Christopher's Online Journal

Last night I watched a wonderful conversation on YouTube between Don Henley and Billy Joel, who obviously had deep empathy, and love, for each others music, and lives. Henley surprised me by talking of Walden and Thoreau, also by mentioning Zen, and then OnBeing which is one of my favourite podcasts. Billy Joel asked Don Henley which came first in his songwriting, the lyrics or the music. This reminded me of a songwriting workshop which I had recently attended when the host said we had to write the music first, which for me, as a total non-musician, would have been a wrecking-ball of an instruction had we not been collaborating. Photo by Caio Silva on Unsplash Fortunately I was partnered with John Newby, who pretty quickly got the music flowing, and I was able to write in a way that I don't ever remember doing before, all my previous attempts at songs being words first followed by some pretty nauseous monotone sounds, which most definitely don't qualify as music. So no poem thi...

Yes, but Monday morning in the Sailor's Arms in Newquay is nothing like the Friday nights from my teenage years. Still, the surfing schools were busy, even in the wind and rain, and we got a proper pasty to eat on the way back to the car. Newquay is being extended big time with a Duchy of Cornwall inspired estate, all creams and pinks and blues. But all too close together and more or less all sold, which is a pity because the light is good and Watergate Bay isn't a long drive away. Penzance also looked good in the sun, although the Newlyn Gallery was all embroidery, which I am told is popular now, thanks I suppose to folks staying home. Not really my cup of tea, neither the ice-cream shop, which only dealt in cash! But joy of joys, a Japanese garden in the neat and tidy village of St Mawgan, also, within walking distance was the best fruit scone with jam and cream in the whole of Cornwall. Good, and matched up by Marija's beef mince and lamb mince lasagne, sumptuous, and I ...

So here we are, back home, after a little birthday jaunt to Manchester and Scarborough, unfortunately, left both camera and phone at home, so the pics are from the internet. Grayson Perry's Art Club  exhibition was the reason for the Manchester trip, and a mighty fine exhibition it was too. Also in the same space a Lowry gallery, also a section devoted to Pre-Raphaelites. Cocktails (two for one) were served on Canal Street for those of you in the know, a most pleasant way to spend an afternoon, especially after earlier sampling treacle chips, which were yummy. Scarborough was a birthday event set up before GP came on the scene, a walk around South Bay, then up the funicular railway, from the spa to the Esplanade Gardens (Two bed flat 240k). With three days of 10,000+ steps behind us, we settled into the Green Room restaurant, where for the first time in a long time I drank red wine to accompany a marvellous steak. Blue skies from Tuesday through to Friday leads into the poem... En...

 Belton House was the location of the first family picnic of the summer, although we did have a barbecue in Carbis Bay. If you haven't been this is place has a full-size cricket field for its turning circle, in front of what I thought to be a fairly modest house. But not modest woods, for the first time I saw a huge, weeping beech and a giant fir with quite distinct foliage, all this with a miniature train track carrying families on their bank holiday day out, and my two grandchildren posing for photographs! The football did not go quite so well, we lost at Morecambe, apparently we must expect teams to play like this against us, ergo it is going to be a season of frustration and disappointment, that is unless we win next Saturday and return to the top of the league. The Belton House picnic was facilitated by our visiting Hull on the Saturday, a place, at least down by the fruit market, very much on its uppers. We have committed to visit again, but for a stay-over weekend on the nex...

The football season has started, rather well actually, although SWFC are now in league 1, that's division 3 for those of you who remember that far back. Anyway twenty-four thousand on Saturday, and twenty-one thousand on Tuesday night against Fleetwood.  George  Byers, one of our new signings said: “I tried to do the best I could on Tuesday and I really enjoyed being out there.   "The atmosphere was unbelievable, second to none, and as players it gives you a massive lift, and goosebumps as well! “I can’t speak highly enough of it. Having played against Wednesday before, I experienced a part of it, but when you’re on the right side of it it’s very uplifting.” Yorkshire sculpture park is also open again, with some new works by Damien Hirst, also Ai Weiwei, which both seemed to keep the children's interest. We had lunch in the new restaurant - Fried Halloumi and Ginger Couscous - delish.

It is time to return to this journal. I have been absent for too long; caught up in trying to make sense of life while making other things. The decking and canopy are almost completed; the planters need planting to complete the process. However, there is some disagreement, should it be bamboos (black), or grasses (tall and straight). Maybe sketches from the differing parties could be used to reach a decision, though please let it not be a compromise, for I think that to be the worst of all paradigms. Several support strings have broken, with much laughter as Christopher was soaked, whilst planning his latest solution, but, for now, the rain is being removed by the wind's action alone . Dear me, I notice it is just one month since my last posting, and in that time we have been on vacation to the exquisite Bishop Wilton, courtesy of Edge of the Wolds in Yorkshire. Where, among other things, we had a day out to Castle Howard, yes that's right, the place where Brideshead Revisited...

The new computer duly arrived. As did the video, The Conversational Nature of Reality: A Conversation with David Whyte posted on Youtube on my birthday. And so begins the journey of learning what I do not understand in my poetry. Qu'est-ce que c'est. A lifetime's work. Last night I watched again Phantom Thread , a somewhat trigonometrical viewpoint to expose for me many of my shortcomings (also my good points). Daniel Day Lewis is the awkward, belligerent, stylish dressmaker who falls in love with Vicky Krieps a waitress in a seaside cafe (was it Whitby). They are stubbornly kept apart by Lesley Manville who is if nothing else determined. Tomorrow it is the final. Will the 24 million viewers be topped. How long will the euphoria last, if indeed there is any euphoria at all. 1966 was a big year for me, I went to Wembley to watch the FA Cup Final, which I remembered earlier today, as I answered the questions in week 26 of my journey to the authentic self. Make of that what y...