English eccentricity? - Update

Video clips from this year's Durham Savoyard's wonderful performance of The Mikado can be found by clicking here.

Thanks and acknowledgement to Darryl and Mary Freedman for recording this for prosperity.

English eccentricity in North Carolina?

English eccentricity? Definitely not (well maybe). I refer to those ingenious Victorian gentlemen William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan.

After living in North Carolina for four years and gradually becoming more "American" in many of my habits and, indeed outlooks, even though clinging to my "Englishness", I was reminded, with a (very pleasant) jolt that I still retained it. On Thursday evening, our son Stuart (English born, American citizen) invited me to the preview performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado at the wonderful Carolina Theater.

I had heard of The Durham Savoyards, as a neighbor and his wife are very involved. The Savoyards have for 47 years been performing the dynamic duo's works. Stuart had been before so knew what to expect. I was ready to enjoy myself, especially as The Mikado is probably the best known of the fourteen operas created by G&S. I looked forward to hearing the familiar music and clever lyrics with keen anticipation.

What I wasn't ready for was the amazing appeal of Gilbert & Sullivan to an audience of enormous cultural diversity. Imagine my surprise when, immediately after the orchestral conductor was introduced, a familiar drum roll saw everyone standing for the British national anthem! A spotlight was directed on "The Royal Box" and shone on none other than "Her Majesty Queen Victoria" (accompanied, I noticed, by John Brown).

125 years after the first performance of The Mikado, sub-titled The Town of Titipu, this performance was as fresh as ever (no, I wasn't at that first performance). To say I enjoyed the evening would be an under-statment. The send-up of Victorial England's social customs disguised in a Japanese setting, gives us such characters as Nanki-Poo, Yum-Yum, Pooh-Bah, Pish-Tish. The appeal I can understand, as nearly 48 hours later I am still singing the songs.

The Durham Savoyards deserve praise and support for this wonderful production and yes, I have already pencilled in my diary the dates of next year's performances of Princess Ida.

Weather and critters

The English, they say (and who "they" are, I've never known) are a nation of moaners. Our Australian friends don't call us "whinging Poms" for nothing.

As Stuart says, "the English have a God-given right to complain". Hmm, I sort of agree with him and certainly "The Weather" is one subject that we do comment and usually complain about. It's too wet, it's too cold, it's too hot, it's too windy, etc.

One of the many considerations we gave to moving to Andalusia was that following retirement and spending time out of an office/factory environment, it struck me just how grey (gray) and overcast most days seemed. Even during the summer and the temperatures were obviously warmer, clear, "wall-to-wall" sun days seemed rare.

Of course, Andalusia has a share of them too, and the Costa del Sol is known for it's windy days. The climate - lack of wind (generally) and the Carolina blue skies and plenty of sun, even during the winter, attracted us to the Old North State.

The English are not alone in making "The Weather" a frequent topic of conversation. It happens here too folks. There is an excellent forecasting service throughout the media - one of our local TV news channels has detailed forecasts every ten minutes.

What's all this got to do with "moaning"? Okay, I'm ready for Spring and warmer weather. This has been, without doubt, the coldest winter we've spent since leaving England. Whilst I usually enjoy the four seasons, temperatures here have generally been considerably lower than normal, and I'm now ready for warmer days. We have forecasts of a warm-up next week - 65 on Thursday. Bring it on! Bring on the 80s too! And when we are sitting on the porch during the 90s, yes, you've guessed it - I'll be moaning about the heat!

The critters? We have a yard full of wildlife with many species of birds. They give us so much pleasure throughout the year that we repay them by making sure that they are well fed and watered during the winter. We have managed to keep most of our feeders "squirrel-free" - except for one. It's a clear plastic one which fixes via suction cups to a window. We have tried fixing it to different windows, but however successful we think we are, dear little "Squirrel Nutkins" manages to find a way to reach it, knock it off the hooks thus spilling the food for him and his bushy-tailed friends to feed at leisure on the ground.

I can't help admire his ingenuity, but I'm sure this cheeky little critter would try the patience of Saint Francis himself!

The battle continues.

Friday Fellowship

Following Evening Prayer on Fridays, Fred, Gail and I started going for supper and enjoying some end-of-the-working-week fellowship (although all three of us are retired).

The numbers gradually grew and even some who originally declined our invitations started to attend. It might mean a “cheap-and-cheerful” meal at a local cafeteria, an all-day breakfast at a diner, or a more substantial meal, but the common denominator is that it suits everyone and that it most often includes going back home for yet more fellowship.

Last evening was typical. It happened to be CP’s birthday and he had invited some friends to Evening Prayer thinking that afterwards perhaps we could go to IHOP for celebratory pancakes. Meanwhile CM had called me to suggest a pot-luck at their home. Long-story short – a quick change of plan and fifteen of us (that includes CM’s dog Sammie) enjoyed a great evening which included a hilarious ping-pong (mis)match between Gail and CP, heaps of laughter, loads of love, and great food.

Fellowship and hospitality are essentials of Christianity. I thank God I’m a Christian.

A Busy Breakfast

A busy breakfast fellowship followed Morning Prayer this morning after we had celebrated the life of Timothy and Titus, faithful followers of Saint Paul. Just as I was locking up the church, M came over and explained he needed to get back to Raleigh after receiving some medical treatment. He was obviously anxious and declined breakfast, but was grateful for the help we gave him to get home.

