I'm not sure how old I was when my mother decided I would learn to play the piano. I was quite young & at Primary school. Miss Sparks, my teacher lived quite a walk away, maybe half an hour at my childs pace. After I knew the way I went alone. I could take a short cut down an alley & over The Cut which flowed through waste ground at the backs of houses & shops. It involved climbing down a sloping wall to a trickle of water & back up again, so I only did it in daylight, when I was late, or feeling intrepid. It was a place of some fear frequented by prowling cats. In winter when it was dark I was quite nervous walking the streets, despite the fact there were lights all the way. I didn't want to meet any children I knew carrying my smart, shiny, leather sheet music satchel.
I loved scales & arpeggios. I went for years & got to be quite good, passing exams with the London College of Music from 1954 to the last one, Senior Grade, in 1958. I was aiming for my ALCM, but Grammar school homework became too much. Nowadays I can't play because I don't have a piano & have hurt both hands in bad falls.
My love of music has been lifelong. I now find it hard to believe that I could play Grieg's Piano Concerto, Chopin's Polonnaise, & Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 among many others. I went for loud when I was angry or troubled & Adagios, Fur Elise or the Moonlight Sonata when I was sad. Playing the piano was a release from growing up. Music has a great capacity to distract & to change the mood. Classical music, more than anything else, feeds the soul.
Having said that, my music tastes are very eclectic. I have always enjoyed pop music and dancing. I also like world music and Jazz, particularly the Blues. My passion is opera. It releases all the emotions & is really quite sublime.
I feel sad that so few children discover the joys of playing an instrument or really listening to music. It has become a constant background noise to 21st century life. It seems devalued by it's prevalence. We are lucky today that there are so many ways to experience music & so many wonderful performers.
My hope is that whatever music children enjoy today will lead them to also enjoy our heritage of great composers. It would be really good if there were more time put aside in the curriculum throughout education for music.
"Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast" - William Congreve.
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Saturday, 23 January 2016
Nature v Nurture
I was listening to Radio 4 this morning & people were talking about their childhood & how it formed them. As I move into older age I do, very occasionally, think about what has made me the person I am. I feel oddly disconnected from it because it was so long ago & because my memories of it are very poor, but I know enough about psychology to know that our formative years are just that. The first 5 years lay down patterns of behaviour, habits & attitudes which are very hard to break as adults.
My home & my life was very ordinary in many ways. My father was a manual worker, who worked nights throughout my early years, so I rarely saw him. My mother had occasional, unskilled, part time jobs to suppliment his wage. They had both left school in very early adolescence. My father could read, but at the level of Tit Bits, the News of the World & Daily Mirror, which I later learned had a reading age of around 9. My mother was probably the cleverest one, but neither of them had had the opportunities I have had.
My mother valued education, but my father didn't really think it was important for girls. My mother won. I am eternally grateful.
I now realise how impoverished life was in the community of Higgins Lane. There were very few books in the house. I cannot remember ever having stories told or read to me. There was no music other than the "light" music of the radio in those post war years. There was no TV, so BBC radio provided all our entertainment. http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/radio/ Looking back it was all very unsophisticated - Educating Archie, Journey into Space, the Billy Cotton Bandshow....
Later on I remember going to Saturday morning cinema for children. http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s-sat-m-pics.htm An auditorium full of excited children watching cartoons & black & white childrens films. I don't remember ever going to the cinema with my parents, but did bunk off Grammar school to go to the pictures in Birmingham town centre when I was older.
I really don't remember much in the way of toys - balls, a skipping rope, marbles. I had a teddy & a doll, which for some unfathomable reason I remember as being black. I think I had the un PC "gollywog" too. There was a compendium of games like Snakes & Ladders too, but no one to play with.
There really wasn't much in the way of stimulation. Children amused themselves & adults didn't play with their children in the way that they do now. There was school & learning, (by rote mainly), and there was home, where you did as you were told & respected your elders regardless of whether they deserved that respect.
Yet my generation blossomed. We grew into adults who contributed to society in many different ways. We were not impoverished by poverty & lack of stimulus.
