In Canada
Yes indeed! It is the night before Christmas and thus the time that I ‘traditionally’ roam the house with a camera – looking for Christmassy images to capture… so that I might post a seasonal pot pouri of ‘ph’estive photographs.
How am I doing?
As ever at this juncture…
…to friends, acquaintances and gentle readers…
from the Kickass Canada Girl and the Imperceptible Immigrant.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a splendid Hogmany!
“Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
Everybody thinks it’s true”
Paul Simon
If it is a Saturday night late in November then there is a good chance that it is time once again for…
…Barney Bentall’s ‘Cariboo Express’ at the Mary Winspear!
Thus it was this weekend just passed.
Now (you the gentle reader may say to yourself) this is not the first time that these pages have contained an enthusiastic paean to the cavalcade that is the Express on its annual charity fundraising outing (in this case for the eminently worthy cause of the Sidney Food Bank). Is he mayhap running out of things on which to pontificate?
The thing is this… over the last year or so we have attended any number of musical soirées of one sort or another and, much as I have enjoyed them, I have frankly begun to wonder if I am getting too old for this sort of thing. The problem is that I am no longer very tolerant of poor sound quality or (and in particular) of sound pressure levels that are excessive. In other words – I don’t these days care for music that is too loud.
It is true that I possess a very expensive and most effective pair of ear protectors and they do work well – but they inevitably distance one somewhat from the immediacy of the occasion. Barney himself visited the Mary Winspear a while back with his original band – the ‘Legendary Hearts’ – and whilst they were a lot of fun they also were too damned loud!
But then – just when I begin to despair – along comes the ‘Cariboo Express’ again for their three night residency. Lo and behold the sound is perfect – a full but acceptable level and well mixed. The band – all eleven or twelve of them (I lose count) are having a ball and the audience is a-lovin’ it. Feet are a-tapping. Punters are aching to get up and dance. Clapping and singing along are the order of the day and everybody has a whale of a time.
In short – my faith is restored.
So – long may the Express keep running.
I have long been an enthusiastic amateur pizzaiolo.
Once I became gainfully employed (as a young man back in the late seventies) and could thus afford on occasion to eat out, it didn’t take long to discover a somewhat superior but yet reasonably-priced pizza chain that I and other close friends and associates could frequent – and where we subsequently spent a fair amount of our leisure time.
Pizza Express was founded in London back on 1965 by Italophile and pizza enthusiast – Peter Boizot. He had learnt how to make Neapolitan pizzas properly in Italy and was eager to share his knowledge. Though it has since been bought out the chain is still running today in the UK and elsewhere and is still a reliable ‘go to’ when one is in the mood for a good basic pizza.
I liked the product so much (whilst at the same time disliking grocery store pizzas with a similar fervour) that I decided that I had to learn how to make my own pizzas at home. Mr. Boizot had helpfully published a slender volume describing the art in detail and I rapidly acquired a copy. The book has long since disappeared into that mysterious place to which valuable things sadly vanish all too often, but not before I had memorised most of the essential details.
I happily spent the next three and a half decades practicing the noble art and – though I say so myself – I ended up as a pretty decent pizzaiolo.
Then we moved to Canada!…
I still make pizza – though somewhat less frequently than of yore – but I have found that I must now relearn how to make it well. The reason for this somewhat counter-intuitive fact is simple: ingredients!
Back in the UK I had a reliable source of “00” flour, usable instant yeast, various ‘ready to go’ tomato bases and just the right cheeses, mushrooms, olives and artichoke hearts and suchlike.
Here in Canada these things are all subtly different and the resulting pizzas just aren’t quite as good. I found the flour but instant yeast results have thus far varied wildly, making it difficult to get a reliable ‘rise’ and the consequent fluffy texture. Cheeses are difficult in part because of the Canadian habit of selling everything in vast quantities. I used to be able to get a decent mozzarella from Waitrose in just the right portion size to make a decent pizza for two. Here I have to buy a huge thing which results either in my overdoing its use or in wasting good cheese. I can’t get quite such good goat cheeses either.
The main problem, however, has been the tomato base. In the UK there were at least two different products that delivered from the can the required thickness, texture and taste to make a reliably yummy pizza. Here there is apparently no equivalent. I am now having to resort to learning how to make my own tomato base from scratch. One might suggest that I could have done this before now, but the fact remains that there was previously no need to do so. It is now going to take me a while to learn how to turn out a decent one.
