Archive for May, 2005

I spent the day with a new friend Jessica. She was one of the first people I met as she made a point of introducing herself to me. She is the head cook at the canteen at my school and her older two boys attend the school. Jessica was particularly keen to get to know me as she lived in South Australia for some time, being the child of some ‘Ten Pound Poms’! I now tutor her youngest son on Monday nights, and usually stay for one of Jessica’s excellent meals. She and her boys are becoming wonderful friends.

Jessica and I decided to visit the Tower of London – one of those places that just has to be done! It was an interested day, not least of which because I got to see a side of Henry VIII that hadn’t really occurred to me before. One of the biggest features of the Tower is the display of armour and weaponry, much of it from Henry VIII’s collection. It got to the point where you could pick what had belonged to his army because it was clearly the biggest or the most powerful. I began to get quite a picture of his power as a ruler, and along with it, his arrogance. His armour confirmed this, rather hilariously. I believe he was in his forties when it was made for him, and lets face it, he was not a delicate fragile man! He was rather generously proportioned. The funniest thing was… how can I put this delicately? He had a somewhat optimistic view of the protection required for his manhood! Jessica and I took one look and burst into a fit of giggles (embarrassingly, no one else was laughing…). We had just been talking quite seriously about what an arrogant self-important man he was, and this seemed to top our verdict off admirably!

From there we did the girly thing and had a peek at the crown jewels. Frankly they were a little gaudy for my taste… Okay, I admit I’m just jealous I will never have rocks like that!

One of the most interesting spots was the tower where prisoners were kept. They have preserved the graffiti carved into the walls by prisoners with clearly too much time on their hands and not a lot of entertainment options. Some of it was exquisite and well worth spending time examining closely.

All in all the Tower of London is expensive, but well worth taking a look at. We really did enjoy our day.

In the interests of having as many ‘cultural’ experiences as possible, I decided, with my friend Paula and her daughter Bethany, to spend Saturday at Crufts! These things have to be done, you know, and being a dog lover (specifically a Nancy-dog lover – I miss my poochy!) I thought it would be fun!

Crufts is held at the NEC at Birmingham, which is about a 2-hour drive from Basildon. We left early Saturday morning, and arrived at about 10am. The NEC is huge! There’s just nothing like it in Australia – it seems to go on forever! The dog show and all its accompanying paraphernalia fills two large exhibition halls. Heats for each class are carried out at various locations throughout the hall, and the main ring is reserved for things like finals and working dog trials that require a quieter space. We spent some time watching the working dogs; sheepdog trials at the Lucindale Field Days have nothing on this! In the spaces not filled with dog showing, there is stall upon stall of every possible dog-related merchandise imaginable. If you can’t buy it at Crufts, I don’t think they sell it! I admit I succumbed and bought some new ruggies and a little coat for Nancy…

My favourite part of the show was the display of all the different breeds. Every breed on show had a stall with breeding and temperament information, and you got the chance to meet the doggies and give them a cuddle. I went on a search for the Irish Wolf Hounds and found I loved them as much as I had hoped. Unfortunately I don’t think I will ever own a house and yard big enough to accommodate them – they are the size of a small pony! I also went looking for the various breeds that make up my little mongrel darling, and found the Lancashire Terrier to be the closest in many ways. Heaven knows where she got that from!

We stayed to watch the finals of one of the sections – a very interesting process. All in all it was a genuinely entertaining day!

On the last day of my holiday I went into Liverpool for the day. I had a ticket booked for a performance of Dr Faustus at the Liverpool Playhouse. I confess my main reason for attending the performance is that the star of performance, Jamie Bamber (who played Mephistopheles) is on my list of Obscure British Actors I Fancy! Some of you may know him as Kennedy from the Hornblower series (starring Ioan Gruffud, also on the OBAIF list…) but most would now know him from his role as Apollo in the new series of Battlestar Galactica. The girls on the Jamie Bamber Forum (www.jamiebamber.co.uk/jbforum) know him as their little Crumpet… but that’s another story entirely…

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. I had never seen a performance of Dr Faustus before, and this was an impressive one (in my limited experience). The setting was a modern one, lots of corduroy and woollen pullovers. Jamie Bamber’s Mephistopheles was terrifying and vulnerable all at once, making you unable to decide whether he horrified you, or if you wouldn’t mind taking him home for a hot dinner and a comforting cuddle (are you meant to feel this way about Mephistopheles?). It was quite an athletic performance too, with lots of jumping about on tables.

The other notable performance for me was that of Michael Brown, who played the female roles, among others. While he is quite a handsome young bloke, he made quite an alarmingly beautiful Helen of Troy! Hmmm… very pretty indeed!

The finale of the performance was spectacular, with real flames used to during the burning of the library – quite dramatic, especially since I was in the front row, and could feel the heat! All in all, a satisfying introduction to Marlow for me!