Nine to Three Thirty

Week 31: 2018

Barmouth from the ferry boat

Last Saturday morning we were still in Barmouth. We set off back fairly early after breakfast and all went well on the journey till we were nearly in Welshpool. H said he wasn’t feeling well, but there was nowhere to pull over and the road is single track both way and we were in a convoy of traffic. So he threw up all his breakfast in the car. He hasn’t been travel sick for ages so we were caught a little unawares. I parked up in Welshpool in the local Sainsburys car park and went in to buy wipes. We don’t use wipes that much now and the ones we did have in the car had dried up. Lots of wiping and a change of clothes for H later and we were ready to carry on home. When we got back we had another go at cleaning the car and I did it again the next day too. Now it looks ok, but the car does stink of the air freshener I hung up to disguise the smell (not sure which smell was worse).

Sunday was quite a quiet day and then H went off on his second holiday of the summer with his Dad. I’m afraid I haven’t taken many photos this week.

H did send me this selfie to let me know he’d arrived at his holiday safely, but that’s all I’ve heard from him. It is very quiet here without him. That said I have been living it up since he’s been gone and I’ve been out most nights. It’s not all play though, I have a long list of jobs to do while he’s gone, and I’ve been working hard at them, but I’ve already realised that quite a lot aren’t going to get done – I was being too ambitious.

Encyclopedias and Hot Air Balloons #my_untoldstory

james tytler

My six times great-grandfather was quite a character I think. His name was James Tytler (17 December 1745-11 January 1804) . He started off in life as a Scottish Presbyterian minister’s son and he received a good education. He became a preacher in the Church of Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, after which he was apprenticed to a ship’s surgeon for one year. After this he set up his own pharmacy business which wasn’t a great financial success. By this time he was married with five children too so he had a lot of commitments.

Now in trouble with his creditors he took various measures to avoid them by leaving town at times and seeking sanctuary in the abbey grounds at others. To earn a living he turned to writing and he was a very prolific writer. He wasn’t afraid of writing about any subject and in fact he took on the much of the writing and editing of the Second and Third Editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The second edition was 10 volumes long, so it was quite a task and he worked on the various editions for several years at a time. The encyclopedia continues to this day although nowadays it’s online only (rather than that handsome collection of books that you used to see in libraries). It’s lovely that something my six times great-grandfather worked on is still in existence today.

Great Edinburgh Fire Balloon James Tytler’s other claim to fame is that he was the first person in the UK to fly a hot air balloon. It’s an amazing story of dedication and enthusiasm. He was inspired by the exploits of the French pioneers of hot air ballooning, the Montgolfier brothers, and decided to make his own (and fly it). The trouble was that he didn’t have any funds to do this, so he set off to raise money by public subscription (the crowdfunding of its day I guess). He designed the Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon and after several attempts succeeded in flying it on 25 August 1784, in Edinburgh. His balloon rose a few feet from the ground. Two days later he managed to reach a height of some 350 feet, travelling for half a mile between Green House on the northern edge of what is now Holyrood Park to the nearby village of Restalrig. That was pretty much the height of his success and it didn’t go well after that. In October his balloon only took off after Tytler left the ballon’s basket, to the anger of the crowd. Having previously been ‘the toast of Edinburgh’, he was made fun of and called a coward. His last flight was on 26 July 1785.

In later life he continued to have money problems and got himself into some political hot water with the authorities. He went to Ireland and later the United States to get away from all of that. He made his home in Salem, Massachusetts, and whilst walking home from a drinking session, Tytler fell into the sea and drowned in 1804.

James Tytler certainly led an eventful life and I do wonder whether my love of writing has come down the generations from him.

What’s your untold story? You could win an ancestry DNA testing set by telling your untold stories.

Week 30: 2018

leaving primary

It was starting to feel like H had been leaving primary school for ever as the end of term seemed to drag out. Whilst officially Birmingham schools didn’t finish until Tuesday, most chose the sensible option of teacher training days for the Monday and Tuesday. Sadly not H’s school.

leaving primary

The end. It was very emotional for some of the right and some of the wrong reasons. I actually feel kind of relieved the goodbye thing is over and we can just concentrate on secondary and having a good summer holiday. I took H to see The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at the theatre in the evening. He loved it and was laughing his head off, including at some slightly naughty bits.

