Ballet - Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood performed by Ballet Cymru

Watching the performance of Under Milk Wood last night I decided that this was the absolute best of the three performances by this company that I have seen. Ballet Cymru have  performed How Green is my Valley and Lady of the Lake previously and I saw them both, but this one definitely has the edge.A play for voices is now a dance for words!

A Review Quotes:

Ballet Cymru are a young, vital group who are pushing back the barriers of classical ballet.  Using powerful and timeless stories the company challenges it's dancers to interpret some of the finest characters in literature. With a unique unpretentious style, Ballet Cymru is the perfect way to enjoy the highest possible standard of dance and storytelling.

Jane Eyre

Having watched this film last night I found it slow and dark - dark as in lighting not in content . Directed by Cary Fukunaga, starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, based on the 1847 novel of the same name by Charlotte Bronte. The content was as accurate as I have seen and Mia Wasikowska has possibly given the best performance of Jane Eyre to date. But somehow it didn't work for me.  Almost two thirds of the film was shot in candlelight and, although atmospheric, became difficult to watch which made the film seem slow. No criticism of the performances though, and Dame Judy Dench was superb as Mrs Fairfax - as usual. The film was apparently shot in mainly in Derbyshire. Northern England – Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the moors and dales – they look like they’re something straight out of a  horror film.  Ten out of ten for atmospherics all the way through.

Death in a valley...

On Friday and over the weekend there was a desperate search for four of seven miners that had been trapped in a coal mine near Pontadawe. It was a grim exercise which had become invasive by media presence. We all read or saw the television news about the men that were trapped in the Gleision colliery and what a major operation it was after the men became trapped in the flooded shaft. Every family had the sympathy of the country - rightly so.

It is the first mining disaster for many years and there are many people, like myself, that did not know coal was still being mined in South Wales. But how did the families of the men feel with all the press and media attention during the most private and awful time that they are likely to experience.  A day when it must have felt like Russian Roulette with names of the dead being released to them one by one no-one knowing who's body would be found next?

How do families respond at such a time? Through what mechanisms are they warned of media interest and by what criteria are these warnings assessed?  We all want the news, but I suspect it's very hard ordinary families who live private lives to suddenly be thrust forth into a spotlight.  I think in our thirst for the latest piece of news, whether it's to satisfy our curiosity or genuine interest in the subject or people, we forget about the grieving relatives rights to privacy at such a time.

We were all hoping last weekend for our own version of the successful Chilean Miners outcome which occurred last year, but sadly it was not to be.

My Latest Pottery Creation.

'Smudge Bowl' - This fruit bowl came out well.  Trying to smudge the paint was really difficult

Having decided not to go back to pottery classes, I did wonder this morning if I had made the right decision. My pottery partner brought down the dish I made last term and I think it's rather nice. It's a hand made fruit bowl - not thrown.  Then it needed a 'distressed smudge'.  I think I did quite well! I have to blow my own trumpet, no one else to do it for me!!!

The accredited class which cost £28 for thirty weeks has been dropped in favour of the more popular Lifestyle class. This costs £43 every ten weeks plus £3 a week towards the clay.That totals £219 for thirty weeks.  This fee is out of the reach of most people wanting a hobby and a huge hike up from the £28 which is my own objection.

Matthew Jones is the tutor and classes are still held at Oxford House in Risca if anyone reading this wishes to join.  I would thoroughly recommend Matthew, he is an excellent teacher  Telephone: 01633 612245

Proms in the Park

 A Real Old Fashioned Cloudburst

 Caerphilly Castle at Night

One programme that got soaked through inside my handbag!

It seemed a great idea to go to the Proms in the Park, to listen to wonderful music, link up with the Royal Albert Hall at nine thirty and to sing along with the Promenaders. No one could have forecast the deluge that arrived just as we did! My friend and I were soaked through to our underwear.  By the time the organisers called it off for health & Safety reasons (water in the electrics) we were ankle deep in mud too! A disappointing evening, but the atmosphere was good.  The BBC National Orchestra and BBC Chorus of Wales had been there all day rehearsing, so I guess they were as disappointed as the promenaders.  A real Wash out!

Trying to get a refund on the tickets at the moment.  That will ease some of the disappointment!

Lyme Regis

Part of the Jurassic Coast

Sailing Yacht Race in Lyme Bay.

A recent short break in Dorset was relaxing.  I just love the place.  During a four day break my cousin and I managed to find some family graves, eat plenty of beautifully fresh fish, visit an Art Gallery and walk on the beach.  One thing we didn't do was find any fossils; if we had found some we could do anything about them anyway as it is an offence to remove or tamper with any fossils found on the beach.

The Jurassic Coast is a great place to find fossils and the best place to find them is around Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The Jurassic clays here formed in a deep tropical sea, the soft muddy bottom of which was often stagnant, creating a sulphurous and anoxic environment, the best conditions for preserving the shells, bones and even soft tissue of dead prehistoric creatures.

It is these stagnant seabed conditions which have given the cliffs around Charmouth their dark colour (and smell!), and it explains why the sediments found here, the 195 million year old Green Ammonite beds and 197 million year old Belamnite Marls, are some of the richest fossil bearing deposits to be found anywhere along the Jurassic Coast.

A lovely, interesting part of the country, a place I have known for over forty years and never tire of going back.