And So This Is Corvid

And what have we done?

An old world just over

And a new one just begun

It's two months since I last blogged. That's the longest I've gone in the many years since I started blogging at Instanta and carried on into retirement with this blog.


So did you miss much? No really. I suppose that I would have been doing the usual telling you about our cinema and theatre visits, our trips up to the family in Scotland and down to the family in Kent, metal detecting maybe and perhaps some special eBay treasures.
Before the pandemic set in we managed a final cinema trip.

Emma was just perfect in my opinion and it's so long ago now that you can get it on TV. If you do get the chance I can't recommend it highly enough from costume to sets to performances from the leads I loved it. My only niggle? Being a lover of antique ceramics a lot of the props were of a later period but only a nerd would complain about that.

Mum was visiting us from Spain and we'd planned to take her to see Military Wives while she was with us but as the severity of the virus became increasingly obvious we stopped all visits out long before the Government implemented its restrictions. She stayed with us until 12 March when we took her back to Stansted airport in gloves and face masks only to find social distancing non existent.

It was then decision time. We needed to check on the caravan in Scotland after the winter break and had booked to visit the wonderful Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews for Marion's birthday so we drove up to caravan site. We hoped to see the grandchildren but when we heard that they had coughs and high temperatures we had to just see them on Skype.

By this time we were seriously worrying about the pandemic and whether we would be safer in Scotland or Framlingham. We planned shopping for our time in the caravan and visited a very well stocked and very quiet Co-op in Cupar and filled a basket only to be horrified when the local comprehensive school broke for lunch and fifty hungry teenagers descended on the store. We were terrified (I know that sounds soft but we had been taking so many precautions) and headed to the fresh vegetable aisle where we stayed until the marauding horde had disappeared. It was half an hour before we went to the checkout.

We decided that Framlingham was our safest option and after just forty eight hours in Scotland we were back on the road home without seeing any of the family.

I did manage one detecting trip while Marion was packing the bags - no finds but a very peaceful couple of hours and probably the last detecting until the autumn at the earliest.

We also managed a walk along the famous West Sands before returning to Suffolk.

Shortly after returning to Spain, poor Mum who is now 94 had a very bad fall and ended up in hospital with a broken nose, three broken ribs and a punctured lung. We thought that we might lose her but the hospital is a private one that usually fills with British tourists and was not busy. She was very well treated and kept well away from any Coronavirus patients. She was out of hospital after a few days and, although she's not her old self and in a lot of pain, she is making progress. 

By the time that we were back in Suffolk, the Government was finally starting to take things seriously. Within a few days, the caravan site in Scotland was closed so we made the right decision in returning.

We wanted to try and do something useful as we could see that things were looking pretty bleak ahead so we prepared a flyer suggesting a neighbourhood WhatsApp group for our street and posted these through the letterbox of every house. The response was amazing and we now have over forty members in the group with lots of interaction and mutual help going on. The residents who don't have WhatsApp are also involved as we send out daily updates on anything relevant and send these by email as well as through the WhatsApp group. We've got regular meat and fresh fish deliveries organised, a connection to the local DIY shop (which though closed will deliver), people prepared to phone others who are lonely or struggling, a home budget guide, a list of volunteers willing to print for those without printers and most of the street has put teddy bears in their windows to amuse one of the few toddlers confined to the road. We've also published seven profiles that residents have sent in so that we can get to know people that we didn't know existed a few weeks ago.

Instead of our regular gym visits we've been keeping fit with Fitness Blender, Davina McCall and Joe Wickes on YouTube and Jillian Michaels' Thirty Day Shred on DVD. I reckon we're probably fitter than we've been in a long time. We've also been doing our lovely daughter Sarah's Yoga classes which she has had to change to online. She is now doing them on Zoom. So you no longer have to be in St Andrews to join her. Check her classes out. Please note that these are not just videos but live interactive classes - she can see you and guide you if necessary. Check the classes out here. 

Obviously there have been no theatre or cinema trips but we've enjoyed the following.

The National Theatre Live's transmission of Jane Eyre free on YouTube was fantastic.

The Tiger King on Netflix. The amazing story of Joe Exotic lived up to all the hype.

And Andre Bocelli's short concert from Milan on YouTube was wonderful.

We've also been doing the Thursday night virtual pub quiz on YouTube with friends on Zoom. Great fun.

Before all the troubles I'd been keeping myself busy on rainy winter days hunting for antiques to sell on eBay. My novel Mr Prendergast's Fantastic Find is about a man who did the same (albeit with more luck than me). I used to do it quite successfully ten years ago but have been too busy with other things since retiring but, with a bit of free time I started again.

I've made some great finds both on eBay and at auction.

I was thrilled when I found this beautiful French tureen for just £19.

And even more thrilled when it sold.

However. After years of moaning about broken buys arriving on the doorstep I finally felt what it's like to be the seller of one of those buys. It was packed with a ton of bubble wrap but it was shipped to Lithuania (of all places) and sent at the outset of the current crisis.

I've no idea how it happened but this is how it turned up in Lithuania.Maybe I should have known not to ship. Oh well. You win some, you lose some but what a big loss this was!

