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Flotsam and Jetsam

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Closure

February 19, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

<a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/flat-vintage-travel-poster_4661673.htm#page=2&query=airplane&position=47&from_view=keyword&track=sph&uuid=8990c9ee-9876-4a5f-93b5-870f42785c91">Image by pikisuperstar</a> on Freepik“The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday”

Steve Maraboli

My last post to this journal ended with this sentence:

“Anyway – I feel that it will not be long until the news here, at least, takes a turn for the better“.

The very next day…

Quite enough has been written in these postings over the last ten months concerning our abortive attempt at a trip of a lifetime, featuring an all bells and whistles safari to Botswana. If you somehow missed the saga of how British Airways wrote off our epic adventure (along with a considerable chunk of our savings) then simply use the search feature on the home page. A search for “British Airways” or any one of a number of expletives should return the information that you seek.

Back in December – shortly before Christmas – this post brought regular readers up to date with the current status of our long (out)standing insurance claims – by means of which we hoped to recover at least some of our outlay. At that point (back in November) the girl had received a partial payment from our main insurers but I had heard nothing. The post ended thus:

“We must, of course, needs be patient yet and wait and see what happens…”

So – back to where we started:

The very next day…

…I received in the post a cheque from our insurers. It was for the full amount of the claim (actually by a small but discernible margin rather more than I was expecting).

Hoo-bloomin’-rah!

Delighted as she was for me, The Girl was understandably put out that she had been left out of this little bonanza.

However – the very next day (again!)…

…another missive arrived from the insurers, this time including a cheque for the residue of her claim.

Hoo-bloomin’-rah-some-more!

Where does this leave us? Well – all the claims that could be met and all the payments that the various parties could not avoid making – are in. We have, between the two of us, recovered something in excess of $24,000 (CAD). That might seem impressive had we not laid out just slightly less than $40,000 (CAD) on the trip and the recovery operation as a whole.

Well – we did get a (hugely expensive) week in the UK, though much of that time was spent either on the phone to British Airways or being unable to sleep because of a growing sense of panic.

No matter. ‘Tis over and done and we have all the closure we are going to get.

I promise that I will do my damnedest not to mention it again.

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The deep roots

February 9, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

The deep roots never doubt spring will come

Marti Rubin

American author Lionel Shriver wrote:

“February is for curmudgeons, whinge-bags, and misanthropes. You can’t begrudge us one month of the year or blame us for being even crabbier, it’s so short. There is nothing good about it, which is why it’s so great”.

Ah – ha! Not so short this year… this being a leap year!

That aside it is not altogether difficult to agree with Ms Schriver. By the time one has finished exhaustively cataloging all the reasons why February in so darn cheerless (Six Nations Rugby aside) it is almost over.

Hmmm!

However, what we all know – of course – is that under the forbiddingly dark, dank, semi-frozen soil, all of the tender young shoots are working out – gathering their strength ready to burst forth just as soon as spring gets the go-ahead. It may not look as though too much is happening right now – but it is all just waiting for the call to arms.

Now – as it happens this is not too bad an analogy for how things appear chez The Girl and I. To the casual observer nothing much might seem to be happening – but that would be misleading. We are currently both working (so much for retirement!) from home.

Having spent a considerable amount of time (and money) over the last few post-COVID years, driving into one or other of the College’s Victoria campuses, I find myself this year co-ordinating an online course from the comfort of my studio. I say co-ordinating – rather than teaching – because this course is entirely asynchronous… which means that I prepare course materials, make little videos, post all manner of resources on our learning platform and wait for assignments to roll in for marking. It is a not altogether unpleasant way of going about things, though I do miss the face to face teaching a little. It does seem to be – however – what the students require nowadays.

The Girl is also beavering away in her home office, on the project that cannot yet be named. Her endeavours actually also involve some travel (concerning which I am less keen) – but she does have a sparkle in her eye, which is good to see. Let’s hope that it stays there!

