Centre near Ashington, Northumberland, with my father to see an exhibition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 Competition. It was fantastic and well worth seeing if you get a chance. It has made me want to have more time for photography again, but I think I'm going to have to be patient and wait until after this dreaded exam in October. However, wildlife and nature photography generally seems to be what really gets me fired-up so I'm going to make sure that I give myself time to get more practise in for that ... and more opportunity too.

Thursday was also the day when my best friend from sixth form gave birth to her first child - a little girl they've called Eleanor :o) This is a very joyful occasion indeed as Eleanor's mummy has been through some difficult times in the past, and being a mother is something that she's always wanted. Eleanor was in a bit of a rush to be born, and even though it was her mummy's first pregnancy, she arrived into the world only two hours after starting to get here! Born at quarter to four in the morning, Eleanor, mummy and daddy were home by 9am! I haven't met Eleanor yet, because the family don't live locally, so I'm going to have to be patient and wait until I can get down to the Midlands, and it'd probably be wise to leave it until a) mummy and daddy have worked out which end of the baby is which; b) all the grandparents have gone back home; and c) I'm not so inundated with study. How exciting and how lovely though :o)

Most of Friday was spent filling my head with stuff for my English Lit course, but in the evening I went with three friends to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. The guy playing Joseph was the runner up from the 'Any Dream Will Do' TV competition - Craig Chalmers - and I thought he was rather good, but I have to say that I wasn't that impressed with the woman playing the narrator. She - Tara Bethan - was one of the people who'd been knocked out of the 'I'd Do Anything' TV show for the part of Nancy in 'Oliver', and although she was enthusiastic I thought that her voice was actually pretty weak in the upper registers. Having said that, the show was great fun and I enjoyed it very much, even though we were right up in the Gods of the theatre. 'Joseph' is probably one of my favourite musicals, and one that I learnt all the words of when I was very young. I think the first time I saw it was in London and I must have been about four years old. At the time, there was a children's TV programme called 'Watch', which I can't remember anything about now, but I know that I loved it (though it took at least second place in my list of favourites after Bagpuss), and I think one of the things that initially made me so very excited about 'Joseph' was that the man from 'Watch' was playing the part of Joseph. I also have a feeling that Floella Benjamin, who at the time was one of the presenters of 'Play School', was also in it. 'Play School' and 'Watch' together made it for me as a four year old! (Oh, if only life could stay so uncomplicated). Yeah, so where was I? 'Joseph'. It was brilliant fun, and with being up in the Gods there weren't all that many people to disturb so me and my friend K could occasionally hum along quietly to the tunes. Tee hee.

I was going to say that I didn't do anything but study yesterday, but actually I had a rather wonderful and very skilled friend put up some new shelf units in the bedroom. This is tremendously exciting, because the so-called floating shelves I had in there before had always been threatening to either crash on my head as I lay in bed, or smash the computer printer on my desk. They weren't so much 'floating' shelves as 'sagging treacherously and making a bid for the floor' shelves. M has done a fantastic job at putting these new shelves up and making sure that they're perfectly safe, perfectly straight and not likely to land on my head at any time in the foreseeable future - always a bonus! M's rather talented at that kind of thing, which is fortunate, because it's one of the things he does for a living :o) Yes, that was a terribly exciting Saturday event.

Nothing exciting at all has happened today (technically yesterday as it's now gone 2am), but that comes from a great deal of lung grumpiness in the morning that meant that I couldn't actually drag myself from bed until gone three in the afternoon. Most frustrating, but I gave into it and got through by very regular nebbing, listening to the radio (I love Radio 4) and playing lots of games of something I can't remember the name of on my NDS. It's a far cry from the study I felt that I should be getting on with, but it was either that or a probable further slump in breathing ability, which I didn't fancy, funnily enough. Sometimes it's necessary to just give in and do what needs to be done, rather than what ought to be done, even if it's frustrating.

It's probably about time that I took myself back to bed now. That's the trouble with getting up late - it knocks my whole body-clock off kilter. Ho hum, back to the books tomorrow.

Night all.

'Static'

It's a few days now since I went to this, but I did promise that I'd let you know what it was about and what it was like, so here it is ... It's basically the story of a young woman whose husband dies suddenly and unexpectedly, and her subsequent finding of a compilation tape that he (Chris) made but never gave her. She thinks there's some hidden meaning in the tape, and becomes obsessed by this (and also for a while obsessed with the idea that he's trying to send messages 'from the other side' through the ether, recording the static in empty rooms). Chris' friend, Martin, is enlisted on this search for the secret message in the compilation tape, and eventually they work out that the message isn't in the music itself or the words of the songs, but in the song titles. Chris was deaf (and is played by a deaf actor), in the story having lost his hearing after a previous car accident in which Martin was driving several years previously (which is where a tense relationship between his wife and his sister, and between his sister and Martin come into the play), and they work out this vital piece of the jigsaw about the song titles being the important thing after realising that one of the songs on the tape was written after Chris lost his hearing and so would never have heard the music (he was profoundly deaf).

