Music lives on

 

 Out walking last week

Getting on with this and that last week I was shocked and upset to see a headline on a local paper in our corner shop that shouted out just three words: "Michael Marra dies". Some of you may not know Marra - he was a very local hero in some ways (born in Dundee, died in Dundee) - but he was an absolutely brilliant singer, songwriter, musician and entertainer. I have written about him on blogs before and even once wrote a poem celebrating his genius (that's here). I saw him perform live 3 or 4 times (even got to introduce him at a benefit gig in Dundee once) and he was really a cut above most performers (and songwriters). He was only 60 when he died and there are a host of tributes in online newspapers (a good one in Dundee's Courier here, for example). 

Good-bye Michael Marra and thanks for sharing your talent with the rest of us. We really appreciated it.

Winding up the time away

Sculpture by Edouard-Marcel Sandoz at Vevey, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

So on 9th October we drove into Switzerland and Geneva via small roads and a very quiet border crossing. We had arranged to stay one night in the city of Geneva (it is VERY expensive in Geneva.. and indeed in most of Switzerland... so one night was the limit). Rain was forecast but in fact the sun shone and the day was lovely so we managed to walk around and see things like the famous jet d'eau... well, I say famous... I'd never heard of it before I read about it in the guidebook. It looks a bit like this:

Geneva is one of those cities that looks amazing in all directions with the mountains, lakeside and striking buildings. It is a business city for the most part and so it does feel a bit heartless somehow (says us after being there for all of 24 hours...) but still I liked it. How can you go wrong with all that water really? We had the cheapest dinner we could find on northside of the river Rhône and then took one of those little yellow taxi boats/mouettes you can see on the photo above back to our place on the other side. It was dark, the ride was free (hotels hand out free travel passes) and the boat's "captain" was a very laid-back individual. It was fun - h loved it!

Next day we wandered more around the old part of Geneva, then called in to see the UN Office on our way out of town. It has a big broken chair sculpture outside that looks like this (info on the sculpture here):

Then we drove on to Nyon on the lake and took a short boat trip over the water (to Yvoire in France, as it happens). Really we just wanted to be on the water... well, I did... I love being on water. One of my favourite photos from this holiday set is this shot of a swan that Mark snapped as we approached Yvoire (there are a lot of swans on Lake Geneva). Why do I like the picture? I suppose I am very childish...

After the boat trip we stayed a night just over the border from Nyon in Divonne-les-Bains (cheaper) and then headed back into Switzerland to Lausanne for most of the next day. First we went to the Collection de l'Art Brut (usually translated as Outsider Art) and I think we were all pretty blown away by some of the work in the gallery there. I have been interested in the subject on and off for a while but this visit gave me some new nudges in artistic directions I think. After that we called in to the Musée de l'Elysée (Lausanne's photography museum) because we're also interested in photography and they had an exhibition on show just then which featured some very famous American works such as Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother"(the whole set is called the Howard Greenberg Collection).

We ate a picnic in the grounds of the museum overlooking the lake and then drove further east to Vevey. Vevey is about as pretty as a town can ever be - lake, charming buildings... no wonder people like Charlie Chaplin chose to live (and die) there (o.k., they have the Nestlé HQ too but you can't have everything). The sun shone for us again (we were lucky... just a couple of days rain all holiday) and we made friends with the seahorse sculptures down at the lakeside. One is at the top of the post and the other is here:

Near Vevey we stayed with a childhood friend of mine and her family for a couple of nights. Whilst there we also went a little further north to Gruyère to see where cheese and chocolate are made (all good, all tasty) and then on the 13th October we drove the other way round the lake, back into France, through Evian and back to Lyon to leave the car and (gulp) fly home (I did it.. not easily... but I did it). 

I'll leave you with the Lake Geneva photo that seems to be winning in the facebook "likes" category so far (also taken at Vevey). Like many of the striking pics on here Mark took it.. but then he knows a good thing when he sees it... (hah!):

More time away...

So after Paris we took one of those speedy double-decker trains down to Lyon. Why Lyon? Partly just because it's a part of France we've never been to before. We arrived in Lyon on the Saturday afternoon (6th October) and it was hotter than a Scottish summer's day and busy and really very lovely as cities go. We walked, saw the new town, the quite old town and then very old town. Then we got the funicular up the hill to see the views out over them all... and then we went back down again to eat a very nice meal indeed (guidebook said the food in Lyon is some of the best in France - quite some statement - and it seems the book was right). Young one had such a nice chocolate dessert that she went quite giddy...