Oh well! There is – as they say – no harm in trying (at least we get to eat pizza!)…
It is difficult to know quite what – if anything – to write on the subject of England’s performance against South Africa in last Saturday’s final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The first thing to do though – obviously – is to congratulate South Africa on their comprehensive win – an achievement that looked no more than an outside possibility in the earlier stages of the competition, particularly when the All Blacks comprehensively out-thought them in their opening encounter.
The fact was, however, that in the final they really wanted the win with a fervour that England couldn’t match. One might point out that the game had still been close with fifteen minutes remaining on the clock and that the two South African tries came in part because the English were chasing the game and that opportunities arose as a result in the way that they tend to do in such circumstances. That would be an injustice, however, given the way that the Springboks had dominated the English in the set-pieces throughout.
It became apparent very quickly that England were not on this occasion going to match the fluent control that marked their splendid and comprehensive win over the All Blacks a week before. The first handling errors came very quickly – always a sign that a side is subject to a degree of pressure that they have not previously encountered. Given the worlds of difference between semi-final and final performances it almost felt for a moment that we were watching the Scots – who are much more prone to such swings in fortune (and accomplishment) from one week to the next.
No – the key thing at this stage is to congratulate the new world champions, but at the same time to laud the English for the way they set about the competition; for their performances – in particular in seeing off the Australians in the quarter-final and the previously all-conquering All Blacks in the semi-final – and for ending up as very worthy runners-up.
Worth noting also that England are in the main a young side and that they are only going to get better.
Well – here we are – the end is in sight… with regard to the 2019 Rugby World Cup anyway! This Saturday coming sees a repeat (in terms of the combatants) of the 2007 final in Paris between England and the Springboks.
The semi-finals turned out broadly in line with the suggestions that I advanced in my last post on the subject.
England proved that they did after all have too much for the All Blacks on this occasion. Indeed they made the Kiwis look quite ordinary for considerable portions of the match in a manner that one rarely sees. As the second half wore on it became all too clear that the All Blacks did not know how to break England down. One side effect of this powerful and sparkling performance is that England have subsequently been made somewhat unexpected favourites to take the crown… which may not altogether suit them.
My prediction for the other semi-final – between Wales and South Africa – was that it would be a dour affair in which each team would attempt to out-muscle the other. The match would go down to the wire and one side would win at the last gasp by three points. The only thing that I got wrong was that I thought Wales would sneak it, whereas in fact the Saffers did so.
Back in the early stages of the pool section of the tournament the All Blacks convincingly beat the Springboks. They did so by patiently absorbing all of the South African pressure and waiting for the chinks to appear in their armour. When these duly did so the All Blacks scored two rapid tries in a five minute period and killed the contest stone dead.
England will doubtless try – and should be able – to do something similar. There is a bit of a history now of teams winning heroically against the odds in World Cup semis (usually against the All Blacks) and then having nothing left for the final. Eddie Jones – the England coach – has had experience of this before, not least in 2003 when he managed Australia to the one World Cup final that England have (to date) actually won. I am going to assume that – armed with that experience – he will know how to keep English noses pressed to the grindstone for long enough for them to be triumphant.
Incidentally, back in 2007 England were not expected to do well in the tournament. The Girl and I had booked ourselves a cheeky Autumn break in the Algarve which just happened to coincide with the final. When England got through – against all odds – we had to scurry around the town in which we were staying looking for somewhere to watch the match. Fortunately one of the restaurants in the main square was smart enough to have arranged screens overlooking their outside tables. We were thus able to watch England losing to the Springboks (and we still maintain that that Mark Cueto try was good!) while enjoying a decent al fresco dinner on a balmy Mediterranean evening.
Anyway – go England for this Saturday!
It seems to be a fact of our autumnal (fall) lives that a general busy-ness and an excess of external stimuli cause us to have to scramble around to fit everything in. In my case this manifests itself in my falling behind in the updating of this virtual journal.
Sooooo…
Way back near the start of October we not only celebrated the Kickass Canada Girl’s birthday (for which I should have posted at the time what I believe is known as a ‘shout-out’) but we also scurried hot-foot to the McPherson theatre in Victoria to see Scottish Celtic rock band – Skerryvore.
As is the way nowadays we had seen this gig publicised way back at the start of the summer. Not having been previously aware of them we were immediately taken with the recordings that we located on the Interwebnet and rapidly purchased their most recent release. We were further intrigued by the fact that VIP tickets were also on sale for the concert in October, the which included a pre-concert whisky tasting hosted by members of the band, at which tales would be told and songs sung. Naturally we signed up forthwith.
