| Ionawr | January |
A very good morning indeed!
Max
Note: the above is not up to date anymore. Starting from January 2006, British pub opening hours have been given free.
February The weather conditions in England in February you can easily call "adventurous". At one moment it's such a nice temperature that we've already been able to sit at café terraces (oh yes, even those exist in this country!). Admittedly with a winter coat on, but the point is that you've done it, and get the idea that spring is coming.
What concerns scheduled events of this month: shrove Tuesday. On this day, in contrast to in countries where people paint their faces or where they go sliding down snowy hills, people in this country do something less spectacular, but not less nice: bake pancakes. Traditionally these are topped with lemon jelly, which is nicely sweet/sour, but you can put anything on it. On pancake evening at the university we were explained that the origin of this is: using up all fatty foodstuffs, which you have to do without in the lent period. Would that mean that traditionally during lent they also weren't allowed to eat the typical english breakfast - bacon, eggs, sausage etc.? That will have been a tough challenge for some people!
Max
March It may be getting boring that I'm always talking about the weather, but in this country that just happens to be always an exciting subject. And the last time I wrote that the weather was "adventurous", but it's actually even more adventurous than I described then.
Something else: whoever knows me, knows that in the field of music I can never sit still. So I regularly participate in all kinds of open stages and jam sessions in the pubs, and furthermore I am singing in a barbershop vocal group. But something new for me is that I have taken up acting: I participated in a musical here at the University. In the musical 'Guys and Dolls' I played the part of Arvide Abernathy. For those who don't know this: it's about New York of the fifties, with gamblers, night club dancers and a mission (a kind of Salvation Army) who try to persuade people to better their lives. A lot of fun to do, and I learnt a lot from it in the field of acting. The American accent, by the way, I had less trouble with than the English...
Max
April Much shocking hasn't happened here in April. The weather becomes on average more beautiful, which means that there are more sunny days in it. But there are also still many days in it with only heavy rain and wind, on which you tend to forget which season it is. But then you just have to go and feel outside: the rain water is clearly warmer than two months ago!
To hire a car and drive to Cornwall ourselves, of course we had to drive on the left side of the road, but that has already for long not been a problem anymore. By learning in the beginning of your stay in this country immediately which way to look when crossing the road, and by cycling a lot, you quickly get used to this traffic situation. By contrast, it's remarkable that it still strikes me as very odd that the driver's seat of the car is on the right side. Even though that is clearly the best place to have a good view over the road, it still feels very odd, and it stays hard to determine from this place the right spot of the car on the road. Also, I regularly tend to look for the gear stick in the door, or I put it in the wrong gear. (Fortunately the pedals are in the 'normale' order...!) It also stays a strange sight, when you are a pedestrian yourself, to see on the front left seat of a car somebody sitting who is not watching the road but looking aside, or reading a book. Or to see a child sitting on that place, or a dog, or nobody at all.
Max
May The weather in south-west England steadily gets more and more beautiful and warmer. That means that the terraces are full - because instead of pioneering with coats on because you want to enjoy the sun, it's now really nice there -, and also that Bath now fills up with tourists. Indeed, it's a tourist place, and with reason, because it's also a beautiful city. I didn't notice this so much to begin with, but when you start travelling around and see other cities, you notice that, apart from maybe a beautiful cathedral, they all are quite boring and look alike. Bath is different. Bath has its own, beautiful, style. This is thanks to the fact that around the eighteenth century it was a place for the rich elite, and has been built full of stately houses, which now are kept up as monuments. (In a way it's still an elite place, because it's one of the most expensive towns of the country to live in.)
Because of the nicer weather and the tourists, also the period of the festivals is starting here. There is always one and the other thing to do here, but now it's really getting busy. With the Barbershop vocal group which I joined, we also have already given several concerts on the street. It's nice to notice which effect you have with such simple means as only a few voices. Even though we're not loud, people hear that something special is happening, and stop to listen.
Max
June In June the festival season in Bath enthusiastically goes on. The Bath Music Festival was followed by the Bath Fringe Festival, with all kinds of music- theatre- and other artistic expressions everywhere in the city. The final happening of this, and for me the highlight, was Walcot Nation Day onm Sunday June 13th.
Max
July 'Gorffennaf' is the name of July in Wales. As far as I know, this literarily means something in the sense of 'to complete'. Maybe because the academic year has ended, and all students, after many have received their diploma, have left?
