phoenix-like

i am confident that it is at least possible for the england team to rise phoenix-like from their defeat at the hands of the aussies.

mcgrath is looking a little tired (after a ferocious start) and maybe the old men in the aussie team won't be able to keep up with flintoff and pieterson.

here's hoping.

hrh

i went to see the queen with roger yesterday. not the actual queen of course - the film with helen mirren.

it is very good indeed. well written, superbly acted, laugh-out-loud funny in its cleverness.

roger and i both have student cards - but it still cost £9.50 each - full price is apparently £12.50. un-bloody-believable.

what is the world coming to?

brilliant cricket

as a cricket enthusiast, i have to say that it is wonderful to be able to watch some fantastic cricket. shame none of it is from the england team.

i'm your man

well, i'm not your man - but leonard cohen is.

jane and i went to see a film called "leonard cohen - i'm your man" - a kind of documentary with footage from a 2005 tribute concert interspersed with vox-pops from the likes of the edge, bono, nick cave and rufus wainwright.

and beautiful renditions of cohen's songs by rufus, martha, u2, nick cave, teddy thompson, the mcgarrigles, jarvis cocker.

somewhat more confused

having said the producers is the best thing on the london stage, it is going to be eclipsed next week by a small comedy show called 'somewhat more confused'. i am once again pressing stop, play and stop again several times in one evening for my friend jon h's comedy show. it's on on wednesday, thursday and friday. i will attempt to post details of the venue when i know them!

the producers

i went to see the producers (again) last night. it is absolutely the best thing on the london stage - go and see it. the set design is second-to-none in my expert opinion.

it's totally irreverent - and hilariously funny.

a good first date if you want to weed people out quickly. if they don't enjoy it, or - worse - find it offensive - it's a definite no-no.

liturgical outfitters

i have entered into a strange parallel universe. on our weekend away with college this weekend we had a liturgical outfitters fair. with stalls selling stoles and chasubles and chalices and the like. very surreal.

ashes fever

the ashes are fast approaching. i will be watching from under the covers because a) it's obviously on in the middle of the night and b) i am terrified we are going to be horribly humiliated.

beer and songs

s&m productions' first beer and songs evening went really well last thursday. it was reasonably well attended, and lots of people joined in the singing - which, after all, was the whole point. marcus managed to blag a free burger each for the two of us too.

think we'll be running other similar events in the new year.

marcus has set up a blog to advertise events, www.sm-events.blogspot.com

drama teacher

last night was the sixth form open evening at school - an evening for prospective sixth form students to come and find out a bit more. sometimes it is quite quiet and boring, but last night it was pretty busy - which makes the time fly.

anyway, at one point the english department was discussing teachers that don't look like they should teach their subject. apparently they decided that i didn't look like a neeky science teacher - but rather more like a drama teacher - with my kooky shoes and all.

generally i take this as a compliment. but then i remember our drama teacher at tiffins (who was called miss flatto - great name) - who wore a grey baggy all-in-one boiler suit arrangement most of the time....

on being evangelised

one of my absolute favourite pupils came up to me for a chat after mass on friday. i don't teach him anymore, but i still have a soft spot for him. he's in year 8 - so i guess he's about 12. anyway, i was asking him how he's getting on and things. and he said to me "well, i better go. it would be nice to see you at mass one morning". i have stopped going to 8am mass at school - preferring to spend those 15 minutes laughing with my colleagues. however, when little charlie k invited me to mass like that i realised that i kind of missed going along.

friendship evangelism at its best.

still crazy after all these years

stephen, jacqui, chris and i went to see paul simon at wembley last night. paul simon has been rather squeezed out of my playlist recently (by rufus, ron sexsmith, ryan adams, amongst others) and i hadn't really given much thought to the gig until yesterday morning when i put on his most recent cd ("surprise"). and then i was reminded of why i was such an avid fan for so many years. he is one of the truly great songwriters of the 20th century - and not even stephen can deny that.

it was a fantastic concert (although the sound balance wasn't very good - and it wasn't loud enough) - a large number of crowd-pleasers (the boxer, bridge over troubled water, you can call me al) interspersed with newer tracks - and even my own all-time favourite duncan.

play it again, sam

anyone living locally enough - marcus t and i are organising a knees-up around the joanna in a pub in clapham common in a couple of weeks.

it's at the tim bobbin on lillieshall road on thursday 16th november from 8pm.

iconic london

i've had such a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime day today - jon, clara, barry, helen and i went into battersea power station. it has become a real icon of south london - built in the 30s and 40s, decommissioned in the 80s, and lying disused and derelict for 20 years. most south londoners love it - and it is often photographed and painted.

there have been many, many ideas about how to use the building and the site around it. most ideas have had planning problems, or financial problems and haven't got off the ground. but it looks - hopefully - like something will happen to regenerate the site in the coming years.

for some reason a group of chinese artists have been allowed to use the space to exhibit their work. we didn't really go to look at the art at all - but instead enjoyed nosing around the inside of a building we have viewed from afar for many years.

and then we had the treat of a wonderful sunset on the way back to jon and clara's flat.

powerful stuff 

sb at bps 

the birds 

slightly blurry, but wonderful sky 

bps 

sofia and her granny 

ecce cor meum

last night i went to see the uk premiere of paul mccartney's work for orchestra and voices "ecce cor meum" - behold my heart.

the ticket cost me £40, and the programme was another £10. £50. but boy oh boy was it worth it.

the music was very, very poor - and the lyrics even worse. i haven't laughed so much in ages.

here's some snippets of mccartney magic for you. you'll need to be sitting down.

spiritus, spiritus, lead us to love,
spirit of holiness, teach us to love,
spirit show us how to live in pure love.

take love away and we are ruined
take love away and we are lost

in a world without each other how could we go on living our lives?

we may find a trace
of a state of grace
in the saddest face
something is there

how the rivers flow
we may never know
but it goes to show
something is there

music, music, musica
music, music, musica
fill us with joy
joy to be here
here in your song
help us to discover wisdom

music is the servant of the queen and king
who are happy if we smile but are delighted if we sing

truth is only reality
nature truly is what we are
peace is only nature at rest
love is our true nature

although life sometimes is hard
we still pull through
and then our positive feelings are threatened
unless we can pull through
to the opposite side
nothing else remains

just try and imagine these words being sung at you by 200 singers, backed up by a huge pipe organ and a full orchestra. the only possible response is to laugh.

rufus 'judy' wainwright

so you will all be relieved to hear that i have managed to get tickets for rufus' london gig in february.

i am over the moon.

couple of gripes, however. the first is that the ticket website collapsed as soon as the clock struck 9am. very annoying seeing as i had begged a colleague to cover my class just so that i could get tickets.

secondly the tickets were astronomically expensive - daylight robbery i tell you! eighty pounds. each. and i don't think any of it is going to charity or anything. i am philosophical about it - i am not going to miss the opportunity to see rw (with a full orchestra! singing judy garland songs!), at almost any price! which brings me on to ...

third gripe - of course they've added a second date. so much for 'one night only'. and now i want tickets for that too. but even i cannot possibly bring myself to part with more money.

ticket prices for big gigs are getting so expensive - mainly because they know someone will pay. u2 cost something like £75 for a ticket last year. paul simon (next friday) - £50.

and for some reason i am going to the r.a.h to hear paul mccartney's latest classical composition - cheap tickets at £40.

and i have taken a pay cut this year.

still, one night with rufus or a pair of shoes? well, i've already got lots of pairs of shoes....