Although 'Static' may sound like loads of love stories, especially ones in which someone is left behind after a death, it was actually quite different from most things I've seen either on stage or TV/film. I think this was largely down to the extensive use of BSL (British Sign Language) in the play, which was also used in a very interesting way. Sometimes it was used as a direct translation of the spoken dialogue, or the lyrics of the music that was playing; sometimes it was the other way round and the dialogue was a direct translation of the sign; sometimes the dialogue and the sign complimented each other, almost like conversations within conversations; sometimes the sign was an interpretation of the dialogue or the meaning within the dialogue/music; sometimes it was a separate conversation; and sometimes the context in which the words were being spoken and signed simulateously were different, even if the words/signs themselves were direct translations. It was all very interesting.

It's been ever so interesting to think about it afterwards as well and to wonder about the accessability of the play as a whole to a wide audience. As I can sign I didn't miss out on what was being said in BSL and the complexities of how it was being used, or the different messages that were being given (and also how bits of the plot were revealed in sign before they were revealed in spoken dialogue). I wondered if those who couldn't sign, which would've been the majority of the audience, would feel as though they'd missed out. The friend I went with doesn't sign, and she said that although she didn't know what was being said, she found it fascinating to watch, and that the use of BSL, and it's integral part in the play, added something to it. She obviously missed out on the nuances, but she said that she was still very much able to enjoy the play and to follow what was happening easily, especially as sign is so expressive that you cannot but understand the general mood of the conversation.

Then I began to wonder about the accessibility of the play to deaf members of the audience. The music is so vital to the play, and so entwined within it, that I wondered if certain aspects would be missed by a deaf audience. I think they probably would, though I can't say that with authority as I didn't go with anyone who was deaf. On the other hand, however, both the actor who played Chris and one of the directors were deaf, and sign was used in such an integrated way, even in through some of the music, that it's obviously something that would've been thought about extensively. Fascinating stuff, and it's had me thinking all week.

Static is touring at the moment and it's a play I'd recommend seeing. According to the flyer, the places they have left on the tour are Drum Theare, Plymouth; Baby Grand, Belfast; Birmingham Repertory Theatre; and Soho Theatre, London (They've also been at Contact, Manchester this weekend, but I'm a bit late with that one). It's a co-production by two theatre companies - Suspect Culture and Graeae, neither or whom I can honestly say I'd heard of before, but both of whom I'd be interested in seeing more of.

Yes, definitely worth seeing if it's coming to a theatre near you, and if you can't see, then they provide audio description on asking too! There's even braille on their flyer, albeit only saying that it's a new play and a co-production between the two theatre companies. Still, that's more than any other theatre flyer I've seen before.

Excuses excuses

I know. I'm sorry. It's about a week since I posted anything on here, and I left it in a bit of a melancholy note. Apologies again. I have a good excuse for not being around, and that is that I've been frantically busy trying to catch up on my OU course work. The course had only just started when I was admitted into hospital and consequently I got three weeks behind. In the past week I've somehow managed to do a hell of a lot of reading for the course, but stayed two and a half to three weeks behind, although I have done an essay in that time too, which was only a few days late and well within the time I was given for an extention. I have to admit that I haven't read any of the text book today, but I have finally finished reading Great Expectations (a marvellous book, if rather a slog at times), so I do feel as though I've done some work. I will, however, have to set to the text books with avengence again tomorrow, especially as I have a tutorial on Saturday afternoon, for which I'm sure I will need to be much closer to the point of catch-up than I am. You may have noticed that I cunningly avoid the notion of working this evening ... I'm, erm ... I'm going out. I'm actually going to the theatre, which I'm counting as study as it's the kind of thing that an arts student should be doing ... even if the play isn't anything to do with the texts I am/will be studying. I can't remember what the play is going to be about - it's called 'Static' - but I'll try to remember to tell you when I get home.

Speaking of the theatre, I went on Saturday too. It was a small, but very good production of Kafka's 'Metamorphosis', which is about a young man who wakes up one morning to discover that he's turned into a giant beetle! (As you do!) It's then about how his family react to it and how they do or don't deal with it. Fascinating stuff, if rather disturbing. The actor who played Gregor - the young man who turned into a beetle - was amazingly agile and did some great acrobatics/gymnastics, largely involving climbing round the walls of the detailed set. He was ever so graceful in his movements and very sympathetic to the part he was playing. All in all it was great!