Me, I keep myself busy with musical activities outside of the tourist circuit: I often play fiddle and guitar at the different open stages and folk clubs in the various pubs. There are for instance Irish jam sessions, singer/songwriter evenings, and also open stages where you can just expect anything. Lately, I've been regularly at a session in a pub where they normally play jazz, and maybe jazz is also the primary intention of the organisers, but dependent on which musicians turn up, it often degenerates to blues, rock&roll or bluegrass.
Max
August August has a recognisable name in Welsh, and a recognisable weather pattern in England. After earlier in the summer it was now and then nice but also often rubbish weather, we now have really had a fair bit of summer weather, like you should, in August. Unfortunately, a wasp plague also appears to be part of the deal. I think there is a nest somewhere near the terrace of the pub at the university; anyway they're terrorising the people who want to enjoy the rare summer days. For the rest, the university is still very quiet because all students are gone.
Something else: Bath and surroundings is one of the richer areas of the country, and that apparently also has to mean that a lot of celebrities are living here. For instance, I have heard in pub conversations that Rowan Atkinson lives around here, and pop stars like Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Peter Gabriel seem to live here in the city. 'Solsbury Hill', which Peter Gabriel has sung about, is nearby here; I've already climbed it myself too. Nice that things you know from pop music now suddenly get more meaning.
Max
September 'Medi' is the 'harvest month', and in Wales that's apparently September. Here in Bath September may be the quietest month of the year. There are clearly fewer tourists again (although there are always some), because the weather is clearly becoming less good, and in most European countries, holiday is over. But for some reason, here it appears to be considered belonging to the summer, because the students still are on holiday now. There are a couple of summer courses taking place, for foreign visiting students, but for the rest there isn't much going on at the university. The calm before the storm!
Another nice day I went to enjoy one of the many folk music festivals which are here in the area. In Kemble, between Swindon and Gloucester, was a 'Bluegrass Pickin' Weekend'. I took the train to Kemble and hoped for a possibility to get to the festival area, but that wasn't as easy as it sounds: there wasn't a single bus, and I had to walk for almost an hour. Apparently it's normal that bluegrass lovers use the car? Another strange aspect is that the festival took place on a back corner of the Kemble Airfield, an airport. You wouldn't associate bluegrass with airplanes. But striking was also that on the area, among the trees, there was a very quiet and relaxed atmosphere, as if you were in the middle of nature. The airplanes which went over every now and then couldn't disturb that.
Max
October 'Hydref' means 'autumn' as well as 'October'. Both this name and the previous one are in Wales one month behind on the Dutch traditional month nicknames. This may mean that the autumn sets in later than with us; in tourist folders at least, it says it does. And I must say that, also here in Bath, I do notice that: even though the summer is less warm and dry than in many other countries, this period does last relatively long.
What I've been very busy with month: again a musical. With another society than last time, this time I participated in Gilbert and Sullivan's 'The Pirates of Penzance'. And while 'Guys and Dolls' at the time was perfomed in the university theatre, this was now in the stately 'Theatre Royal' in the centre of Bath.
Finally: at the end of the month it was of course Halloween. I don't know how long this has been established here already (it comes originally from Ireland), but it clearly gets celebrated very enthusiastically. You see everywhere children (and not only children) walking around dressed in black, as ghosts, witches or draculas, or something. They're clearly going out for trick-or-treats. I have also been at a Halloween party, where everybody was dressed up too, and with -in the English way- silly games, like a quiz with stupid questions about horror subjects, like "What do skeletons say when they start having dinner?" "Bone appetit!" Humour!!!
Max
November In November, the weather in England already starts getting quite much colder, darker, and if possible even windier and wetter. It's not really nice anymore to go outside. But in contrast there's of course all the more of a good atmosphere in the pub.
Someting else: yes, we're approaching christmas already, and the shop windows are already pushing that heavily into our faces. The city looks nice with all those decorations. And on November 25th, with the barbershop vocal group of the university we too have already contributed to the official christmas mood: we've sung christmas songs on a stage in the middle of the city, on the occasion of the switching on of the christmas lights which have been hung up in the streets. After our 'White Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells', with a countdown ceremony as if it's the millennium crack, and assisted by a snow cannon, the christmas season was officially opened by switching on the lights. Cheers everywhere. Yes well, you have to make something of it.
Max
December In December, little happens in the Brits' country which is not dedicated to christmas. To begin with, everywhere are decorations: in the streets, in the pubs, in the shops, at the university; to give a somewhat warmer atmosphere in this cold climate. What concerns the weather, you know it by now: rain, wind, sticky, cold (even though it's above zero) and dark. Don't expect any snow, so also that has to be compensated by the decorations. And everywhere chistmas music is sounding from the loudspeakers, especially the songs by John Lennon and Slade. Also, now that a new version of the song of Band Aid has been recorded, you hear exactly now the old one, of 20 years ago, again sounding everywhere. There is quite some nostalgia here to the 70s and the 80s. Oh well, as long as it raises money for good causes, the hunger areas in the world, of course it doesn't matter which version they play.
