Sausage and Mash at Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi.

It's been quite some time since an F1 post. I don't even know whether I have posted this year.  And oddly I have just realised I was looking at the blog a couple of days ago and thinking I hadn't yet done a post in December... it's only now November 13th!

Anyway, think it's been a while since I have watched a GP live, which tends to increase blogging desire, and this is a nice lunchtime start.  And Vettel (double world champion as of a few races ago) pulled away from pole but then was off at second corner with a right rear puncture, leaving a McLaren one-two.  Vettel crawled back to the pits losing the tyre and the mechanic motioned slitting his throat and the world champion thumped his steering wheel and his the only retiree so far.  Sadly Button seems to be going backwards and is now just third, but Hamilton is holding the lead on lap 8/55.

Just checked and found German Grand Prix, Thank You, Pirelli and Last of the Late Breakers.  Think will read now.

Lap 16 Button has a KERS failure and apparently he has to shut down a lot of systems in order to reboot it - all while driving round this circuit and keeping Weber at bay??  Weber got him at one corner and there was real close stuff on the next few corners, but Button kept the lead.  And then all on the same lap Ham and Alo pitted from 1st and 2nd, a couple of seconds apart on the track.  Great stop for Mclaren which it had to be as Button pitted on same lap from 3rd.  Kinda shows how far behind Button has pitted but it was still only a 6 second regroup for the mechanics!

Lap 17 Weber pits this lap and it was a slow one for him which lets Button off and also lets Massa through ahead.  So its Ham, Alo, But, Mas, Web.

Well it was a Lewis win and Button in 3rd - woop woop!  Although I did close my eyes a little in the final laps.

I was super spoiled in that John arrived just before the start with the ingredients for some delicious sausage and mash and prepared and served it for me all while I got to enjoy watching the race - what a lucky girl!!

Anne of Green Gables TO FINISH

Well, this is an epic post and I am just going to start it today.  Hopefully it will continue getting longer for many a year to come :-)   I have just had a little search for Anne on the blog and there appears to be just one mention of her on the Little About Me post.  No explanation so it is high time to come on here and record about her as she is a major part of my life!

Early Encounters With Anne
I had quite a lot of story books on tape as young person including Anne of Green Gables.  In fact I got a second copy of it as the first one got broken on one of the two cassettes.  The funny thing is I don't remember loving it all that much.  But there are many lines in the book that I can remember the exact intonation of of the person reading it so I must have listened a fair few times to.  At some point, I imagine when I was still under 10, I was given the first 4 books for my birthday. They were relatively think and had very small writing so they just sat on my shelf.  I was never that interested in reading the first one as I felt I already knew it.  Somehow, about age 14 I started reading them them all.  I feel as soon as I was on to book three there was no looking back.  I managed to then buy Anne's House of Dreams and Anne of Ingleside from Northwood bookshop and loved them too.  I wept bitterly when I finished Anne of Ingleside as I didn't want the series to be over.  And then somehow I found out there were two more!!!!  Oh my, what a feeling!  I can't remember how it came about, I think there was a lot of searching, but the Chickbeans tracked them down at their library in Alderley Edge and I read those - boy what a time.  I have an image and a feeling of reading in the little front bedroom at the Chapmans on a sunny spring day.  But I think that was Anne of Ingleside as I remember the frustration of having read the back and it saying that Anne had six children and then in the book Rilla is born and that lead me to give up reading the backs of books!  I leant these books to two friends at school and used to love discussing how far they had got with them in the classroom.  Rilla of Ingleside had a huge impact on me - the tears that night and it is still my go to thought on Remembrance Day. I think it was also one of the first books I ever re-read.  They then became standard rereads over the years and I am really not sure how many times I have read Anne now - I would hazard around 5.
Interesting to me moment... I have just googled 'Anne of Green Gables cassette tape' to see if I could find a pic of our copy to include here.  No luck, but ever so bizarrely a pic of Mum's copy of Frenchman's Creek came up on page 9! And I had been thinking so of Frenchman's Creek while writing this as being one of my other favourite books and the other contender for first book I ever re-read!  So I had to go read the blog to find out why!

