The Kickass Canada Girl – who loves her BBC comedies (quite understandably!) – brought this Tracey Ullman clip to my attention. It caused me to laugh hugely – so those of you who have not already seen it get a chance to do so now.
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Plus ça change
Here in Canada the weekend that has passed was Thanksgiving – and thus a holiday or long weekend.
There are – in British Columbia – five national and five provincial statutory holidays, plus Easter Monday – which is a bank holiday (statutory for government employees only) and Boxing Day (which is not actually a stat holiday but is widely observed).
By comparison public holidays in the UK vary from eight (for England) to eleven (for Northern Ireland).
One fact that is indisputable is that public holidays here in BC are more evenly distributed throughout the year than are the UK equivalents – and certainly the English ones (two holidays in May – nothing until the end of August!)
One other seemingly inescapable ‘fact’ is that if there is to be bank holiday in the UK it is probably also going to rain. Now – statistically this probably isn’t actually the case, though it is true that the English weather stats do demonstrate that the end of August is a particularly poor choice of time for a day off, given that the rainfall then is often greater than it is during equivalent periods in the winter months.
However, one need only feed Google the inquiry “Does it always rain on bank holidays?” to be left in no doubt at all that as far as the English are concerned the answer is resoundingly in the affirmative.
It hardly need be said – I feel – that though the weather here has been reasonably good of late and the sun is shining once again as I write – over the holiday weekend itself the clouds scudded in and it rained steadily and determinedly throughout.
This expat felt right at home!
Man’s best medicine
“Walking is man’s best medicine.”
Hippocrates
We live in such a blessed corner of this bosky peninsula that we are surrounded within a few miles on all sides by an abundance of places in which to walk – many of which we have not yet had time to explore. Both of these walks – enjoyed just the other day – are within a mile or so of our front door:
This is the small but beautiful park at Coles Bay – on the west side of the peninsula.
Feeling in need of more vigorous exercise than was afforded by Coles Bay Regional Park we went on to visit John Dean Provincial Park, which lies just above us here on our slope of the peninsula’s backbone. This park is extensive and we will have to take more time to explore it properly in the not too distant future. For now it offered us a much needed workout.
Being a local high point (in the sense of altitude if no other) the park houses a variety of mysterious installations:
They say it’s your birthday
“They say it’s your birthday
We’re going to have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you”
‘Birthday’ – Lennon/McCartney
I guess that – if they say it’s your birthday – they probably know what they are talking about.
So I guess it must be so!
Who am I kidding? Of course it is…
A very, very happy birthday to the Kickass Canada Girl.
Have a wonderful day!
Keeping Faith
I had intended over the summer to write an entry on the subject of the BBC TV drama ‘Keeping Faith‘ – which we appreciated considerably throughout its eight week run. What with one thing and another I did not get around it and the moment has now somewhat passed, though I have no doubt that the series could be found online should the gentle reader feel moved to seek it out.
There were – however – several features of the show that I feel are sufficiently worthy of mention that I beg the indulgence of casual browsers and dedicated followers alike. You can – after all – simply skip ahead should you get bored!
‘Keeping Faith‘ was made initially for S4C (the Channel 4 Welsh language service) and was shown thereon in November of last year in Welsh with English subtitles. The subsequent run on BBC Wales this February was in English, as was the eventual showing on BBC One during the summer.
Unusually the series was shot simultaneously in both languages – each scene being shot twice. The protagonist – lawyer Faith Howells – was played by Welsh actress Eve Myles, who – in spite of her Welsh upbringing – had to learn the language specially for the role. This in itself is a pretty remarkable achievement, particularly given the intensity of the character concerned.
The series was beautifully filmed in Welsh settings and looks gorgeous. The significance of the attached photograph – which some may recognise as Dylan Thomas’ final residence, the Boathouse at Laugharne – is that the town and the estuary of the River Tâf were used extensively as locations for the filming.
The most striking feature of the series for me, however, was the evocative music that accompanied it. Six songs were written for the show by the wonderfully named singer/songwriter – Amy Wadge. Amy lives in Wales though she is by birth a Bristolian. If the name sounds familiar it will doubtless be because of her co-writing associations with artists such as Ed Sheeran, with whom she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
The songs written for ‘Keeping Faith‘ have been released on the CD equivalent of an EP (not sure if younger folk will know what one of those is!) and I wholeheartedly recommend them. Ms Wadge is a considerable talent. Rather than me endeavouring to wax lyrical about something as subjective and evanescent as music, however, I would suggest that the gentle reader checks out the samples here.
Enjoy!
Things that are in it…
“When you look for the environment, you find things that are in it: a hammer, a smartphone, some rusty nails, a shed, a spider, some grass, a tree. So there is a big difference between environmentality and Nature. Nature is definitely something you can point to: it is ‘over yonder’ in the mountains, in my DNA, under the pavement”
Timothy Morton
What is it with nature?!
