January begins the New Year – things do not look auspicious:
It is certainly a time of low light: still, epiphany is the 6th and the sun is now returning.
Snowdrops:
I make it up to London for a concert at the Royal Festival Hall to celebrate the 80th birthday of Ralph McTell:
As readers know, I wrote a biography on him
Also, the fantastic live interview we did with him in Trinity College, Dublin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLLmiqrixA&t=6610s
A trip to Bath and one of my favourite spots: the canal at Bathampton:
With a Scottish focus – where I went next – it is also Burns Night. I celebrate in the traditional manner:
I give a seminar on Bourdieu’s Reproduction to mark the 50th anniversary of its publication:
I also make it to the local theatre for the play, An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley. An enigmatic play: a bourgeois family is celebrating together when a ‘police inspector calls’. A woman has committed suicide. One by one each are found guilty of driving the woman to this – their world falls apart. The inspector leaves. They convince themselves it was a made up story – check the local police station (no inspector of that name) – no dead suicide in the local hospital. They are relived and celebrate when the phone rings…..
A Cornwall trip later in the month. Of course, I visit my family home – Mousehole:
The, onto St Ives:
There is an exhibition on the work of Ithell Colquhoun. Again, readers will know I did a lot of work on here. See:
http://www.michaelgrenfell.co.uk/ithell-colquhoun-painter-surrealist-feminist-magician/
I don’t really like the way she has been reconstructed by the Tate, and they do misrepresent her in parts. Still, it is a good selection of her work:
Someone who dies in obscurity and virtually penniless in 1986. Her work was then stored in a shed by the National Trust in Exeter. Then she was rediscovered….
A visit to Cape Cornwall – another favoured spot:
Gwithian and probably my favourite part of the coast in Cornwall:
And, Temple on the way home:
Angels at the alter:
I have been reading Thomas Pikerty’s book on Equality:
Wealth has become a black hole – sucking everything into it. The question is, surely, is it too late to do anything about it? I fear it is. On this, I also recommend the broadcasts by Gary Stevenson:
https://www.youtube.com/@garyseconomics
Some lovely quartet music by John Pickard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=QyHdnq7EzEA