So – for now we just ‘sit back’ and wait. Spring will soon be here!

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Measured by years

January 8, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid“Age is not measured by years. Nature does not equally distribute energy. Some people are born old and tired while others are going strong at seventy”.

Dorothy Thompson

On January 7th 2014 I wrote this post whilst sitting in the departure hall at Vancouver International airport, waiting for a flight back to the UK. The Girl and I had been visiting British Columbia for Christmas and the New Year – as well as for a trip up island to Tofino… more specifically to the Wickaninnish Inn. The chief purpose for our trip there was to celebrate my sixtieth birthday – that somewhat scary turning of a decade which is a precursor to impending old age.

Now – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that – if I turned sixty in 2014 – I must now have finally reached the ripe old age of seventy…

…which is indeed the case.

Our 2014 trip to Tofino was all the more epic because we were still living in the UK at the time. This time round we were not only resident in the country in which we celebrated, but also just down the road from our chosen destination – that favourite of ours, the Brentwood Lodge Spa. Because The Girl was in charge of the details the event turned out to be a slick piece of organisation – and a lot of fun and relaxation to boot.

We trundled over to the spa on Friday for sumptuous ninety minute massages (hmmm! dreamy!) – but came home thereafter to sleep in our own bed. We re-traced our footsteps on the Saturday and checked in for the night to one of what really are very gorgeous West Coast rooms – overlooking Brentwood Bay and the Mill Bay ferry dock.

There was time for lounging in the pool (outdoors, but startlingly warm) and the hot tub before we dolled ourselves up for dinner. We hugely enjoyed a splendid coastal repast with Tuna Tataki, Scallops and mushroom risotto to the fore – supported ably by a delicious bottle of BC Fool’s Mate Chardonnay from Checkmate Artisinal Winery.

Yum!

As for the birthday – job done!

Here are some piccies…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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One and one and one is three

December 27, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“He roller-coaster, he got early warnin’
He got muddy water, he one mojo filter
He say, “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-lookin’, ’cause he’s so hard to see”

John Lennon – ‘Come together’

It is – as I have repeated many times before – my habit at around the turn of the year to look back and ponder on the twelve months that have recently ended, before turning my thoughts toward the nascent year just arriving, there to surmise what might be expected in each of the most important areas of our lives. At around this time last year my wits were full of the then recently taken (and, as it proved, fateful!) decision to mount a trip-of-a-lifetime safari to Botswana. My meanderings concluded thus:

“Such is the mental magnitude of the undertaking that we don’t have much space left in our imaginations at this juncture to conjure up other aims and ambitions for the year – with the exception of a musical ambition on my part. The Chanteuse and I have decreed that this year we should prepare ourselves to perform live. Even should we not manage so to do before the year’s end – we will be ready and raring to go immediately thereafter. More on this also – later in the year”.

So – how did we get on?

Well – we haven’t played live… yet!

These things are complex and take time. Our music is emotional and cinematic and not easily transcribed to a single acoustic guitar and a washboard (neither of which either of us plays). The whole business clearly required careful consideration and not a little experimentation.

What we did first was to release a couple of singles – ‘Perfect‘ and ‘The Journey Home‘ – with the idea of keeping our music in the public eye. Through these releases we achieved a number of firsts:

  • We got our first playlistings
  • We had our first reviews
  • We had the first articles written about us in online blogs
  • We appeared on several compilation releases courtesy of the wonderful Aldora Britain Records
  • We made our first video to accompany one of our recordings

We also had enjoyed another first… but more of that later.

The trouble with playing complex music live is that there are basically two different ways of achieving it: one can work with a lot of technology – or with a whole bunch of people (musicians!).

Finding the right musicians is difficult. One is asking folk to voluntarily give up a lot of their time and expertise to do something for which the rewards could be precious but nebulous. When one is young finding musicians is easy and in my chequered past I have done so many times. Young people have energy and ideas and want to get involved. They don’t much care about being rewarded and they tend to be only partly formed – which makes it easier for them to adapt and to meld themselves to their chosen project.

