Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
I know I shouldn’t, what with the crumbs and all, but I’m eating a pain au chocolat on the bed with a glass of red to wash it down. It’s a moment of decadence that I can enjoy while we relax, before watching our second play in two nights. And luckily, it’s not my bed. … Continue reading RSC: Hamlet – Back in Stratford
I’m fifty-one years old and I have just finished Yellowface. My age is critical here: one, because the book was bought for me in 2023, and it’s only now that I’ve got to the end. two, because my age might have something to do with not liking any of the characters. It hasn’t taken all… Continue reading Rebecca F. Kuang – Yellowface
promo posters from the RSC The Red Shoes Fairy tales in the nineteenth century did not have the Disney gilded happy-ever-afters that we expect today. In the original Hans Christian Anderson story, The Red Shoes contained sorcery, amputations and death with a large side of moral instruction. The protagonist’s happiness comes quite literally in the ever after,… Continue reading Two Plays from the RSC: The Red Shoes / Twelfth Night
I’ve just finished reading Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin, the book which holds the initial threads of the storyline that make up the musical Cabaret. I should have, for completion’s sake, gone back and re-watched the film starring Liza Minelli and Michael York but for this blog, I’ll have to make do with my memory… Continue reading Cabaret – Goodbye to Berlin
I didn't get it from Waterstones What are people looking for when they go to a medium? Is it solace, reassurance, resolution? Or just an affirmation that they’ve picked the right kitchen units? I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read something else by Hilary Mantel. I loved her Wolf Hall trilogy.… Continue reading Hilary Mantel – Beyond Black
I finally saw the kite on Sunday – I have decided it’s the same one that has been popping up in the sky for Angela and Anne to gawp at each day, as we always see it around five miles out from Hay. Its silhouetted shape considerately soared above the car’s right side this time… Continue reading Hay Festival – Part Three
Obviously, because we were here on a Saturday, I looked for the nearest Parkrun. ‘There’s one in Hay-on-Wye’ itself! You two can have a pootle around the town while I go run.’ Angela, our friend and instigator of this trip, did not look as excited as me, about leaving the house at 8.20am on her… Continue reading Hay Festival 2024 – Part Two
On Monday evening we managed to book a place to stay in Hay-on-Wye for a whole week next year. It was hours after we’d returned from the little town on the southeast borders of Wales, and it is a testament to the festival’s popularity that our booking was the last affordable (just about) place available… Continue reading Hay Festival 2024 – Part One
Before two weeks ago I had never heard of the name of Patrice Lumumba. Then I came across it twice. Firstly, from reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, 'The Poisonwood Bible', initially published in 1998. Then, during a random conversation with my uncle when he was recalling his younger years. I know very little about the recent… Continue reading Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible
Often when I run, I’m listening to a podcast. It’s a nice distraction and one of the only times where I actually can do two things at once. This time, I was listening to ‘The History of Literature’, a show where the host, Jacke (that ‘e’ is not a typo) Wilson, rambles on about literature and poetry… Continue reading We Are As Clouds
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