OH, OH, OH…

The festive season is upon us once again, the tree is up and decorated, lights are strung up and twinkling, presents are wrapped and pilled high ready for the big day. Greeting cards are covering the mantelpiece, the wine racks are filled in readiness and Christmas music is on the radio.

As I walked past the tree I happened to glance down and saw one of the labels showed the rather puzzling three short words - OH, OH, OH, and then I realised that this was not a cryptic warning but that I was seeing it upside down.

International Rescue…

A couple of friends of ours who live out in Corfu are back in the UK for the Christmas and New Year break and we imposed on the good nature and handy man skills of Terry to help change out our faulty shower unit while his wife Alexis kept Sue and Debbie company and decorated the Christmas tree.

We had a slap-up meal in the evening provided by Sue and eat and drank copiously into the wee small hours reminiscing and telling tale tales. The next morning when we tried to give Terry some money for his help he refused saying that considering the amount of food and drink we consumed it might have been cheaper to employ an actual plumber.

More of wot I have read…

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

This is an interesting book of unusual twists and turns and a mystical quality to it. Not everything is explained thoroughly in complete detail and it is left up to the reader to bring something to the story and to fill in the unwritten gaps with their own interpretation (I think this would bring an unique experience to each reader). In what was a deliberate move I am sure some parts of the story are disturbing, some moving and others just plain bonkers, but in all it is quite a satisfying and rewarding read.

‘Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy.

The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down.

As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle.’

Northern Lands…

We spent a weekend north of the river Thames in a foreign land where we explored strange new places and encountered interesting natives. We had arranged to see a comedy band on the Sunday evening in Islington and knowing how aggravating the journey across London can be we went up on the Saturday and stayed in a B&B at Golders Green.

The weather was on our side the whole time being bright and crisp winter days and clear evenings, such a contrast to recent days.

We used some loyalty points up and booked in at the King Solomon Hotel. This was a hotel made up of houses knocked together and with extensions made out into the back gardens. The place was basic and the halls had an unpleasant smell, but the room was clean and functional and the bed was comfortable.

We had been earlier in the day to visit part of the Highgate Cemetery on a guided tour which was interesting and slightly spooky as dusk fell as we walked around the tangled heavily wooded graveyard where roosting birds flapped noisily in the trees and strange shadows played across the paths.

After we had booked into the hotel and had a few nibbles and a pre-dinner drink we walked down into Golders Green where we ate at the superb Turkish restaurant Likya amongst the delightfully busy space full of multicultural patrons.

The next day we drove over to Hampstead Heath where we could look back over to London. The lovely Kenwood house was under wraps for restoration but the large Henry Moore sculpture was great to see out in the grounds.

Then we returned to see the other half of the cemetery where we could walk around at our own pace and saw the famous monuments to people as diverse as Douglas Adams (a simple stone with a bowl of pens in front of it) to the grand structure surmounted by a large head that stood at the place where Karl Marx was interred.

After that we drove up to Alexandra Palace situated high up with more views across London and looking very grand as we approached, though as we got closer we could see that the building was suffering from age and looked to be in quite a poor state of repair which was very sad. After a reinvigorating coffee at the pond we walked down to the small farmers market before continuing on our way to Islington.

We had booked tickets to see The Idiot Bastard Band (Ade Edmondson, Phill Jupitus, Neil Innes and Rowland Rivron) at one of our favourite venues, the Union Chapel that evening.

This left us the afternoon to walk up and down Upper Street to Islington and back where we window shopped in the expensive and quirky shops, mooched through the antiques quarter, had mulled wine and mulled cider in a pub and had a lovely meal at a French restaurant Le Mercury

The venue is a working church and you find a space in the pews, if you want to have a drink you can go out to the bar (respect the coats left on the pews) but you cannot bring alcohol back into the church itself (you can however have a cup of tea or coffee). It is a great space close enough to the stage to feel intimate but with the high ceiling to give it atmosphere. As we waited for the band we saw the gorgeous Jennifer Saunders looking for a seat with her family and friends (I was not very cool as I exclaimed ‘look who it is’ overly loud to Sue – if Jennifer heard she was too polite to react).

The band played a series of comedy songs from a variety of sources such as Jake Thakeray, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, along with self penned songs and twists on recognisable others. It was a raucous affair with much fooling about and laughter by all, and a brilliant end to a fab weekend.

Country Fair…

A while ago we went to a country fair at the ColneValley Regional Park at Denham. Some of the musicians associated with the Morris side had been booked to play at the fair through one of their members who worked there. The park is a quiet oasis hemmed in between the M25, M40 and built up suburbs of west London. Denham itself is a beautiful village that has some notable residents many of whom are associated with the movie industry and the village has been used as a location for some episodes of the Midsomer Murders TV show.

The fair was small but perfectly formed and we had a nice day out sampling the local produce and listening to the music.