Finally, what happens most of all here in December: christmas dinners and christmas parties. Every organisation, society or work environment has its own party, before everybody leaves for christmas to their families. At the university we've also had a Christmas party, with mulled wine (Glühwein), and mince pies: small pies with a sweet-sour filling of apples and raisins. At the party, again silly games had to be played too. One game went as follows: everybody wrote down two statements about themselves, of which one was not true. The others had to guess which one was true. I gained quite a lot of points in this game, because nobody could believe that I, as a Dutchman, had never smoked cannabis...
And so we also get to the end of this series, about life in a country, so close and well-known, but in some respects still so unknown and interesting. As usual, I am passing the last days of the year with my parents. From here I wish everybody:
Max
For who are interested, here is a report about how life goes on in Bath, in the south-west corner of the English minicontinent.
Of course, I'm not telling anybody anything new if I say that one of the most agreeable aspects of life here is: the cozy atmosphere in the pubs. In fact, these 'public living rooms' probably emerged and became what they are mainly out of bare necessity. In these depressing climatic conditions, there is little a person needs more than warmth and homeliness. That gloomy grey weather type, in which the wind and the rain constantly are beating you around the ears, you can experience the whole year here, but especially now in January you don't get much else. Then you can well imagine that, especially after a walk through the -beautiful- surroundings (but more about this later), the warmth, atmosphere and good food/drink of a pub are welcome rewards. You can almost always eat well and cheaply there. And the beer is great, and may be the only thing that is cheaper here than in other northern European countries. I only wonder why it is so lukewarm; I prefer it chilled, but maybe that doesn't fit in the pub-atmosphere.
Of course, it's also already known to everybody that there is one difficulty: the pubs all close at 23:00. This seems to have to do with a curfew which was introduced in the first world war. You can tell from this how well the English law system is up to date. I found this aspect in the beginning difficult, but it doesn't turn out to be an unsolvable problem, because there are two things which solve it.
First, the best part of the evening takes place earlier here than in other countries. From about 8, 8:30, PM, the pubs are already full, and there is often live music, or whatever is going on. Not only that, but the whole daily rhythm of the English (work, eat etc.), takes place about an hour earlier on the day than in many other countries. Now that I have adapted to this, this pub closing time doesn't feel overly early anymore. You could say that the English live synchronised with central Europe, only their clocks are an hour behind. Whoever comes here on a holiday I recommend, even though this jetlag of an hour is nothing, nevertheless not to overcome it.
Secondly, it must be said that they treat the closing hours in a flexible way. In no pub whatsoever the bar closes any minute before 11, and after that you always get time to empty your glass at ease. In addition, in the outer parts of the city they are even more relaxed. The further you are away from the city centre, the larger is the chance that at about 11:30 only the front door is closed, while inside the bar stays open, and they just continue as long as they want, and that can easily be 2 or 3 AM or even later. Of course, in this you are most welcome of all if you are a regular customer, but otherwise you will become one on the spot, because the atmosphere becomes even cosier and more intimate in such a 'lock-in'. The police know that this is happening, but as long as there aren't any problems, they don't find it one either. This 'permissive' policy seems to be a recent development (imported from the Netherlands?).
Next time more,
Chwefror
The next moment, although it's so bright and sunny that everybody comes out to populate the walking tracks in the area, you'll find out that there is a tough and icy wind, making sure that it nevertheless feels outside much less spring-like than it looked from inside.
And subsequently there comes suddenly again, just when everybody thought that spring was really starting, a massive snow storm (indeed, at the same time with the one in the Netherlands). At the university where I work, this caused the student population (and not only the students...) to seem suddenly en masse to belong to a different age group. Everywhere snowball fights, snowmen, and more of this playfulness. Snow is something they hardly ever see in this country (I'm surprised that they even know what you can do with it...) so they have to take advantage of it!
View on Bath in the snow, from the hill where the University isBut this same tough challenge may be coming back in this modern age: this month it read in the newspaper that the government considers tackling the great obesity problem in this country, by raising a tax on fat. Undoubtedly for some people a healthy development, but... does that mean that the typical english breakfast will get more expensive? I think that many will be hurt in their national pride! They have already lost the non-decimal money system, the Fahrenheit temperature scale is getting in disuse, soon the Pound may be disappearing, and now they also will have to eat less bacon? This will not go through without a battle!
Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit; there are a whole lot of people here who very much like to eat healthily, and are open to other ways of life. But this last thing is not always easy... It read in that same paper, that the number of accidents in homes lately has risen dramatically. The cause? Wooden floors! Traditionally, everywhere in this country there is wall-to-wall carpet - in some Bed&Breakfasts you even see that in the bathroom! But lately wooden floors are becoming more and more popular, and it appears that the English often fall on these. Whether this now means that they were used to walking on carpet, and then slip on wood (in socks or slippers), or that they always have often been 'falling' on the floor already, but that with wooden floors this leads more often to injuries, is not entirely clear to me. Anyway, it was declared that wooden floors are "dangerous", and people have to think carefully before wanting something like that in their homes.
At least, it all gives a good feeding ground for the typical English humour!
Mawrth
People have more than once told me here: "that rain, that's not so bad; if it's raining when you want to go out, you just wait for ten minutes and then it'll be dry again." Indeed, but that also means that when the sun is shining, there's a good chance that it'll start raining in ten minutes! And if you leave your house to go for a run for half an hour because it's such nice weather, you may very well be surprised by a hailstorm half-way. You never know! The motto is: always take your umbrella with you!
Still, continuous sunny days also occur, and for the past days I've already been cycling to work without a coat on. But wait, I'll have to explain something about that.
The University of Bath, where I work, is on top of a hill on the edge of town. So I cycle every morning up a tough hill (that's right; that's why there is sooner a reason not to wear a coat doing this). The first days when I did this, I arrived on top exhausted, and I thought I was crazy not to take the bus. Still I pushed through with it (also because it's faster, because I would have to walk quite a way to the bus stop), and now after half a year it's going a lot more easily. It feels great; I get a good bit of exercise every morning, it wakes me up really well, and I enjoy the view over the city from the top of the hill. It's certainly worth it! By the way, I'm certainly not the only one who does this, albeit in the minority (which in the improving weather steadily becomes less of a minority).
Also here in the area I have already made some good cycling trips: on the cycling track along the Kennet-and-Avon-canal with its many residential narrowboats, and on winding roads through the hills in the area, with the many villages, country houses and castles... and of course pubs, with good food and drink. But there are still many more trips planned for the coming nice-weather period, so you will still hear about this.
But during the rehearsals, this musical did bring me some conflicts with the rest of the cast and the director. Although in the field of acting and dancing I had no experience, about music I seemed to have more experience than all others. I didn't want to brag about that, but every now and then, when somebody couldn't find a melody easily, I offered to help. And when a certain bit was clearly being sung wrong, and nobody, including the director and the conductor, seemed to be aware of it, I felt it as my duty to signal it and to show how it should be sung. But after several times everybody started getting annoyed by this, because "I was not the musical director, so I had to keep quiet". I then tried to limit my comments to only the really disturbing mistakes, but the irritated reactions from the group kept increasing. I did not make myself populair there! It seemed that there was a culture of "the boss is right, even if he's wrong." Maybe something typically English, and I, with my Dutch big mouth, cause quite a lot of unrest there.
We'll see if this kind of things will go repeat themselves...
Scene from Guys and Dolls, in the Bath University Theatre
Ebrill
Interesting this month was a trip to Cornwall. A popular domestic holiday destination for the English, and I was assured that it was a good idea to go there already now, before it gets laden with tourists in the summer. We hired a car and drove there. The first surprise came already when crossing the border between Devon and Cornwall: an intense bright green colour is shining you welcome. Even though Devon, with its large national parks with rough landscape, is also very beautiful, the vegetation in Cornwall is so abundant that you imagine yourself in a tropical area! Along the beach on the south coast, even palm trees are growing! Not that it's so tropically warm, but the explanation for this seems to be that it's always wet there, and never cold.
Palm trees in CornwallOn the north coast on the other hand, the landscape is very different: wonderful rock formations with low vegetation, and with small bays between them. Walking on the beach you come across massive mussel banks, and the mosses and other life forms give the rocks all colours of the rainbow. Walking on top of the rocks, constantly such a wind is blazing around your ears that every now and then you have to walk at an angle of almost 45 degrees, not to fall over. In some of the narrow bays where you can't get on foot, you see from the rocks groups of seals lie on the beach down below, which are basking in the sun and out of the wind. Every now and then a group of them goes into the sea, socially all together, to get something to eat.