I am – these days – greatly enjoying re-discovering my Celtic roots and culture. It has always been an important part of my personal mythology but coming to Canada – where for understandable reasons such a heritage is brought into even sharper focus for the descendants of those who emigrated long ago – it seems particularly relevant and timely.
Needless to say we greatly enjoyed the tasting and the tales and the concert itself was great fun. Skerryvore – though new to us – have been plying their trade to considerable response for some fifteen years now and they know what they are doing. They have more than one excellent songwriter on the team and they know their pipes, fiddles and whistles as well as the usual gamut of electric instrumentation. They also know how to whip up a veritable storm of Celtic fervour and they had the audience clapping and dancing just as much as the jobsworths (booo!) employed by the McPherson would allow.
Do check the band out at their website – https://skerryvore.com/. I notice therefrom that having returned to the UK from their extensive Northern American tour they are spending much of November plying their trade around the UK before heading off to Europe. Should good Celtic rock be at all be your thing check them out, go to see them and – should you get a chance to chat (they are very friendly!) – tell them you were recommended by a couple of expats in Victoria BC!
“If you can’t take a punch, you should play table tennis”
Pierre Berbizier – former French rugby player
It is difficult at the moment not to continue with the rugby theme of recent posts. In fact, I promised in my last such that I would make some mention of home nations (UK) other than the Scots – who have themselves now sadly been ‘sent homeward to think again…’
This weekend just passed saw the quarter finals of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. We are now down to the business end of the tournament – having entered the knockout stages.
Of the quarters it must be said that the results pretty much went the way – and in the fashion – that one might have expected… although there is always room in rugby for things to run counter to any presumption.
The English took on Australia. Now – there has been much talk of late about an Aussie renaissance, but frankly the English have had their number for some years now. It was about time that the men in white turned in a truly good performance and they duly did so. There might be some gripes about them having had the run of the ball – getting the lucky breaks and suchlike – but what actually happened was that they very coolly let the Australians throw the ball around and generally run themselves a bit ragged, whilst at the same time exerting the sort of pressure that would inevitably lead to Aussie mistakes. When these occurred they were appropriately taken advantage of with clinical proficiency. The English are starting to look good and are – frankly – the only side that one could imagine mounting a challenge to…
…the All Blacks! Quite a lot has been made of the fact that the much-fancied Irish actually beat them twice in the last couple of seasons. A fair bit was also ignored concerning the recent dip in Irish form that coincided rather unfortunately with the ABs coming on song themselves just in time for the big event. The inevitable happened… The All Blacks blew the Irish away and now look pretty much unstoppable with regard to retaining the trophy for the second consecutive time.
The France/Wales game? Well – this one really did go exactly the way that one might have anticipated. Rising to the big occasion the Welsh played as they had been doing a couple of years back – complete rubbish (slight exaggeration for dramatic effect)! They also contrived to squeak a win with their dying breaths. The French did what only the French can do. They displayed in one moment the mercurial talents that have seen them in the past knock the All Blacks out of this very tournament… the next they looked like total novices – handing the ball to the Welsh for them to canter downfield to the try line. Having built a healthy first half lead there was an inevitability about the way one of their locks – Sébastien Vahaamahina – got himself red-carded shortly after the start of the second half. One might imagine that the French despair – but they probably just shrug their shoulders in that familiar Gallic manner.
We all so wanted Japan to continue their magic carpet ride and to beat the South Africans, but frankly that was never going to happen. The Japanese are nowhere near as diminutive overall as they used to be, but the oxen that the Saffers put out to face them had clearly been chosen purely to accentuate the size advantage. There was nothing very attractive about the Saffer win and they had to work hard to get on top of the ceaselessly energetic Japanese, but in the end they duly squashed them.
How will Wales get on against the Boks? I think I may already know the answer to that one.
Oh well!
With reference to my last post concerning the Rugby World Cup… the good news was that the Scotland/Japan pool match to decide the quarter finalists did indeed go ahead.
Any good news was, however, overwhelmed by the terrible news – the tragic loss of life suffered in Japan as a result of typhoon Hagibis. No amount of other news can in any way compensate for or help with that.
This perspective should not, however, take away anything from the fact that Japan out-played, out-ran and out-thought the Scots and rightly won the match, topped the group and thus won through to the country’s first ever quarter-final place in the world cup.
