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Flotsam and Jetsam

Skerryvore

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Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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!

Table tennis (not!)

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“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.

So it goes…

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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!

No quarter (the re-match)

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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!

Anam Danu

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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:

https://anamdanu.bandcamp.com

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!

 

Flying the flag

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Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWe had unexpected guests in Victoria yesterday.

The Red Arrows – the RAF’s display team – have been on an eleven week tour of north America. The trip included only two excursions north of the border, so yesterday’s brief appearance in British Columbia was all the more welcome.

Whilst not performing a full aerobatic display the team were scheduled to perform a number of passes yesterday over Vancouver as well as making a two day ground visit.

As a precursor to the Vancouver flypast the Red Arrows carried out a single pass over Victoria’s Inner Harbour and Parliament Building. Given that it can take them only about five minutes to get from Victoria to Vancouver there is no doubt that they were well into the second part of their jaunt whilst those watching in Victoria were still wondering if they were coming back.

Indeed, the brief nature of the event would in normal circumstances have put us off driving the twelve miles or so into the city. Yesterday, however, we had an engagement downtown anyway, so we went a little early and found a spot by the Inner Harbour to watch the spectacle.

I have seen TV coverage of the Red Arrows many times on a variety of ceremonial occasions but never actually encountered them in the flesh – so to speak. I don’t know quite what I was expecting but I was taken completely by surprise by a sudden involuntary lump in the throat as they soared over the city, trailing the red, white and blue plumes for which they are well known. Those who have had similar experiences will be very aware of the power and efficacy of this strangely arcane form of ritual.

Some might think that such displays are out of place in this troubled and restless new world. I am an old fart, however, and I say long may such spectacles continue.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

The final frontier

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“Space is big. The whole point of the frontier is that we go there to do new things in new places – not one place, and not one thing, but all of the above.”

Rick Tumlinson

It is very nearly four years since we acquired our lovely home on the Saanich peninsula.

I have – as it happens – good reason to recall that moment in time precisely. The day that we moved in to our new residence – the day after all of our worldly possessions were delivered by our carrier – I arrived early in the morning because I wanted to watch on the TV one of Scotland’s final pool matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the which was taking place back in England (the reason for the early start times on the west coast of Canada).

Now here we are – four years on – and the 2019 Rugby World Cup is just about to start in Japan.

This post is not, however, about rugby.

I made reference in a recent post to the fact that we have been re-decorating our downstairs ‘family’ room. This work was actually started by a dear friend whilst we were away in Europe earlier in the year, but she and I finished it off together over the summer. We then had the carpets cleaned before reorganising all of our downstairs spaces ready for our recent guests (also trailed in the above mentioned post).

Why is all this significant – and why ‘final’?

Well – this past four years has seen a great deal of action on the home front – as regular readers of these meanderings (should such there be) will be aware. There have been legal battles to be fought – monies to be scrimped and saved – new decks to be built – extensive renovations of the main living spaces to be wrought and all manner of other nipping and tucking besides.

On our arrival here four years ago the downstairs ‘family’ room was immediately pressed into service as a repository for goods and chattels from our transatlantic move for which we did not at that point have a home elsewhere. It then became a temporary studio before subsequently being turned into a furniture store and living space when we moved everything downstairs for the four months during which we handed over the whole of the main floor to our contractor. It then reverted to being a dumping ground and part-time workshop… until earlier this year.

Now – finally – four years after our arrival here – the last remaining unallocated space in our home has been turned into a proper functioning room.

Job done! Yaaaaaay!!

 

Time management

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“I am definitely going to take a course on time management… just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.”

Louis E. Boone

As I start a new term (my fourth) in a new academic year with a new group of eager(?) young (mostly) students I am made aware that the honeymoon period for this particular post-secondary lecturer is over…

…in timetable terms at least!

If I am more honest I should really admit that – as a term-contracted semi-retired part-timer – I am rightly considered the lowest of the low when it comes to the allocation of teaching slots.

