The Wordsworth Museum at Grasmere

 

The Wordsworth Museum is part of the £6.2 Million "Re-Imagining Wordsworth Project". There is a huge collection of books, artwork, journals, letters, manuscripts, portraits, paintings, drawings, artefacts. letters, poetry and personal items. 

I was only briefly interested in "The Prelude" that the museum describes the earliest surviving version of 1805 as "Our Greatest Treasure". It may be that only scholars are interested in it's contents although it's renown is substantial. The two longest versions of the poem consist of 13 and 14 books. Wordsworth continued to revise and update this work all the way through to his death in 1850. None of this I knew.

I was more interested in Dorothy's Journals of May 1800 to January 1803. The Guardian have an excellent article "The Grasmere Journal: Seeing the Lake District through another Wordsworth's eyes".

However, apart from the obvious items about poetry and Dorothy's Journal, I had no idea that William Wordsworth wrote guides to the Lake District. Guide Books and Maps of the Lakes have always been of great interest to me, born out by our large collection of the same. This is the Fifth Edition of  Wordsworth's Guide through the District of The Lakes. I have made a separate post about this and the previous editions.

.

The garden at the back of the museum and Dove Cottage is only small and not very interesting

But the cat was very friendly until two jets flew over very low and it disappeared into the bushes.

Holehird Gardens 2021

 

It was on the Monday of our week in the Lake District that I was joined by Alison's sister to visit the gardens of the Lakeland Horticultural Society off Patterdale Road, Windermere. We had been there before a couple of times but never this late in the season. I was expecting little colour at this time of year but how wrong that turned out to be. Starting with some Asters and Rudbeckia.

The Dahlias were very impressive.

As were the Alstroemeria.

There is also a huge area where the Hydrangeas are still in bloom.

We had lunch sitting on a bench with this great view of Windermere and the surrounding fells.

There is also a metal sign showing some of the fells in the distance.

The last area we saw took us on a high path up to the rock garden and what are described as fell borders. Again we were lucky with weather with enough sun at times to show the gardens at their best.

Holiday in the Lake District - 2021

 

Having been to Coachman's Cottage in Grasmere in 2018 and 2019 (both years we enjoyed superb weather), we missed last year when we went to Cornwall instead. This year we had rain on our arrival, one damp afternoon and some early rain on the day we came home. Not sure how we are so lucky as the last few weeks in Cumbria had been very wet.

Saturday 9th October

Leaving at just after 10am, we stopped as planned on the way up at the NT property at Dunham Massey hoping to have lunch there. However, the place was exceedingly crowded and the queue for the cafe far too long and slow. So instead we walked around the deer park to stretch our legs, went on to the next services and enjoyed a Waitrose wrap and drink from the shop.  We noticed on arrival in the Lakes how busy was Ambleside. We arrived in Grasmere at 4.40pm to expected rain. Alison's sister and her husband arrived just after we had unpacked. They cooked a lovely dinner for us in the evening.

Sunday 10th October

 We agreed that a walk from the cottage would be nice and the path up to Silver How started just outside Grasmere. There were great views over the valley all the way. I could not remember if we had been on this path before. We didn't make it to the very top of Silver How and we stopped for lunch where I took the picture above. There was a steep rocky descent under trees and next to a stream. I slipped on the wet stones and very nearly saved myself from a fall.

We came out at the bottom at Wykes which seemed to be a private road? Back at the lake, we turned right and walked all the way round until we found the road for the last stretch back. A maninly sunny day but cool in the shade. Chas cooked steak for dinner.

Monday 11th October

Alison's sister and I made our way to Holehird Gardens. See separate post. (Alison and Chas walked to Chapel Stile and back). Dinner was at The Good Sport which is the Tap-Room for the Grasmere Brewery. So good beer and not bad food. A lovely day with some sunshine and 14C.

Tuesday 12th October

I had a quiet morning after being outside for most of the last two days. The others walked the same route as the day before. In the afternoon, I headed out to the National Trust property Allan Bank which is only just around the corner from the cottage. There are nice views back to the cottage 

After wandering around the Garden Walk and seeing a red squirrel close up, I ventured up the Woodland Walk where the start seemed perfectly easy. 

However, the path (only one way) soon became extremely steep and rocky and I even had to scramble at one point. But the views of Helm Crag and the Easedale Ridge (that we had walked the last two years) from the top were just about worth it.