Visiting PEI

27th Birthday Present
For my birthday this year, John bought me a Puffins Classic version of Anne of Green Gables.   I am about to start reading it, but before I do I want to try and record some things here.  One of the most exciting bits of the book is in the end section of behind the scenes bit is 'Some Things to Think About'.  I want to try list them here and put some of my thoughts in now, then add to them when I have read.

1. Can you compare Anne Shirley to any modern-day characters?  Instict, no!  will get thinking. 
2. Marilla and Matthew wanted to adopt a boy to help them out with the farm work.  What do you think it was that made them keep Anne instead?  Matthew was capitvated by her spell of talking and seeing the world differently than anyone else he had come across and he found himself feeling comfortable with her.  And he felt her desire to belong.  Marilla was touched by Anne's lonely life story and wanted her to have a good life, that she wouldn't get with Mrs Peter Blewitt.  She thought it her duty to bring up Anne.
3. Who do you think changes most during the novel?  How and why? Marilla and Anne.
4. Why do you think Anne holds a grudge against Gilbert for so long?  She is of fiery temper and felt the shame that was inflicted on her by Gilbert's actions.
5. Aunt Josephine is immediately amused and interested in Anne.  What do you think it is that akes Anne so different from her classmates?  She talks so readily and from the heart.
6. Marilla considers herself to be Anne's main guardian, but what do you make of Matthew's role in her upbringing?  He openly shows an interest in Anne and her thoughts and shows her unconditional love. He is a very important guardian.
7. What qualities do you think Anne looks for in a 'kindred spirit'?  That's a really good one and I am not sure what to put now.  A caring person, who has romantic ideals.  hmmm, think this may have to be one I build on as I read.  It's funny as I have long thought that I would love to be a kindred spirit but have never quite thought what it would exactly include.  I just thought Anne would kinda feel it when she is with someone.  And I fear it is not something that can be learnt, you either have it or you don''t.  And as I want it so much, I fear I might not have it!

Musical - Our House

John took me to Harrogate in half term to eat at Jenson Button's new restaurant which was fab.  We were having a nice wander around Harrogate in the afternoon and caught a glimpse through the window of the stairs in the amazing looking theatre.  We wandered round to the front to see what was on and it was a local production of Our House, the Madness musical.  It was one I had heard of in London and was vaguely interested in seeing but didn't feel desperate.  We had some other options of things to do in the evening but I did feel a pull towards it as the evening went on and John kindly said we could go.  And I was so pleased then that it was as good as it was and I enjoyed so!  Thank you John! 

I didn't know if it was the Buddy-style of band musical or the Mamma Mia-style (see Jersey Boys post) and it turned out to be Mamma Mia.  It was a big cast number, reminding me of Jesus Christ Superstar, though maybe not quite as big, but equally good.  I am having to rethink my thoughts of amateur theatre - my first experience of South Pacific in Malvern is now seeming more like the anomaly! Just initially I thought there were a few cringey members of cast singing and acting their hearts out in the chorus, but I got over that and many of the cast impressed me - especially the 2 boy side kicks and the 2 girl side kicks.  The only other thing that was a bit of a let down (to the show as much as to us) was the sound, it wasn't always possible to hear what people were saying!

Just before the interval, it occurred to me that the show was doing a Sliding Doors style thing showing 2 storylines.  I was worried that it had taken me so long to realise and was wondering whether to blame myself or their staging.  John and I talked about it in the interval and began to realise especially during the second half all the things going on to explain it to us!  I'm glad we realised! 

I knew the song 'Our House' beforehand, and there were a couple of others that I then recognised during the performance.  It was quite moving in the end and I was teary and overall thought it was a good show! Time now to wikipedia Out House and Madness.


I have included these two photos taken on the day to show my haircut!

Musical - Sister Act

I saw this was coming to Oxford and was interested in going to see it as it seemed to have been quite a hit in the West End and on Broadway, although I have never seen the film.  It did occur to me that I could see if anyone wanted to see it at school with me and make it into a staff night out, but I was too shy to suggest it in case no body said yes!  But then someone else was braver than I and organised it and about 10 of us ended up going!  It was a Thursday so we went to Fire and Stone first.

