The Support Act

It's been a couple of months since I went to see a band, and wasn't really expecting to go out this Friday night, but Moonface's ex-colleague Pete had told her that Emmy the Great was worth seeing, so we checked her music on the interweb and decided to take a chance. Since I've spent much of the last few days stuck in a hotel in Berlin I was pleased to have the excuse for a quick walk down to the Fleece.

Emmy's songs were fine, her voice tuneful and distinctive, what we could hear of it; but the production was lusy and the music just blurred into mush. When songs are poetry, the voice needs to stznd out clear, but this was just not managed so that all we heard was the standard indy guitar music. Not great.

But the support band, the Ex-Lovers, had a different ethos and a more cohesive sound so that they were just fun: loud and driving and danceable, with much of the audience jiggling around.
It just goes to reiterate the principle that the support bands are worth listening too, as they so often outshine the main act of any evening. It was true of the Concretes, it was true of Amy Lavere, it will be true many times in the future.


Overall, I'd only give the evening a mark of 60%.



:0/

Cooking Carrots

I like eating carrots, as they're a good staple vegetable: sweet and tasty, colourful, filling and versatile. It's a shame that Moonface can't grow them on her allotment as the soil is too clayey.

But carrots' flavour can be really affected by the method of cooking. For many, many years I boiled them as most people do, with just a little water. Then, we discovered that microwaving kept the flavour better, but tended to result in the carrots losing moisture and become a little wrinkled and leathery. It's a faster method of cooking than boiling, for small quantities.

Recently, we taken to using a combination method which seems to be as fast as a microwave, with all of the flavour, but without a risk of them drying out and getting tough and wrinkled. So, we heat a little oil in a saucepan and heat the carrots by frying for a couple of minutes or so. Then, as the oil turns orange from the leached vitamins, add just a splash of boiling water and put a lid tightly over the pan so that the carrots steam for 3-5 minutes, depending upon how finely they are sliced or chopped. When the water is boiled away, they are ready to serve. This works especially well with a combination of leeks and carrots. The only disadvantage is that the saucepan is now permanently discoloured brown, but as the one which is generally used for this task is thrity years old, it doesn't really matter.


:0)

The Constant Gardener

My holiday reading in Morocco was John le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", the novel about malfeasance in clinical and field trails of pharmaceuticals. It's difficult to believe that the twisting of science which he reports upon, really happens, especially because I have been involved in pharma discovery for so many years. Does it really? I suppose it might, although all the scientists I have know have been upright and honest people, who like to feel that they are working for the benefit of society as well as their company and their own pockets. But I suppose that much of that end of the business is run by lawyers and marketing people and accountants, whose very raisons d'etre are the twisting of regulations and truth to their own purposes.

All in all, it was a gripping yet depressing read.

Le Carre is a complex writer, with a precise and complicated prose style and an eye for many little details which enliven the readers' visions of people and location. As a middle-aged man, I find his sympathy for men like me very touching; his themes of faith and treason, hope and betrayal run through every book which I have read. In this case, there is an overarching betrayal of the common man by the rich, uncaring and powerful which is contrasted by the faith and steadfastness of a single man. He's good at late-flowering love, or perhaps it's just that romances between people of different ages is a theme which attracts him. And there is always that thread of betrayal and loss.

**********************

It's been eighteen months since I read another Le Carre. In that case it was "Little Drummer Girl", which is a more complicated story but with the same themes of love and loss, faith and betrayal. There, the setting was the terrorism of the Arab-Israeli war transposed to Europe in the 1970's. I had read it first in the early 80's, and upon re-reading, it appeared that nothing in the political situation had changed. I remember discussing it with Kaa whilst we were sitting in a park, where we were both decrying the lack of progress in the Middle East and trying to make sense of the book's complex rendering of right and wrong.

It's time to try the Naive & Sentimental Lover, next.

:o/

Ryanair is crap!

The bastards stranded us.
No warning, no help, no information. Just 350 people left in Morocco, with no available seats until March 3rd.

:o(

Castlerigg

Although the real purpose of the weekend in Keswick last month was to meet the extended Moses family, which was a fantastic chance for reminiscing and grounding for me but somewhat overwhelming for Moonface; we also managed a decent walk.

At least some of us did, there were about a dozen of us who headed up from Keswick, towards Skiddaw up the Glenderterra mine track between Lonscale Fell and Blencathra, then back via the Castlerigg Circle. It's years since we saw it, the last time was possibly when Moonface & I had our summer together collecting chironomids, in the late 70's. It seems smaller now than it did then, and tamer. There's a car park nearby, and instead of being on our own there were other visitors too. But the setting is still superb, with views of the snowy hills not far away.

The whole walk was pretty good, with lots of chilly sunshine in spite of our walking right up to the snowline. And the most surprising thing was the way that the hilltops nearby looked so like chocolate cakes, with their dark brown tops where the heather, grass and bracken had died back, and a frosting of snow which petered away to very sugary spots lower down the slopes.


:o)

Snow sculpture

I wish I had the talent to sculp this one, a copy of Rodin's "Thinker".

Perhaps it should be retitled "The Drinker"



This one is more basic, but at least the girls think that it's fun!



The Downs were wonderful in white, as busy as I've seen them, good for scuffing along and rejoicing in the sunshine. Moonface & I went for a good long walk in the snow with Mary & Simon, ending at the new China exhibition at the museum.


:o)

More Snow Sculpture

What can you say?
Apart from "Gosh!"


:o)

Short Days

Today was short, but very sweet. Moonface and I haven't had a quiet weekend for a while, and today we managed at least half of one.

We woke late, still full after Friday night's meal out. (The Glass Boat, again).
I'd been due to go out for a bike ride with a couple of mates, but I meanly put them off and slumped back under the covers again.
We pottered around, a bit of clearing, a bit of shopping on the Gloucester Road for me; as I was later than normal, I met more people & stopped to chat more, so it all took a little longer than normal. I've been meaning to buy a new pair of smart work shoes for a while, but the shops I had looked at, in the clothes-shopping areas of town, had nothing which appealed to me. Then, when idly browsing for books in a charity shop, I saw a pair of almost new brogues in my size, hardly worn. So I tried them, bought them, and saved myself the bother of going to Bath one day soon.

More pottering.
In the afternoon I took the bike down to the centre, looking for a workshop stand for tinkering with bikes, then popped into the library for books on travel. All very domestic, all very small scale, all very reassuring.

And nothing in the evening, either.


:o)