listen again

jane will be very pleased with me - she approves thoroughly of my conversion to radio 4. i only ever listen to the radio in the car - and it's quite funny how you hear snippets of programmes from time to time. yesterday i was listening to some nature programme about southern indian mountain ungulates.

anyway, i digress. i heard a trailer for an interesting programme that i thought some of you might want to catch on the 'listen again' function on the website - it is an interview between john humphrys and rowan williams about faith. can't remember exactly what it's called, but it was on today at 9am and 9.30pm.

back to skool

tonight was the beginning of a new half term at college. my dear friend graham has just had knee replacement surgery and will be out of circulation for a few weeks (at least), which is a shame, seeing as he was a ray of light on tuesday evenings.

still, amazingly, i enjoyed myself this evening - and even felt quite pleased to see some of my fellow students.

culture vultures

alex p and i just can't get enough culture dahlings.

yesterday was a whirlwind of cultural experiences. first of all i got my hair cut and alex had a massage - neither of which are recognised as strictly cultural experiences, but they fitted very nicely into our day thank you very much. then i squeezed in coffee with ex-salsa pal kirsty ("ex-salsa pal" is my attempt at sun-style journalistic speak).

then alex p and i queued for returns for the matinee performance of "the life of galileo" at the national theatre. of course you all know that tlog is a play by brecht about the struggle between 'faith' and 'reason' - or perhaps 'science versus the church'. very interesting stuff. i wonder what my reaction would have been to copernicus and galileo if i had been around in the 1600s.

then we looked around a photography exhibition at the national theatre called 'the state of the world' - photographs from reuters capturing various pivotal events in the past 10 years or so.

then we rushed across south london to brixton ritzy to see a film called "dry season" - part of the times london film festival. it is a film made in chad about reconciliation in the midst of civil war. very beautiful story, beautifully filmed. and to cap it all the writer and director was there for a q&a session at the end.

it all left us with so much to reflect on. not least how wonderful it is to live in london town.

en tee hell

have i ever said how much i hate ntl? hmmm. think i might have mentioned it once or twice. they are so rubbish that even i could be an ntl technician. the 'problem' with my broadband that could only be fixed by them sending a technician out next friday (7 whole days without broadband), i managed to fix all by myself. with a little bit of technical wizardry.

healing hands

i have had a bit of a sore back this week - just some kind of muscular twinge - nothing major. anyway, i decided to book in for a back massage.

it was fantastic. the amazing thing is that as this girl was pummelling away at the tight muscles and knots i was thinking - it is basic human instinct that this kind of touch is good for you. in fact, pretty much all touch is good for you.

which led me on to think that massage should be free! free massages for everyone! and not free on the nhs - free because the massage therapist wants to give everyone this precious gift of human touch!

then i realised i sounded a bit like a communist - and with that i realised the ideal could be extended to musicians, artists - anyone who makes our lives better.

jp

my beautiful god-daughter jessica pearl is 2 years old. check out the latest photos on www.christinaandwilliam.blogspot.com

rufus is back

rufus is back on the blog!

thank god for newspapers. today i leapt up from the sofa in delight as i read that rufus is coming to london. oh yes folks. alas, alack - for. one. night. only.

i am so desperate to get tickets i may have to take sedatives just to get to sleep. tickets supposedly go on sale on 3rd november, but i am so sure that somewhere someone has already bought them all. i tell you i am going to go crazy if i can't get these tickets. rufus rage they'll call it.

i also heard his sweet voice on the history boys soundtrack this evening.

plus, if anyone is stateside (joshua?) the mcgarrigles are doing a christmas tour with rufus and martha. so want to fly to new york for that.

history boys

yes, i am probably one of the last people on the planet to see the film 'the history boys'. jane and i went to see it this evening.

i had already read quite a few reviews, and was a bit cautious about seeing it to be honest. when i first saw the trailers (about 2 months ago), i thought 'now, there's a film i am going to love': it's about teaching teenage boys! but then i read some reviews about the fact that one of the main characters (a teacher called hector) fondles the boys affectionately - and it's all treated as a kind of endearing personality trait.

seeing the film i was left feeling that this 'abuse' was trivialised. however much the boys liked hector, or indulged him, it is still an abuse of his position as their teacher.

being an alan bennett film, almost everyone in it is gay! i remarked to jane on the way home that it is a shame that there wasn't at least a hint at a straight romance or storyline. and none of the teachers is really portrayed in the best light.

the boys, however, are a triumph. i enjoyed getting to know them, and i thought it was a realistic portrayal of 18 year old boys - their larking around, their anxieties, their successes and failures.