While stuck in lockdown I got an email form the iPhone Photo Academy. You've probably seen their posts on Facebook. They were offering a huge discount so I enrolled on their basic and their editing courses. I'm only a few modules into the course but I'm extremely impressed. I already know more about using the iPhone camera than I ever did.

I will leave you with some of my first attempts taken during my daily exercise.

Framlingham's Castle St experimenting with shadows

Castle Panorama

Castle Grounds

The old and the new

At least we've been able to enjoy some sunshine during lockdown

Bingeing The Oscar Nominees

It's just over two weeks since I last blogged and what an entertaining two weeks it has been. It's Oscar season so the cinemas have been full of the most amazing films of the year before we return to the usual fare of mediocre superhero movies and action packed dross. I know that all the Oscar nominees will reach the small screen in due course but there is nothing like watching films in the way that they were intended so we've managed to cram five films in (and two plays at The National) in the fortnight since I last wrote. 

Before getting to the films I must give  a shout out to The Station in Framlingham. We eat in this pub regularly and the food is consistently good. A Sunday roast last week was as good a pub lunch as I've ever had. We'll be back for Saturday lunch this week and pizza next week. Highly recommended.

And before I get to the film marathon I must mention The Welkin starring Maxine Peake. We went to one of the first showings of this play set in rural Suffolk in 1759. It tells the tale of a jury of twelve women appointed to decide whether or not a convicted murderess is pregnant. Find her pregnant and she will be spared, not pregnant means the gallows and worse. After reading a two star review in The Times  we worried that this might be disappointing but our fears were misplaced and it was a powerful, well produced and finely acted play with some real insight into human nature and misogyny.

Marion had to go to Woodbridge for a biannual eye test so we went early and had lunch in New St Market Deli. This is another great place to eat in Suffolk. Fine food, great coffee and service with a lively atmosphere - perfect.

We went to the Empire in Ipswich to see JoJo Rabbit . I enjoy the sofa seats in this cinema but is is not a film for sitting back and relaxing. Some consider it in poor taste but I felt that this depiction of a young Hitler Youth member whose imaginary friend is Adolph Hitler was perfect and didn't overstep the mark at all. Funny, serious and shocking it packs a real punch and deserves any Oscars it wins tonight.
  
In between cinema and theatre visits I've kept up my hunt for antiques and other treasures. We had a trip to Norwich to the huge antique fair at the Norfolk Showground but, despite staying overnight in order to get to the 7am trade access, we didn't find any bargains.  

I did, however find this lovely Victorian pencil portrait at a local auction. I'm sending it away to see if the foxing can be removed.

While we were in Norwich we went to Cinema City and enjoyed a good lunch before we saw The Personal History Of David Copperfield. I didn't love it but I liked it a lot and found it an enjoyable and fun take on an old Dickens favourite.

Back to the cinema, this time in Aldeburgh where we saw a preview of Parasite accompanied by a Q&A with the director and the star live from the BFI. This is an excellent movie. It's full of unexpected twists and turns and tells a serious story about the haves and the have nots in a style that is a blend of comedy and horror. I don't think it will win best movie Oscar tonight (I hope not - this month's betting budget is on 1917) but it will certainly win at least one gong.

It was Cineworld Ipswich where we saw A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood. Tom Hanks is superb in this super nice film about love, family and redemption. It's not quite the tear jerker we expected but it is a very touching portrayal of a genuine, decent and loving children's TV presenter's encounter with a cynical magazine journalist who specialises in hatchet jobs. Lovely stuff. 

After starting by saying that movies  are better on the big screen, I have to confess that we watched Uncut Gems on Netflix as we couldn't find it playing locally. What a great film this is. If you're okay with the F word which is about 50% of the dialogue,  you should love this. Adam Sandler plays a Jewish jeweller in Boston with big gambling debts and a passion for basketball. I won't give away the plot but it is brilliant and packed with surprises (not least the performance of Sandler who deserves an Oscar but for some reason the film has been snubbed by the Academy). 

Of the five films I've just told you about I'd put them in this order 

JoJo Rabbit

Uncut Gems

Parasite

A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood

David Copperfield

but they were all good and you won't be wasting your time seeing any of them.

You certainly won't be wasting your time if you go to see Rafe Spall in Death Of England at The Dorfman in The National Theatre. This is a mega five star performance from a young actor at his very peak. We were lucky to experience this one man monologue on life, death and football from the front row and what a monologue. Spawned by Brexit, the play examines racism, patriotism, nationalism and family ties in the voice of a slacker cockney flower seller grieving for his father.  Whilst it's five stars for Rafe, the production gets only four stars from me as the last twenty minutes or so of the hundred minute running time went off at a tangent that I struggled to believe. It was a standing ovation at the end though. Spall's performance is as good as you will see. 

Two Films, Two Musicals And A Few More Fantastic Finds

This time last year we were relaxing in sunny Bequia but we've given the Caribbean a rest this winter after all the involvement in Sarah and Duncan's wedding and are wintering at home in Suffolk. It's hardly been a winter so far with just a couple of freezing mornings to date but so many wet and windy days have left the county waterlogged with fields turned into lakes and roads into streams. I'm pleased to say that the rains seem to be subsiding now but there's no sign of constant dry weather. 