I teach one course – two days a week. On each of those days I lecture for sixty or ninety minutes and run a lab session for ninety minutes. I am also obliged to spend a couple of hours a week in my (shared) office so as to be readily available to students. The rest I can do from home. Until now I have been fortunate with regard to timetabling. None of my starts has been early and on each of my teaching days the lab sessions have followed hard on the heels of the classroom lectures.

Not so this term. I teach on Mondays and Wednesdays – at 8:30 am!

Now – I really can’t pretend that the early start is an issue. It takes me about half an hour to get to the college – even in the morning ‘rush’ – and let’s face it, compared to to my pre-retirement commute this is a complete doddle.

My issue is that on both of my teaching days the lab sessions are scheduled in the mid-afternoon – at 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm respectively. This means a gap of four and six hours on those days during which I am somewhat stuck. A couple of hours are used up as office time and of course I do have preparation and marking, but I find both of those easier to do in the comfort of my studio at home.

If I lived close to the college I would simply go home in between lectures and labs. Indeed, that is what I will doubtless be doing for the longer of the gaps on Wednesdays – but that does mean wasting another hour a week in the car and the Lexus (which I love to bits) is not the most frugal of beasts…

I simply have to remind myself that this is very much a first-world problem and to get on with it. It is, after all, only for fourteen weeks… well – twelve now!

As you were…

Technology? Bah!

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So…

Yesterday I posted an item enthusing about Vancouver band – ‘The Fugitives‘ – who we saw live last week at Brentwood Bay.

I included in my post a link to a YouTube clip of a live performance of the band’s excellent track – ‘No Words‘ – with a strong recommendation to the gentle reader to view same. I also included a link to the band’s website.

Both of these links were automatically rendered in a satisfactory manner on the blog itself – the latter as a hyperlink and the former – rather pleasingly – as an embedded YouTube clip.

Rather elegant I thought…

However – for those who read these posts by email digest – whereas the hyperlink appeared in its usual manner the YouTube clip simply did not feature at all, rendering my reference thereto particularly pointless.

My apologies to email readers. If you follow this link you will find the video to which I referred.

Second time lucky!

And finally…

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It has taken a good seven weeks since we returned from Europe to reach my last missive on the subject of our jaunt to the UK and to the Greek islands. In part this is because our experience over there was so varied and so rich (and I found I had taken so many photographs that I wanted to share) that it has taken this long to get all of my thoughts and all of the images organised for presentation. I hope that this extended rumination on our adventures has not too badly outstayed its welcome.

Anyway…

When in Athens…

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid …one must visit the Acropolis and see the Parthenon (along with much of the other antiquity on offer in the city). We hired a young archeologist to act as a guide and set forth under the blazing sun. Photographs were very much in order. Here are the barbarian hordes, storming the Propylaea.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid The Acropolis hill hosts a number of major structures in addition to the Parthenon itself. This is the Erechtheion with its famous porch of Caryatids.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid It is no surprise that the monument is under continual – and, nowadays, sympathetic – restoration. There are strict limits on how much non-original material is permitted in the rebuilding and the use of different shades of stone enables the casual visitor to understand what is reproduction and what is not.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid The site also encompasses the Odeon of Herodes Atticus…

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid …which is still used for opera and concert performances – and the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, which is not.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid The new (a mere ten years old this year) Acropolis museum lies outside the historical site itself, but has been constructed parallel to the Parthenon and with an interior core that is identical in size to the temple. Extensive use of reflective glass allows the Acropolis hill to be reflected on the outside of the museum, with sweeping panoramic views of the hill from the inside.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid The museum site is itself of archeological interest and the building effectively sits on stilts above the ground, whilst glass floors and subtle lighting enable the visitor to view the excavations below.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid The museum houses many of the precious artifacts recovered from the Acropolis site itself.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid One of the most affecting displays is the recreation at the top of the building of the frieze that once surrounded the top of the Parthenon. This extraordinary work comprises a mixture of original carvings and new stonework reproductions. These are clearly delineated so that one can gauge how much (or little) of the original frieze remains, how much has been destroyed – and how much removed to collections in other parts of the world. The majority of the latter – of course – include that extensive number that were removed to London and make up the bulk of the so-called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.

It as truly startling to see just how much material was plundered from the site and carried away in this manner.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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