karl jenkins – June's Jottings

Once again, I have neglected my blog over the past month. Not out of desire but more of necessity. July has been another weirdly busy month where nothing has happened (if that makes sense). I hope to rectify things and return to my usual blogging schedule as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is a re-cap of my July:

House selling

Sadly, our house is still on the market as I type up this blog. None of the family homes around here have shifted, and more are coming onto the market every week. Since my last blog post, we have had no viewers at all; indeed, at times I forget our house is even on the market. It’s really demoralising. The “one viewer” that everyone talks about is strangely elusive and we wait on, clocking up more fees for storage and gaining more and more grey hairs and worry lines. There is a fairly big (I’m told) cycling event happening in nearby Glentress Forest at the end of this week and our agent is hoping that with a lot of visitors in the town we may pick up some interest. But, I am not holding my breath. I’m usually a positive person – optimism is my default setting – but this whole experience of trying to sell our lovely home is chipping away at that bit by bit. Maybe I’m just tired. I know I’m impatient. Both my husband and I are so keen to move back to the city as soon as possible and it’s frustrating when the ability to do so seems to not be happening imminently.

We are also in great need of a holiday away but because of the shenanigans this year with house-selling, that isn’t going to happen. Instead, it’s a case of trying to chill at home.

Anyway, maybe next month’s blog will be different (I’m sure I also said this last month…..).

PhD thesis

I have been trying to chip away at this over the past month. I have definitely left the most tricky chapter until the end. I’ve found some very useful background information, but Powell’s pubs, clubs, and restaurants are described minimally in his Dance novels. From these minimal descriptions, and from his journal entries and memoirs, I am trying to piece together subchapters which maintain the theme upon which my thesis is based. It is far from easy. Maybe I’m finding it more challenging with all that is going on (or not) with the house, but I’m keeping on going and am determined to have this finished next summer at the earliest.

When I was a child, my parents used to drag me to swimming lessons (which I hated!). The swimming teacher always used to tell us to “keep kicking” so that we could complete lengths, even when we wanted just to float or take a rest. That “keep kicking” concept has been very much in my mind, and – no matter how hard I wish this was all done so I can take a wee break – I have to keep going. If I don’t “keep kicking”, it won’t be finished for ages. And I (and I’m sure my supervisor) want this finished.

Reading

This month, when I haven’t been reading articles and books about Fitzrovia and Soho, or Powell’s novels (for the umpteenth time), I have been reading the first in the trilogy of Peebles-based novels by O. Douglas (actually named Anna Buchan, sister of John Buchan who wrote the Hannay books). I’ve only lived here 23 years and am reading them just as I’m about to leave! It’s easy-reading but a lovely escape as I try (unsuccessfully) to identify the locations of the houses that appear in Penny Plain (the first book in the ‘Priorsford’ series). Published in 1925, this novel paints a very different town to the one I live in, particularly in this description:

“I often wonder why Priorsford is so unlike a story-book little town. We’re not nearly so interested enough in each other for one thing. We don’t gossip to excess. Everyone goes his or her own way. In books, people do things or are suspected of doing things, and are immediately cut out by a feverishly-interested neighbourhood. I can’t imagine that happening in Priorsford”.

One just needs to look at the town Facebook pages to see that this isn’t the case any more! And gossip….. well, let’s just say when I was sick 11 years ago, I learned from various people “through the grapevine” that I had been at ‘death’s door’, or re-admitted for yet another operation among other falsities. I guess this is the ‘joy’ of a small town.

TV/Netflix/Streaming

I haven’t had much time to watch TV (as usual) except for the Sewing Bee (which I also mentioned last month). I can’t be bothered with TV, to be honest. I’ve been in a more creative/reading mood this month.

General

Unlike May and June, July has been cool and wet here. I don’t think there has been a day, since the schools broke up at the end of June, when we haven’t had rain. I’m not complaining though; the heatwave we had in the spring was more than enough summer for me. And, I’d rather have what we have now than the excessively hot temperatures seen in many parts of the world over the past few weeks. I’ve tidied out the garden in the drier spells but have been spared the watering – God’s done that for me! Perhaps when the schools go back in a fortnight, we will get summer again (even though I am looking forward to autumn!).