The world has turned. The opposite is now true here. Children have opportunities we would have wondered at in disbelief. I wonder what difference that will make.
My home & my life was very ordinary in many ways. My father was a manual worker, who worked nights throughout my early years, so I rarely saw him. My mother had occasional, unskilled, part time jobs to suppliment his wage. They had both left school in very early adolescence. My father could read, but at the level of Tit Bits, the News of the World & Daily Mirror, which I later learned had a reading age of around 9. My mother was probably the cleverest one, but neither of them had had the opportunities I have had.
My mother valued education, but my father didn't really think it was important for girls. My mother won. I am eternally grateful.
I now realise how impoverished life was in the community of Higgins Lane. There were very few books in the house. I cannot remember ever having stories told or read to me. There was no music other than the "light" music of the radio in those post war years. There was no TV, so BBC radio provided all our entertainment. http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/radio/ Looking back it was all very unsophisticated - Educating Archie, Journey into Space, the Billy Cotton Bandshow....
Later on I remember going to Saturday morning cinema for children. http://www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s-sat-m-pics.htm An auditorium full of excited children watching cartoons & black & white childrens films. I don't remember ever going to the cinema with my parents, but did bunk off Grammar school to go to the pictures in Birmingham town centre when I was older.
I really don't remember much in the way of toys - balls, a skipping rope, marbles. I had a teddy & a doll, which for some unfathomable reason I remember as being black. I think I had the un PC "gollywog" too. There was a compendium of games like Snakes & Ladders too, but no one to play with.
There really wasn't much in the way of stimulation. Children amused themselves & adults didn't play with their children in the way that they do now. There was school & learning, (by rote mainly), and there was home, where you did as you were told & respected your elders regardless of whether they deserved that respect.
Yet my generation blossomed. We grew into adults who contributed to society in many different ways. We were not impoverished by poverty & lack of stimulus.
The world has turned. The opposite is now true here. Children have opportunities we would have wondered at in disbelief. I wonder what difference that will make.
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Trip Advisor - Independent holidays
I've just spent days booking hotels for two independent holidays - one in the Inner Hebredes & one in Rome. I use a combination of Trip Advisor & the hotel's own websites if available. When planning an itinerary I cheat & look at the itineraries of tour operators. That gives you a basic idea of the important places to visit.
There is always a tension between doing a trip independently and being completely free to go where you want to & stay as long as you like & doing it with a group tour. I've travelled a lot & done both. I've also booked a cheap holiday with an operator & used the cheap flight & accommodation as a base to do my own thing hiring a car.
On balance I prefer independent travel. I like the freedom & you interact far more with people in the countries you visit. Groups develop a herd mentality & are delivered like a parcel from place to place. You don't have the hassle, but there are constraints & you have to put up with the people in the group come what may. I've also found a huge variation in the quality & price of what tour operators provide. I think I've now reached the age where I do like comfort, both in transport & accommodation.
On the other hand booking 6 different B&B's in the Hebrides took a huge amount of my time, despite modern communications. However organised you are you don't know until you get there whether you will arrive safely & someone will be expecting you.
I've been a member of Trip Advisor for years & think it is a very helpful website. There is a possible issue about the veracity of some reviews, but I think it is often possible to tell if reviews are genuine. The websites tools are helpful. The main problem is sifting through the huge choice.
How fortunate we are to be able to travel the world relatively cheaply and safely. Travel is vital to help us understand different cultures. Seeing places on TV or reading travel books is no substitute. If we are ever to achieve a world where peace reigns & diversity is really valued we need to experience a range of attitudes, beliefs & ways of doing things. There is no short cut.
There is always a tension between doing a trip independently and being completely free to go where you want to & stay as long as you like & doing it with a group tour. I've travelled a lot & done both. I've also booked a cheap holiday with an operator & used the cheap flight & accommodation as a base to do my own thing hiring a car.
On balance I prefer independent travel. I like the freedom & you interact far more with people in the countries you visit. Groups develop a herd mentality & are delivered like a parcel from place to place. You don't have the hassle, but there are constraints & you have to put up with the people in the group come what may. I've also found a huge variation in the quality & price of what tour operators provide. I think I've now reached the age where I do like comfort, both in transport & accommodation.
