My photography class went to the Botanic Gardens this week and this is an arty shot I took there. The picture was taken to see the effect of a slow shutter speed in a close-up of leaves that were being blown about a bit by the wind. I can't say I find it terribly exciting but John who's running the course thought it was quite successful.

Things have been fairly quiet since I got home from Hadrian's Wall.  I've had another Covid jag and a flu jag and my annual health check.  That doesn't consist of much but it reassures the practice that I'm still alive and if not kicking then at least moving my legs.

There's a little Autumn jazz festival on.  I had a ticket for Matt Carmichael for the evening following my Covid and flu jags.  It was a filthy night.  I was full of the cold and had a smidgeon of a light headache so a gave it a miss.  The first gig I got to was at the Traverse.  Ali Affleck singing with a group that included the excellent reeds player John Burgess and featured guitarist Duvud  Dunayevsky who plays in the style of Django Reinhardt.  It was a very enjoyable evening.  I navigated the most recent bus route changes to get to and from St Brides last night for a brilliant gig from a band called Mezcla.  I came home clutching their CD.  Next weekend I'm at St Brides again for more.

Until recently I would have said that I liked Haydn's symphonies but I seem to have gone off them judging by my response to the two I've heard recently, one from the RSNO and one from the SCO.  Fortunately on both occasions there were other pieces on the programme that I did enjoy.  The first classical record I ever owned, maybe even the first record of any sort was Beethoven's 5th Symphony.  I still enjoy it and was very pleased to hear it in the Usher Hall from the RSNO.  

The SCO had a concert this week which included a variety of pieces concluding with a violin concerto by Kurt Weill.  I love Weill's work from The Threepenny Opera and other things like Street Scene but this concerto was new to me. Usually the violin soloist plays with a symphony orchestra but Weill's orchestra is a wind band.  It was great.  I had a good view of the percussionist who had quite a lot to do and was thoroughly enjoying herself both when she was playing and when she wasn't.

I've enjoyed a number of the shows that the BBC have brought out of their archives to celebrate their centenary.  Sunset Song I've mentioned before and some Jean-Paul Sartre but I've also been entertained by Kenneth Branagh in The Billy Plays and now I'm watching with interest and pleasure How Green Was My Valley.  There's also a lot of comedy, too much to list but is there not a PhD to be gained by someone comparing and contrasting those two brilliant political satires Yes Minister and The Thick of It.

I had what I thought was a great success in getting the company who dug a hole in the road opposite my flat to finish the job after months of it lying there filled but not re-surfaced and surrounded by three bits of orange plastic fencing which were continually being blown or knocked over.  But I fear I celebrated too soon.  Not ten days later a team arrived, discussed with much waving of arms and pacing about what looked like a plan to dig up most of the pavement in front of the block opposite.  They got as far as putting up a lot of purple plastic fencing and signs reading "Footpath Closed"  before they spotted the newly re-surfaced hole.  They then opened a manhole, stuck long sticks in, jiggled them about, hovered a box of tricks over the area, got down and pressed their ears to the ground.  Finally they took down all their fencing and drove off leaving four traffic cones on top of the former hole.  Those have subsequently been removed by someone who wanted to park their car there.

I await the dig. 

Here's another arty shot that I do like.