Talking of which, yesterday was so wet and cold that I decided to make gingerbread. I felt autumnal and I wanted to make something to enjoy with a cuppa tea. I found an old recipe in a book my late Auntie gave me for my fifteenth birthday, and the end result is amazing. I’m going to make that again!

Our son was 23 last week, so he and my daughter came from their respective flats to stay for the weekend. It was lovely having the house full again. Now they have both gone, I really feel the vacuum they have left. Mind you, I have a lot of tidying up to do in their wake!

I’ve been chipping away at the cross-stitch picture that my Dad gave me for Christmas. It’s hard finding time as I usually feel guilty that I’m not writing my thesis, or doing my SST emails, or doing something else. However, I have done short bursts at a time and am two-thirds of the way through it. I think I have mentioned it before, but sewing – and art and craft in general – is my go-to de-stress activity. Also, there is a quotation in a book I read a few years ago (in The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams), which says:

‘”I clean, I help with the cooking. I set the fires. Everything I do gets eaten, or dirtied, or burned – at the end of the day there’s no proof I have been here at all”. She paused, kneeled down beside me, and stroked the embroidery on the edge of my skirt […]. “Me [sic] needlework will always be here […]. I see this and I feel….well, I don’t know the word. Like I’ll always be here”. “Permanent,” I said’.

That’s how I view my numerous cross-stitch pictures which will one day belong to the kids. They are lasting proof that I have existed. Does that sound sad?

Ooh, and also the new Karl Jenkins CD was released at the beginning of July; the CD for which our choir provided two songs: ‘Let’s Go (Babel)’ and ‘Savitur’. They sound a-maz-ing! Even better, the album reached number 1 in the classical charts, so now I can say that I have sung on a number 1 CD! The names of my husband and I are on the inlay slip as proof! See if you can see my name below…. (names listed alphabetically by first name).

So, that’s been July. I’m hoping August will see the changes we are seeking. Who knows?

Reading

Other than reading extensively for my thesis, and starting my final chapter, I have tried to dig myself out of a reading slump by attacking the pile of books that line the floors in my study. As we are putting the house up for sale in a few weeks’ time, most of my thousands of books will be going into storage, and so I am trying to read as many of the books I want to read most before they disappear until the summer.

In January, I managed to read 7 books (some are pictured in my Goodreads sidebar thingummy to the right of this post). Unusually for me, I only read five books last year – some of them before my Mum passed away and so seven in one month this year is a little victory! I had bought Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible years ago and, like most of my other intended reads, it got put in one of my bookcases and left to mature until last week. The urgency of having to pack things up suddenly hit me, and so I retrieved it and committed myself to reading it when I wasn’t writing or doing other things. My tutees have had 3 weeks off during their Prelims, so it was an excellent time for me to try and see how much of the 600-odd page novel I could get through, before I picked my next one.

I finished it on Monday, taking only just short of a week to read it. Beforehand, I knew nothing about the history of the Congo and so I found this text very enlightening historically as well as very lyrical descriptively. Doing a surface review, it was an enjoyable read if a tad long. I think it would have been better being about 200 pages slimmer than it is. However, it was nice to spend a cold and dark January reading about the hot Congo, albeit including the much more primitive living arrangements the characters had to endure.

I’ve now rescued another book from one of my many storage boxes: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark. It’s another novel I bought years ago but it started calling me asking me to spare it from ‘the box’. It’s also another biggie; it’s over 1,000 pages long. I’m about one-fifth of the way into it and am LOVING it so far. It’s my treat for when I manage to write a decent amount of my chapter!

House-selling Prep

This feels like running through custard with lead boots on. Man, are we hoarders? I don’t know if the attic will ever get cleared. Plus we still have rooms to paint, a new bathroom to be installed (after them cancelling our start of January fitting), and some roof work to be done (again, the company have been ‘kicking the can down the road’ with us since October). The storage boxes have arrived, and we are starting to pack some of our clutter away so that when we can access the storage facility in a couple of weeks, we can shove them on the van and be done with them. As mentioned above, I need about 50 boxes alone for my books (I am obviously keeping my PhD books, and my nicely bound ones) but trying to choose which ones to keep with me is like trying to choose which of your children you want to banish for 3 months. It is a nightmare. A nightmare, I tell you!

