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.

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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. 

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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.
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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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Kneeling where prayer has been valid

Posted on May 17, 2019 by lesleyjonesberry

On Good Friday we went to St Paul’s Cathedral for Matins.  It’s a formal choral service, dominated by sung psalms, anthems and responses,  creating a context for the congregation to dwell in the music, the mood, the building.  For me, it creates a restorative and peaceful space:  I breathe a little more slowly, more deeply, most restfully.

I often feel better after going to church, but I don’t go very often.  Continue reading →

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Sloe gin

Posted on May 17, 2019 by lesleyjonesberry

Slow_gin_full_.jpgMy brother makes sloe gin and, at Christmas, he presented us with a bottle, along with home-made jam and preserves.    We’d made an enthusiastic start on it, but for some reason the last few measures lingered in the bottle, until I decided to finish it more as an act of tidying up .  I’d forgotten how delicious it is.

There is a particular grace about home-made, consumable gifts:  in our cluttered lives, they don’t demand permanent accommodation, they aren’t meant to last.  And they offer such a tangible link to the donor.  It pleases me to think of my brother making sloe gin.
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