England Outside the City

Over the weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to hike around a bit of the area outside Manchester. It's a rather nice pastime here to hike around the rolling hills, splotches of woodland, historic buildings, and sheep - and luckily the North Cheshire Concert Band has a monthly(?) ritual of planning short (5 miles or so) hikes.

This weekend we started off at Lyme Park, near Stockport. People may recognize the area as it is where they filmed part of (the recent) Pride and Prejudice. I must confess that I have seen the film, although the space in my mind has been commandeered by recent musical phrases in preparation of my recital (I know - lousy excuse!); but it wasn't beyond my knowledge to understand why the women in the group were looking for Mr. Darcy. Those not taking a fancy towards him (my eyes were scanning for Miss Bennet) were entreated to ask how a 5 mile hike which ended where it began seemed to only venture uphill.

And uphill we went. It's quite encouraging (albeit physically tiring) when Catherine is racing towards a summit, and I would expect to gain energy from this. Of course, after a slightly tired Catherine reaches "almost" the top, to find out it is indeed "almost" but not "quite", the legs just seem to try to turn around. This was the first 1-2 miles.

After that, we slowly proceeded downhill, moving past grazing sheep (England - especially compared to the US - has quite lax rules governing hikers. As long as they stay on the trail, people can venture in and out of private farmland, and zones that would surely be off-limits in the US - like airfields!), and quickly descended past the earth into the mud. There was TONS of it, whole fields digested into a thick ooze which threatened to capture our shoes and nibble on our trousers. I remained unscathed until I stepped in (evidently) a hold and a spurt of mud flew up, injuring the bottom half of my leg. Healing would have to wait until we returned home, and only after a tumble in the washer.

After looking up at the beautiful hills and countryside (it really is amazing to look out and see green fields broken up by fences and hedgerows. I really hope to post some pictures soon), we gradually made our ascent up the final peak, culminating at the Gatehouse. The trek was arduous to say the least, but finally making it was surely worth the effort. From the peak, you could look down on Stockport, Manchester (easily recognizable by Beetham Tower), and even as far away as Anglesey, the island making up the Western end of Wales! Clouds obscured the mountains, but the panorama was breathtaking.

From there, we descended past the estate, returning to the car park, where plans were laid for the pub trip.

Coffeeless: Day 2 & 3

It was a brutal. But I survived.

Partly it was because I'm visiting Catherine, who makes sure I won't break down. Secondly, I clarified what constituted a "candy bar" (a slightly enigmatic term), allowing for Valentine's Day candy, and the fudge my mother recently sent. Oh, and posh chocolates are okay. In Catherine's words "if you give it all up, you'll go mad!"

Secondly, a slight increase in tea consumption helps stave the caffeine depression.

As I push from day 3 into day 4, I can feel the need lessening, but the comforting feeling of having a hot coffee in my hands is still very prevalent. This I'll need to replace.

Coffeeless: Day 1

Feeling nervous, find my fingers tapping all the time. I'm reminded of my friend Eric (who may or may not read this page), well known for saying "I should do [fill in the blank] - No I shouldn't! What am I thinking?" and the blank is obviously (in this case) [buy a cup of coffee].

Instead of coffee and candy bars, I replace them with "good" food, like apples and orange juice. This is okay, but I also have the odd feeling I will need to over consume to compensate for the urges....oh, dear.

Good Night and Good Luck - RAISE HELL!!

We've Lost a Good One:

Molly Ivins

My introduction to Ms. Ivins came after my senior year in high school. Finally able to read what I actually wanted, I had a surfeit of non-Fiction at my side (of course, with the occasional Moby Dick or East of Eden), which lasted for the next five or so years (really only broken by Pamuk and Murakami). In this event, though, the book was Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush. I was astounded; Ivins's wit and knowledge far surpassed my expectations (especially for a book I randomly picked up at Borders)

I read her columns throughout college, and found them to be just as insightful. I found her continual reference to "how they do things in Texas" appealing, and helped clear the air of many misgivings I may have felt.

In closing, I provide two links: A collection of her columns on AlterNet, and what I consider to be her greatest column, Some Kind of Manly.

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Groundhog's Day

They don't celebrate it here :-(

But on the way to school, Sarah pointed out some plants poking out of the ground, saying "Are those plants or trash?" Thereby giving a good indication of the weather here.

In related news, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) revealed a new report saying humans are indeed the cause of climate change (well, technically they give it a 90% probability), and greenhouse gases must be curbed by 2020 and reduced by 2050 to avert apocalyptic results. Furthermore, the BBC hypothesized (with Greenpeace) that the document was rather CONSERVATIVE in its findings, because it had to be approved by 130 countries. Luckily (as the currant quote states), James Kunstler doesn't think this will be a problem, as most of the evidence we're receiving indicate we peaked oil production last year.

In any event, Happy Ground hog's Day. This is probably one of the few times you can wish for six more weeks of winter.

Lack of Posts

I check blogs every day; sometimes I go "harrumph" (it's quite embarrassing in a public setting) when I've encountered people too busy with their real lives to philosophize over cyberspace...sigh. Then I realize I've done exactly that!!! My sincere apologies. Part of the observation comes after reading Pollan's "A Place of My Own" where he builds a house to work in. After being a writer/editor all his life, he feels the need to break away and create something physically "real". Similarly, after spending time online, I find the urge to break into the real world important too.

Anyway, the other reason for the hiatus is, as always, time. More practice, work and composing. On top of that, I see now that, come Saturday, I will have had 5 performances in the period of 9 days (!!). Most were small, with myself contributing less than 20 minutes or so, but of course you have the stress, preparation, et. al. that keeps you busy at times like that.

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Snow! (by myself)

It finally snowed last night!! How wonderful; I encountered when I left to go to the store for some HobNobs.

Guessing at the rate is was falling, I was hoping on seeing about 1/2 cm in the morning, but sadly, the sun (in all it's malicious intent) took most of it away, leaving a small pattering that was rather disappointing. The moment was nice, though.

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Two Points

British Money: Edward Elgar
Danish Money: Carl Nielsen
Swiss Money: Arthur Honegger
Austrian Euro: W.A. Mozert
So....when will we lose Mr. Jackson and get Mr. Ives (Charles, of course)?

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I friend just pulled out a $20 bill, and it was the strangest thing. After being divorced from it for 4 months now, I never thought I would get a little wave of homesickness from the sight of our currency. It wasn't anything dramatic; I still intend to stay (and possibly, work), but we do leave a bit of ourselves wherever we go.

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