Now, I must remember NOT to pack my Anthony Powell books away. Nor my textbooks/ articles files……..

PhD

I have been chipping away at this and the final chapter is taking shape. I’ve found a few little nuggets from my reading, so am hoping that they make sense in the finished chapter. I’m aiming to have this chapter done in the autumn (taking into account our house move etc) and then it’s just the final editing to do. Although at times I can see my thesis far enough, I’m still really enjoying it and am thankful that the uni have given me this chance to follow my dream – even though I suspect I will be wayyyyy too old to pursue my dream job of being an academic/lecturer when I finish. I’m glowering at 2017 me who was certain that she would get this done in 4 years. Hah! Well, I guess with events over the next couple of years, that wasn’t likely to happen. I’m keeping on going anyway. I’m just grateful that my supervisor has the patience of a saint.

TV/Netflix

I don’t actually watch very much TV but this January I was absolutely hooked on The Traitors. It’s a psychological reality show where, within a group of strangers, three of them are allocated the role of traitor (these traitors ‘murder’ a ‘faithful’ contestant every night) and the others (the ‘faithful’) have to try and work out who the traitors are. I ended up watching the UK and the US versions – it was that good. The series’ are still available on BBC iPlayer.

As far as Netflix goes, it was Gilmore Girls all the way. This has been my favourite show since the 2000s and Lorelai is one of my fictional heroines. When I’m having an unproductive writing day, or am having a blue day as I’m missing my Mum, a couple of episodes of GG goes on Netflix and the world is a better place again. I’ve already watched every single episode of every single series (and the re-union) several times but, like ‘Friends’, they are worth a re-watch over and over again. Even more gratifying is getting my daughter hooked on it too; we sometimes share watch-parties, me in my home and my daughter in her flat in Dundee. I want to live in Stars Hollow. Even if it is just a stage set (the same one that was used for the town in the original – and best – ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’). I need a Luke’s where soup-bowlfuls of coffee are served all the time. Nowhere here sells coffee in massive mugs. Big letdown.

I have also been watching Suits, as I have done for years. It’s quite compelling. And the US version of The Office, which I love. But nothing tops Gilmore Girls. Sorry, not sorry.

Music

Photo by Elviss Railijs Bitu0101ns on Pexels.com

Music I have enjoyed over the past month has included a bit of Magnum. I have no idea why, in January and February, I end up playing Magnum and Pink Floyd more than at any other time of year. I guess I see them as ‘winter bands’. Odd – that’s the synaesthesia again. Best song, by far, by Magnum has to be ‘On a Storyteller’s Night’. That whole album is pretty darn good, mind you. I’ve also been re-visiting my love of Dire Straits. They don’t make bands like them any more!

Additionally, I always have some ambient music playing when I’m thesis-writing, and have been enjoying albums by Karl Jenkins (my utter favourite), Mythos, Lesiem, and Mehdi a lot. Chill out synth music with lyrics in another tongue – made up or not – which doesn’t distract me from my work. Perfect.

Interesting article:

Here’s a thing I read that I found interesting: There is a saying “you are only as old as you feel”. But, is that actual chronological age, or biological age? Aren’t they the same, you ask? Well, according to this article in the National Geographic, they could differ vastly. Knowledge of the biological age of someone could be “worth a thousand blood tests” in health promotion and disease prevention. How is biological age ascertained? By 3D imaging. It sounds expensive (a basic xray is fairly costly, alone) but the potential benefits to be gleaned from this in the future, particularly in relation to medical diagnoses and treatments (such as those for cancer which, according to the article, can cause premature ageing) are profound. Will it ever take off in our cash-strapped NHS (if, indeed, the NHS still exists in decades’ time), or would it likely be a procedure only accessible to the wealthy? One wonders.

Onward to February, my least favourite of months for many reasons. At least it’s the shortest!