Had such a great time yesterday. M took Finn out in the morning - Ned was engaged with music etc. and I did some gardening - the sun shone. At 1 ish Anna G came over and we decided we would go to the Grange - but have lunch first - so we had a bottle of wine and some stuff at Caboose - a newish cafe in the town - and had great crack. So why spoil it with a trip to the Grange - which we'd both been to before? We left Caboose, loud surfaces meant I couldn't hear so well - and she was talking in a low voice because the waitress is one of her neighbours (the joys of small town life). So we went to another bar and had another bottle and some prawns... Then I went home to make pizza for the masses. Knowing I would "have drink taken" I prepared the dough in advance - so just a matter of calling M to put the oven on and a wander up the hill...
Made pizza, Rafael was there - although he had just eaten (he keeps odd hours at the weekend) and Ned brought Dudge (spelling unsure?) back with him - so lots of pizzas (and a couple of glasses of wine), and nothing left over for sourdough (however, the sourdough mix is going well at present - keeping up nicely!). Then Mark and I leaped up and went to collect Anna - we had decided to go to see an "Irish" band called The Trotwoods at St. Ethelbert's Church Hall (does that sound utterly naff?) - £3 - a bargain - and the music was tremendous - it was proper Irish music, 2 accordians, guitar, harp, banjo, 2 violins, bass and a bit of singing - a Frenchman, his wife, 2 teenage children and an older couple - a family - possibly an Irish grandfather? Most of the music was Irish - with a couple of deviations into Americana (Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour... Shenandoah) - and some great songs. It totally avoided the "sentimental repertoire" that I had feared - it was played with verve and a sense of fun and my feet tapped furiously, I even spontaneously began to hand clap - and I joined in the standing ovation.
I had wanted to go to the 45 RPM night at the Farmhouse in Canterbury - but Mark had shown little inclination - it started at 10. But the urge to dance had been v. strong during the Trotwood's playing... so I asked Anna whether she would like to go. She was up for it, so I told M she and I would go. He then insisted on driving us there. He had his grimmest, grumpiest expression and had decided in his wisdom that I had drunk too much.. He was tired and in my experience does not drive well when tired. I told him as we went through St. Laurence that he should not take us - so he got out and walked home.
We then drove to Cants, found the pub eventually (I remembered the car park it was near!) and we went in. It's an extraordinary place - furnished in vintage style - a Tretchicoff painting on the wall, old radios, G Plan beech tables and chairs... but the music was so loud that we couldn't talk to each other and furthermore, instead of being wonderful old R&B, Northern Soul, Afrobeat mix that they promised it was stuff way too obscure for me - and none of it made me want to dance (not that I would have dared to!). We stayed 40 minutes, nothing improved so we went. Such a disappointment - had been longing to go, but the music really underwhelming. I thought it was going to be like the R&B thing I used to go to in Islington.
On the way home Anna (who is 10 years younger than me) said "I love the way I always feel younger when I'm with you." I feel exactly the same - ludicrously young. Actually, what I think it is, is that when we are together we always have fun - and that makes us both feel young... Not in an undignified way - there were plenty of people our sort of age there, as well as a handful of young hipsters... But we both have husbands who are a bit less interested in "fun" than we are (God knows, I have weeks of hermiting and generally doing my impression of Simon Stylites) and so when we are together we refresh each other. I know other friends who do this, but are less available - actually, sadly Anna hasn't been available for a while since she's been in London...but her studio there has given her a lot of freedom and happiness, I wish I could do something similar.... but the children...Efforts to teach them to feed themselves are proceeding slowly... must get back on track! Actually, if I had £600 a month to rent a studio with I'd do better to spend it on a cleaner and some trips to France.
Talking of young hipsters, Ned has done a great montage (specially recommended to fans of the Ramones) of friends and family. I toyed with putting up a link, but as it shows unattractive pix of me eating (on a cross-channel ferry), I haven't. I liked seeing the photos of Etaples - I wish we could go to France again - or anywhere. Coells is going to Crete for a week - a mere £300 - but obviously for 4 of us that would be £1200 and we would have to eat and live while we were there. I know that this phase will soon come to an end - I just need to learn patience (It's easier to be patient with people than with situations). I'm wondering now if setting up a business in 2010 was really a good idea or just a complete waste of time? Did it delay my writing efforts, or actually help firm up my resolve, by making me feel I'd tried "everything" and nothing was working.