ça sufi

always up for trying new things, i went along to the barbican's "ramadan nights" on tuesday - with barry, helen, jon and clara. it is a week of music to celebrate the end of ramadan - and on tuesday it was a group from port said in egypt - 'el tanbura'. their music is part of a fusion of islam with traditional mystical religions called 'sufi' - the music itself is integral to the way they worship.

very interesting indeed - and a glimpse into the history and culture of egypt.

amusing sofia 

st barnabas

as part of my course i have to visit 4 other churches between september and january - of different 'flavours'. so yesterday i went into st barnabas - the church that is about 4 doors from my house. my closest anglican community!

it was very interesting indeed. a microcosm of the church of england in my opinion. i was fortunate in that a man sat next to me right at the start and was very candid about the church. he said "i like this church because it doesn't ram religion down your throat". then he went on to ask if i could help them out with their gardening because the lady who was in charge left when the vicar legalised his gay partnership earlier this year. hee hee hee. i can just imagine the gossip in the church about that one. the chap sitting next to me said "i don't mind at all that he's gay - i mean you'd never know - he's not one of those limp-wristed types".

not ramming religion down people's throats is, of course, a good thing. however, i do think the church has an obligation to challenge and provoke. we are not here to maintain the status quo. the service on sunday did not challenge me or get me thinking at all. altogether mediocre. depressing really.

i don't care at all about the sexuality of the vicar, i care whether he is making a difference to the lives of his parishioners, and to the community around the church. from my brief visit yesterday i am not too sure whether the church is making any difference at all.

i felt very happy to be back at the ascension later in the day. to sing in choir in the afternoon with a bunch of people i love, and to be challenged by a lively service in the evening.

parties and panthers

what do parties and panthers have to do with each other?

they can both be pink!

jane hosted a fabulous pink party this weekend. lovely to discover how many delicious things are pink - including pink champagne and pink smarties.

i have also been wondering whether the pink panther is called pink because cleuso (not sure that's how you spell it) was pink. if denzel washington was the inspector, maybe the name would be different.

but then i seem to remember the pink panther might have been the name of a diamond?!

blooming marvellous

so alex, jane and i ventured into the world of modern dance... well not performing you understand (although i think we could have done a decent job of it) but watching it. we came away slightly bemused. the quality of the dance was excellent, but we didn't really 'get it' - was there supposed to be a storyline? we all agreed that for significant chunks of the performance we were a bit bored and ended up thinking about the week at work.

the music, for the record, was wonderful. but then, rufus is wonderful. they danced to four tracks from 'want one' - agnus dei (scrumptious), what a world, vibrate and this love affair. then they danced to a new composition called lux aeterna. just so lovely to hear rufus' voice.

hilariously alex, jane and i went for a drink afterwards and were saying "what was all that about then?" and then we remembered that, had we bothered to stay, there was an after-show talk that might have answered our questions.

big baby eyes 

fireworks

i love fireworks night - but i hate the fact that fireworks are for sale to the general public. seems unbelievable that we are putting offensive weapons into the hands of anyone with a few quid to spare. when i was in manchester a kid cycled past me and threw a banger at my feet - which gave me a scare - and i have been a bit paranoid ever since. my year 10s today were discussing who was going to buy fireworks and what they were going to do with them. one of them was implying he was going to be throwing them at his neighbours' houses 'for a laugh'.

yikes.