In the peak years of mining, also there, just as in Wales and Northern England, a lot of digging was done, especially copper and tin. Because of this, you find indeed in/on the rocks along the coast many ruins of mines. From up on top of the rocks, high above the waterline, they drilled down to far below the water level. Every now and then you see the chimneys of the ovens tower out high above the rocks. But some of of those chimneys which at first were built so high, turned out, thanks to that reliable wind, to have a way too large drawing power, and had to be replaced by smaller ones, built more in-between the rocks.
A mine on the coast of CornwallSo much for these experiences; next month probably again something exciting will happen.
Mai
Pulteney Weir, a dam in the rivier, in the city centre of BathThe most important tourist attraction is the bath house that the Romans have built here, because warm water comes out of the ground here. Hence the name 'Bath', even though the Romans called it 'Aquae Sulis', but the English probably can't pronounce that. This bath house you can still visit, even though for a large part it consists of ornaments which have been added to it in the Victorian period. Another attraction is the Royal Crescent. This kingly half moon consists of a block of grandious houses from the Georgian period, which in a half-circle shape look out monumentally over a park.
The festival season officially started with the Bath Music Festival, which in turn started on May 21st with a big concert of the symphony orchestra 'Bath Philharmonia', in the park in front of the Royal Crescent. The kingly half moon formed a suitable set for the concert, while the park in front of it was full with the population of Bath and surroundings. Many were picknicking; some wanted to do that really decently, and had brought table and chairs. But as it got fuller, that became more difficult, with all the people walking around and being busy finding each other using mobile phones - because that's the way that goes nowadays. Every now and then people (almost) stepped in each other's fried chickens. After the concert there came a beautiful firework display from behind the beautiful city set.
Concert in front of the Royal Crescent at the Bath Music FestivalAnd finally this season also means an increase in alcohol consumption, which can clearly be seen also outside of the pubs. In the evening the streets are full of drunken and very noisy folk. Often this also leads to problems: trouble and violence, so we hear on the news (here in Bath it's still relatively quiet). And probably next year the opening hours of the pubs are extended, but many fear that then also the troubles will increase. Personally I don't believe that, and I think we can take the risk. But in the meantime I do wonder why so many people here cannot just drink normally and have a good time.
Till the next one,
Mehevin
Walcot, the area where I live, is situated around Walcot Street, an sympathetic, traditional looking street full of little shops, among which many antics-, old book- and old junk stores. In and around this street, Walcot Nation Day took place. Walcot declared itself independent for one day, and closed off the street for driving traffic and filled it with music stages and eat- and drink- places. Serving alcohol on the street is usually not allowed in England, but in Walcot we have different laws. It was a colourful and pleasant matter. The whole population of Bath And North East Somerset (yes that's the name of our county; just try to pronounce it quickly!) seemed to be concentrated in that one street, and so you meet there just about everybody you know. It looked like the Netherlands' Queen's day, in Walcot Nation. The music varied from jazz via blues and salsa to techno. And the weather was summery - which is also special because it really isn't nearly always like that.
Good mood on Walcot Nation DayThe independence only lasted a little short; at 6 in the evening it was already over. And if you saw with which tempo people had (gotten) drunk, maybe that was for the best too. But probably this also had to do with the fact that that same evening something happened which according to many of course is much more important: there was football being played!
Football is here seemingly always going on: in every pub there are one or more television screens and there is almost every day a game to be seen. But even though I'm not interested in it, I have to say that the atmosphere isn't spoilt much by it. Depending on how important the game is, fewer or more people are watching with less or more attention, and the atmosphere always stays relaxed. But the European championships of course are something very different: now there is much at stake!
Myself, I find this excitement about that game with a blown-up piece of leather on half a hectacre of grass always extremely laughable, but according to many English this is of vital importance. But of course, I'm not telling much new with this: firstly, the British are known for this, and secondly, the Dutch are just as bad. So my greatest pleasure is always (also in the Netherlands): to wait until the national team loses, and then go out and laugh at all those crying depressive faces on the street.
Well: after a few games England was indeed out of the game, and so I did the same as always. Still, the result was a bit disappointing: people were quiet on the street, but much sadness I nevertheless couldn't trace. There was a mood of 'the party's over and we're going home'. In a pub it was explained to me (by people who said not to care much about football themselves), that this doesn't mean that they really don't mind, but has to do with the fact that the English don't tend to show their feelings very much.
That's interesting. If you walk around here, you clearly see two kinds of people: the traditional English (especially the older generation), with their quite stiff, extremely polite pose, and the youths, who cleary want to oppose this, are openly drunk and very noisy and don't seem to care about anything (and sometimes can be very aggressive). But still, also the latter can't escape certain typical aspects of the English character: the 'stiff upper lip'; don't show you true feelings!
