Ichabod's Day

 I have always been fascinated by the notion that characters in books can mix with each other across stories and across bookshelves on certain nights of the year. No idea where that came from - it may even have been something I made up as a child (always had heaps of imagination, plenty of day dreams and a good dose of "fey"). In fact, 36 years ago (!!!!) I wrote a pantomime - helped by 2 of my colleagues and friends at that time - John McCran - who sadly is no longer with us, and Tony Hadley - not _the_ Tony Hadley, but a Welsh physio. The basic plotline was mine, John and Tony helped with details and with the script - which I seem to remember having to censor on many, _many_  occasions. The plot line followed something like this: 7 years after the Snow White/Prince Charming happily ever after and the 7 year itch was beginning to show cracks in the marriage. The wicked queen had heard that the Holy Grail can give immortal youth and beauty and she wanted some of that, so she

Recently my niece expressed a wish to return to the more traditional focus of Christmas. But what might that mean? One that is not driven by commercialism, or by excess? Looking back at some of the previous eras, these excesses are very much tradition. The Elizabethans and the Georgians certainly celebrated to excess, the Victorians with the advent of mechanisation brought mass production and Dickens created a Christmas that we all still aspire to today that can often be fraught with false expectation of family unity, charity and repleteness – and not to mention snow!  We often glibly state that we know Christmas was pieced together from Celtic, pagan and other global traditions. Here in England we kind of know that it has “roots” in celtic/druid lore, possibly Saturnalia (Roman Times) and that Christianity took some of the tradition and amalgamated into their own celebrations and then Dickens came along during the Victorian era and re-invented the season.   But this is not necessaril

  Recently my brother set me a challenge. Sending me the article by Neil Gaiman  where he offers 5 comfort reads to turn to in difficult times. My brother challenged me for my 5. Easy peasy methinks - I'm an avid reader, have loads of books - how hard can it be??  Hmmm - not so. It would seem that I rarely read "one off" books preferring to be in it for the long haul with trilogies, or even more, in a series. I hadn't ever considered this - but clearly I want to really get to grips with the characters and their worlds and one book often won't often do this for me. I have of course read many of the "classics" - Austen, Dickens, Hardy, Brontes but would I offer any of these as a comfort read? As a book I go back to again and again for comfort in difficult times?  I would also not be offering a complete picture if I didn't admit to reading "chick-lit" especially the paperbacks sold at supermarkets with a Christmas theme on the cover - but agai

  This week marks the one month anniversary since I retired - it feels both possible and impossible that one month has passed.  Lesson #1: I may be turning into Dame Maggie I am learning that I don't have to do everything all at once, I am definitely slowing my pace - which is a good thing. The days blend into one and I find I'm doing  the Senior Moment narrative of "what day is it"? From looking at a calendar/diary eleventy-two times a day to ensure I was where I should be at any given moment, I now find I forget to look and have had a couple of near misses with family birthdays - but caught them just in time- phew! I find I am becoming a bit Dame Maggie in Downton Abbey - "what is a weekend?" https://youtu.be/zhfpBW-nUWk Lesson #2: Once an OT always an OT/Never too old to learn new skills  I thought I would be a "lady who lunches" that I would be spending time visiting family in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Fra

  Here is my list of 24 films to watch during advent.... I make no apologies for any cheesy, classic or non christmassy entries.  I have linked trailers on You tube and where available the whole movie. However, things can change with copyright and posting on you tube so these may not always be available. The links all work at the time of writing. I would love to see your list - feel free to add in the comments below:                                         The Holiday                     https://youtu.be/BDi5zH18vxU  Home Alone                   https://youtu.be/jEDaVHmw7r4   Full movie:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3-QBAqTql0                               Holiday Inn https://youtu.be/dcU0o7N2vig                           Jingle all the Way https://youtu.be/jhJYMEzQA-Q                              Scrooge https://youtu.be/VZ3lr3urgDU             Die Hard https://youtu.be/jaJuwKCmJbY                         The Santa Clause https://youtu.be/Bx8FX7etF_8                      The Sn