Made pizza, Rafael was there - although he had just eaten (he keeps odd hours at the weekend) and Ned brought Dudge (spelling unsure?) back with him - so lots of pizzas (and a couple of glasses of wine), and nothing left over for sourdough (however, the sourdough mix is going well at present - keeping up nicely!). Then Mark and I leaped up and went to collect Anna - we had decided to go to see an "Irish" band called The Trotwoods at St. Ethelbert's Church Hall (does that sound utterly naff?) - £3 - a bargain - and the music was tremendous - it was proper Irish music, 2 accordians, guitar, harp, banjo, 2 violins, bass and a bit of singing - a Frenchman, his wife, 2 teenage children and an older couple - a family - possibly an Irish grandfather? Most of the music was Irish - with a couple of deviations into Americana (Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour... Shenandoah) - and some great songs. It totally avoided the "sentimental repertoire" that I had feared - it was played with verve and a sense of fun and my feet tapped furiously, I even spontaneously began to hand clap - and I joined in the standing ovation.
I had wanted to go to the 45 RPM night at the Farmhouse in Canterbury - but Mark had shown little inclination - it started at 10. But the urge to dance had been v. strong during the Trotwood's playing... so I asked Anna whether she would like to go. She was up for it, so I told M she and I would go. He then insisted on driving us there. He had his grimmest, grumpiest expression and had decided in his wisdom that I had drunk too much.. He was tired and in my experience does not drive well when tired. I told him as we went through St. Laurence that he should not take us - so he got out and walked home.
We then drove to Cants, found the pub eventually (I remembered the car park it was near!) and we went in. It's an extraordinary place - furnished in vintage style - a Tretchicoff painting on the wall, old radios, G Plan beech tables and chairs... but the music was so loud that we couldn't talk to each other and furthermore, instead of being wonderful old R&B, Northern Soul, Afrobeat mix that they promised it was stuff way too obscure for me - and none of it made me want to dance (not that I would have dared to!). We stayed 40 minutes, nothing improved so we went. Such a disappointment - had been longing to go, but the music really underwhelming. I thought it was going to be like the R&B thing I used to go to in Islington.
On the way home Anna (who is 10 years younger than me) said "I love the way I always feel younger when I'm with you." I feel exactly the same - ludicrously young. Actually, what I think it is, is that when we are together we always have fun - and that makes us both feel young... Not in an undignified way - there were plenty of people our sort of age there, as well as a handful of young hipsters... But we both have husbands who are a bit less interested in "fun" than we are (God knows, I have weeks of hermiting and generally doing my impression of Simon Stylites) and so when we are together we refresh each other. I know other friends who do this, but are less available - actually, sadly Anna hasn't been available for a while since she's been in London...but her studio there has given her a lot of freedom and happiness, I wish I could do something similar.... but the children...Efforts to teach them to feed themselves are proceeding slowly... must get back on track! Actually, if I had £600 a month to rent a studio with I'd do better to spend it on a cleaner and some trips to France.
Talking of young hipsters, Ned has done a great montage (specially recommended to fans of the Ramones) of friends and family. I toyed with putting up a link, but as it shows unattractive pix of me eating (on a cross-channel ferry), I haven't. I liked seeing the photos of Etaples - I wish we could go to France again - or anywhere. Coells is going to Crete for a week - a mere £300 - but obviously for 4 of us that would be £1200 and we would have to eat and live while we were there. I know that this phase will soon come to an end - I just need to learn patience (It's easier to be patient with people than with situations). I'm wondering now if setting up a business in 2010 was really a good idea or just a complete waste of time? Did it delay my writing efforts, or actually help firm up my resolve, by making me feel I'd tried "everything" and nothing was working.
No comments:
Post a Comment