On the subject of the word ‘binge’ the Cambridge Dictionary offers us:
Binge
noun uk informal
an occasion when an activity is done in an extreme way, especially eating, drinking, or spending money:
a drinking/eating/spending binge
‘He went on a five day drinking binge’.
The use of the term is practically always pejorative (with the exception of its employ in the course of braggadocio – usually by the young!) and by way of illustration of the weaknesses and excesses of human beings.
So – what does that have to do with nature?
I have previously waxed lyrical in these jottings concerning the abundance and vigour of the flora and fauna of the west coast of Canada. Springtime is a particularly verdant season and it can be difficult to keep up with the garden when it is putting on its annual growth spurt. Spring – however – does at least make some sort of sense to me, following hard as it does upon the heels of the fallow winter months.
Autumn is different – or so it would seem to me at any rate.
In the autumn we get fungi! In just a few days these amazing organisms burst en mass through our lawns and beds in a manner reminiscent of the creature from ‘Alien’ (though without the lawn bit of course). They are omnipresent for a short period and then wither and vanish again for another year – as though never there. Do they lurk underneath the grass the rest of the time, just waiting for the ordained moment to burst forth like a joke waiting for a punchline (that would be the one about the ‘fun-guys‘!)?
Then there are fruit flies (time flies like an arrow, etc!). Exasperated home-owners reach for Google to plead: “How do fruit flies come out of nowhere?“. May-flies famously live but a single day; fruit flies, sadly, can live for forty to fifty – seemingly all of it during the autumn and mostly around the recycling bin, which they can – apparently – smell from several miles away.
Worst of all in my view – however – are the spiders.
During the rest of the year – and particularly during the hot summer months – these arachnids lurk sulkily in dark corners, or scurry away furtively when stones or suchlike are turned over unexpectedly. Every now and again they stir themselves, get their arses into gear and produce a bit of desultory webbage – as though to demonstrate that they still can.
Come the autumn all that changes! The spiders are abruptly jolted into action and start weaving the most outrageous structures as though their lives depend upon it… which, of course, they may do! I know nothing of of the annual cycle of these tautologically multi-legged arthropods.
What I do know is that the creatures themselves seem to double in size and to multiply exponentially in number just as soon as the temperatures start to fall, whilst their sticky ambuscades become more and more elaborate and are thrown across ever more infeasible spaces. The end result is that it becomes nigh on impossible to mow one’s lawn (as did I yester-eve) or to cultivate one’s garden without getting a face full of spidey-silk!
Bleuch!!
What I want to know is – if binging is frowned upon in humans, why is it considered acceptable throughout the rest of nature?
Smokin’!
As the year advances inexorably into the autumn (fall!) our social calendars fill pleasingly once again with a plethora of events and occasions. This seems to us to be something a pattern here on the island – though that is perhaps merely our perception thereof, informed by our circumstances and time of life. Or maybe it is that – after a riotous summer of be-sporting themselves in the wide open spaces – Victorians do actually turn within for a while to celebrate more sedentary pursuits.
Either way – one event that has become a regular fixture in our autumn diaries is the ‘THRIVE Malawi‘ fundraiser at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. This annual concern seems to pop up at random points between September and November, but always promises a good night out in a great cause. We have twice enjoyed at this function performances by our favourite ‘New Orleans, West Coast brouhaha‘ band – the HiFi. This hugely popular but casual assemblage of local musical luminaries features what I have previously described as ‘an internationally reknowned boogie pianist appearing under a pseudonym for contractual reasons’.
This year – by way of a change – the organisers persuaded Vancouver based guitar maestro, Paul Pigat, to grace the stage. Paul plays in no less than four ensembles but this one – the Smoking Jackets – is a reunion with local Victoria musicians that showcases Mr Pigat’s jazz, bluegrass and rockabilly talents.
It is always reassuring to see Damian Graham’s name on the program. A regular in the HiFi (amongst other outfits) he is probably my favourite local drummer. ‘Gentleman’ Joey Smith is a legend on the upright bass and eighty one year old reedsman Al Pease gives a masterclass not only on the sax and clarinet, but also in how to still be cool and to be able to rock out well into one’s ninth decade. I particularly enjoyed the moment when Al – who had been seated stage right throughout – remained in situ after the band left the stage at the end, knowing full well that an encore would be in order and not wishing to expend further unnecessary energy. Kudos!
Though the Smoking Jackets had been billed as a four-piece we could not help noticing as we took our seats that a grand piano was prominent stage left. Sure enough the ‘reknowned boogie pianist‘ had agreed to sit in for the evening, thus enabling us to enjoy his particular talents again as well.
An illustration of just how much fun these amazing musicians were having playing together came during the final number – an extended rendition of ‘Sunny Side of the Street‘ – when the band morphed seamlessly and unexpectedly into a couple of verses of Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water‘ before slipping effortlessly back into the original.