Those fields have resembled the mud and mire of 1917 which we went to see at the huge IMAX screen in Ipswich last week. It's a remarkable feat of cinematography with the camerawork surely a certainty for an Oscar but the film didn't inspire us the way that it has others and we aren't in the camp that thinks it's a shoo in for a bagful of other awards.

The front garden looked like a scene from 1917 when we woke up the next morning to find that all that wind and rain had finally taken toll of the large tree that screened us from the neighbours. We're now working on sorting out a replacement. 

While a local handyman was chopping up the tree, we headed to London for a night out with friends. 

Before we met up, we had time for a bit of sightseeing and spent an enjoyable afternoon wandering around the sights before heading to a good tapas restaurant in Soho for a pre-theatre meal.

Then it was time to head to the Phoenix to see the marvellous Come From Away. I wrote about this fabulous musical when we went to see it last summer and it was equally good on the second viewing. It's a truly joyful and moving evening - just ninety minutes long but what a wonderful ninety minutes they are. 

With a nine p.m finish there was plenty of time to have a drink so we walked down to the Covent Garden area where we had a great couple of hours of cocktails and wine with friends Jane and Dave from Ormskirk at the quirky Mr Fogg's Society Of Exploration.  

They serve cocktails with a theatrical Victorian touch and Dave was delighted to be given a birthday muffin to celebrate his big day. We said our goodbyes to Jane and Dave and got back to the hotel after midnight.

There was a huge choice of exhibitions running in London but we decided to head to the National Gallery and see the Gaugin portraits. Whatever you think of his morals and obsession with exotic young girls in the South Pacific there's no doubt that he was an exceptional artist and this is an exquisite display.

We've been getting up before dawn to go to the gym recently and this mackerel sky just before the sun rose on Monday was a precursor to a magnificent sunrise later while we were on the treadmills. 

Later in the morning we went to The Sweffling White Horse to join about thirty others on one of a series of charity walks. Mat Bayfield started these walks three years ago as a social event to get people walking and talking together while raising money for Brain Tumour research. Sadly Mat died last autumn but his widow Kelly is continuing with the week long series of walks. 

 

The thirty of us walked four or five miles on a dry morning before heading back to the pub for a delicious pie and a pint. Apologies to photographer Paul Leech for using these photos from the Facebook page but I hope that it brings publicity to an extremely good cause in the memory of an exceptional man.

On Tuesday we drove to Woodbridge and had coffee at the excellent New St Market before walking down to The Riverside to see Ordinary Love. I knew nothing about this as it was on Marion's wish list  and all I can say is that it is an absolutely extraordinarily good movie. Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson are absolutely outstanding in this totally moving study of a marriage gripped by crisis. Forget the Oscars for 1917 , I would have put this in the Best Film Category and both Male and Female Leading Actor - sadly it didn't get a single nomination. 

Being at home in winter has left me with a bit more time to indulge in my love of bargain hunting like Mr Prendergast in my novel Mr Prendergast's Fantastic Find (See link top right). Here are some of my recent buys.

A fine Chinese inlaid carving of Shou Lao God Of Longevity

A very fine Meissen Sugar Box found in a mixed box at auction 

A lovely Worcester creamboat c1770 found on eBay

  

A few months ago I bought this super vase made by renowned Scottish Potter Caroline Harvie Bisset and mentioned it on the blog.

This week I found a negative pair. They are both top quality hand made pieces.

Last night saw us back in London at the O2. I'm not a lover of musicals but when I read a piece by Matthew Parris in The Times a few months ago enthusing about Mamma Mia The Party it sounded like  a lot of fun. And what a great night it turned out to be.

A section of the O2 has been turned into a Greek taverna - with temperatures to match (how nice on a January evening).

After a welcome drink we tucked into mezes with a wide choice of fresh breads before starters of grilled octopus and other Greek specialities.

Starters over, the show begins and we enjoyed three hours of brilliantly performed Abba songs linked by a silly but fun plot that wasn't really material to the show. Main courses turned up during an interval and we enjoyed delicious cuts of lamb and beef with Mediterranean sides. 

The show continues with a brief nod to Greek Gods, spectacular acrobatics and

of course, lots more Abba songs.

The evening was superb. It ran like clockwork from start to finish and with a top cast, great musicians, good food (second helpings offered) I doubt that there's a better, fun night out in London. It's perhaps unfair to single anyone out from a great line up but Linda John-Pierre (above) who plays Debbie the cook put loads of humour into her part and belted out the lyrics like a diva. A magical evening. 

Tonight it's back to a regular local event - The FramSoc book club.

We're discussing Booker Prize Winner Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo. I loved this book and think it's fully deserving of it's prize.

On Saturday we're back to London again. This time it's to The National for something more typical of our taste. We're going to see The Welkin starring Maxine Peake set in rural Suffolk of all places! I'll let you know what we think.