This was the report about June. By the way, something about the titles: those who paid attention haver already noticed that these are the names of the months in Welsh. I chose these because the names in English are much too common, and even though Bath is not in Wales, it is close by. Just out of interest I have also started trying to learn something of that language, but that turns out not to be too easy! I have also been to Wales a few times already -a beautiful country- and there are still more trips planned, so probably you will hear more about this.
Gorffennaf
The weather in England in July is nice and warm, above 20 degrees. But with that, all that is summery has been said, because it's still very often cloudy, sometimes sunshine and sometimes rain, and when now and then it also becomes still warmer, due to the high humidity it immediately becomes also very stuffy.
Bath is by now completely in the tourist season. When I'm walking through the city on Saturday afternoon, there is a completely different atmosphere there than in the winter; I hardly even recognise my own city anymore. It's completely full of tourists, and the street salespeople and -artists are doing their best to get their share of this.
You also see now regularly Morris dancers on the central square. For those who don't know this: Morris dancing is a traditional English formation dance form, which is performed in groups of usually 6 men (only men). They are clad in white clothes, with ribbons and bells on their arms and legs, wearing black hats, and waving handkerchiefs or sticks around. The peculair thing is that this is originally not a real 'folk' dance (in the sense that everybody takes part in it), nor a war dance (even though groups of men are waving sticks around). The precise origin and meaning are unclear; possibly it's a ritual from the pre-christian era. In any case, it served in the middle ages as a 'show dance' at the court, and it's purely show still now. It's been preserved in the past couple of centuries especially in this region of England, and can therefore be seen as a piece of regional culture which can be presented to tourists.
Many English look down on Morris dancing; find it ridiculous or something. I wonder why; isn't it just fun to perform a silly bit of show? (So, it's not that much different from football, is it?) In any case it appears to works well on the tourist public here in Bath.
Morris dancers; this group contains, untraditionally, womenThe other night, I was playing the fiddle in that session, together with a pianist, a bass player, a saxophone player and a few others. But I got the feeling the rhythm was a little unstable. The pianist was leading, but the bass player couldn't follow him well. There was a drum kit (from the organisers), but no drummer. So I decided to crawl behind the drum kit with my fiddle, and to follow the pianist with my feet on the bass drum and the hi-hat, and so mark the rhythm for the bass player, hoping that everything would become a bit more stuctured. At the same time I just kept on playing the fiddle. Alas, it didn't help much, because the rhythm stayed messy. But at least it looked like a nice stunt.
Less pleasant things also happen. Another time, after a session in that same pub, I was afterwards chatting with a few other people. A man, who had up to that moment been sitting silently behind his pint, suddenly came at us and said to me and one other bloke: "I think you are both assholes and you have to leave." We didn't pay much attention to him, but the man kept urging us, and began shouting. After a while, the other guy he was talking to did begin to react on it, and both even became aggressive. Together with some others I tried to separate them, and said to my conversation partner: "Leave him; he's not worth it." But there was no stopping this. The staff of the pub joined us. But to my surprise, only my conversation partner was removed from the place; the man who had been the cause of the trouble didn't let himself be taken outside and sat down again, looking soullessly around him. I was glad I got the time to pack my stuff at ease before I left.
I can only guess for the reason why this ended this way. There are still a lot of things in this country which I absolutely don't understand...
Awst
Those celebrities I've never seen myself, but it's interesting that you can regularly see limousines, those really ridiculously long ones, driving through the city. Always with blinded windows; you can't see who's inside. I don't really get nervous from the idea that possibly there's someone famous driving there; I always only think "poor guy; it must be hopelessly hard to maneuvre such a car through these narrow streets".
Of course, also in the media you read and hear lots of stuff about celebrities; there's some gossiping going on! Many people (and newspapers) for instance, seem to find it still very important how things are going between Posh and Becks. Last year these have moved to Madrid (maybe actually partly to avoid the media...?) and I would have thought that we would be rid of this then. But it's apparently still of great national importance whether those two there will stay together after one has had an affair. Much ado about nothing!
And yes, British TV also has discovered the method to extract money from millions of Britons by convincing everybody to regularly call an expensive telephone number, and vote this way who has to leave a house. Yes, also here they are BigBrothering! Even people who say they find it all rubbish seem to follow it themselves anyway too. I have sometimes watched it for five minutes - it's hard to avoid it when you switch on the TV -, but I couldn't stand it; those guys in that house have really nothing sensible to say.
And the other night was the thing that everybody had been looking out for: the BB finale, an evening-long programme. But even if you don't watch that, you can't avoid it: the final result was even reported on the news the next morning! Oh yes, great things happen here.
