I Missed The Erotica

Since we moved to Framlingham I've been keen to attend some of the local events. None more so than the series of art lectures given by local art historian and expert John Sheeran which I have seen widely advertised throughout the town.

Today I finally had the opportunity to go to a lecture but needed to leave fifteen minutes before it was scheduled to end due to my long awaited hearing test. The talk opened with John explaining the lectures for the benefit of the newcomers. He mentioned that they run to exactly ninety minutes which drew a big laugh from his regular audience and gave me a warning of what was to come. 

The lecture on the French artist Pierre Bonnard was fascinating and it was clear that John is passionate about and extremely knowledgeable on the artist and fine art in general. We listened intently to his explanations of Bonnard's style, his composition and his use of colour and it soon became clear why the audience had laughed at the outset. Seventy five minutes into the scheduled ninety minutes of the talk and we weren't at the bottom of the first page of two lists of works that he was going to show us. Unfortunately I had to leave before Bonnard's famous erotic works and paintings of his wife Marthe in the bath were discussed but, never mind, I learnt a great deal in my half lecture which was £8 very well spent and for a full lecture would have been an absolute bargain - if you buy a "season ticket" it's even better value for money. I'll certainly be going to another lecture and perhaps next time I'll be there to the end.

And the hearing test? It told me what I expected - I'm a bit deaf. Not a lot, but enough to try out something to improve it. So I'm off to Ipswich next Thursday for a further consultation and to see if my ears are the right shape for certain aids. Vanity is pointing me towards the hidden aids. What is there to be vain about at my age you might ask but, I don't know, I suppose it's just that deafness is often associated with old age and there's an innate reluctance to being thought of as an old codger. 

When we got home we found more progress on the never ending improvement project. On the positive side, the plasterers (who should have been here in March) have been and put on the scratch coat to the walls. On the negative, the planting that was scheduled for last week, has been put off to next week -  aaaaaagggghhhh. 

But on another positive note, our excellent decorator, Gerald Clements, arrived exactly when he said he would on Tuesday and has already painted the gable end and removed all of the moss from the roof. In fact he was so speedy doing this that I missed out on snapping a photo of his scaffolding tower. If the weather holds up the outside decoration could be finished next week.

Meanwhile the front now looks as if a bomb has dropped as Tony got his digger out and dug up all the lawn and half of the path. Half of the lawn belongs to our neighbours but we thought that turfing it for them is the least we can do for their having to put up with months of mayhem. 

I think that when this project is over we are going to have to supply the neighbourhood with generous peace offerings of flowers, wine and chocolates - they'll soon have had eight months of noise and dust and that's not ideal.