Older people tend to be more set in their ways – more cynical – more particular about what they want to do and what they won’t do – and also about whether or not they expect to get paid for it.

In short – putting a band together when you are young happens almost without effort. When one is older – it don’t!…

…hence the interest in the technology. Using all this wonderful gear is very much the thing of now – but it does have down-sides. It is expensive and complex to do well – and it is difficult to get a truly human result unless one is very good at it. We spent a chunk of the year playing around with various setups trying to see if we could get things to work as a duo, but the truth is that our music properly requires real people, playing together.

So – our other first… the first time we played with another musician – the fiddle player who provided a session for one of our singles (thank you)…

…which led ultimately to this year’s really big news: we now have a new member! – who shall, for the purposes of this blog, be awarded the sobriquet – The Jongleur.

This exciting development brings us a most important second voice – the which will be essential for playing live and one which miraculously blends beautifully with The Chanteuse.

Welcome! Welcome!!

Of course, this won’t just affect playing live. The other looking-forward news item is that we are writing furiously and have already compiled more than half the material needed for a new album – the which we anticipate appearing in public sometime around the middle of the year.

So – much excitement – much to look forward to.

Find us here:

 

 

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It’s Christmas!…

December 25, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

…to friends, acquaintances and gentle readers…

…from the Kickass Canada Girl and the Imperceptible Immigrant…

we wish you a safe and peaceful Christmas and a Happy Hogmany!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Adjusting the sails

December 23, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

William Arthur Ward

I promised a catch-up… Here is part one!

When The Girl and I booked our ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to Africa (‘never in a lifetime’ as it turned out) we spread the financial load by each using our own individual credit cards. This seemed a perfectly logical thing to do – at the time – but as things turned out it created more difficulties both before the trip and in the aftermath.

During the build up to the trip the ‘delightful’ British Airways took it upon themselves to change various features of our itinerary (flights, planes, routes etc) on a number of occasions – each time seating us in different parts of the plane regardless of our protestations that they knew perfectly well that we were traveling together. Each incident took considerable phone-based efforts on our part to correct.

In the aftermath of the fiasco, our attempts to recover as much of the costs as we could – through refunds from the airlines and payments from the insurance policies that we had (thank goodness!) taken out beforehand – has also proved tricky beyond belief. British Airways gave us the bare minimum that they could get away with legally and refused to compensate us for the additional $1,500 that they had changed us each to get back to Canada.

As a result of the bookings having been made separately we were obliged to submit separate but virtually identical insurance claims (two apiece) at virtually the same time. In the case of the lesser claim I received a cheque first but The Girl had to wait nearly another month for hers. For the larger claim – the which covered the safari package itself – she received a cheque (though not for the full amount!) back in October. I have yet to hear from them!

The explanation for The Girl’s partial payment – according to our insurers – is that some items for which we had claimed were ineligible for a coverage. The Girl pointed out to them that the safari packages had been sold and billed as a single items and must therefore either be eligible in their entirety or not at all. As we did not get to go on any part of the adventure (or even to share a continent with it) we are firmly of the view that we should be reimbursed the full whack.

We must, of course, needs be patient yet and wait and see what happens…

 

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Cruelly sweet

December 9, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start, when memory plays an old tune upon the heart“

Eliza Cook

Way back in the dim and distant past – in what was virtually a pre-historic era in blog-world-time – The Girl and I took a poor decision; that we would live on different continents for what now feels like an absolute age. In the event we managed about ten months, with her resident here in Victoria and I yet back in the Old Country.

What were we thinking?

Those whose length of service qualifies them as blog-old-timers (yes – there are a few!) will recall that her departure for the West Coast of Canada back in 2012 was indeed the spark from which this online journal took fire. Commenced as a displacement activity as much as anything it rapidly became apparent that these scribblings might be useful as a way of keeping in touch with a small community of those either related to… or long-standing friends of… this slightly odd couple with the questionable decision-making skills.