Barmouth view of roof tops

On Wednesday we escaped from the city. There were a few obstacles in our way: an accident outside Welshpool that caused a big delay; various road works with a convoy car (something I have only ever seen in Wales) which took an age; and our usual breakfast spot had turned in a coffee shop (so we had to find a different spot for brekkie). We got there in the end and the weather was glorious: sunny, warm, but with just the right amount of sea breeze. We went for a walk after breakfast: it was supposed to be a big walk, but whilst H seemed to think it was, I didn’t. That said, it was a bit hot for walking despite the breeze so we had a lazy day. We did climb up the cliffs above the town to enjoy the view.

ferry ride

Thursday saw us managing quite a bit more walking, although H complained about his legs at the end. We did a round trip walking across the railway bridge that spans the estuary and looping around to catch the passenger ferry back to Barmouth. It’s only £2 each and a bit of fun.

Mawddach Estuary

It had become clear that H didn’t want to do a lot on holiday (tired I think after a long term), so we settled into a routine of going for a morning walk after breakfast. After that we either went shopping (we got some real bargains), the beach, the pub or sometimes all three. It was a really chilled out few days away together. The weather broke on the last evening and we had to miss out on a meal at our favourite pub because it’s all about the view (the food is fairly ordinary) and if we couldn’t sit outside there’d be no point. The pub we’d been going to for our evening meal is very popular and it was too late to get a table. The other pub had closed its kitchen because the owners were celebrating the sale of their business that very day. They were up for us going to the chippy over the road and bringing back our fish and chips though so all was well in the end.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at The Old Rep

Complete works of shakespeare abridged

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when we arrived to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at The Old Rep, Birmingham. I was expecting funny and manic, but I wasn’t quite sure how it would pan out. It was very silly, but lots of fun and I learnt a bit about some plays I hadn’t seen or read.

Basically there are 3 actors on stage and they perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays within the space of 97 minutes. That’s quite a feat. It’s a full on 97 minutes for all 3 actors and they are barely off stage at all during the performance (except when they are coming into the audience to throw up over you – don’t worry there’s no actual vomit involved). It’s fast paced, but they get off to a slow start with Romeo and Juliet and realise that they need to speed up if they are to get them all done in time. The more famous plays get more stage time as things progress. We particularly liked the history plays sequence with its rugby themed treatment – I’d have never have thought of that take on Henry V and the rest, but it summed them up and made for a lot of fun.

“In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), the range of emotions that I go through in around one and a half hours,” said actor Matthew Duckett, having a welcome coffee during a break in rehearsals, “is like living in fast forward mode- exhausting! For example:- one minute I swoon at Juliet’s feet, the next I jump around the stage and rap the story of Othello , then offer advice to Macbeth in a ‘perrrrrrrrrfect’ Scottish accent, fence Hamlet, and then, of course face the mountainous task at the end.”

This promising young actor, who studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, continued, “I feel so fortunate that I have been given this opportunity so early in my career. I am determined to give it my all. During my background research for this project I realised that Shakespeare never intended his works to be only highbrow entertainment but accessible to all, which is something I think we achieve here.”

When asked who should see this play he replied, “Anyone between the ages of 12 and 112. There is something here for everyone. Even if you do not like Shakespeare, it’s still fun and enjoyable to watch”

I’d agree with this as I took my 11-year-old to see it and he loved it. I was a bit concerned at how much he giggled at various points (they must have covered more in those school puberty lessons that I thought) and he was laughing out loud in several places. He loved the manic nature of the play and he’s enjoyed reading abridged and manga versions of many of the plays so he’s familiar with some of the stories. We’d loved it and would happily go to see it again.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is produced by the National Production Company and directed by the award winning John-Robert Partridge. It runs from Tuesday 24 July to Saturday 28 July 2018 at The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham. Tickets available from www.oldreptheatre.co.uk or call the box office on 0121 359 9444.

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