 

whilst Mark pronounced the white wine I'd ordered (some Mâcon) the "best he'd ever tasted" (we were, fairly evidently, high on life... or wine and chocolate anyway). For me it was just nice to be outside and not fighting off pigeons (as in Paris). I do not like to eat with pigeons round my ankles!

Anyway on the Sunday we made our way to the Institut Lumière for it was here, in Lyon, that the whole business of cinema/film really started (and remember we have young film fan on board). The Institut, as you might expect, is not the most kid friendly tourist attraction in the world but she still enjoyed it (all worship the audioguide!) and we did too (it was quite laid-back, old-school...). The photo at the top is just one of the rooms in the museum... there was a film showing... there was no-one else in there... I liked the shapes.

After this we took the bright and shiny Lyon metro back into town:

 

ate more, even went to the cinema (in French... mais bien sûr!), ate ice-cream, took another metro...

And then on the Monday we picked up a hire car and headed, quite literally, for the hills. First Chambéry (lunch break - nice fountain full of elephants) and then Annecy (to see the lake, to eat more...). Annecy, for most visitors, is picture-postcard-pretty:

 

 

and judging by all the restaurants it must be HEAVING in the summer months. We stayed in a place just on the edge of the town (quiet, up in the hills really) and then the next day headed for Switzerland. But that will be next post.

Some time away...

So, we went on holiday (Angus schools get first two weeks of October off, remember?). Full photos are going up on facebook for those who are interested but for the rest of you there will be a quick round-up in a few little posts.

We left home on 2nd October and took the train down to London (family railcard cheapo travel) and then the Eurostar to Paris. It was my first ever time in the Channel Tunnel (and it's been open for 18 years!) and I only needed one small beer from the bar to take my ever-anxious mind off the slight strangeness of being in an underwater train for over 20 miles. Daughter (now 12 but still delightfully wide-eyed) was surprised (and no doubt a little disappointed) not to be able to see the water of the Channel while we were in there. Mark did the technical explanations (but she probably didn't listen... we are not very interested in real things still...). For those of us who grew up taking slow trains and ferries and then more slow trains to get to the city of love it does make the whole business very easy! Arriving quite late in Paris we took a beautiful cab ride to kind cousin's place over near the big famous tower, drank some wine and then collapsed into beds.

Day one of serious tourist activity included a trip up the big famous tower for the braver members of the party (i.e. not me!) and then a walk over towards the Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Élysées before a cup of very fancy tea and then a trip to the late-night opening Louvre. It was a cloudy day with some rain but full of highlights just the same. The Louvre was looking fantastic - there's a lot to be said for a late-night opening...

Day two dawned sunnier and shinier and included a special exhibition at the Hôtel de Ville called "Paris - vu par Hollywood". Daughter being such a movie fan we had to go (plus it was free). Posters looked like this:

Then it was a quick nip by the Centre Pompidou, a wander over (and into) Notre-Dame Cathedral, a nosey into Shakespeare and Company bookshop, a coffee break and then another late-night museum trip (this time Musée d'Orsay - and it was just fabulous... photo at the top of this post taken on the top floor there). The Van Gogh room just about took my breath away... certainly made my eyes open that bit wider.

Day three (another sunny one) we took a bus up to Montmartre, partly because I'd never been there before. There were gorgeous views and gorgeous food aplenty, a moody cemetery and, of course, a rather tired looking Moulin Rouge down amongst the sex shops and fancy-seeing-some-breasts-and-bums bars. After that it was bus back to our base, more food and then a walk out by the river and the tower (and they'd switched the twinkling fairy lights on it  by then - very pretty and they can be seen on tiny video here).

Day four we got up and took the train to somewhere further south... but more of that next time.

Save it for your blog, Howard

It's been an odd couple of weeks... quite a few deaths (friends of friends, family of friends, family...) and some changes afoot too. Partly because of that I'm not going to be around here much for the next couple of weeks... but I hope to make contact with you all again before too long. You don't get away that easily.