orlando

just to counter alex's comment on my post a few days ago - there are some fantastic people at salsa. there's nothing dodgy about men who dance salsa - or at least there's a wide variety of guys - some of them really wonderful, and some of them really strange.

but i had a great laugh last night.

there's a new(ish) guy called orlando - hence the title of this post. he's a good dancer, but also a good laugh.

do you like what i did with the titles of these two posts?

bloom

tomorrow night alex, jane and i are going to see a modern dance thing at the south bank centre. to be honest i am expecting it to be totally pretentious, but my eye was drawn to it because some of the music was written by one rufus wainwright. the one and only.

will no doubt blog about how hilarious it turns out to be.

oh, and the bit written by ruf (and choreographed by stephen petronio) is called 'bloom'

what not to wear

i am such a sucker for these make-over shows. i know, i know - it's trashy tv. tonight mica and lisa (trinny and susannah have passed over to the other side) made over two women who were teenage mums. i love to see the transformation at the end. one woman looked at herself in the mirror and said "i look on the outside like the person i feel on the inside" (if that makes sense!). i honestly shed a tear or two.

tabbards

christina p and i have a thing about people in yellow, luminous, reflective tabbards. it all started at greenbelt with all of those annoying stewards i think.

this morning as i arrived at school (at some ungodly hour...) there was a guy in a tabbard with a clipboard wandering around the outside of the building. it struck me that a tabbard (and possibly a clipboard) would be an excellent disguise for an early morning thief. i was too blinded by the reflective stripes to challenge him.

red sky in the morning

this morning was the most beautiful sunrise i have seen in ages - really bright pinks and oranges. i was sitting here in my classroom (which looks out across south london to the south downs in the distance) wishing i had my camera - and listening to the edifying soul-food music of bruce cockburn. the kind of music that makes you feel at home wherever you are.

big blog

the british museum is doing a mega blog today at www.historymatters.org.uk - they are doing a snapshot survey of how people live in 2006. they want as many people as possible to visit and blog whatever they're up to today.

i haven't visited it yet. the irony is that so many of us are so busy we won't be able to blog about all the things we're doing.

dancefloor

mark and bec had a great housewarming party - a great party and a great house. they have a fabulous "garage" that has been converted into a little outhouse - perfect for late night boogying.

eye candy

a gentle reminder to all you guys out there - most women want to be thought of as beautiful.

the teacher at salsa has been flirting with me - in a fairly non-committal jokey kind of way. actually in a way that i find unhelpful and almost a little bit hurtful. last night he said to me "the reason i like you suzy is because i don't like eye-candy ... i mean some people look at the bum, the legs, the tits - but i'm not into eye-candy".

i tried to tell him it wasn't a compliment but he seemed totally bemused.

animal fights

most of the time at school i am a complete b*tch. well, kind of. anyway - i am pretty strict and maintain my high standards from the start to the end of the lesson. but from time to time i get a bit silly - and have a good laugh with the kids. this usually happens with sixth form classes, but this year i have found my year 10s to be very receptive to my rather off-the-wall humour. at the end of a lesson we had a (less than serious) discussion about who would beat who in a fight in the animal world. y'know - badger versus squirrel kind of thing.

i wrote a list of 5 or 6 on the board and they had to write in their books who would win and why. one boy - alex - who is very reserved and quiet in class made me laugh out loud when i marked his book this morning. he had added little witty asides - e.g. one of the contests i had suggested was 'stingray versus aussie male' - and alex had gone into all this hilarious stuff about stereotypical aussie blokes. i had done loads of silly ones - beached whale versus wolf, silverback gorilla versus shark (in the water). elephant versus polar bear.

alex had also made me laugh a few weeks ago when i took in his book. i had asked them a (serious!) question about how you might control rabbit numbers on an island, and he had written a whole battle plan - including ground troops, air raids and - if all else failed - nuclear weapons.

so the boys keep me laughing.

growing up

busy busy busy.

so this weekend was my second course weekend residential - in the beautiful (ahem) herne bay.