We were in two lots of seats, some of my normal ones in the restricted view section - which I really like - good views in my opinion (if you can work around the bar!) and nice leg room and half the price of the row behind which always feels good.  Have I gone in to this before... how when I was young I had the understanding that front row of the circle was the best seats in the house.  But now I fully feel that it doesn't really matter where you sit in the theatre as you will be seeing the very same show, so why not pay the cheapest with theatre tickets being oh so expensive these days.  I haven't yet decided if I prefer stalls or circle, price tends to be the default.

So the show itself - it was fab!!  I didn't know any of the songs, they were all different from the film, not that that would have really helped me!  And I normally feel that the more songs you can sing along to, the better it is.  But we all came out singing some of these and they got us moving in our seats.  There were lots of big numbers that I really liked.  All the nun ones really!  I do really love big choreography!  I also really liked all the singers.  It seemed to me (although I know the musically trained members of the school didn't think so ;-) ) that all the minor characters who would suddenly have a song of their own, were really great and impressive.  The show was also really funny.  It was the sort of obvious comedy that I would have normally thought would rather annoy me, but I did actually go with it and enjoy it!  And there was a great finale (not in Joseph league... but good) with a few audience members up on their feet and I was really pleased when the teacher next to me said she was getting up and we boogied away!  I was sad John wasn't there as I think he would really have liked it!

Musical - Jersey Boys

 Last night I saw Jersey Boys in London at the Prince Edward Theatre.  It was a fairly spur of the moment thing.  For my birthday on Friday, the Chickbeans had given me some money to do as I liked with.  I was going up to London on Saturday afternoon for a friend's party so thought it might be nice as I would be paying the train fair anyway to combine the trip with theatre visit in the evening.  I looked at the list of things that were on that I had been wanting to see for a while and had not got around to.  Jersey Boys fit the bill and John was able to get us tickets.

 

I had heard that it had one lots of awards in its day and had good reviews and although I hadn't really heard of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, I thought it would be one of those where I recognised a lot of the music and indeed it was.  It told the story of their formation and they performed lots of songs.  I realised there are two ways of doing musicals with music group songs.  There is the Buddy Holly way where you reenact the band's story and people play the people in the band, or there's the Abba version where you use the songs to fit into a made up story like Mamma Mia.  Jersey Boys was the former sort.  I don't think I definitively like either better, it depends on the particular show.

One of my favourite bits of this one was the way the drum kit kept on coming up and out of a whole in the stage with the drummer playing and then going back down inside!!

An enjoyable evening, though didn't find myself totally loving it. 

Book diary

Well, I have just retrieved this draft post from the 4th September 2010 (it's now 16th October 2011) so it's been in the pipeline for quite a while! The draft only consisted of photos, and it has leapt written being today and I have filled the last page today!! And I am immensely proud.  I came across book diaries in nice bookshops and thought how much I would like one and was given this, which was just a notebook but has worked pretty well. 

I have recorded each book I have read since Easter 2006 with a comment on almost all the books - ranging from a few lines to a couple of pages.  Sometimes it includes my thoughts on the story, or my situation of reading the book or occasionally seemingly unrelated ramblings!

I have absolutely loved having it to refer back to and keep track of how much I have been reading.  I recorded the date I finished the book and sometimes there have been gaps of several months and sometimes a few in a week when I've been on holiday. 

At the back I made lists of books:  books I wanted to read, the 'highbrow books' that I had read, books I'd read more than once.  (Admittedly some of that was to fill the book up as I was given a new one last year which I wanted to start using!)

So drum roll... between April 2006 and October 2011 I have read 118 books!  Woop! I am tempted to write out all those books so there is a record here... maybe one day!  I think that was what this post started out as - another blog vs diary post!

I have also recently retrieved my notebook of books I read from 2002 to 2005 so that's a pretty good record I've got going on! I will try take photos of that sometime too!

Wittertainment 2: The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex

Last night, Lizzie and I got our second dose of Mark Kermode wittertainment.  And it certainly lived up to the hype and excitement of our first outing!!