Fortunately the made steps down were much easier.

I had been tasked to buy some gingerbread in Grasmere. Although there was just a twenty minute queue, it did start to rain at 4pm. The day had been otherwise dry, mostly cloudy, 14C and no wind. Alison cooked a chicken dish for dinner with the England v Hungary World Cup group match. 

Wednesday 13th October

Alison joined her sister and her husband for their morning at Allan Bank. I went for a newspaper and joined them later. This time it was to look around the house. There are more good views from the windows.

We had teacakes for lunch back at the cottage before saying goodbye to our visitors who were leaving. My legs were still objecting to the last couple of days so Alison walked to Loughrig Fell and I had a rest before going into the village for provisions. A quiet evening in after another cloudy but dry day with still no wind at 14C.

Thursday 14th October

Alison joined me on a visit to the Wordsworth Museum. See separate post. On our last visit to Grasmere in 2019 I wrote the following:  I walked through Grasmere to the building site that is Re-imagining Wordsworth, the £6.2 Million project to upgrade the visitor experience at Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum.  https://www.cumbriaslivingheritage.co.uk/reimagining-wordsworth-250-years/

The building was only completed in May and I thought it was quite impressive. We looked at the shops in Grasmere on our way back and in the late afternoon we took the path to Easedale Tarn, turning round just as the path became steep. Another dry but cloudy day and still little breeze and a comfortable 13C.

Friday 15th October

Our last day turned out to be the most perfect weather we have experienced in The Lakes. We were greeted with clear blue skies and only the odd cloud bubbled up in the afternoon. I dropped off Alison at the NT car park at Stickle Ghyll that is next to Stickle Barn, as she was heading uphill into some high fells. I left the car there at 10.15am and walked down the road to to Stool End Farm.

Then onto a nice open path with the fells all around. 

Soon I reached the path going uphill on The Band towards it's destination of Bow Fell (see previous Lake District posts). 

I carried on at low level on the path through Oxendale and reached the bridge at Oxendale Beck.

The path up to Pike O Blisco turns left uphill, but I had reached my destination and headed back to the car for lunch at 12.30pm. I found a quiet spot just up from the Stickle Barn pub, only being interrupted by sheep passing through the only gap in the wall.

At 1.15pm I headed on the path through Great Langdale that we had walked (and run) on other occasions. Some of the views were quite spectacular. Here are Crinkle Crags on the left with Bow Fell poking out it's top on the right.

The Langdale Pikes were always in view.

Back at the car at 2.30pm I drove back to Grasmere. The day was a little cooler at 12C but the sunshine was pleasantly warm, and again no wind. we had been stuck under high pressure all week. Alison made it back on foot after a long day to Sargent Man, High Raise and back through the Easedale Valley. We had booked The Jumble Room (just across the road) for dinner and enjoyed Chicken Calabrian and Steak and Stilton Pie with parsnip flakes and stilton bon bons. 

Saturday 16th October

After a cold night, we packed the car and headed to Ambleside. It was damp rather than wet and we queued outside the Apple Pie, our regular cafe, waiting for a table. We had tea and bacon and sausage rolls for our breakfast. They were very welcome. We did some shopping at Gaynor Sports and the sweet shop for fudge etc. The weather was much cooler at 7C in the drizzle. we left at 11.20am for the drive home and made it home in four and a half hours. It had dried up when we hit Lancashire and it was bright and cloudy all the way down with no hold ups. 

This was to be the last year for Coachman's Cottage before it became converted into a separate residence. Maybe to became a holiday let once again?  

Close Relations, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and The Unloved

 

Deborah Moggach must have written this book with her tongue firmly pushing against her cheek. Like an exam question: "How can the lives of the members of a nice middle class family disintegrate". Discuss. At the head of the family are Gordon and Dorothy running a firm of builders. Then there are the three grown up daughters, one married with two awkward (what else) children. All their relationships are in peril. This is not always a happy story, but it is told with wit and charm and, at times, totally gripping. As ever with Moggach, no literary masterpiece but a good story.

I felt this was a much better book than her "Daisy Jones and the Six". A well told story if not a literary masterpiece. Monique is a young writer who is chosen by elderly Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo to write her biography, for some reason she will not divulge. Evelyn admits she is not the nicest of women, seven husbands says it all. All was going fine until an event that was so fanciful towards the end spoilt it for me. In these later chapters it all becomes too melodramatic for my taste. I just wish it had finished a lot sooner.

