The closest I came to Classics at school was O Level Latin which I have to admit was a bit of a struggle. It is therefore always a pleasant surprise to discover how easily I can talk to Joe Millington the classics teacher at the grammar school.
It was an end of term party and we started chatting about holidays. Joe and Julie go regularly to to Greece but more often to Crete. Last year they couldn't leave for a week because of the problems with volcanic ash and earlier this year they had problems with riots in Athens. However nothing will stop them going back.
We talked about books and I mentioned Captain Correlli somewhat tentatively because such popular books are often frowned upon by people with real knowledge of the background. However Joe loves it as much as I do and we both feel the same about the prequel 'Birds Without Wings'. I don't know how many people have read this book but it describes the history of Turkey in the early years of the 20th century which is a period that neither Joe nor I knew much. The key is the harmonious state in which Greeks, Turks and Jews lived at the beginning of the story and the way that it was destroyed when the Greeks were forcibly repatriated. Key characters in Captain Corelli were among those moved from Turkey. We were both horrified by this discovery.
We also talked about the Durrells and their different books about the Greek Islands and discovered a joint interest in the travel books of Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Although individuality is attractive it is also satisfying to know that you are not completely alone.
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Thursday 21 July 2011
Our Hedge
A long time ago, when we first moved into our house, the end of the garden was marked by a low mound of earth, on the other side of which there was, and still is, a small dyke. At one end of the mound was a very small evergreen conifer. At some point, possibly when Matthew son was born, we decided that we should have a proper fence that would connect to our neighbours' existing fences. So I bought the posts and panels and set to work. This fence was only about 3 ft high and so I could climb over in order to paint both sides although the slope down into the dyke is quite steep. This was a practical solution until the fence blew down. I like to think that it was the night of the 'hurricane' in 1987 but it was probably a less memorable night.
After a range of attempts to repair it I finally gave up and decided to plant a Leylandii hedge - it was a common solution at the time!
For some years it didn't amount to much - the end of the garden was really marked by the rope that I had used to line up the plants.
After a while it became a serious hedge and it is now about 8ft high and 3 ft thick. It's an effective hedge but a real challenge to keep tidy and that's what I've been doing this week. From the last time that I worked on it there were about 5 really tall trunks that I hadn't been able to reach. This time I was equiped with a better ladder, an electric saw, multiple types of lopper and a surface to lay on the top of the hedge to spread the load of my body stretched out to reach the furthest trunks. So now there are no potential trees but I will have to keep trimming the shoots - probably monthly.
After a range of attempts to repair it I finally gave up and decided to plant a Leylandii hedge - it was a common solution at the time!
For some years it didn't amount to much - the end of the garden was really marked by the rope that I had used to line up the plants.
After a while it became a serious hedge and it is now about 8ft high and 3 ft thick. It's an effective hedge but a real challenge to keep tidy and that's what I've been doing this week. From the last time that I worked on it there were about 5 really tall trunks that I hadn't been able to reach. This time I was equiped with a better ladder, an electric saw, multiple types of lopper and a surface to lay on the top of the hedge to spread the load of my body stretched out to reach the furthest trunks. So now there are no potential trees but I will have to keep trimming the shoots - probably monthly.
Monday 18 July 2011
You, me and the bees
We were just sitting in the sunshine in the garden and this title popped into my head. Nothing that I can do with it but I wanted to write it down.
The films of Jacques Demi
Recently there was a radio program with the above title. I listened with interest because I have loved 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' ever since we first saw it in about 1965. More recently we saw the stage version and it had the same magic except that, at the end, the moment that had the greatest emotional impact was not the one that I expected. This was finally explained by the radio program. Apparently most people are torn apart because the lovers have married the wrong people and will never see each other again and when I was younger I probably cried for the same reason. Now I cry when the man walks back to his wife and picks up his little boy. The film still works but I am so much older.
Wedding Anniversary
Yesterday - 17 July 2011 - was our 46th wedding anniversary. We had decided that 46 was a boring number and therefore it didn't deserve any particular celebration. However that went a bit wrong.
On Thursday morning we finally decided that we should go to Kos for a week at the end of September. The last chance before we have to start accepting that winter must come. Because of that, when I was walking through town later in the day, and saw a notice outside Sergi's restaurant which said that he was having a greek evening on Friday, it seemed like a clear instruction to change our minds and have a celebration even if it wasn't going to be on the right day. So we booked and then realised that we also had evenings out planned for Saturday and Monday. The actual anniversary day was the only one without any sort of event.
Sergi's restaurant is very small - there were only 12 people eating on Friday - but that made it more of an event. We started with tzatziki and aubergine dips with deep fried courgettes and flatbread. This was followed by gigantic beans and sticky pork stew. The desert was a cake with a honey and nut topping and yogurt. We drank a white rioja!
The food was very good but , even with the practice that we had in Italy, it was too filling. Saturday was all very light meals.
Saturday night was a concert in Lincoln by Martin Simpson. The folk club is not a comfortable place but we arrived early enough to get two of the few chairs with backs that were close to the front and enjoyed a brilliant night.
Sunday was not special but tonight we went to see our first 3D film 'TT3D : Closer to the edge'. The cinema was full of people who had never been there before - nearly all men! Usually the only time that it is full the audience is nearly all women. The film is a detailed account of the 2010 TT races and as such contained much that meant nothing to us. The most interest came from the story of Guy Martin who was recently on TV fitting out a narrow boat in the West Midlands and who turns out to come from the Grimsby area. We weren't impressed by the 3D effect which was often very artificial. Nevertheless it was an interesting end to the weekend.
On Thursday morning we finally decided that we should go to Kos for a week at the end of September. The last chance before we have to start accepting that winter must come. Because of that, when I was walking through town later in the day, and saw a notice outside Sergi's restaurant which said that he was having a greek evening on Friday, it seemed like a clear instruction to change our minds and have a celebration even if it wasn't going to be on the right day. So we booked and then realised that we also had evenings out planned for Saturday and Monday. The actual anniversary day was the only one without any sort of event.
Sergi's restaurant is very small - there were only 12 people eating on Friday - but that made it more of an event. We started with tzatziki and aubergine dips with deep fried courgettes and flatbread. This was followed by gigantic beans and sticky pork stew. The desert was a cake with a honey and nut topping and yogurt. We drank a white rioja!
The food was very good but , even with the practice that we had in Italy, it was too filling. Saturday was all very light meals.
Saturday night was a concert in Lincoln by Martin Simpson. The folk club is not a comfortable place but we arrived early enough to get two of the few chairs with backs that were close to the front and enjoyed a brilliant night.
Sunday was not special but tonight we went to see our first 3D film 'TT3D : Closer to the edge'. The cinema was full of people who had never been there before - nearly all men! Usually the only time that it is full the audience is nearly all women. The film is a detailed account of the 2010 TT races and as such contained much that meant nothing to us. The most interest came from the story of Guy Martin who was recently on TV fitting out a narrow boat in the West Midlands and who turns out to come from the Grimsby area. We weren't impressed by the 3D effect which was often very artificial. Nevertheless it was an interesting end to the weekend.
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