Medi
But although it rains a bit more often again, fortunately it is in-between still often very nice summery weather. With my collegues of the university, who are almost all normally present, it's then nice to have a couple of after-work pints on the terrace of the pub of the university campus. Because also that, we have nicely for ourselves now (still).
Some of the nice days I've also used to undertake some trips; for instance, I've been to Weymouth for a day, straight south of here, a pleasant beach and harbour town on the south coast of Dorset. Right next to it is Portland, a 6 km long rocky island which is connected to the mainland by a sandy dyke. Also closeby here is Chesil Beach, a remarkable strip of beach of about 12 km long, which runs parallel to the coast, but is only connected to it at the beginning and the end. Interesting play of nature.
Seen from a hill on Portland: the narrow piece of land which connects Portland to the mainland. At the back on the right Weymouth; at the back on the left Chesil Beach.I've walked all around Portland in half a day. Lovely rock formations and beautiful views. On one side of the island you can see a lot of small huts, of which many were now occupied by beach guests. I can well imagine that people like to have a summer cottage on the coast, but I found it rather odd that these were so tiny (a few metres squared) and are so closely packed together, while there seems to be enough space. I would think that people want to enjoy the space, the quiet and the view. Or are the English more sociable than us, and do they always want to be close together?
The coast path that I followed, was easily to follow everywhere, except actually at the end. When I almost should have been back at the starting point, I ended up in a terrain where nothing was indicated anymore. I met a small group of English people, who were carrying a very detailed map, but who had gotten lost the same way as me. So I told myself "then it's not just me". But when we were looking for the way back together, it turned out that I was often better able to read their map than they were. The place where we were, turned out to be a disused military exerice terrain. Eventually we were pointed a shortcut route by a few sportfishermen, very steeply up the high rock, to get back to the beginning. I only just made it in time to the last train from Weymouth back to Bath.
Another remarkable thing of this: what I didn't know beforehand, was that there would also be 'jamming' in-between the concerts, and so just about every visitor (except me) was carrying an instrument. In the beginning I've been watching the sessions regretfully, but I couldn't control myself, and asked several people to lend me their instruments. In the end I played guitar, fiddle and double bass - normally I don't play double bass at all, but it's just a large fiddle, isn't it? I didn't know anybody yet at that festival, but it seems that they know me now as 'the man who brings along nothing but plays everything'.
Jamming at the Bluegrass Pickin' Weekend
Hydref
But by now autumn has finally set in, with every now and then still some sun, but lots more rain, and also such thunder- and other storms that you hardly dare go out. And also again this adventurousness that there's never any chance to say what it wil be in an hour. The weather report on tv is one of the most exciting programmes.
Also the students are back at the university; halfway October was the 'Freshers Week' (introduction week), with all kinds of activities to show the students around, or to collect new members for the student unions. It all looks a lot like what I always saw happening in Eindhoven. It's a nice atmosphere, even though that sudden crowdedness takes a little getting used to.
What also is going on again is the 'freshers flu': due to this sudden gathering of students from everywhere, there is a good chance that a flu virus will spread, and with the weather getting colder and wetter, everybody is a bit more vulnerable. This flu epidemic at universities seems to be entirely normal in this time of year. Last year I indeed caught it too. This year I haven't yet; maybe I'll be able to avoid it this time...?
The light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, from the end of the 19th century, are very well known to every Englishman (probably mandatory cultural education), but outside of there, they aren't so much. But if you get the chance to see this: to be recommended; very funny! I was 'only' a pirate in this, a 'chorus' member, but that didn't matter at all, because it was a lot of fun to do. Not only did we have to sing, dance and act at the same time, but also sword-fight - with real, albeit unsharpened, rapiers. From a fencing instructor we got several lessons (where the main purpose, of course, was that it had to look good). Nice, the kind of experiences you gain this way. And the atmosphere, when you are performing this show in a monumental old theatre building, is magnificent.
For completeness I may have to add that also this time again, I got some trouble with the group a few times, especially with the choreographer. It occurred several times, that she wanted us to do something, which either wasn't clear, or not well possible. I was then the first one to ask questions, because I like clarity. But these didn't get answered; I only got to hear "just do it, will you". Also for instance if I had missed a rehearsal, in which something had changed, and I wanted to know what had changed, I wasn't answered. And I clearly saw that also others often didn't know just what was expected, but they kept their mouths closed. Apparently I just had to wait until the choreographer herself saw that that all kinds of things were going wrong, and would start doing something about it. Own initiatives are not appreciated here. It'll probably be a cultural difference, but I find something like this a extremely inefficient way of working! Oh well, this way you get to learn the various aspects of the 'culture' of this country.