Well, brief as this has been, and rather shorter than I'd intended, I'd better go as I'm already late for picking up my friend. I will be back though, and much sooner than last time ... honest guv.

A ray of sunshine

When I was thirteen I joined Newcastle's premier youth choir, Swing Bridge Singers, whose 'uniform' includes a bright yellow t-shirt, and whose ethos is one of fun, laughter, music, inclusivity, friendship, and six-part harmony (if you can include that in an ethos). There were (and still are) no auditions, no membership fee, no prerequisite that you should be able to read music, no parents' committee, and no register. It ran/runs off the enthusiasm of its members and its amazing choir master Andrew Scott, or Scottee as he's always been known.

Swing Bridge Singers was six months old when I joined, but last weekend we had a reunion celebration for its 20th anniversary, held at The Sage Gateshead. There was a single rehearsal for current members and ex-members on Saturday (29th December), followed by a party in the evening, and then the concert during the afternoon of Sunday 30th December. The first half of the first half of the concert was the current choir, who sounded fabulous, and whose joy of the music and the experience of Swing Bridge you could see on their faces and hear in the songs.

The a capella group Black Voices have done some things with Swing Bridge Singers in its recent history, and with Scottee in other musical capacities beyond SBS. Black Voices are also celebrating their 20th anniversary and agreed to take part in the concert last weekend, so they comprised the second half of the first half of it (if you get what I mean). Their collective background, as far as I know (check their website for more information), is that they are a group of nine black women based in Birmingham (UK) who perform in quintets rather than a nonet. They have extensive experience of singing gospel and spiritual music, and this is often reflected in their performances. They are currently singing many songs that highlight the memory of the British slave trade, and are celebrating the bicentenary of its abolition. They produce a deeply rich sound, and their music has both a passion and a zest to it that I've rarely seen.

The second half of Sunday's concert comprised a mass choir of current members of Swing Bridge Singers and its ex-members. Sadly only about 250 of the 450 who've sung in the yellow glory of Swing Bridge were able to make it, but we did have ex-members come back to Newcastle for the concert from Spain, Ecuador and Tasmania, such is the impact the choir has had on people and the place that it holds in their hearts that they should travel such great distances for a reunion! I was one of the few who had very little distance to travel, but Scottee and the Swing Bridge Singers are very special to me, and I have some fantastic memories of my years with them. I had some tough times through my teenage years, but Swing Bridge Singers kept a spark of life inside me and probably saved me from myself. I hope that doesn't sound too melodramatic ... it's not meant to ... it's just how things were, and merely a reflection on the special thing that SBS is and the special person that Scottee is (and he's still a good friend).

So Sunday's concert was great fun, brought back some wonderful memories, was very yellow as we all had special Swing Bridge Singers 20th anniversary polo shirts, slightly nerve-wracking (we sold out!), and it was great to sing the old songs again and meet up with past friends again. I'm waiting with great excitement for my copy of the CD of Sunday's concert. I'm told that the combined choir made a great sound, and whilst I have recordings of some of the songs by their original artists, it's always great to listen to a piece of music and remember taking part in the creation of the recording.

Signing off with warm memories.

Distinctly happy

In October I finished a course in creative writing that I had been studying with the Open University. I got the result for this course yesterday ... I got a distinction (a first)! I am extremely pleased and a little surprised. I had no doubt that I'd pass as my grades throughout the course were all good (I think my lowest was 70%), but the ECA (End of Course Assessment) was 50% of the overall grade and there was no guarantee that I'd do as well in that as I did with the other assignments. The other thing to say here is that while brick universities have their first class marks begin at 70%, the Open University's first class marks being at 85%. I can hardly believe that I did so well, because it's not been a straight forward year for me. As I've said before, I've had about 3 months in hospital all together this year; then there's been the death of my friend Laura; and then an upsetting diagnosis of a close family member. I won't go into details of that, as I want to protect their privacy, but just to say that it was a shock and has been stressful at times, particularly when I was first told. So yes, this year has been challenging, which is why my achievement in the creative writing course has been a bit of a surprising, but ever so, ever so pleasing. Now all I have to do is maintain this level of success throughout the next few years of my degree!

I'm also happy tonight because I've just been out to a pantomime - an adult-only improvised pantomime. It was ever so funny (if rather rude ;oP ), and great fun. I had organised a group of us to go when I'd first seen it advertised, and knew that the company doing it - The Suggestibles - usually sold out quickly, so bought fifteen tickets. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I had a great time :oD

Okey dokey, on that note I'm off to do a little bit more Christmas present making before taking my distinctly happy self to bed :o)

Night all :o)