When the band are having that much fun it would be churlish not to join in!
Fringe report
I promised but a few posts back to report on our discoveries and experiences at this year’s Victoria Fringe. What with the new term starting and suchlike I am all too aware that I have not thus far kept my word.
Time to rectify!
In the course of the eleven day festival we saw six shows. Wearing my Fringe Ambassador hat I ‘schmoozed’ the queues for those and another seven shows. I spent an afternoon manning the cardboard castle at the Fringe Kids event and also an evening selling fifty50 tickets at the Fringe Preview night.
I feel very sure, however, that the gentle reader is really only interested (if interested at all) in matters theatrical, so – of the six shows that we attended – these were our highlights:
The Wonderheads mask show – ‘The Wilds‘ was by turns amusing and thought provoking. Mask theatre is not for everyone but for those for whom it works it is revelatory, inviting us to consider anew just how we express – or hide – our thoughts and feelings. The Wonderheads remind me a little of Trestle Theatre in London, though perhaps a little less dark (than Trestle used to be!).
Our personal ‘Funniest Show’ award was this year split between two contenders:
Paco Erhard’s ‘Five Step Guide to Being German‘ was a complete hoot and has deservedly been selling out just about everywhere it has toured around the world. It was not spoiled for me in the least by my becoming – having been unkindly pointed out to Paco by my lovely wife as being ‘a Brit‘ – the butt of many of the jokes throughout the evening. I had a chat with Paco afterwards and he is a genuinely nice guy and actually something of an Anglophile.
Stiff competition in the humour stakes was provided by the hilarious retelling at Langham Court of ‘The War of 1812‘, by Mike Delamont, Morgan Cranny, Wes Borg and Rod Peter Jr. Given the strength of this cast of local comedic luminaries it will come as no surprise that they jointly hit it out of the park!
The most gripping performance that we saw this year was given by Anishinaabe writer and performer Josh Languedoc, with ‘Rocko and Nakota: Tales from the Land‘. Playing multiple characters with astonishing commitment and energy this telling of Anishinaabe tales had us entranced and captivated.
By all accounts this year’s Fringe was a great success. Congratulations to Intrepid Theatre and to all those intrepid performers who participated.
Dedication
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”
Jesse Owens
There came a moment – on a Thursday evening at the start of September, just as Elder John Elliott commenced his dedication of the new performance stage in Pioneer Park at Brentwood Bay by the intonation of an appropriate First Nations’ song – when the skies were suddenly filled with an answering and clarion call. A dozen or more skeins of Canada Geese added their own celebration to the occasion by performing a dramatic and noisy fly-past.
As mentioned previously in these postings this wonderful new stage has already been in use throughout the summer for the regular Wednesday evening Music in the Park sessions. The official opening and dedication was held over until the end of the season so that the stage could be completed; the final touch being the addition of a wonderful aluminium freeze at the back of the stage by talented local Coast Salish artist, Chris Paul.
The event was marked by a performance from the ever popular Dustin Bentall and his partner Kendel Carson – with a special guest appearance from none other than the wonderful Barney Bentall himself. Now – I do have to admit to being just a little bit in love with Ms Carson. Not only is she cute as a button but she oozes instinctive musicality. She deploys her wonderfully soaring voice to good effect all the whilst contriving to make her fiddle sound like full string section all on her own.
What a splendid evening to round off a great season – and what better way to thank all of those involved in the Brentwood Bay Commmunity Association – as well as those who donated money, materials, time and labour – for bringing this spectacular project to such a successful conclusion.
To fall and fall
“The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention but the fulfillment of its own nature, which was to fall and fall.”
Helen Garner
There is something to be said for living in a land with a reliable climate (though I naturally make an exception for those parts of the UK that are oppressed mercilessly by lowering clouds throughout the drudgery of the winter months).
It is interesting to contrast the climates of London and Victoria. Wikipedia reveals the following:
- London has some 1633 hours of sunshine per annum.
- Victoria has some 2193 hours of sunshine per annum.
- London averages 602 mm of rain per annum.
- Victoria averages 608 mm of rain per annum.
Though rainfall figures are not dissimilar and average monthly temperatures are within a degree of each other (though London’s slightly warmer weather often feels muggy as a result of the humidity), Victoria’s extra five hundred or so hours of sunshine a year clearly make a difference. Though there are times during the Victorian spring when one wonders if the rain will ever stop – cease it invariably does, giving way reliably to glorious mild, sunny and dry summer months.
Sometimes too dry!
Then – toward the end of the season and just as it seems that the drought has set in permanently and the garden sprinklers are on the verge of giving up the unequal struggle to maintain life in the yard – the weather will break and verdancy is restored.
Sometimes this happens with a bang rather than a whimper:
…but sometimes equally the end result is the most incandescent of rainbows:
