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Life as we know it

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Making a spectacle

November 16, 2025 in Life as we know it | No comments

Back at the top of the year I found myself – for only the second time in my life – eligible for extended heath benefits… courtesy of the College by which I was then employed.

Those who are paying attention might wonder why I had not enjoyed this boon throughout the previous half decade of my unexpectedly lengthened working life. The simple truth is that I had to this point – like an idiot – repeatedly turned the offer down. No sooner was I finally equipped with the full set of benefits than the job rapidly followed their example and evaporated.

(I notice that one can – should one so wish – purchase a T-shirt bearing the apposite slogan – “I saw that…” – Karma).

Irregardless!…

Serving one final term at the College before being retired (again) I took the opportunity to avail myself of all of the benefits for which I qualified. I had some serious dental work done and – more relevant to the subject of this particular post – I purchased some new spectacles.

Now, it was not that I actually needed spectacles. Over the last decade or so my vision has slowly but surely improved to the point at which I really only wear glasses now for driving. I have several slightly cosmetically ratty but completely functional pairs which seem to meet my limited needs. Nonetheless, taking the opportunity to equip myself with some stylish new eyepieces seemed like a good idea…

…and very nice they were – for a couple of months. Then – one fine day – the right hand arm fell off. One of the little screws – apparently completely inadequate for the task for which it had been provided – had dropped out and, inevitably, disappeared.

I revisited the optometrist. Following an extensive rummage out at the back of the store the assistant returned and advised me that they would need to order a replacement screw – and that they would call me when it was in.

Several further months passed – as months do – and my phone remained ominously silent.

I revisited the optometrist – again. Following an extensive rummage… etc, etc… you probably get the drift. There was no record of my first visit having taken place and no replacement part.

Several months passed… yada, yada, yada… I revisited… etc, etc… no record of either of my previous visits!

How was this to end? Well, on my fourth visit a rather more senior assistant finally did the obvious thing… she found another pair of the same frames – extracted one of the screws and then restored my new glasses to a fully operational state.

Hoo – bloomin’ – rah, say I!

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…and then it’s gone!

October 22, 2025 in Life as we know it | No comments

“I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost – it’s there and then it’s gone”.

Maggie Smith

This post brings up to date my recent communication regarding the theatrical events that we were lucky enough to attend this year.

Back in the day – a goodly period before The Girl and I finally relocated to Victoria – we had, nonetheless, commenced a series of visits to British Columbia as part of what one might consider a softening up process prior to actually getting down to the business of emigrating.

On one of these expeditions we spent a few nights in Vancouver and took advantage of the opportunity to attend a performance at the annual Shakespeare event – ‘Bard on the Beach‘ – which takes place in Vanier Park overlooking English Bay.

On a few select nights of the year the performances co-incide with the spectacular “Festival of Light” firework displays over English Bay – and one may so order things that the performance of the play (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in this instance) might be book-ended by a thoroughly decent repast and the joyous release of pyrotechnics.

This we duly did…

In the ten years since we moved to Canada, however, we had not – until this year – repeated any part of that experience.

The reasons for this come down largely to logistics and the expense of the trip. Vancouver is close enough to us as the raven flies (or as the orca swims) but when one factors in the show itself and eating and the time it takes for everything to happen one usually ends up booking a hotel room for a night or two and making a proper junket of it…

…which all costs money!

This year our attention was drawn to a production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona”  re-set in the 1980s. Reviews were good and – even though we could not make any of the firework evenings work – we decided that we wanted to see the show. The Girl being who she is she immediately applied herself – and came up with a cunning plan!

It worked like this:

We would drive to Swartz Bay (10 minutes) and park the car. We would then sail to Tsawwassen on the mainland (90 minutes) – as foot passengers on the ferry. Having arranged for an Uber to pick us up at the terminal we would be whisked to Vanier Park in time for a quick lunch at the festival site and a matinee of the show. Afterwards it was a simple matter of reversing the process (eating on the ferry home) and turning a major expedition into a mere day out.

Well – everything worked out exactly as planned and we found ourselves still pleasantly fresh upon our arrival home.

“But what of the show?” – I hear you cry…

The show was a lot of fun and, as I say, the reviews were positive. These extracts are from from Julie Hammonds (author of ‘Blue Mountain Rose‘):

  • The Play: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • Hot Quote: “They do not love that do not show their love.”  ~Julia
  • The Company: Bard on the Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • The Stage: An elaborate set in a walled circus tent, with a view of distant mountains and sky. The audience sits comfortably in padded chairs on risers, with excellent sightlines.
  • Memorable for: The ending, which I won’t spoil. I want to! But I won’t.
  • With apologies to all the excellent human actors, the Scene-stealer Award goes to Mason the Dog (playing Crab), who yawned during Launce’s first long speech and brought the house down. I suspect dogs have been stealing this show since the first performance.

With a set splashed in bubblegum colors, costumes straight from the Jane Fonda Workout, and visual references to movies like Say Anything (1989), Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach delivers a joyful, nontraditional take on The Two Gentlemen of Verona. A 1980s aesthetic infuses the production. Boom boxes pound out the Billboard Hot 100 circa 1985. The female leads, Julia and Sylvia, wear long, curly side ponytails that would make Madonna proud. The hilarious Scott Bellis plays Launce as Doc from Back to the Future.

The male leads, Proteus and Valentine, are teenagers on their first trip away from home. Love and loss, friendship and jealousy are in play, but the stakes seem low because unlike in other Shakespeare plays, these aren’t kings and queens. They’re just kids taking risks, disobeying their parents, and learning that we can hurt people we love with our words and actions.

Angie Rico of ‘Stir‘ adds this with regard to the play’s troublesome ending:

One of the queasier legacies of vintage teen movies is how often they brushed past consent for the sake of comedy. The original ending of the The Two Gentlemen of Verona carries a similar kind of whiplash: a near-assault, quickly forgiven, and everyone paired off like nothing happened. This production, without adding a single line to the ending, shifts the whole tone subtly but decisively, and to more satisfying effect. 

So – good show all round!

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The diplomat

October 4, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

“A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age”

Robert Frost

My last post (on the subject of the respective anniversaries of my first meeting with The Girl, of our subsequent wedding five years later and of the completion of the purchase of our splendid west coast home a decade ago) made no reference to yet another very important and particular celebration that occurs at this point in the year… that of The Girl’s birthday! The omission was because – as of the date of posting – the day concerned had not yet arrived.

Well – it has now done so and indeed the day has come and gone, with appropriate festivity and indulgence. As is usually the way with such events, however, a single day is nowhere near enough to squeeze in all of the necessary celebration. We are currently, therefore, traversing the well-deserved ‘Birthday Week’ with its full program of gatherings, visits and general good cheer.

Hoorah for the Birthday Girl, say I… and many, many happy returns!

Happy birthday!

 

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Like birthdays

September 29, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

“Anniversaries are like birthdays: occasions to celebrate and to think ahead, usually among friends with whom one shares not only the past but also the future”.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

Before I get stuck into the list of subjects that I have been ignoring for the past couple of months (as discussed in this last post) here is one more topic that I really should have touched upon before now.

For The Girl and I, 2025 is something of a year of significant anniversaries. When we moved to Canada back in 2015 we stayed initially (and for for several months!) with friends of ours here on the peninsula. This gave us the opportunity to search for a new home of our own – but also gave time for the shipping container loaded with all of our worldly possessions to traverse the globe before catching up with us here on the west coast.

During the summer of 2015 several months of feverish but abortive house hunting left us wondering if we were going to find ourselves with a container full of treasures but nowhere to put them. Several offers on properties fell through before we finally placed an offer on what is now our lovely home, following a single viewing on the very day that the house hit the market

A glance back at my calendar for the period reveals an event on the 29th September that is simply titled “House!“. Yes – this very day is tenth anniversary of our moving into our Canadian home.

Back at the end of July this year there was another significant celebration for The Girl and I – that of our fifteenth wedding anniversary. That event is irrevocably tied to yet another celebratory occasion – this year being the twentieth anniversary of our first having met.

I firmly believe that it is fitting to acknowledge our great good fortune by marking these milestones – even though it does also make one realise just how quickly the time is passing.

We are most grateful to have things to celebrate – and friends with whom to celebrate them – in the face of all of the troubles in this precarious world.

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Brian Wilson

June 13, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Brian Wilson
1942 – 2025
RIP
Takahiro Kyono from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Whenever I post one of these messages lamenting the loss of one of the great figures of my (or the adjacent) generation(s) I do so with sadness but also with gratitude for their influence as ‘hero’ figures throughout my formative years. My aim is to compose something that captures their personal importance to me.

Sometimes, however, no words can be found truly capable of expressing the extent of the loss.

To those of us who reached the age of majority in the late sixties and early seventies and who harboured ambitions to become songwriters, Brian Wilson was – and will always remain – a seminal figure. Should the gentle reader be unaware of his greatness all that he or she need do is to listen to the music.

I need say no more…

Rest in peace

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I’d be without you

If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I’d be without you

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I don’t have TB…

June 6, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

A month or so back – as chilly March gave way to marginally less intemperate April and the end of what may well prove to be my last term of teaching fast approached – I received an email from one of the international students on my course… asking for an extension.

This is by no means unusual; the rapid approach of final exams increases the pressure on individual students, some of whom start to regret not having managed their time more effectively earlier in the term. Desperation starts to creep in.

In this instance, however, the student was definitely unwell – and a simple request for extra time rapidly turned into something rather more extreme as he was admitted to the Royal Jubilee Hospital here in Victoria. A forwarded letter from the doctor there soon revealed that the student had somehow contracted TB and was unable either to sit the final exam or to finish the outstanding coursework.

Now, I had thought that TB was a thing of the past – and that may well be so in many parts of the world. I gather that children in BC are no longer these days inoculated against TB. I certainly was as a youngster back in the late 1960s. There was a BCG program delivered through schools in the UK and I was duly vaccinated when I turned thirteen years of age.

I was a little taken aback, therefore, to receive – a few weeks after the student’s original request – a call from the Royal Jubilee TB clinic. I (and, presumably, others from the student cohort concerned) were requested to attend the TB clinic twice in a three day period – to be checked for infection and to have applied the necessary measures to stamp out any possible outbreak.

Now, I didn’t expect to have been infected – even though my vaccination was a very long time ago. The likelihood of my having been exposed to a dangerous contact was also extremely slim, but I still had to make the trek into the city – to find a place to park (always non-trivial in hospital car parks) – to twiddle my thumbs nervously whilst awaiting my turn for the brief but effective consult… and then to do it all again two days later.

Anyway – the thing that I am sure the gentle reader really cares about…

…I don’t have TB!

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Shy…

April 21, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

…and retiring?

Those who frequent these pages – or indeed those who have not yet figured out how to unsubscribe from the email digest (just joking folks… I would much prefer that you didn’t do that!) – will know from this post from earlier this year that The Girl has finally (?) re-joined the ranks of the retired. Who can tell at this point if this will prove to be final outcome for her, or if she will find herself tempted back into some form of employment as time passes.

That leaves me; the one who originally expected to be fully retired upon arrival from the UK, but who has found a renewed sense of purpose in teaching part-time at a post-secondary college here in Victoria. Over the past seven or so years the Chair of my department has enquired of me on a number of occasions whether (or not) I was yet contemplating hanging up my boots. I have found myself, to this point, always just gazing just a little further into the future. The last time that she asked I told her that seventy five seemed like a good point at which to call it quits…

…and that might have remained my target – had not everything changed last year. Last year the federal government radically altered the regulations governing international students coming to Canada to study in Canadian colleges. This from the Government of Canada website:

“Ottawa, January 24, 2025—Over the last year, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has made important changes to better prepare international students for life in Canada, strengthen our programs and address the changing needs of our country.

In 2024, IRCC capped the number of study permit applications that could be accepted for processing to keep our program strong and help ease the strain on housing, health care and other services. This measure has reduced the number of international students coming to Canada by about 40% and also eased pressures in rental markets with high student populations.

Building on these changes, provincial and territorial allocations for 2025 have now been finalized. For 2025, IRCC plans to issue a total of 437,000 study permits, which represents a 10% decrease from the 2024 cap”.

These unexpected changes caused havoc in many of the educational establishments that had relied heavily on international students to balance their books. You will be unsurprised to hear that the college at which I have been teaching found itself in a perilous financial situation. I am not going to go into exact detail concerning the college’s contentious plan to re-organise and cost-cut its way out of trouble but – needless to say – those (such as I) who have been employed on term contracts found themselves first to be in line for cost-saving cuts.

The long and the short of all this is that – with the end of the term just finished – I may well have involuntarily been ‘retired’ again.

On the assumption that this will indeed be the case I now have to consider trying to find something else to do. At my age – and given my experience (or lack thereof) I suspect that may not be an easy thing to do.

At this point I know very little of how the future will unfold. This, however, I do know; as long as The Girl and I are together and able to support each other – everything will be well. I am adopting as my mantra this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt:

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn one’s back on life.”
Eleanor Roosevelt 

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Elbows up

March 23, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink


https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/I have long thought that…

– no matter how bad things might seem during this particularly dark period in time

– no matter how crazed this crowded little world may of late have become

-no matter how dangerously misguided so many of its self-proclaimed leaders are determined to prove themselves to be

…that – even so – the zeitgeist could hardly compare with the sense of dislocation, chaos and loss that my parents’ generation endured during and subsequent to the Second World War. Could one ever truly imagine living through those portentous days?

Until now!…

Now, I am no longer so sure. Now it really does feel sometimes as though we are living through the end of days.

Let us pause for breath. I feel sure that the gentle reader would thank me not at all for enumerating once again the long list of woes of the world with which we are currently inflicted. A great deal has been – and is  (thankfully) still being written, day upon day – that gives us at the very least a chance of understanding the substance of some of these grim matters. But let us look instead for whatever fresh green shoots may be discovered peeping through the fallen snows.

As the post WW2 order that has done a better than expected job of keeping us all safe (and I do mean ALL) is rapidly being demolished by vandals for whom history is based not upon fact but is rather up for negotiation, fabrication and grievance… there are perhaps a few small glimmers of light.

