APRIL RISING
If ever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now…
Laurie Lee: ‘April Rise’
One of the blessings of April is the prevailing upward thrust of the natural world. Spring is here! the buds on the magnolia announce. Welcome the sun! the blackbird trills. Everywhere you look there are signs of new life...
WITHOUT YOU
I walk. Past the wisteria which spills down the wall above the shop, past the first of the magnolias, still flowering, fallen petals curled like tears on the soil. Past drifts of bluebells, purple orbs that I can’t name, and now a flush of fringe cups washed out cream against the blaze of Ajuga reptans. It used to make you laugh, that name. It begs to be spoken in a Glaswegian accent, you’d say and you’d try, rolling the rrs on your tongue. Never very convincing.
Walking. I follow the gravel path between the bamboos, knocking into the nearest as I hurry by. Their new leaves are translucent against the spring sun. I pass the bench where we sat when the days were too hot for you, then loop back along the perimeter and across the grass to the lake. Here is the cherry, its blossom over now. Three mallards swim in a line along the far bank. Lily pads are spread like counters over the water and the first yellow-tipped fingers of Golden club poke up into the light. I want to linger but I daren’t stop...
[from Writing the Garden: April's vignette and short story]
Writing the Garden: no publisher for the book yet. But thanks to Litro online for publishing 'Inside' in their Story Sunday slot, and to Anglia Ruskin for including 'Heartsease' and 'Classical Studies' in their new creative writing anthology Crisp.
PIVOTAL: CAMBRIDGE FESTIVAL OF CHANGE
In November I joined a group of musicians, writers and story-tellers at the Museum of Technology
for the Pivotal Festival of Change, where I read a short extract from the new novel, The Station Master
MELBOURN VILLAGE COMMUNITY HUB
As the days lengthen and we settle into spring, I’m pleased to be invited to take part in Melbourn’s Bloomsday Festival in June. Preparations for this year’s five-day Festival are well underway, with plans for an art exhibition, film and music, readings and workshops and of course the main event on Bloomsday itself, Friday 16th June, when Melbourn will again join worldwide celebrations of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, set on 16th June 1904. Readers in period costume will read and re-enact key scenes from the novel in various locations in the village.
The Bloomsday Festival will be my second opportunity this year to become involved in Melbourn’s cultural community. My first outing of 2017, on January 6th or Twelfth Night, took me along the line from Cambridge for the Feast of the Epiphany, which is is marked in various ways around the world. In southern Bulgaria, for instance, drums and bagpipes play as a priest throws a wooden cross into the Tundzha River and young men jump into the freezing water and race to retrieve it. In Ireland, this is ‘Little Christmas’ or ‘Women’s Christmas’ (Irish: Nollaig na mBan), traditionally a day for women to rest after all the festivities' preparations and to gather for a special meal (I wonder who caters for that?) The main business of our day, a prelude to the summer's Bloomsday, was to honour writer James Joyce and to explore his short story ‘The Dead’, set in Dublin on 6th January. The day included a reading of the story by Melbourn's short story reading group and friends, a chaired discussion and a showing of John Huston's 1987 film adaptation of the story.
The Bloomsday Festival will be my second opportunity this year to become involved in Melbourn’s cultural community. My first outing of 2017, on January 6th or Twelfth Night, took me along the line from Cambridge for the Feast of the Epiphany, which is is marked in various ways around the world. In southern Bulgaria, for instance, drums and bagpipes play as a priest throws a wooden cross into the Tundzha River and young men jump into the freezing water and race to retrieve it. In Ireland, this is ‘Little Christmas’ or ‘Women’s Christmas’ (Irish: Nollaig na mBan), traditionally a day for women to rest after all the festivities' preparations and to gather for a special meal (I wonder who caters for that?) The main business of our day, a prelude to the summer's Bloomsday, was to honour writer James Joyce and to explore his short story ‘The Dead’, set in Dublin on 6th January. The day included a reading of the story by Melbourn's short story reading group and friends, a chaired discussion and a showing of John Huston's 1987 film adaptation of the story.