This book was a challenge. Some of it was just a jumble, at times it seemed like a kind of experimental prose and at others it was just brilliant. It was one of those books that I had to go back after 20 or 30 pages and write down a list of all the guests who stay at this French chateaux for Christmas. Even then I was constantly muddled between Luciana and Tatiana. And of course there is Inspector Blanc.

However, we are off in Part 2 to Algiers in both 1945 and 1957. A kind of back story for Yasmina that alternates with Jane and Jim. I never really understood their relevance to the story. New characters appear with their different stories in an ad hoc uprising against the French occupation. There is one part narrated by Jasmina that is both weird but atmospheric.

In Part 3 we are back at the chateaux. To wrap things up? We should be so lucky.

Respect, No Time To Die and The Last Duel

 

As usual for these Oscar worthy movies, it was far too long. It dragged in the second half. For me, by far the most successful scenes were those filmed in the recording studios, Aretha and the band finding their way to perfection. Yes, Jennifer Hudson was terrific and will bet an Oscar nomination. But the men were all bullies and their performances lacked authority, from Forrest Whittaker just a caricature as Aretha's father to husbands and managers. Just the band again were fine. 

The political stuff about Martin Luther King seemed to be out of a different movie  and Aretha's children were never properly explained or even introduced. The obligatory alcohol abuse just made me think of Freddy in Bohemian Rhapsody. But then we have Marc Marm as Jerry Wexler, a supporting classic.

Despite the mostly rave reviews, such as Kevin Maher's "all heart, a moving portrait of an antiquated hero facing his obsolescence", (that would have been nice) I was mainly bored by the predictable and repetitious action sequences that over powered the drama of this Bond's final outing. Although I should have known having re-read my reviews for his last two missions, that we had seen it all before. These days I'm just not a fan of staged fights, car chases and shooting battles. The lack of chemistry between Bond and Lea Seydoux's Swann was made all the more lacklustre by a weak script. Phoebe Waller Bridge seemed only to provide those sharp one liners. 

The best part of the film was the sequence in Cuba with the glorious Ana de Armas. And unfortunately too young for this aging Bond. But then she was gone! Given the long running time, I was amazed that little explanation of the nanobots was rushed and this part of the story was lost. M seemed to be a boss who had crashed. How can that be?  And why did we have to have a child in the final part? No!

And so here, we even have an extra half hour to endure. Perhaps actually cutting an hour, as one critic suggested, might have helped. All substance and little style. Who would have thought that about the aging Daniel Craig. There are those hints of previous movies, even the  final credits song is that unoriginal and now tedious and worn out "We have all the time in the world" from the 1969 Bond film On Her Majesties Secret Service". How can I say that about a John Barry composition. It's not his fault that Hal David's lyrics and Louis Armstrong's delivery are now pretty naff. That sums up the film. Not quite as harsh as Camilla Long's verdict, but still best forgotten. 

What is it about The Last Duel that audiences don't want to see? Based on a true story, it has only been shown for a week in my local multiplex with small audiences. Although an 18 certificate, this seems less violent than some of the recent horror films that manage a 15 grading. It must be the subject matter that revolves around the attack on Jodie Comer. Now that is nasty, but we are in 14th Century France and such is commonplace. But I did like the way the story was told from the three different perspectives the main characters. I liked the way there were some subtle hints in the earlier stories that were confirmed in a later section. On screenrant.com there is an analysis by Erin Edmonson of where the film deviates from the true life book, but none are critical to main thrust of the plot. 

As to the cast, I have to agree with the general opinion that Jodie Comer is superb (more of an Oscar winner to me than Jennifer Hudson) and in my eyes head and shoulders above Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck. The hair of Damon and Affleck are a source of amusement: Matt's Mullet and Ben's Bleach. All the men are pretty odious characters. Then there are occasional British actors in cameo roles such as Clive Russell and John Kavanagh who are superb. Harriet Walter is always good. Even the occasionally wooden TV star Nathaniel Parker changed his voice to startlingly great effect. Ridley Scott does a fine job as director and the costumes, make up and production design should receive Oscar nominations. So should this important film, only held back by some clunky dialogue. It could have been superb.