i am still a bit disappointed that i have not found many kindred spirits on the course. i am trying to remember that time will tell - i have been known to dismiss people too early - and perhaps there are some other fun people that i haven't identified yet.

still, at the moment i am not really enjoying the weekends too much. noone to be naughty with in the lectures, noone to snigger at sexual innuendoes with. everyone is so serious and christian.

but part of me thinks i need to grow up - that the fact that i can't find any kindred spirits isn't a big problem. i am there to learn theology, not to giggle in lectures. plus (and here's the rub), the reality is that these people are the people i am going to have to work alongside when we are ordained clergy.

gulp.

salsa shock

well it isn't a shock that i had a fabulous time at salsa on wednesday - but it is a shock that there were enough men to go round! every lady had a man. which makes for a much more fun evening. plus karl was back (he has missed salsa for the last few weeks).

battersea barge

so i met up with jon, clara, barry and helen last night. it was so lovely to see them. we went to a restaurant called "the battersea barge", which (as its name suggests) is a barge on the thames - moored opposite jon and clara's apartment.

what we didn't realise is that the first thursday of the month is a talent show. well, less of the talent, more of a show. in many ways it was hilarious - some of the acts were excruciatingly poor. and it did give us a talking point.

not sure we'll be going back though.

v&a

i have a new colleague, corrinna - who sits next to me. i like her very much. the other day we were chatting about men - she brought the subject up because she had just received an email from a guy she doesn't want to go out with. he was inviting her to the ballet and had suggested 5 possible dates - so we were crafting a suitable reply.

what made me laugh was that corrinna said she has been around to his house - and he owns a 4 bedroom house in victoria, and that when she commented on one of his items of furniture he said "yes, the v&a borrowed that for ages and they've only just returned it". corrinna and i reckoned this would be an excellent line next time we have visitors: "do excuse the tatty ikea furniture, the v&a have borrowed my furniture".

ron, ryan and paul

i am itching to see some live music. annoyingly ryan adams was in london this weekend, but i didn't get tickets in time, and it was sold out. one of my favourite singers, ron sexsmith, will be in london on 21 november, but that's a tuesday, and i will be at college.

luckily, i will be seeing paul simon in november.

dr phil

i have blogged about dr phil before. but i just wanted to re-iterate how wonderful i think he is. he is a psychologist who has his own oprah winfrey spin-off show in the us of a.

i try and catch his show on a friday afternoon. it enriches my life with pearls of wisdom. no, honestly, it does.

blood magic

roger and i were laughing yesterday at the blurbs that you find introducing the artworks at the tate. there were a couple of rooms that you may as well have titled "towards an understanding of a level art". to the untrained eye (i.e. my eye) the artwork was mediocre, and was accompanied by such a load of pretentious waffle. one 'sculpture' was a block of concrete - apparently a "haunting" evocation of loss, a suggestion of where a table would have been.

the tate do a great scheme where you can write your own waffle and email it in. if they like it they'll display it next to the artwork. so tempting. please, please someone submit something outrageously pretentious and see if they pick it!

i also stood in awe of the john singer seargents. there's a rufus line about jss, so his name makes me smile anyway.

oh, the post "blood magic" refers to a book roger showed us in paris called 'blood magic: towards an anthropology of menstruation' or something like that.

weekend maths

i have had a great weekend - full of all the best things. my weekend starts on a thursday evening now. sounds a bit smug i suppose. but don't forget that i also earn 20% less than i did last year!

thursday evening was open evening at school. it's always very busy - wimbledon college being a very popular, over-subscribed school. i've been doing open evening for a good few years, so i feel fairly confident.

friday i did a bit of reading, a bit of mooching, a bit of swimming.

then i met up with jane for dinner, gossip and laughing. we tried out some new places. and watched a couple getting too close for comfort (he was married - and not to her).

then i saw karlos apache on saturday for lunch, and carey and trine for drinks in the evening. the three of us girls did some excellent laughing and set the world to rights.

sunday i met up with roger dawson - we went around tate britain.

then i went to church.

so, i had a lovely, fun, restful weekend. how come i still feel absolutely shattered today?