Till the next one,
Tachwedd
Since the students have all come back again, the nightlife has also properly started going again. There, it's very remarkable to see how little the youths let the weather bother themselves. At daytime in the city, you only see people walking around in thick coats, but as the evening goes on, more and more youths with no coats and in what I think should be summer clothes. The best part is at 11 PM, when the pubs close and everybody goes on to the nightclubs. The streets are loaded full of boys in shorts and t-shirts, and girls in miniskirts and revealing little tops. Apparently as much as 'meat' has to be shown. And if you just drink enough, the meteorological circumstances won't bother you. (This clearly shows from their behaviour.)
And now you might think that all those ladies who put themselves on display like this, also look very sexy, like you can expect in the Mediterranean. Well, not quite. The meat abundantly bulges from the gaps between the clothes. It makes you think: are the English men blind, or are there different standards here for what is 'sexy'? In any case, every foreigner who comes here, is glad to notice that he looks relatively good here.
Maybe the physique of the Englishman has to do something with his eating habits. Now, English food of course has a reputation, wrich is partly true, but I'd like to add that it isn't nearly as bad as is being said. Also the English assure me that 20 years ago, food here was indeed very bad, but in the meantime much has changed, especially by letting in lots of foreign influences. In some pubs and restaurants you really can eat lovely.
But the traditional food also still exists, and even though that can also be very good, it's often strange combinations, and is often very greasy and heavy. One of the amazing things I find the 'Sunday roast'. On Sunday around midday, in order to consume with their relatives this heavy lunch, people go and visit each other or go together to the pub; indeed you can get it in all pubs. It consists of a large plate of roast meat (mutton, beef or chicken), potatoes, gravy and lots of boiled vegetables: carrots, sprouts, turnips, parsnips, etc. Often it gets piled high on top of the plate. And on top of that, then there always needs to be also a 'Yorkshire pudding': this weird thing of beaten egg, which tastes like nothing.
In itself it's a decent meal, but it's a mystery to me how the English can feel like that on Sunday at noon, a time when I'm still waking up. But: when on a Sunday, we have been having a walk through the nasty weather, and after that find a pub which is still willing to serve a Sunday roast at 5 PM, it's a welcome reinforcement. With a pint of bitter, of course.
And so we go on to the end of the year.
Rhagfyr
Of course, also commerce is running at full power. There also was again a christmas market, with all kinds of artistic christmas decorations and other gift ideas. High season also for our barbershop vocal group: we have among other things lighted up the christmas atmosphere in a shopping centre, to the entertainment of especially many children that passed by. But the most remarkable listener was a large dog, who, when hearing certain chords, suddenly looked round at us and sat down. His master would have liked to walk on, but the dog decided: "I'm going to sit and listen to this." Master had no choice but to wait until the song was over.
With the Barbershop vocal group singing at the cristmas market in BathBut our barbershop singing of course was nothing compared to the Christmas Carol Service which was held in the central large church of the city, the Bath Abbey. Old English christmas songs in arrangements of classical and modern composers. Wonderful harmonies, which worked well in the acoustics and the atmopshere of the majestuous church. Oh yes, they can sing, those Brits.
At the many organised christmas dinners I've also gotten to know the traditional English christmas menu. The main part is usually a turkey filled with 'stuffing', and cranberry sauce. The stuffing can be different mixtures of minced meat, vegetables, bread, herbes, whatever. As desserts there are: the Christmas pudding, which is a nice but heavy-on-the-stomach cake with raisons and dried fruits, preferably overpoured with brandy and flambé. And the 'trifle', a large pile-up in a bowl of layers of spunge dough, fruits, custard, jam and whipped cream. Yes, the Brits may eat slightly bizarre things, but if you get used to them a little, it's all very nice anyway.
At the dinner everybody also gets a 'Christmas cracker': a card thing of about 30 cm long in the shape of a candy wrapper. If you pull this with two people until it bursts open with a bang, out come: a paper crown, which everybody then puts on - 'we' are all kings for a moment -, a small gift, and a little note with a few silly jokes, for inspiration of the jolliness (just in case with several glasses of wine that still may not be happening). "'Tis the season to be jolly". People are always playing the joker here, but especially in this season the commandment is "thou shalt be jolly"! Yes, this way we'll make it through the dark days.
Christmas party at workBlwyddwyn Newydd Dda!
Hyvää Uutta Vuotta!
Gott Nytt År!
Prost Neujahr!
¡Feliz Año!
Bonne Nouvelle Année !
Happy New Year!
Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!