Retrospective

Posted on November 11, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

I’ve started reading Barney Norris’ The Vanishing Hours. The first few pages are exquisite, and chime so strongly with my current mood that I’m just going to quote from them:

I thought if I could record all the beauty that I had witnessed, every image that had made me feel like my days were worth having, then maybe others…would be encouraged…to see past the things that beset them and look out for beauty. I would have loved to have found a book like that.

Beat the DevilThis blog is also a companion piece to Anticipation.  Against all expectations,  September and October were measured out in Bridge Theatre visits.  Continue reading →

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Anticipation

Posted on September 2, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’

The Night Before Christmas By Samuel Clemens

In the library at my primary school, there was a book which contained just this poem – a verse per page, gloriously illustrated.   I was enchanted, and learned the poem by heart.  I don’t say I can quite remember it all still, but a fair chunk still remains. I love the opening couplet and its suppressed moment of stillness and waiting; as I’ve said before, I gain much pleasure from looking forward to things, sometimes as much or more than the event itself. Continue reading →

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Music and Movement

Posted on July 25, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

A friend took part in a virtual choir event of vast scope recently. The organiser, Eric Whiteacre, launched this in 2010, with 185 people taking part.  Since then it has grown enormously and in 2020 over 17,500 singers, many recording their parts under lockdown, performed Sing Gently. The gorgeous result, combining voices and video, is  now available on YouTube.

Continue reading →

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Imaginary Friends

Posted on June 6, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

‘I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space’

Hamlet, II ii

We’re all bounded in nutshells at the moment. At an early stage in the pandemic, my best friend needed to self-isolate for 14 days and fared remarkably well:  she had, she explained, more time to read and, for her, that was a luxury rather than a restriction.  Her experience was, of course, ‘more complicated than that’ but I can’t help feeling that it’s been beneficial to be a reader during the last few months.

As a teenager, I’d been given to feel that English Literature was a less worthy academic choice than Science or Engineering.  My degree had been an indulgence, supporting interests which are merely hobbies – reading fiction and theatre-going.   Continue reading →

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Dawn chorus

Posted on May 8, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

I wake frequently at night.  It’s nothing new – I don’t think my depth of sleep ever recovered from the disturbance of having babies, while menopausal hot flushes have, more recently, put paid completely to long continuous stretches.  I don’t mind:  in fact I love the fact that, as I look at the clock and register the early hours, I realise I can turn to sleep once more. Continue reading →

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Things Unseen

Posted on March 29, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at.

TS Eliot, Burnt Norton.

Venice must be exquisitely beautiful at the moment. The resident population is low, so the streets will be so quiet. The hotels must be empty, the daily surge of visitors is halted, the cruise ships are stopped. La Serenissima must be genuinely peaceful, almost deserted. Continue reading →

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Let be

Posted on March 14, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

With the publication of The Mirror and the Light I am – and I want to say ‘of course’, with the fond exasperation and indulgence one uses when talking of a friend’s characteristic idiosyncrasies, but applying it to myself.  The phrase refuses to leave the sentence and so, let’s try again:

With the publication of the Mirror and the Light I am, of course, starting to re-read from the start, with Wolf Hall.  This is in part to refresh the memory, which Cromwell himself, with his Italian method, would not need, and also to prolong the pleasure. 

Continue reading →

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I (don’t) know where I’m going

Posted on February 8, 2020 by lesleyjonesberry

In the magical film ‘I know where I’m going’   the young heroine (played by Wendy Hiller), bright and determined, is clear-sighted and purposeful about what she wants to achieve.  Until the fog halts her journey and a Scottish island – along with the rather wonderful Roger Livesey – frustrate her plans and offer her unexpected happiness.  A slight and charming film among Powell and Pressburger’s wonderful oeuvre.

I’ve never known where I’ve been going in terms of my life’s journey.
Continue reading →

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Meeting myself

Posted on September 6, 2019 by lesleyjonesberry

We spent our holiday in North Yorkshire.  This is a region I had driven past or travelled through on journeys further north, but never before stopped in or explored.  We discovered an utterly beautiful combination of dramatic coastline and glorious moorland.  Each way we turned, a new vista revealed itself.  And so, another part of my personal map of the UK was coloured in. Continue reading →

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The substance of things hoped for

Posted on June 7, 2019 by lesleyjonesberry

The ticket drawer (now a ticket folder due to our downsizing) is considerably lighter these days.  Not because we go to fewer events, but because physical tickets are rapidly becoming anachronistic.  We all book online, and this process means the venue knows who is coming – they don’t really need to give you any proof of your purchase;  these days, being on the guest list is the norm. Continue reading →

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