In the meantime please enjoy some of the first episode of the marvellous comedy series "The Big Bang Theory" (won't embed - go here and today's post title comes in at about 5 minutes 40 seconds... can't believe it started in 2007!). We are watching the show again and introducing it to a new audience. So why is it so good? Because it celebrates intelligence in a world that seems ever stoopider? Possibly. Or does it mock intelligence in a world that is ever brighter? We could debate... though I might not be here to answer much... possibly a good thing...

Bones of the past

Chapel of All Saints, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, mid '90s (me in huge jacket for some reason!).

So I have travel on my mind once again (though not at as much as this)... and that reminded me of a fairly bizarre holiday some time back in the mid 1990s (sorry, exact dates not a speciality in the 1990s for me... whole years are blurred...). For the holiday in question I went to the Czech Republic with my Mum (who must have been about 70) and, partly because she never went by plane (ever – she suffered high anxiety about all kinds of things... though you wouldn't necessarily know it even if you'd met her), we went on a bus trip. The bus looked like this (it broke down in Germany once or twice...):

Whilst in Prague, we stayed with a "local host" – the man on the far right in the above picture in fact. His wife had left him so he had room. It was a great holiday in many ways – lovely weather and wanderings – and especially good day trips to places like Kutná Hora – home of the famous "bone church" (real name – Sedlec Ossuary) in the first picture. I'm not normally one for churches but this is possibly my favourite one ever. The bone decorations didn't spook me out at all... I just thought they were amazing... but I only seem to have that one photo now (you can see many more here).

Some time after the holiday I wrote a simple little poem about the trip. It's not the kind of piece that's ever going to go on any grand adventures itself (not magazine or competition worthy, I don't think) so I'll put it up here instead. Hope you like it:

 
Prague on the Cheap

 
We drove across kingdoms in a purple bus
with an onboard loo, no mess, less fuss.
We stayed in a house with a lovesick knight
and he cooked us dumplings every night.
We visited art and clocks in squares,
we cruised on the river and bought toy bears,
saw a church decked out with human bones
and were pleased by the lack of mobile phones.
You listened to notes, I stared at rays,
as the sun said good-bye to pleasing days.
We were brave and adventurous, wandering free,
not bad for a pair like you and like me.

 

 
RF 1999 (the poem, not the trip).

Lunan love

Lunan Bay, Angus 2006

I'm busy doing lots of unbloggable things just now... but last night I went to the local folk club and enjoyed a night listening to Scots-Canadian David Francey and that I can tell you about! It was my second time hearing Francey (lots of other folk singers cover his songs too) and it was a lovely night, almost magical in its way. 

The locals did some good work at the folk club too last night so there was some lovely singing and sharing of songs (and here's me been a bit out of love with the song lately –  shocker –  and listening to lots of instrumentals). I read two poems aloud –  the one that's in the current issue of Gutter and also an old love poem that I realise now has never been on-blog called "Free love". It is in my book "More about the song" (old friend now, from 2008) and it was prompted by, amongst other things, a trip Mark and I made to local beauty spot Lunan Bay some years back. Lunan is one of many beautiful local bays and beaches on the Angus coast but it was our nearest giant sandy beach when we first moved up and so we spent a lot of time there back then. This summer I've been back there more again because a new café has opened just by the beach and (a) a friend works there so I pop in to see here (oh and eat cake...) and (b) they've been selling my cards and books too (quite a lot of them too which is nice). There are some details of the café/shop here (though they won't be open for the winter –  closing mid October for the season, I think) and my Lunan (and other things) poem is below. Francey sings a lot about love so let's have a love fest while we can. Any excuse.

Free love

You can keep your twenty grand weddings

With the limos and jazz bands and suits

Give me that day we cycled to Lunan Bay

The hot sun, the empty beach

The lying in a mansize cup of sand in the dunes

The cycling home again the long way round

You can keep the diamond ring in platinum

The weighty jewel from a far-off mine

I'll take a handful of that icing sugar snow

That shines up on a sunny winter morning

Now that's what you can call sparkle

It's hard to find, harder still to keep

I'm sure love is not about the price

The menus or the pantomime

Love is the days when everyone's tired

But still no-one gets the blame

Love lies around the house quietly

Waiting, so quietly, to be needed

RF 2006