A week later I went to Grizdale Forest with Sharon who had come up from Manchester to go for a walk. The weather looked awful so we avoided the hill tops and were lucky enough to get some snow for our walk, though towards the end it turned to sleet then cold rain. As you get older climbing obstacles such as styles gets more difficult and they suddenly become much more of a challenge than they were just weeks ago.
I have suddenly got very old like the victim of a witch's curse. Though this is a curse that cannot be lifted. I hid for a couple of days and was then given a curry in Liverpool and the experience of virtual reality. a present from Kit. I found VR a great improvement on R. I was able to hop around the world, hover between the Earth and the Moon, stand on the deck of a sunken galleon, tickle jellyfish and sea anemones and was almost knocked off my feet when a passing whale flicked its tale. I walked out on a plant fixed outside a room on the top of a high building. Actually I didn't walk out on to the plank. I was terrified and tried to clutch the virtual door frame, which gave me very little support. A week later I went to Grizdale Forest with Sharon who had come up from Manchester to go for a walk. The weather looked awful so we avoided the hill tops and were lucky enough to get some snow for our walk, though towards the end it turned to sleet then cold rain. As you get older climbing obstacles such as styles gets more difficult and they suddenly become much more of a challenge than they were just weeks ago. And here are some pictures of Morecambe Bay.
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It has been a long time now since I wrote anything on this blog. I find it hard to believe that I have missed ou Sredni Vashtar! I'll pause and check that I have not just overlooked a post, or perhaps there is still one among the drafts.
No, I can't find anything, So I'll briefly describe Sredni Vashtar and The Lancaster Music Festival. For the last two years Kit has been playing experimental sets in Atticus, there was The Rats Nest followed by The Disorientorium.A long time ago I saw Ken Campbell's adaptation of Lovecraft's The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward and science then I have always wanted to write an opera based on a short story. So I suggested I adapt Saki's Sredni Vashtar for Rat Bit Kit. And I did! There were shadow puppets and back projection and a team of 8 people who worked on the show.They were brilliant, especially as some were in Manchester and some in Liverpool and the venue in Manchester. It was not easy getting time to rehearse. I wrote four songs, a first for me and a very interesting process. Lenni Sanders who played Conradin did a wonderful job, as did the Rat Bit Kit Ensemble. They decided on 'ensemble' rather than band or group because they were an assembly of musicians, puppeteers, tech geeks and actors And 'ensemble' sounds arty. The show was a hit and we have been asked to perform it in the Eden Festival in June. Sredni Washtar came so soon after my extraordinary adventure in the Maliau Basin (see Into the Basin above) I was left on a high until Christmas. Now it is January and I have the next Sredni Vashtar to look forward too, and I'd going to see Tracey in Lebanon and may get to see Petra and Wadi Rum in Jordan. Then there is a possibility that Kit may do a show based on Borneo folk tales that I have adapted. So 2018 could be another exciting year. |
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