On the other hand booking 6 different B&B's in the Hebrides took a huge amount of my time, despite modern communications. However organised you are you don't know until you get there whether you will arrive safely & someone will be expecting you.
I've been a member of Trip Advisor for years & think it is a very helpful website. There is a possible issue about the veracity of some reviews, but I think it is often possible to tell if reviews are genuine. The websites tools are helpful. The main problem is sifting through the huge choice.
How fortunate we are to be able to travel the world relatively cheaply and safely. Travel is vital to help us understand different cultures. Seeing places on TV or reading travel books is no substitute. If we are ever to achieve a world where peace reigns & diversity is really valued we need to experience a range of attitudes, beliefs & ways of doing things. There is no short cut.
Monday, 18 January 2016
Money & Value
Value - desirability, worth, merit, importance
Money - a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender.
Does the developed world put too much value on money as a measure of real value?
We actually publish Rich Lists. There are numerous TV documentaries about how the rich spend their money - often quite obscenely & tastelessly. Magazines are full of the lives of the rich and supposedly famous. It is the raison d'etre of Hello & OK magazines & others like them. We actually have A, B & C lists of the rich & famous. Enormous numbers of people buy lottery tickets hoping to win ridiculous amounts of money which will change their lives, but often not for the better.
People aspire to have their 15 minutes of fame. They think that if they are rich money will solve their problems & their lives will be enriched.
We are who we are. We carry our past, our personality, our problems with us. We carry our strengths & our weaknesses. The real value is in facing our personal demons & really living the lives we have. Facing every day, living it to the full, trying to be the best we can be.
Some of us are blessed & lucky. Others are not. The lottery of adversity & bad luck can touch anyone at any time. There are some things beyond our control.
If we each live in our own bubble selfishly & don't share our good luck and good fortune we are diminished and isolated. If all the rich do is gratify their own desires, however extreme, the world is a poorer place.
No one is more important or worth more than anyone else. The only way our civilisation will survive is if we all really share the all the blessings. There has to be some measure of equality of opportunity. Not a self perpetuating hierarchy of good fortune.
Money - a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender.
Does the developed world put too much value on money as a measure of real value?
We actually publish Rich Lists. There are numerous TV documentaries about how the rich spend their money - often quite obscenely & tastelessly. Magazines are full of the lives of the rich and supposedly famous. It is the raison d'etre of Hello & OK magazines & others like them. We actually have A, B & C lists of the rich & famous. Enormous numbers of people buy lottery tickets hoping to win ridiculous amounts of money which will change their lives, but often not for the better.
People aspire to have their 15 minutes of fame. They think that if they are rich money will solve their problems & their lives will be enriched.
We are who we are. We carry our past, our personality, our problems with us. We carry our strengths & our weaknesses. The real value is in facing our personal demons & really living the lives we have. Facing every day, living it to the full, trying to be the best we can be.
Some of us are blessed & lucky. Others are not. The lottery of adversity & bad luck can touch anyone at any time. There are some things beyond our control.
If we each live in our own bubble selfishly & don't share our good luck and good fortune we are diminished and isolated. If all the rich do is gratify their own desires, however extreme, the world is a poorer place.
No one is more important or worth more than anyone else. The only way our civilisation will survive is if we all really share the all the blessings. There has to be some measure of equality of opportunity. Not a self perpetuating hierarchy of good fortune.
Saturday, 16 January 2016
Drug Wars - A Lesson in Futility
My drugs of choice would be chocolate & a good white wine.
I have long thought that making drug users criminals was ridiculous. If I were PM I would legalise all drugs. I would make doctors control dispensing them & monitor the health of addicts. This would immediately stop the huge sums of money being made by criminals. It would protect vulnerable people who cannot control their addiction on their own. They would no longer need to resort to crime to feed the habit. Victims of those crimes would be safer. The police would not waste huge resources in money, time & manpower policing the drug trade & it's wider aspects. It just seems an obvious win win situation to me. The endless cycle would be broken.