“For what reason…” – I hear you ask, somewhat warily – “is this memory playing an old tune etc, etc – at this particular time?!“

Well – I refer you to this post from December 2017 – back in the pre-COVID world. On that occasion The Girl and I both visited Puerto Vallarta together, on what was my first ever trip to Mexico. Her timeshare share (huh!) is still there and still being paid for, so it is entirely proper that she should make use of the facility… the which she is currently doing. The real question is “Why aren’t I there with her?” – looking after her and keeping her safe. The answer is – of course – that I have still the end of term to negotiate, with its concomitant group of students suddenly keener than they have thus far been to get a decent grade at the end of the course.

The Girl and I are thus once again living in different nation states – though only for two weeks this time. Whereas she thoroughly deserves the rest and recuperation after what has been a tough year – I still don’t care for the apart-ness of the whole thing.

Guess I’ll just have to ‘cowboy up‘ and get on with it!

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Some temporal rituals

November 25, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe Encyclopedia Britannica (online edition) says on the subject of rituals:

“A complete analysis of ritual would also include its relation to art, architecture, and the specific objects used in ritual such as specific forms of ritual dress. All of these components are found in ritual contexts, and all of them are nonverbal in structure and meaning.”

“Huh!” – I hear you exclaim… “Where is he going with this?”

“Patience!” – say I. The encyclopedia continues:

“Most rituals mark off a particular time of the day, month, year, stage in life, or commencement of a new event or vocation. This temporal characteristic of ritual is often called “sacred time .” What must not be forgotten in the study of ritual is a special aspect of ritual that is often described as “sacred space.” Time and place are essential features of ritual action, and both mark a specific orientation or setting for ritual. Time and space, whether a plot of ground or a magnificent temple, are ritually created and become, in turn, the context for other rituals.”

What time of the year is more endowed with ritual than the winter festival season that includes – amongst other celebrations – Christmas? And do we not imbue the occasion with timely rituals both old and newly devised?

“Yes!” and “yes” would be appropriate responses to those questions.

Yes – the run in to Christmas is upon us and we each mark the season in our own particular fashions. For example, The Girl and I know that Christmas is shortly to be upon us when it is time to make a festive run up island to partake of luncheon with The Girl’s mother – and other venerable friends – and to exchange the first gifts of the season. This usually happens at about the same point on the calendar as does the annual charitable event that sees Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express pull in to the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney for its annual fundraising concert. I have written about the Cariboo Express repeatedly over the years and I will continue so to do as long as each occasion proves to be the same festival of joy and love to which we have become accustomed… the which it happily continues to be.

Sacred times – sacred spaces!

Here are some boat pictures from our ferry crossing to Mill Bay on our way up island.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Peter Gabriel

October 30, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I promised gentle readers a couple of posts back that I would write something on the subject of Peter Gabriel’s recent concert appearance in Vancouver – a step along the way on the North American leg of his ‘i/o’ tour – the which is in support of his eagerly anticipated but as yet unreleased new album.

Actually, ‘unreleased‘ is somewhat misleading. Mr. Gabriel has been releasing tracks from the up-coming album on a monthly basis – coinciding with the full moon – since the start of the year… Should one be a subscriber (as, you will be unsurprised to hear – I am) then one gets all of the tracks in a variety of different edits, plus the full collection upon release. What a brilliant notion!

I first wrote about the excellent Mr G. in these jottings back in 2013 on the occasion of our first experience in London (of two!) of the ‘So‘ album’s twenty fifth anniversary tour. That post contained just the first of many PG references to feature within these ephemera and included the following testimonial:

“I do not believe that I have ever been – or could ever be – a party to a serious relationship with anyone who was not an admirer of the most excellent Mr Peter Gabriel. Those with whom I have shared such accord will undoubtedly testify to my continuing enthusiasm for the man and his works over an extended period.

