Mmmm dreary weather...no wonder Scandinavians are depreesed by it ..

The snow is slowly thawing away her, rendering the streets and pavements lethal under foot and tyre...Because there has not been such a severe winter for eighteen years, the powers that be have not understood that nature is unpredictable - although the weather forecasting agency spends billions a year trying to let us know what to expect. For me, asking an old fisherman, holding his finger out in the wind, or a farmer chewing a straw, usually produces the most accurate assessment ! Modern times....hmmmm.. Today, 09/02/09 Berko was shrouded with dense fog to make it all the more dreary, and I was feeling a little despondent, when the lovely, Remarkable Rosalind (Plowright) called and sounded very lively - which cheered me up immensely - and I obviously sounded 'chirpy' to Ros - 'You always sound as if you're jumping up and down like an electric spark ' she said gleefully !! How wonderful -and I do know that my sparks are of the positive variety, only subdued by negativity, from which I shrink for fear it 'fuses' me - he he hee....Problem is that my very positivity, overenthusiasm and 'jolly hockey sticks' Englishness frightens people to death - well, almost - so keep away from me if you don't want a shock...!! and be prepared to laugh a lot... Rosalind is in the process of rehearsing for a concert of 'Adriana Lecouvrer' with Nellie Miriciou in the title role - wooow, two great Divi - that should prove a performance not to be missed ... I will attend rehearsals, as usual. No point training a person if you don't hear the result....and with Rosalind it's staggeringly impressive....
Always so rewarding being with consmmate artists, and so inspiring. It's quite strange, and I've always experienced it - the result of a production I've created, or an artefact or stage property I've made. When I see it after completion, I sometimes think 'Oh, this is good - I wonder who did it ?...' That's what comes of being a mad cow I suppose .....moooo!! This must equate with the sensations of the performing artist - whilst you're in a character mode - it is not oneself, but the person one is portraying - does anyone else have this experience ? I can never understand why anyone is scared by a conductor - musical, not bus - although some of the maestro whose 'baton I have been under' might well be superior in the latter category......Now that I'm at home for a while, I shall enjoy breathers coming to me here in the Chiltern Hills ......nice.....peaceful.....k..p b.......g...and warm...