Yesterday, I was listening to xfm. Dave Berry tries to badger his producer into staying home to watch the football instead of going to see Maximo Park at Brixton Academy and so, on the spur of the moment, I text the show volunteering to take his ticket if he changes his mind.
10 minutes later, Dave Berry calls me and asks if I want to go see Maximo Park. Blatantly I do and thusly I am the recipient of two tickets for last night’s gig.
Which, incidentally, I had been trying to buy last minute tickets to the day before and failing dismally.
Maximo Park were AWESOME. More than awesome in fact. They were both AWESOME and WICKED.
On Sunday I went to see “The Life of David Lloyd George“. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from what is basically a silent documentary – or how that whole idea works. It was *amazing*. The music was awe-inspiring – the guy playing was the composer and this film is 3 hours long so he was playing non-stop (well, apart from the interval!) the whole time. The music was a great accompaniment to the film and the film is structured very well – you get a wonderful introduction to how Lloyd George grew up and got to be a MP first of all and then the second part of the film focusses more on his action through the First World War. If you get a chance to see this, I heartily recommend it.
Dan Snow gave a sort of introduction to the film. I say “sort of” because he got stuck in traffic and arrived late to the screening so the introduction got moved to the interval. As a however-many-great grandson of Lloyd George he has quite a different perspective on the man – more of the stories he got told about him from his grandma rather than the war leader, I guess. He was right though about there only being room in the British conciousness for one great war leader at a time – and for us now, it’s Churchill who has eclipsed Lloyd George and all those who came before. I’m kind of glad though that there hasn’t been a war that has affected me that personally on such a scale as the world wars effected those who lived when Churchill and Lloyd George were in power.
Two days ago, I received a text message from my father. It was a forwarded message that he had received from his friend Mads, a Norwegian doctor currently in Gaza. The message made a very strong impression on me, and after pondering on it a few days I feel I have to share it with as many people as possible. The text message is obviously in Norwegian, but I’ve translated it for you.
“They bombed the central vegetable market in Gaza city two hours ago. 80 injured. 20 killed, everything is coming to Shifa. Hades! We are up to our knees in death. Blood and amputated parts. A lot of children. A pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything this horrible in my life. We are now hearing tanks. Spread the message, forward the message, shout it out. DO SOMETHING! DO MORE! We’re living on the pages of history right now.
Mads G. 3.1.09 13:50 Gaza, Palestine”
I hope you understand why I can not sit here with these messages from my father’s friend and not show everyone. I’m safe and comfortable in my own home, and it’s so easy to close your eyes and ears to what is going on out there. Don’t close your eyes. Read. Watch. Listen. And most importantly – talk about what’s happening. Don’t let it be ignored.
Today I went to the matinee performance of Oedipus at the National Theatre starring Ralph Fiennes. Obviously, being entirely about the whole Oedipus Greek myth, it’s fairly grim and very heavy going.
On the other hand, it’s also really enjoyable watching the whole unfolding of the reason that Thebes is cursed and Oedipus’ journey towards discovering the truth about his origins and what all of that subsequently means. And of course, wrapping your head around the idea that his children’s mother is also their grandmother and that he is his own children’s brother…
Well. It makes for imagining an interesting looking family tree.
Ralph Fiennes was really good – the character of Oedipus seems to be a very… hard-going role to play and he really carried it off, especially the more horrified and disgusted with himself Oedipus became. Clare Higgins as Jocasta was actually made of awesome. Her distress at the memory of having her baby son taken away from her was incredible to watch and then later, her desire to deny what she didn’t want to believe was true was very believable. The chorus were really good too – their diction was spot on and I could hear every word that was being sung – nothing was lost and the effect of the discord later on really reflected the whole downturn of events well.
Filed under:the hate list — posted by rachel on January 1, 2009 @ 11:37 am
A new addition to the hate list. Zenith Windows are officially rubbish. They were rubbish when they originally fitted our front door, messing us around no end when we wanted to know about new handles for our windows (which they fit for us like a billion years ago) and now they are even more rubbish.
When my dad passed away, the police had to break into the house to find him so they had to go through the front door. Fair enough. It’s the only way in.
So the door is irreparably damaged and will need replacing. That was nearly two months ago now and Zenith Windows said that we would have a new door after 4 – 5 weeks.