Now the imperatives are even higher. Terrorists all over the world control drug sale & production. They make vast sums of money on a daily basis to pay for training camps, arms & the infrastructure of indoctrination & recruitment. We need to cut off their supply of cash. Now. Legalising drugs would go a long way to doing that.
The bonus is that the government would actually make money from taxes on drugs as well as saving money on a war on drugs that has never been successful. What's not to like?
Misha Glenny is a Guardian journalist who has written convincingly on this subject.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/808c348e-a4db-11e5-a91e-162b86790c58.html#axzz3xPBzeOfi
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/drugstrade.internationalcrime - Article by Misha Glenny
We really can't afford not to do this.
I have long thought that making drug users criminals was ridiculous. If I were PM I would legalise all drugs. I would make doctors control dispensing them & monitor the health of addicts. This would immediately stop the huge sums of money being made by criminals. It would protect vulnerable people who cannot control their addiction on their own. They would no longer need to resort to crime to feed the habit. Victims of those crimes would be safer. The police would not waste huge resources in money, time & manpower policing the drug trade & it's wider aspects. It just seems an obvious win win situation to me. The endless cycle would be broken.
Now the imperatives are even higher. Terrorists all over the world control drug sale & production. They make vast sums of money on a daily basis to pay for training camps, arms & the infrastructure of indoctrination & recruitment. We need to cut off their supply of cash. Now. Legalising drugs would go a long way to doing that.
The bonus is that the government would actually make money from taxes on drugs as well as saving money on a war on drugs that has never been successful. What's not to like?
Misha Glenny is a Guardian journalist who has written convincingly on this subject.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/808c348e-a4db-11e5-a91e-162b86790c58.html#axzz3xPBzeOfi
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/drugstrade.internationalcrime - Article by Misha Glenny
We really can't afford not to do this.
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Technology & Ageing
Who would have thought that I would start wearing orthodontic braces at almost 71? There is no roadmap to ageing, so you know it's going to happen, but you really don't know how much of your life will be affected. Everyone has to navigate the sometimes rough seas as an explorer & find their own way through.
I have now got a pacemaker, a hearing aid, & a personal alarm in the house. I'm addicted to my computer & could run my whole life from my home, although that would be very isolating. Texting & emailing isn't the same as human contact. I also have a 4G phone.
Radio & TV are my windows on the world. I have a Kindle, but have to admit I still prefer books. Technology allows me to be selective, so I rarely watch live TV, preferring a PVR recording instead. Currently my Smart TV is proving a bit to difficult for my ageing brain & I can't seem to watch my other TV & record on the new PVR simultaneously.
My kitchen is a marvel of modern appliances despite the fact that, as a single person, I cook from scratch much less than I used to.
Online banking & shopping have changed my life. I was wary at first, but now I wouldn't be without it. Click & Collect it wonderful.
Information, people, the world are all easily accessible. The only downside is that when there are glitches or problems I can't fix them. I need someone who can & that can be expensive.
All in all I think I am probably lucky to be ageing now with all the benefits of technology. It must have been much harder for my parents generation.
I have now got a pacemaker, a hearing aid, & a personal alarm in the house. I'm addicted to my computer & could run my whole life from my home, although that would be very isolating. Texting & emailing isn't the same as human contact. I also have a 4G phone.
Radio & TV are my windows on the world. I have a Kindle, but have to admit I still prefer books. Technology allows me to be selective, so I rarely watch live TV, preferring a PVR recording instead. Currently my Smart TV is proving a bit to difficult for my ageing brain & I can't seem to watch my other TV & record on the new PVR simultaneously.
My kitchen is a marvel of modern appliances despite the fact that, as a single person, I cook from scratch much less than I used to.
Online banking & shopping have changed my life. I was wary at first, but now I wouldn't be without it. Click & Collect it wonderful.
Information, people, the world are all easily accessible. The only downside is that when there are glitches or problems I can't fix them. I need someone who can & that can be expensive.
All in all I think I am probably lucky to be ageing now with all the benefits of technology. It must have been much harder for my parents generation.