Courtney, Dave and Gail had breakfast well under way by the time I got back into the parish house. B, a regular, who now has his own accommodation, brought M for breakfast. M who has been staying with B, was obviously so grateful and was busy organizing his and B’s grocery list - another case of “the poor helping the poor” - certainly a reminder to us all. Will, who had attended Morning Prayer, popped in to say hello and drink his daily OJ, whilst big S was cheerful as usual and managed to put a smile on everyone’s face – a wonderful gift of his.

The every faithful Dave and Tony were as usual, deep in conversation, while Jodi was organizing her two-year old’s breakfast of Cheerios.

Tuesday breakfast is always fun and could never be dull, especially with Courtney and Gail in form. At the 194^th Annual Convention of the NC Diocese last weekend, Bishop Michael Curry continued and expanded his “All Are Welcome” theme from last year. I thought of his words as I buttered my toast, drank my coffee and enjoyed the fellowship of our brothers and sisters. I felt welcomed by all those present. Praise God.

The scent of nostalgia

Some time ago a friend of mine told me he had been asked what attracted him to our church. He replied, "Among other things of course, it had the smell of a real church. Like a church should". To my mind, he's absolutely right - candle wax, a lingering scent of incense and furniture polish.

The scent of smell does play a large part in bringing back memories, for me anyway. My inspiration for this post comes from me sitting in front of my laptop and realizing that the steak and vegetable stew I put in the slow cooker is well on its way to becoming my supper later this evening. It's one of my favorite aroma's, together with freshly baked bread (thank heaven for the bread maker), freshly ground coffee, newly mown grass and that distinctive smell of a summer shower after a hot spell.

I can smell with my mind's nose (well, if you can see with your mind's eye!), my earliest days at school. Again, furniture polish and for some reason Lifebuoy soap are prominent here, plus the strong smell of Jeyes Fluid, used in the outside lavatories. Yes, you did read correctly - outside. We didn't linger there long during the cold Norfolk winters, believe me!

Although I only lived a few hundred yards from my school, I always stayed for school dinner. Boiled cabbage - I can remember that strong smell with somewhat disgust.

Other schoolboy smells (the mind boggles at that phrase) I can still envisage are: dubbin (when rubbing on my football boots); hot tar (as the road-men repaired the streets); burnt methanol at speedway meetings (I still love that smell); and one not so pleasant, but nonetheless one that brings back vivid and emotional memories - the smell of Dad's clothing after he had spent many hours working in the dairy and delivering milk.

Some smells puzzled me, such as why certain stores had the same aroma whatever the branch or town. Examples I remember most were "Woolie's" (F. W. Woolworth) and "Marks" (Marks & Spencer). It was probably the corporate design and the use of fittings that gave them that unique aroma. Without wishing to offend vegetarians, I loved the smell of a butcher's shop, "blood and sawdust", and how I loved the smell of a shoe shop - that's when shoes were made with leather, naturally.

Nowadays our noses are bombarded with artificial smells -perfume, air-fresheners, scented candles, but those natural favorites I mentioned to begin with are still tops for me.

What is my very favorite? After forty years in the book printing industry, it has got be the smell of a brand new book. They don't call me a crazy Englishman for nothing!

Decisions, decisions - part 4

Decisions are made virtually every second of our lives. Even when we sleep, decisions are made which effect our lives.

My first life-changing decisions were previously posted separately. This post combines three major ones within five years.

In the summer of 2000 we were to take our three (at that time) wonderful granddaughters on individual vacations of their choice. We always tried to have quality one-on-one time with them individually. So a great time was had with with 9 year-old Josie in historic Northumbria. A couple of weeks later, an equally great time with 7 year-old Asha in East Sussex exploring "Pooh Bear" country. On return, and before we had a chance to take dear Caitlin, then 5, anywhere, I suffered a mild, but nevertheless frightening, heart attack. Don't jump to any conclusions here - it was nothing to do with our girls - if anything, they helped me relax from the stresses of my work.

On recovering, thankfully fairly quickly, I was fortunate to be given the chance to take early retirement. An easy decision? I now think it was, but I'm not so sure I felt so then. After all, nine years early? With the support and encouragement, as always of Gail and our son and daughter, decision number 1 was made.

Before this, on various vacations, we had fallen in love with the southern Iberian Peninsular, and had talked about retiring there, either the Algarve or to neighboring Spain's Costa's. We now had an opportunity to do so, but would we take the plunge? It may have been brave, it may have been foolhardy, but finding on retirement that during my previously working hours the sun really didn't come out all that much, and that perhaps our finances could go stretch a little further in Andalusia, I started the research. There, decision number 2 made. Following our visit to North Carolina for our son's wedding, we did for a short time consider the possibility of moving to the US. However we stuck to our original plan, put our home on the market, sold most of our belongings and took a flight to Spain to check out the property in and around Málaga. UK property sold, Spanish property purchased, legal work completed and decision 2 carried through.

A good decision? Yes, although after four years and having visited North Carolina for an extended stay (Leslie, our daughter-in-law deserves sainthood for putting up with us), we realized we could never have made Spain our permanent home, even though we managed to have the quality time with each of our girls in turn, . . . so, let's start preparing for the big one - Decision Number Three!

This really was a big one. We really liked NC and after spending time here in the summer and winter months, checking out property (and the locals, and liking both), I still wasn't convinced. It took Gail quite a bit of persuasive argument to win me over. There was a great deal of agonizing, but eventually Gail's logic was spot on.

I have not regretted any of these decisions. Yes, we miss our family in England terribly, how could we not? But which one of our granddaughters spent nearly a month with us this past summer? If you are a regular reader you know the answer . . . . Caitlin had her quality time with Nan and Granddad after all.