THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR........


This is the time of year when, as I study my address book, I see the changes in personal friendships, of those who have lived and died.  Perhaps it is because of the phase of my life, that this year, there have not been any divorces or separations. There are no new additions to family groups.

At this time of the year, I am thinking what stage of development we are all at.  The very young ones, what will best suit them; the teenagers, maybe something 'off the wall'. But then, what seems very different to my way of thinking, may be really weird for them...if that's the case, then it's definitely out of the box thinking, and I will go with it!

What about my contemporaries?   They are scattered all over the world.  What do their life circumstances and tastes tell me; they generate ideas as to what those friends might appreciate or enjoy.  Some ideas I have are very simple, some a little more complex, others arrive serendipitously.  We, me and my contemporaries, are moving inexorably along, to being the older generation.  Our older generation have nearly all passed on.

 FIRST WINTER ICE

We had our first really wintry night and day. A hard frost lay over the land, there was no freezing mist, there was no bright sun either.

I donned my padded coat, with its ribbed neck collar and double storm front, found my warmest gloves, made sure I had comfortable footwear, with a suitable sole, and trotted out. 

It was just the right kind of day for a walk, that sort of healthy dry cold weather, in which you meet unhealthy people with their current viruses, coughs, colds and laryngitis, keen to let you know, what they've got, by whatever means possible.

I was taking a short cut to the other side of town. Most of the ice underfoot had disappeared on the paths; but, on one slope, there was an almost invisible stretch of it. Someone coming in the opposite direction noticed the ice patch and carefully stepped round it. She talked about where it might be safest to continue her walk.

Another person trotted down the slope, I called out a warning. She was unsure how to deal with it,not a good thing. I talked this woman through the few steps round the danger point. Last year, she said, she had fallen, and did not want to repeat the experience. 

Both of the ladies were wearing flat dainty 2-lace holes shoes, with unsuitable soles. (Must be a generational thing). I hope they are able to have a re-think about their footwear, now we have had our first experience this Winter, of real icy conditions.

 TICKLED PINK BY THE THEATRE MONKEY


I am tickled pink! A friend has had his first book published.  It’s not a novel, it is a ‘guide’.   My attention was drawn to this delightful phenomenon when I heard a non-sexy BBC radio 4 discussion on ‘You and Yours’ on Friday 27th November, 2009, about London Theatre land, (London U.K that is). It can be picked up again on the BBC ‘Play it Again’ feature, for another five days or so.

I was in my car. Actually, I had just parked and was about to hop out and get into a shop, when I heard two people whinging about poor theatre seat positioning and structural problems with some views,  plus changes to seating arrangements which were unexpected, and so on, when a most useful site to help overcome such difficulties, was mentioned.

www.theatremoneky.com  “Wow!” I know that site, its developer and mainstay. I knew it in its infancy, many years ago, when it was no more than a page of words. The baby has since grown into a great, dynamic well performing international website.


Once home, I emailed my friend.  Mine was one of a clutch of similar emails he had received. Since then, I have purchased two copies of his book, Theatremonkey, by Steve Rich, to gift as presents to people I know, who would be able to get lots of benefit from it. It’s available by mail order at The book Depository (www.bookdepository.com) or Amazon.  If you are in the area, there’s also a theatre shop in Monmouth Street London W1. where the book can be found. I think the name of the shop will be on Steve’s site www.Theatremonkey.com