We knew he had a new book out this year (the Good, the Bad and the Multiplex) and that he was doing another book tour in the Autumn and had talked about going again.  I had a message early in September from Lizzie asking when he was coming to Oxford, and when I got round to looking it up, after some difficulty I found he had been in Oxford the night before.  A little disappointing but the film he had been going to show after sounded a little scary so I hadn't been entirely convinced!!  But we found out he was doing two nights in London (and Lizzie is currently living in London for her final OT placement) and one was a Friday night at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, a cinema we had heard Mark talk a lot about as the cinema 'he grew up in'.  We decided this might be rather fun, so we bought tickets for pretty much the same spot of the cinema as last time.

Friday night came and I drove to London listening to Mark and Simon podcasts on my phone/laptop depending on power!  I was very behind on podcats - back to May so in the end I just tried to listen to the most recent one.  There was an added complication that I was also trying to listen to Simon Mayo's All Request Friday show on Radio 2 which I love.  And I had sent a text to it saying I was off to hear Mark Kermode so I was listening out for that, but I didn't hear anything :-(

I found my way to East Finchley via the North Circular feeling like it was quite an adventure and drove around for a while sussing out parking situations.  I was also looking for somewhere to get food and decided to pick the tickets up first from the cinema and discovered there was a cafe there so thought that was the best place to eat so settled down.  Lizzie joined me later and we managed various surreptitious excitement moves (like high fives) and couldn't understand why everyone else in the place wasn't as excited about being in Mark Kermode's homeland!!!

Lizzie kindly bought a copy of the book for me from a stand there for my birthday (don't think Mark would like that word order) and we took some excited photos from the outside of the cinema.  (Feel I should mention we were in the middle of an extraordinary Indian Summer, hence the strappy tops on the final day of September!  Well, maybe it was coupled with a little Mark heat excitement too!)

 We took our seats in the cinema and waited.  There was lots of nudging and squeezing when he arrived - seemingly out of a broom cupboard at the side!  He was just like last time in such a good way!  He never seemed to stop talking and it was just like he was having a natural conversation with himself.  As a listener it didn't seem to have any structure as each anecdote seemed to run into the next, but I am sure he carefully worked out what topics he was going to cover and in what order.  There was some stuff that we had heard on 5Live before and some that was new.  We liked it when he mentioned Simon and his all request friday show.  There was questions and answers at the end - I don't remember being quite as in awe as last time!  

Then once he had finally finished it was time to leave the auditorium for the book signing.  We were pleased to be at the back so we could make a quick getaway. We followed the crowd downstairs but then when we got there Mark turned around and headed back upstairs and we ended up really close to him!  I was right behind and brushed his jacket - wasn't quite bold (or crazy) enough to forcefully touch his back!!  We ended up quite near the front of the line, and had the same chats about what we were going to say and would we take photos.  It must have been funny thinking about it if someone was listening to our hushed awkward conversations!! The people in front of us spent a long time chatting so that left us thinking we should go for it...maybe?!

Whatever conclusions we had come to it  definitely didn't come close to how amazing it actually turned out to be.  We went along the lines of we'd seen him in Oxford before and how much we had liked that and we got in to a big discussion about showing films after his talks and balling our eyes out at It's a Wonderful Life and being too scared to go the the Oxford film this time.  And he signed the book and we got photos and it was great.  AND THEN... I mentioned how I had txted Simon and Mark said 'Oh I had a text from Simon saying an all request friday listener was coming tonight.  Let me see if I can find it' and he got out his phone, and not the most expertly, found his texts and the one from Simon and showed it to us!!!!  And then he send a reply, again a little awkwardly back saying we were there.  MARK AND SIMON TEXT EACH OTHER ABOUT US!!!!!!!! or at least they each did once!!!  Woah - can you ever begin to imagine what Lizzie and I were like after that????????????? :-)

Coming down a little from our high, we decided to quickly see if we could buy tickets for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which was showing at 9pm and we were both fairly interested in seeing and thought it would be quite something to say we had seen a film at Mark's favourite cinema.  So we settled into that and it was a nice relax though can't say I fully followed it - mega exciting when Mr Wu came on in the background.

Well.  We thought our first Mark encounter incredible but boy was this an epic one!!!  Thanks Lizzie xxx