Obviously, that was a blatent lie. We still don’t have a working front door. You would think, that at least they could contact us to say “hey, sorry we don’t have it yet” or something – my mum has been calling pretty much every week only to hear “Oh. Yeah. We’re waiting for the door to arrive.”
I don’t get it. We’ve paid for half of it already. The man came to measure the door and even with the whole Christmas season, it shouldn’t take this long.
This is an example of appalling service. You might think that they would hurry things up a little for a recently bereaved family or at least, not offer such a poor service that I’m now adding them to the hate list and will be dissing them to everyone I ever meet who I happen to talk about double glazing with.
Admittedly, double glazing isn’t exactly a burning topic of conversation, but it is the kind of thing that you listen to someone else’s experience of when you are considering it.
So, in summary, Zenith Windows are lame, rubbish etc. and you shouldn’t use them.
Filed under:life and stuff — posted by rachel on November 20, 2008 @ 10:36 am
Anthony Paul Peter Cavalier
29th March 1951 – 19th November 2008
They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor time condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them.
Please keep my mum and I in your prayers and if you want to do more, please consider making a donation to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. My dad was a member of the British Legion and was very much in support of the work they do for serving members of the armed forces, ex-servicemen and women and their families. Funeral Arrangements
Filed under:peace — posted by rachel on September 21, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.
— Hafsat Abiola
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
A few years ago, I was still at secondary school at the time, I was watching tv late one night.
It’s something I used to do a lot before I went to university – stay up till crazy o’clock and still go to school the next day, fresh as a daisy.
I was channel hopping, because back then we had dial-up internet that was charged per minute and I couldn’t go on for too long at a time. Luckily for me, it was back in the days of usenet and I could download, go offline, respond to a bunch of posts, go online and send them all.
But I was channel hopping and I caught the end of a documentary called “Peace One Day” on BBC2. I must have only seen about half of it, but the whole idea – of a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, a day of peace – really grabbed me and I never forgot seeing it. A day of peace where humanitarian organisations could dish out aid, immunise people, give medical help…do things that normally could not be done because of conflict.
It’s a great idea.
But it shouldn’t just be an idea.
Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.
— Buddha
An idea cannot really be great unless someone acts to try and put that idea into practice.
Jeremy Gilley, the founder of Peace One Day, decided to do something about it back in 1998. And he did do something. The UN recognised a fixed global day of peace – to be on 21st September – on 7th September 2001.
That was still not enough.
Peace, to have meaning for many who have only known suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health and education, as well as freedom and human dignity.
— Ralph Johnson Bunche
Since then he and the Peace One Day organisation have been working to raise awareness of Peace Day. Slowly, as more and more people hear about this, things are being done.
The opportunities made by a day of ceasefire are being grabbed hold of. Last year, on this day, there was a day of ceasefire in Afghanistan. Children were given polio vaccinations. People had a break from conflict.
Just one day, but if we can manage one day, then managing another day is so much easier. If we can do it once, we can do it again. And again. And again. Until every day is a day of peace.
Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.
— The Dalai Lama
Do something today for peace. It could be opening a door for someone. Letting another car turn. Helping someone across the road. Smiling at someone. Giving a stranger your last Rolo. It doesn’t need to be big or world-changing.
Just one small action to bring a bit of peace to your immediate vicinity. It’s not hard. One thing.
But peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.
I think this is awesome. So many old people have problems that could just be solved by them living with family or at least not living on their own – like for the most part being able to look after themselves, but just getting anxious because they live alone.
So. Today is polling day. I will, of course, be voting.
The only problem is that the candidates that I get to pick from for my ward all kind of SUCK.
Aldenham West
Caroline Boydell – Green
Sandra Huff – Labour
Simon Patnick – Conservative
Out of these three, only Simon Patnick has bothered to get a leaflet dropped through my letter box and he does seem to have made some comment to the Jewish Cronicle. Caroline Boydell doesn’t seem to exist on the internet other than as a “Representatives of the Green Party were not immediately available for comment.” note on the Borehamwood Times website. Sandra Huff, I suspect, does things in Aldenham, but again, I can’t seem to find any kind of comment from her anywhere.
You see my dilemma. Vote for a candidate who I have heard from, but whose policies I don’t really agree with and whose leaflet was full of boring personal details that I just don’t care about. Or vote for someone I know nothing about.