Monday, 4 January 2016
The Economics of Perpetual Growth
http://freakonomics.com/2014/01/24/can-economic-growth-continue-forever-of-course/
This is the don't worry scenario - all will be well - carry on spending
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2011/06/07/must-we-always-try-to-grow-the-economy/
So the real question is, can we use continuous economic growth to make a more equitable world where everyone gets a decent bit of the cake & we don't f...up the planet doing it?
I'm a housewifey sort of mathematician. Perpetual growth doesn't make sense to me. Just look at the number of dead civilisations caused by greed of one sort or another over the millennia. I'm not optimistic, but I'm probably too old for the possible dire consequences to affect me.
My grandchildren may well know the answers to the questions - when it's too late.
This is the don't worry scenario - all will be well - carry on spending
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2011/06/07/must-we-always-try-to-grow-the-economy/
So the real question is, can we use continuous economic growth to make a more equitable world where everyone gets a decent bit of the cake & we don't f...up the planet doing it?
I'm a housewifey sort of mathematician. Perpetual growth doesn't make sense to me. Just look at the number of dead civilisations caused by greed of one sort or another over the millennia. I'm not optimistic, but I'm probably too old for the possible dire consequences to affect me.
My grandchildren may well know the answers to the questions - when it's too late.
Saturday, 2 January 2016
Obsessive Compulsive Clearing Out
It's an annual disease which always arrives at this time of year. I don't wait for Spring. Why waste lovely Spring days going through all the dross you have collected over the year when you can do it on a wet, grey day in January which is not fit for anything else?
What I don't understand, considering this is a repeated infection over many years, is how I've still got piles of stuff to give / throw away. Do I suddenly morph into a more discriminating person? Have I lost / gained that much weight in a year? Surely my tastes don't change that much? Where does all the paperwork to shred come from? If I can cheerfully get rid of it all now, why did I keep it in the first place?
I started at the top of the house, so the spare bedroom is cleared & fit for human habitation. I found some things I have been looking for for ages. (A ferrule for the bottom of my walking stick for one - Very useful as I'm still doing my Long John Silver impression).
In the spirit of being organised for 2016 & recognising that there isn't going to be a sudden Damascene conversion to a person with a reliable memory, I'm writing what is where in a little notebook. I'm also considering writing a list to go inside each door / drawer, (but that does seem a touch too obsessive). I could do a database, (but that's really going too far).
The truly perplexing thing is that I am a single person living in a 5 bedroom house. I have already moved house & downsized my stuff drastically twice. I have given away van loads of stuff over the last 12 years.
How can we all accumulate so much? Why do we do it? What does it say about us? We can't take any of it with us when we "depart this mortal coil".
I think my next blog is going to have to be about the ridiculous premise of perpetual growth driven by consumer spending & debt on which Western countries fiscal policy is based.
What I don't understand, considering this is a repeated infection over many years, is how I've still got piles of stuff to give / throw away. Do I suddenly morph into a more discriminating person? Have I lost / gained that much weight in a year? Surely my tastes don't change that much? Where does all the paperwork to shred come from? If I can cheerfully get rid of it all now, why did I keep it in the first place?
I started at the top of the house, so the spare bedroom is cleared & fit for human habitation. I found some things I have been looking for for ages. (A ferrule for the bottom of my walking stick for one - Very useful as I'm still doing my Long John Silver impression).
In the spirit of being organised for 2016 & recognising that there isn't going to be a sudden Damascene conversion to a person with a reliable memory, I'm writing what is where in a little notebook. I'm also considering writing a list to go inside each door / drawer, (but that does seem a touch too obsessive). I could do a database, (but that's really going too far).
The truly perplexing thing is that I am a single person living in a 5 bedroom house. I have already moved house & downsized my stuff drastically twice. I have given away van loads of stuff over the last 12 years.
How can we all accumulate so much? Why do we do it? What does it say about us? We can't take any of it with us when we "depart this mortal coil".
I think my next blog is going to have to be about the ridiculous premise of perpetual growth driven by consumer spending & debt on which Western countries fiscal policy is based.
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