The massive and incomprehensible act of self-harm that was (and is) Brexit may just slowly begin to be revised. Were the UK to build a new relationship with a re-invigorated Europe that would be no bad thing. We really should try to remember just why the countries of Europe – following two devastating global wars – thought that closer ties were a good idea in the first place (and – no! it was just not to disadvantage our cousins to the south).

If the ties between some of the Commonwealth partners (the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for example) were to be strengthened – that would also be a win.

If more of us throughout the world were to follow the example of my adopted nation in standing up to the bullies – that would also raise the spirits. Feel free to take inspiration from our grassroots “Elbows Up, Canada” campaign, the which is fast spreading across the nation. For those readers outwith Canada here is the CBC’s explanation for the origin of the slogan:

When Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers, clad in a “Canada is not for sale” T-shirt, twice mouthed the words “elbows up” and tapped his own left elbow on Saturday Night Live last weekend, he was sending a not-so-subtle signal to his compatriots north of the border: Get ready for a fight.

Facing punishing tariffs on Canadian exports and repeated jibes from U.S. President Donald Trump about their country becoming the 51st state, Canadians were understandably riled. “Elbows up” became the rallying cry they’d been looking for.

In hockey-loving Canada, the phrase automatically evokes memories of one of the game’s greatest players, Saskatchewan-born Gordie Howe, who before becoming Mr. Hockey had earned another nickname: Mr. Elbows.

Unfailingly humble, generous and gentlemanly off the ice, Howe would wield his elbows like weapons when battling for the puck.

“If a guy slashed me, I’d grab his stick, pull him up alongside me and elbow him in the head,” Howe once said, describing his favourite method of retribution.

To those who feel inclined to ridicule such an emotional response I would just add another quote – from the Dalai Lama XIV:

“Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.”

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Roberta Flack

February 26, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Roberta Flack

1937 – 2025

RIP

<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Roberta_Flack43.JPG" target="_blank">"Roberta Flack43"</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Teddyyy" target="_blank"> Roland Godefroy</a>

Regulars on these pages will be familiar with the occasional but still all too frequent tombstones that mark the passing of those iconic figures who have been a part of all of our lives for so many years; whose passing leaves the world a smaller and sadder place.

It is not really for me to eulogise; there are many others far more qualified than I so to do and – save for that small number of heroes and heroines for whom I felt a particular closeness – I avoid so doing. It still feels important, however, to mark each occasion and to acknowledge that significant and far from inconsequential dimming of the light that each represents.

Were Roberta Flack renowned only for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” she would still be considered as one of the most significant soul/R & B voices of the past half century and more. Should the gentle reader inhabit any part of this beleaguered globe that is not familiar with the oeuvre of Ms. Flack I recommend this obituary in The Guardian as a reasonable place to bring your education up to date.

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Tough times

January 30, 2025 in Life as we know it | Permalink

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future”

Yogi Berra

At around this time last year I was following my usual custom of looking ahead to the coming year and outlining – in a post to this journal – the plans and projections that we were making therefore.

When I first sat down to write that post my mind was still clouded by the chaos that we, personally, had endured during 2023. At one point – towards the end of that year – we thought that 2024 would inevitably be a quiet year, with little travel or other like extravagance – and that a period of retrenchment was probably called for.

As it turned out – and as can be determined from this recent post (What just happened?) – the year was full of activity both on the travel front (our splendid trip to Scotland) – on the work front (particularly for The Girl at her First Nation) and with regard to our creative efforts (a new Anam Danu album and an unexpected pantomiming!). Perhaps the only area in which we felt that the year had not lived up to expectation was that we did not get to do as much socializing as we would have liked. The poor summer weather contributed considerably to this less than ideal state of affairs.

Though our 2024 turned out to be better than anticipated, for the rest of the world it could well be argued that the year took a dramatically retrograde turn. We are, naturally, not immune to these external pressures and it may prove – as a result – that 2025 turns out to be the quiet – heads-down – dig-in – sort of year that we might have expected last time around.

These things, however, we are anticipating:

  • A week in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, during the College’s reading week in February. Right now The Girl and I both need to feel some sun on our shoulders
  • Some overdue maintenance on our lovely home. We need a new hot water tank; the roof needs to be de-mossed; I am contemplating putting underfloor heating in my studio and we are long overdue in making a start on dealing with some of the clutter that seems to accumulate through modern living
  • We are hoping to host some visitors this year – which is always fun when it also turns into a holiday for us
  • The will be music-making – no doubt – and I may serve a turn on the executive of the Peninsula Players (who presented the pantomime with which I was lately involved
  • We will definitely aim to entertain in our garden just as much as the weather allows

 

On a side note – I observe that this blog has just passed 1200 posts – this being number 1201. At the same time the blog has also just reached its thirteenth anniversary. Happy Birthday!

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