I've had a fairly suboptimal week, all round. I am pleased to record the fact that the decorator finished painting the outside of the house yesterday, firstly because such projects rather take over the diary and the daily routine, secondly because we were extraordinarily lucky with the weather, and lastly because he has done a wonderful job. Very pleased indeed.
It would be melodramatic (not to say unmanly, chaps) to claim that it moved me to tears, but let's just say it came close. It comes as a bit of a shock to realise that, in a world dominated by greed, self-interest and cruelty, there are still things as lovely as this.
This was a revised recording made about 10 years ago, and I am delighted that it also features Nic Jones, one of the lost legends of British folk music, who was forced to retire from performing when he just about killed himself in a car crash in the 1980s. A real voice from the past - Jones has struggled with physical injuries and brain damage, so it is pretty much inspirational that he should be present on this recording.
Bugger unmanly, that definitely hits a tender spot. The Barnsley Nightingale, from just over the hill from here. And captures the current mood nicely.
ReplyDeleteOh, the house looks lovely too - lucky with the weather.
Hi Chris - I'm very taken with the song, as you will have gathered! Not sure about the video - I detect the direction style of Miss Bentham's class at Beaconsfield Primary, but it's OK. House now underneath grey skies and pouring rain, so we were definitely very lucky to get the painting finished with minimal interruption - we were the painter's last "outdoor job" of the year, for the Winter he now has a schedule of room decoration work. The BBC this morning tells me that the weather in the UK will be wet, but it will generally clear towards the north later in the day. So that's all right then - the real people will have improving weather.
DeleteThe house looks terrific; almost like a spick and span shiny new model, in fact. Are you sure it's real? ;-) I agree about the news; best avoided in general. Unfortunately my wife often has Radio 4 on so I have to keep escaping from the kitchen when I happen to be in there or wander in when the news comes on... That does offer me a good excuse, though, for taking refuge in the study and getting on with flag work.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
David.
Thanks David - you sussed me - it took ages to texture the base and add the loofah trees (now there's a blast from the past) - it was all just a workout for my new light-box!
DeleteHouse looks great - I just ignore the "real" world - I don't worry too much about things I can't influence. If the nutters start a nuclear war over Ukraine, I will be pretty pissed off, particularly for my early 20's kids, but there isn't anything I can do to make it more or less likely....
ReplyDeleteHi Keith - absolutely. My (fairly) recent change in life-management policy is to shrug at things I really can't influence - everything from politics to kids. If they blow us all up it will be a terrible shame, but I have finally been convinced that it isn't really my world any more, so I should just play quietly with my soldiers and my guitar and shut up.
DeleteA fresh coat of paint on the house is always time for rejoicing. We painted ours this summer. Great to have that task checked off the To Do list.
ReplyDeleteVery true - we didn't get as long out of the last repainting job as I would wish - big concerns about the competence of the last painter, also doubts about whether he actually used the new paint I bought for the job! I only hired the last guy because I was unable to get the fellow who has just finished this latest job. This year's painter is well known to me, has worked for me before, and is without doubt the best painter and decorator in the county, but he is always booked up well in advance.
DeleteLove Kate Rusby, and have been lucky enough to see her at a gig or two in the past. You should check out the Cobblers Daughter by her…it always makes me laugh!
ReplyDeleteI'm aware of Kate, and have heard her songs before. I think she is very good, but a lot of folk music is very samey, uses the same keys and limited instrumentation, and my attention wanders. I have ordered up 2 CDs of Kate's just yesterday, "The Girl Who Couldn't Fly" and "20", which is where the collaboration with Nic Jones appears.
DeleteI know it’s not likely to be your “bag” particularly but there are a few none standard types of folk about like anarcho folk (the levellers) or folk / world music fusion stuff (like the imagined village - who mix folk with the likes of Bhangra).
DeleteHi Mark - thanks for this - I'm probably surprisingly eclectic, I think. Eclectic is usually interpreted as "likes old-fashioned stuff", or "can't make his mind up". Guilty as charged. I have some history with folk music - in the distant past I did a fair amount of work in studios, backing folk singers who didn't play awfully well, and some of that was pretty tedious. There's also a number of characteristics of folk music - especially traditional, that don't appeal to me - too many verses in narrative folk tales is one (Scottish especially bad for this), and a general sacrifice of good taste to the general cause - e.g. many decades ago, Joan Baez, an otherwise excellent musician, tended to shriek in unnecessarily high keys which gave me the toothache, simply because she could.
Deleteimho, of course. I like Kate, I also like Olivia Chaney, who is away from the folk thing a little.
The thing I have a major problem with is the "classification" of music styles - it's restrictive as often as it's helpful. Anarcho folk? - good grief - I'll duck that one on the grounds of my own stupidity. I play now with a drummer who is hostile to jazz, for example, entirely because his father was a jazz fan. In fact, he wouldn't recognise non-New Orleans jazz if he stepped in it, and he plays quite a lot of jazz tunes with me, but since we don't tell him it's officially classified as jazz he doesn't know, and enjoys it.
I am as bad as anyone when it comes to prejudices, I guess, but am constantly surprised by unfamiliar stuff. Late night Radio 3 has scored many hits with me over the last couple of years, though I'm still resistant to ambient electronica...
The house looks great, and your surroundings look very peaceful. I have decided the world around me has gone stark raving bonkers; we have learned nothing from history.
ReplyDeleteI am too cynical to think it can be fixed so playing quietly with your soldiers and guitar is as sound as any of the alternatives.
Smile and wave boys, smile and wave.
Hi Matt - a friend recently said to me that some day we will laugh at the memory of this period; I really don't think so. Nothing is ever going to make this shameful episode funny. How anyone could even contemplate our present PM as any kind of leader - someone who doesn't even understand the basics of how to go about being a despot - someone whose psychological profile seems to disqualify her from any kind of responsible role at all - all seems like some preposterous nightmare. Out of dazed interest, I have been keeping an eye on the Oddschecker site for the latest betting on the dates for the Downfall of The House of Truss and/or a General Election; in a world where we have such blind faith in the strength of the Free Market, we cannot pick and choose which bits we believe in, I think.
DeleteChateau Foy looks splendid Tony…
ReplyDeleteKate Rusby is a joy to listen to…
One of the tabloids is currently seeing if a standard shop bought lettuce will last longer than Liz Truss’s premiership…
My money is on the lettuce.
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly - now that is funny! Excellent.
Delete