DANCE AND PARKINSON'S
The English National Ballet/Dance for Parkinson's classes continue in Ipswich. I get there when I can. It's a wonderful scheme and a warm and welcoming group that I'm proud to be even an occasional part of - for a taste of what's on offer try these short videos:
https://vimeo.com/192162744 https://vimeo.com/194509792 https://vimeo.com/193094242
I'm excited to hear rumours that next term's programme may be based on the Company's production of Romeo & Juliet...
Nearer home, there are two new ventures in Dance for Parkinson's: a series of dance exercise classes under the ENGAGE banner is well underway at the Frank Lee Centre at Addenbrookes and Jan Green is also teaching dance for people with Parkinson's in Harston.
Meanwhile I continue my active and passionate interest in Argentine tango. As for the book...
Argentine tango & Parkinson's: the View from the Dance Floor
Coming soon? Still hoping...
[Publishers: remember the cabaceo - a glance of the eye, a nod of the head is all it takes...]
DANCE AND PARKINSON'S
The English National Ballet/Dance for Parkinson's classes continue in Ipswich. I get there when I can. It's a wonderful scheme and a warm and welcoming group that I'm proud to be even an occasional part of - for a taste of what's on offer try these short videos:
https://vimeo.com/192162744 https://vimeo.com/194509792 https://vimeo.com/193094242
I'm excited to hear rumours that next term's programme may be based on the Company's production of Romeo & Juliet...
Nearer home, there are two new ventures in Dance for Parkinson's: a series of dance exercise classes under the ENGAGE banner is well underway at the Frank Lee Centre at Addenbrookes and Jan Green is also teaching dance for people with Parkinson's in Harston.
Meanwhile I continue my active and passionate interest in Argentine tango. As for the book...
Argentine tango & Parkinson's: the View from the Dance Floor
Coming soon? Still hoping...
[Publishers: remember the cabaceo - a glance of the eye, a nod of the head is all it takes...]
THE STATION MASTER: THE NOVEL
Photo: Veselin Malinov
Almost a year since last May's visit to Bulgaria. We managed to fit in a brief visit to Elhovo, one of the main settings for the novel. It’s bigger than I expected, a sprawl of a place whose centre is difficult to locate. It’s also the first place where we were aware of foreign (that is, British) incursions: a group at the next table loudly English, their bare limbs reddened by the sun, and down the road a bar which advertises English food. The railway proved more elusive: try asking for a disused station when you don’t know the language – No, no trains now. But the waiter in the café eventually pointed vaguely down the road opposite and he was right. Six years since Veselin’s pictures were taken, the buildings have fallen further into disrepair. The weeds have grown, hiding the tracks almost completely in places, but it’s all still there. I feel that tremor of recognition which has been missing as we’ve walked through the town.
Back in the UK, I work on the novel, taking myself off to Norfolk for the summer where I complete the first draft. I stay in touch with the Cambridge Refugee Support networks and spend another weekend helping sort donations in the Calais warehouse for refugees living in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk. During the coming months I edit and revise, taking on board suggestions from three writer friends. But really at this point I'm stuck: how finished is the book, really? Is it good enough to send out? What I need is a full manuscript appraisal from an expert...
STOP PRESS!
THE STATION MASTER WINS ADVENTURES IN FICTION'S SPOTLIGHT COMPETITION FOR DEBUT NOVELISTS http://adventuresinfiction.co.uk/spotlight-first-novel-competition/
The prize? a full manuscript appraisal - perfect timing! Watch this space...
Back in the UK, I work on the novel, taking myself off to Norfolk for the summer where I complete the first draft. I stay in touch with the Cambridge Refugee Support networks and spend another weekend helping sort donations in the Calais warehouse for refugees living in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk. During the coming months I edit and revise, taking on board suggestions from three writer friends. But really at this point I'm stuck: how finished is the book, really? Is it good enough to send out? What I need is a full manuscript appraisal from an expert...
STOP PRESS!
THE STATION MASTER WINS ADVENTURES IN FICTION'S SPOTLIGHT COMPETITION FOR DEBUT NOVELISTS http://adventuresinfiction.co.uk/spotlight-first-novel-competition/
The prize? a full manuscript appraisal - perfect timing! Watch this space...