Soundtrack of American Graffiti - The Songs of my Youth

 

Yesterday I watched American Graffiti for the very first time. Set in 1962, the soundtrack was the music of my youth. I was 17. The 1973 film itself was pretty terrible, despite the director being George Lucas and the producer Francis Ford Coppola. But the soundtrack is spectacular, especially for someone of my age. It is pure nostalgia. I can remember listening to Radio Luxemburg (Radio 1 only started in 1967 as a response to pirate radio stations) and writing down playlists from shows such as Jack Jackson's Jukebox. Many of the following tracks were featured on these programmes. These are just some of the 41 songs from the soundtrack album.

Rock Around The Clock - Bill Hayley. Recorded in 1954, I have previously written about summer holidays at my grandmothers when, at around the age of eleven or twelve, we played the LP of the same name that belonged to my uncles. 

Runaway - Del Shannon.  Number 10 of my "131 Songs" on my post of 1st December 2009. I saw Del at the Royal Albert Hall on 17th November 1985 on the Rock'n'Blues Tour of the UK. Also on the bill were Bobby Vee, Bi Diddley and Ricky Nelson. 

Why Do Fools Fall In Love - Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers. I had not heard this track for decades.

That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly. It was a toss up between this track and Peggy Sue as to which made my "131 Songs".

At The Hop -  Performed in the film by Flash Cadillac/Continental Kids, but  originally a big hit for Danny and the Juniors in 1957. Watching them on YouTube made me smile. The fact that a piano playing a succession of thumping chords can turn in such great rock and roll is a wonder.

Surfin' Safari - The Beach Boys. Released in 1962, It was on my compilation LP that was played to death later in the sixties.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters. I always preferred their version of Only You from 1955.

Louie Louie - Richard Berry. He wrote the song in 1955 and it was originally released as a B-side in 1957. There have been many cover versions, notably by The Kingsmen in 1963 The Kinks in 1964. It does not appear on the soundtrack album as in the film it is performed by the house band Flash Cadillac etc.

Little Darlin' - The Diamonds. Another big hit I had not heard for decades, Amazing to see them perform their 1957 cover on YouTube. Then another video from 2012, they are in their sixties? In full evening dress. 

Barbara Ann - The Regents. This was the original from 1961, but I only knew the Beach Boys version from 1965.

The Book of Love - The Monotones. Released in 1957, written by members of the group and there it is on YouTube. Wonderful.

Maybe Baby - Buddy Holly. One of Buddy's best from 1957. He wrote, played, sung and produced this track. On YouTube the song is accompanied by stills from the movie.

The Great Pretender - The Platters. Still missing Only You. Releaded in 1956, I never knew the group included a female singer until I watched YouTube.

Aint That a Shame - Fats Domino. Not The Fat Man that was number 4 of my "131 Songs". Also see my post of 26th October 1917 shortly after his death.

Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry. I chose You Never Can Tell for my "131 Songs". I saw Chuck at the Odeon Hammersmith in 1964, see post of 28th January 2015.

I Only Have Eyes For You - The Flamingoes. Their cover version was released in 1958.

Party Doll - Buddy Knox. A recording from 1957 that was co-written by the singer.

You're Sixteen - Johnny Burnette. a big hit in the UK in 1961, He nearly made my 131 Songs" with Dreamin'. All these songs are on YouTube and it has been a real treat to here them again.

Love Potion Number 9 - The Clovers. Written by the hit machine that was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded by The Clovers in 1959, it was a much bigger hit for The Searchers in 1964.

Since I Don't Have You - The Skyliners. A 1958 hit and covered by all people, Guns N Roses in 1994.

Green Onions - Booker T and The MG's. An instrumental that was a big hit in 1962. Someone had the record at one of my digs in 1963 and it was played on repeat. There was nothing to compare with it in those days. When it came on in the film, my heart missed a beat.

Only You - The Platters. And there it was. The third song from the Platters released in 1955. Another record that belonged to my uncles and often played when we visited there a few years later.

Goodnight, Well It's Time To Go - The Spaniels. Or known as Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight. Recorded in 1953, there have been many cover versions. None better than the original.

All Summer Long - The Beach Boys. Not their best, but appropriate for being played over the end credits. Google "American Graffiti End Credits Song" and find the complete list of music in the movie.

What I didn't expect when I started this post was finding all the songs on YouTube, many of which being performed by the artists. It has been quite a trip down memory lane. Some songs have passed the test of time better than others.