By and large the weather in August was not very pleasant but thanks to there being no festival events to go to in person I didn't have to expose myself to the elements.

The last day of the month on the other hand dawned bright and sunny so I betook myself to North Berwick on the train for a little summer holiday.

I strolled about, on the beach, around the harbour and in the town, drank coffee, licked ice-cream and took a number of photos.

Back home my sax lessons have moved from Skype to Polwarth, from where I hope not to be driven away by tighter coronavirus restrictions.  

Andy and Esther were over from Munich and we had lunch together on Victoria Terrace.  Although it's a lovely sunny spot we decided to eat indoors having doubts about the staying power of the sunshine.  As it turned out the sun displayed remarkable stamina unlike later in the week when it didn't even display itself before, during or after my coffee date with Siobhan which morphed into lunch.  On another day Mary was celebrating the 15th anniversary of her move to Scotland by having a Covid restricted gathering which was very jolly.

When the cinemas opened I was momentarily enthusiastic but the mood passed so I'm still having all my entertainment needs satisfied online. And well satisfied I am.  Declan from the Traverse was a film version of a play called Mouthpiece that I saw there a while ago.  Joyce Macmillan suggested at the time that  the play might work better as a monologu which is more or less how the film was organised   She was right.  I enjoyed Declan much more than Mouthpiece.

Among the great Russian novels that I have not read is Anna Karenina.  I can continue not to read it with an easy conscience thanks to a radio dramatisation that kept me enthralled over its four episodes.  I felt sorry for all the characters whose lives could have ended much more happily had just a smidgeon of compassion and common sense been allowed to prevail.

No fear of a tragic ending I hope in Claire's new play Schrapnel to be performed live on Zoom some time in November.  I'm in the cast with the challenge of being Australian.  Arkle are gathering forces to revive The Venetian Twins so cruelly disrupted by lockdown so I'm going to be kept busy over the next few months.

Come what may I've got to find space to run my U3A Italian group and keep my Japanese going.  I might have said keep it on track for the World Saxophone Congress in Japan next year but that's just been postponed to 2022.  Fortunately I'm deeply enough dug into learning that the congress postponement is no demotivator.

Unusually, online drama pandered to my interest last week in the shape of a joint production between Leeds Playhouse and a Japanese company.  Missing People was cancelled on its press night in Leeds in March but had already been presented in Japan and a video of one of those performances was made available online.

An English chap goes with his Japanese fiancée (and his mum) to Japan to meet her family.  It's soon evident that all is not well.  The reasons are revealed as the family dynamics, both Japanese and English, oscillate one way then another.  The show is played in a mixture of Japanese and English with appropriate subtitles in a simple set that with its moving pillars setting scenes reminded me of a similar strategy employed in shows I've been involved with.

It's a good and interesting script that's brought vividly to life by an excellent team.  I particulary enjoyed Natsumi Nanase as Chiyo the Japanese mother.