Day Off Week 50 2024

A more formal day off this week. I went for a walk on the Heath, which is part of my usual routine these days. I had a coffee at Kenwood House. Two new books arrived - Jonathan Landry Cruse's Sing in exultation! (now going cheap at ICM). This is a devotional for Christmas making use of lines from Christmas hymns. It is nicely done with room to write your own thoughts (which I  have begun doing). It gives no information about the hymns themselves. I also got the 2008 P&R hardback The Incarnation in the Gospels (Reformed Expository Commentary) which turns out to be the relevant comments from the respective commentaries plus a few extras. I am also dipping into A poem for everyday of Christmas an anthology chiefly with children in mind. Good to read poems well known and obscure. Also reading Christmas Carol as I try to every year and Nutcracker which I don't think I've read all the way through before. Plus some John Fawcett for a project I have on. I also watched the Martin Scorsese documentary on The Beatles just out (more elsewhere) and then in the evening we watched the final episodes of Anthony Horowitz's Moonflower Murders. This dramatises the second of three novels he has done in the Agatha Christie style. All very clever. The solution not that good sadly but lots of fun on the way (apart from the over acting of Mark Gatiss). 

Day Off Week 47 2019

Unusual day in some ways. At the start of the day I discovered that the grinder on my coffee machine was not working. Being unfamiliar with the machine I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time on it. I got it working in the end, however. Time was also taken up with a little bit of blogging and such like. I read E T A Hoffman's famous The Nutcracker which I had never read before. I saw a little collection of three fairy tale type hard backs in a slip case produced by Harrods in a charity shop the other week and bought them. Later in the day my wife called me to say Wales were on TV (in Welsh if you understand me). So I watched the latter part of the game. We beat Hungary 2-0 to qualify for the Euro finals next summer. That is only the third time that Wales have qualified for the main rounds of a competition. All credit to Ryan Giggs the manager. The return of Aaron Ramsey was decisive it seems.

Nutcracker excerpt

This was filmed on December 3 and is similar to what we saw (except for the intro, of course)

Nutcracker Ballet

Did something new again last night. A few weeks ago I was in town and I saw a poster advertising the Nutcracker Ballet. I thought to myself 'that would be a good thing to take Eleri to' (like me she'd never been to a proper ballet though she loves dancing). Anyway I got on line and booked to see last night's perfomance of the Nutcracker by the English National Ballet. (I think I actually saw a poster for the Royal Ballet's production another of at least three that are on in London this Christmas). Anyway Eleri loved it and so did I. Knowing most of the music helps and I found it much easier to enjoy than the musical Guys and Dolls (last thing like this I took Eleri to). With ballet you are not looking for character or plot I suppose. Good old Tchaikovsky, eh? Of course, I am unable to judge the production itself but it looked pretty good to me. Lovely sets, a few nice jokes, good pace, very colourful, well danced.

More on this production here. More on the Nutcracker here (more than you could ever want to know!)