The tragic losses should also put into perspective the emotional impact on the Scots of being the first of the home nations (in regard to the UK of course) to be dumped out of this year’s cup. Four years ago Scotland were the last of them to be knocked out (controversially) in the quarters by the Australians, so this represents a significant step back.
It is not even that they played badly. They did not. But they were as unable to live with the Japanese as they had been the Irish just a few short weeks back. Given the talent now available to the team they really should be making more progress than they clearly are.
Time – once again – for some serious navel gazing.
PS – I have not yet made any reference to other nations competing in the tournament. There will be time for that as the knockout stages progress. I would like to put in a word for Canada though. In the first three rounds of their pool stages they predictably lost to Italy, to the All Blacks and to the South Africans (tough pool, that one!). They were hoping for some payback in their final pool game against fellow minnows – Namibia. Sadly that was one of the three games to be abandoned because of the typhoon.
Tant pis!
At this point in the Rugby World Cup four years ago (just before I posted this!) the competition had reached – as it has now – the last round of the pool stages and the quarter final line-ups were taking shaping.
The shock result of the pool stages in 2015 saw lowly Japan defeat the much fancied South Africans in Brighton. As a result the Japanese stood a good chance of making it to the quarter finals for the very first time and were they to do so it would have been at the expense of the Scots, who had – as so often – looked far from convincing.
As it turned out the Scots did just enough to squeak through, leaving Japan as the first side ever to have won three of their four pool matches and still not made it through to the quarters.
The shock result of the pool stages in 2019 saw a somewhat less lowly Japan defeat the much fancied Irish (at that point ranked number two in the world). As a result the Japanese stand a good chance of making it to the quarter finals for the very first time and if they do so it will again be at the expense of the Scots.
Deja vu – all over again!
There is one major difference this time. The Scotland/Japan pool encounter which will seal the progression is scheduled for this Sunday. The other event scheduled for this Sunday in Japan is the tail end of Typhoon ‘Hagibis’ – which has already led to the abandonment of Saturday’s pool fixtures between England and France and Italy and the All Blacks. Both England and France have already qualified and the match would simply have determined who got the top spot in the pool. Italy have some cause to feel aggrieved that their chance to qualify has been snatched from them, but in the real world the fact is that they have never beaten the All Blacks and the odds against them doing so on this occasion are as close to a sure thing as it is possible to be.
The Scots have more cause for concern. If their Sunday match is cancelled the Japanese go through and the Scots go home. If the game does take place the Scots might still lose (or not win by a four point margin, which is the requirement) but after their shaky start to the tournament with a loss to Ireland they have looked increasingly competent, winning their other two pool games (against minor opposition, granted) at a canter.
The grumbling at the moment is over why the game can not be held over for 24 hours or moved to another location. The rules and regulations of the tournament may well – as is so often the case – prove to be less than fit for purpose in the light of events.
All anyone can do in the meantime is to wait patiently – which ain’t easy!
At the start of September I posted a missive to these humble jottings, the subject of which was just what a busy time of year it was.
That was no word of a lie and proceedings have indeed involved a fair degree of frenzy since then.
That posting contained a list of promises – or threats, depending on your point of view – of further screeds on a whole range of topics… the Fringe… the new academic year… the re-decorations in our basement… Brexit!… etc, etc
As a man eager to be thought of as someone who keeps his word I have indeed since posted on all of these subjects…
…bar one!
I have been dropping hints for a while now that I consider it high time that the music that the Chanteuse (with whom I am working and to whom I have previously referred in these pages) and I are creating should cease merely to be written about but to become reality in the form of being available for download from the InterWebNet.
I am now happy and excited to announce that this has indeed come to pass.
We work under the name ‘Anam Danu‘. To save the inevitable puzzlement let me offer this elucidation:
“Anam Danu is Irish Gaelic for Soul Goddess of Life. In Irish mythology, she is mother of the earth, the gods, fertility, wisdom, wind and of all the Celtic people.”
The Chanteuse and I both have Celtic origins – she Irish and I a Scot – and the music that we write mixes Celtic influences with those obtained by living in Cascadia.
We have recorded seven (out of an eventual ten) tracks for a collection entitled “Winds of Change“. We have had them professionally mastered by the estimable Brock MacFarlane at CPS Mastering in Vancouver and we have made them available for streaming and download on Bandcamp at the following address:
Do please have a listen. If you like what you hear do please also pass the word on to anyone that you think might be interested.
Sláinte!