The Kickass Canada Girl and I – naturally – established early on that we were mutual admirers, the chief difference between us being that whereas I have genuinely lost count of the number of times that I have seen Mr G perform live in the flesh, she had not – to the point at which we met – had that opportunity at all.

So it was – back in the summer of 2007 – that the Girl and I found ourselves huddled close together under the pouring rain in the grounds of a stately home in Norfolk. We had trekked all the way up there to catch one of a small number of dates that Gabriel was playing as a warm-up to that year’s WOMAD festival.”

I still can’t accurately recall all of the times that I have seen the estimable Mr. Gabriel, but I believe that the first time I did so was in 1978 or 1979. I am not aware of having missed a tour since then, several times seeing the great man at both the start and end of world tours.

This year’s show was a wonderful mixture of old and new material – and of art and music. Peter’s songwriting is, if anything, stronger than ever – the lengthy genesis of this new album certainly paying off. His voice has maybe lost a note or two in range but is stronger and more emotive than ever. At the age of 73 he is still in extraordinarily good voice.

For more about these excellent shows (the which have, as expected, been exceedingly well received and have gone down a treat in both Europe and North America) here are reviews from The Guardian and the Vancouver Sun.

By the way – I have given up worrying each time I see Mr.Gabriel that it may be the last. I see no reason why we should not be gathering together well into the next decade and more.

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On the town

September 27, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

As trailed in this recent post the autumn (or fall) season that has suddenly announced itself here in BC (to the great relief of fire-fighters and gardeners alike) gets underway for The Girl and I in a haze of cultural events. I thought I would just briefly report back on a few of them…

Having enjoyed one of the season-closing concerts at Butchart Gardens which featured soul/blues stalwart Miss Emily (”An angelic voice with just a hint of sultry devilishness. This gal is a rocket ready to take-off!” – The Tragically Hip) we were more than ready to be splendidly entertained by the wonderful Bonnie Raitt at the Royal Theatre here in Victoria at the start of September. The Girl introduced me to Bonnie back in the UK in around 2007 – at the New Theatre in Oxford as I recall – and I rapidly became a fan. Ms. Raitt is 73! Sorry – I shouldn’t have mentioned that, but if I look half as good, perform with a quarter of the energy and have but a fraction of her vocal talents and guitar chops when I reach that age… I too would probably still be earning standing ovations from 1500 seat theatres some fifty years into my career.

Kudos!

I reported back in May this year the manner in which The Belfry theatre’s closing show for the 2022/2023 season – “Old Stock – A Refugee Love Story” – had gone a long way to restoring our faith in Canadian theatre. I described the production thus: “It is witty but sensitive, riotously risque but touching, beautifully performed by musicians and actor/musicians alike and splendidly directed and staged.”

We have just been to see the opening production of the new 2023/2024 season (the which I will not name to protect the innocent!). I fear that our faith in the theatre is now right back somewhere adjacent to where it was before. This was an odd production which seemed to us not really to know what it was trying to accomplish. It certainly tried hard in so doing; way too hard, some might say. I was unimpressed by the writing (advertised as funny… not funny!) – the direction or the performances. To be fair, the material did not give any of those involved much of a chance. On the journey home The Girl and I found ourselves trying to recall as many as possible of the productions by which we had been impressed in a decade of theatre-going in London before we headed to Canada. It was a goodly list!

Now – something that was funny – a riotous evening in the company of the very excellent Dara O’Briain – also at the Royal Theatre. Dara – for those who have never had the huge pleasure of watching him at work (examples easily found on YouTube should you care to look… you lucky people!) – is perhaps our favourite comedian. He has the great advantage (for a comedian) of being massively intelligent and extremely quick on his feet. He is also, of course, Irish – which gives him a huge advantage.

It makes me very happy when it proves possible to see musicians, comedians and (very occasionally) actors that we know and love from over the water – here on the far west coast of Canada. It makes me even more happy that we get to see Peter Gabriel in Vancouver in about a week and a half’s time.

Can’t wait!

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