Happy Christmas from Hastings Battleaxe!

Gulp…What? Oh yes. It’s Christmas! We just got back from our annual Christmas trip to Birmingham. Not quite as usual this time. Ended up staying in a Premier Inn, but had a great outing to Stratford RSC to see our old friend Shaun’s Forsyte Saga, on at the Swan, to much critical acclaim and a season of packed houses. Before that, in Hastings, had been to the Messiah in Winchelsea, drinks party for the neighbours… have now finished the edit of ‘Death is a Desirable Property’ – and am ready for a quiet Christmas!

Here’s Digby – as so often these days, comfortably asleep. Well, he is 17 now. Have given up trying to force him to pose in Christmassy scenes.

In Birmingham, we had intended to stay, as usual, with our friends Sue and Alex, but they were both unwell – so many people have terrible coughs and colds right now, Battleaxe herself has only just recovered – so we checked into the Premier Inn in nearby Hall Green. Now, we have visited some grim Premier Inns recently, but this was a very good one. Very quiet, refurbished room with walk-in shower, very cheerful staff, good breakfast. For anyone who might need it it is Birmingham South, Hall Green. Battleaxe would recommend.

Did a Moseley and Kings Heath Christmas card round – I didn’t take any photos, but looking at the splendid glittering displays of lights on houses near our old home it is no wonder we have imported our lights habit to Hastings! But street lights? Not so much. Birmingham City Council has dimmed its street lights to save money. This photo is from a petition to stop them doing it (waste of time). You can see the difference. Add to that the dense tree cover in the surburban streets, and it is too dark for my liking. I never used to turn a hair walking the streets at night, but these days in Brum I might think differently.

 

Anyway, Stratford. Of course, this is the second time Philosopher and I have seen Irene, the first of the linked series of two plays. We saw it in December last year at its first home, the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park. Here is the post about it. We loved it then, and we loved it even more this time. All the acting was excellent, but Joseph Milson as Soames gives a mesmerising performance, and Shaun, together with his fellow adapter Lin Coghlan, have done a great job with what is potentially a rambling story. The staging, is, as before, totally minimal – an empty stage, a red curtain and a few chairs, but once again, it really works. We were a bit worried about how the show would transfer onto a bigger stage, but it was actually better with a bit more space. The show has received absolutely rave reviews and is a sell-out success.

You can see that the Swan was packed. All the years we lived in Birmingham, Philosopher and I have never been to the Swan. Seats for the production are quite hard to get, but it is on until 10 January, so if you want to go, book now! Here is the RSC link. Battleaxe would totally recommend! Shaun must be so proud – as he is such an old friend, we felt proud vicariously for him!

It is always riskily scary and full of horrendous embarrassment potential watching old friends strut their stuff in public – eek OMG I’ll never forget watching friend Tony playing the lead in King Lear at the Crescent Theatre in Brum. Poor Tony is dead now and will never read this… Of course, Shaun is a genuine professional and scariness is not a feature with his things.  I hope people don’t seethe with potential embarrassment about my book – but reviews have been so positive…

Anyway, we ended up being a party of four, not six, going to Stratford, as Sue and Alex were poorly. Went with friends Sue and Graham to Stratford on the train from Yardley Wood, and had a pre-theatre lunch in the RSC roof-top restaurant. All very pleasant and civilised. I spent a jolly evening with Sue and Graham as well.

You may wonder how we coped with pre-Christmas motorways. As ever, the media was full of catastrophic gloom – here’s an example of the usual shite, from the Daily Fail, of course!. But in reality, of course, it was absolutely fine, both going up there and coming back. Sure, the M25 was busy, but no busier than we have known it several hundred times before. On the way, we ate our Sunday lunch in Wetherspoons at Beaconsfield Serives on the M40. Was expecting it to be heaving out of the doors but it was totally quiet and peaceful!

Messiah in Winchelsea? I very much enjoyed the production – it felt intimate. It was performed by an offshoot of the Marcio da Silva empire – the Ensemble OrQuesta – a small gang of instrumentalists including a harpsichord, various strange-looking violins and of course a trumpet, plus a small chorus – including our friend Lin – and various soloists, sadly, none of whom were named in the programme. Needless to say, Marcio, who has a fine strong voice, chose to thunder out bits like ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together’ himself. Well, if you have a voice and it is your own gig, why would you not? I know I would! The church was candle-lit and looked very pretty. Photo doesn’t do it justice.

There was a large picture of Handel above the altar and I suggested to Philosopher that maybe Inspector Mike Ganderton from the Caroline and Olga mysteries might look a bit like that. ‘Of course he doesn’t!’ scoffed Philsopher. ‘Handel is totally unattractive.’ True, I guess, I’ll have to think again… maybe George Clooney?

Drinks party for the neighbours? Of course. We have got it down to a fine art now. It’s a nice thing to do, and we are lucky to have such great neighbours.

Got back to Hastings after our break to find we have yet another possible water outage coming up. Southern Water – yea, verily, ’tis they – have, ooh what a surprise, a burst pipe, hidden, as usual, in the inaccessible depths of a Wealden wood. Then, Philosopher was queuing up to get our ludicrously expensive M & S turkey fragment, and the bloke in front of him was barefoot and dressed in a knee-length leather gladiator skirt. Only in Hastings! It is easy to get nostalgic for Brum when we are there, but this place is so wonderfully bonkers.

                                                          Anyway, dear Battleaxe readers – HAPPY CHRISTMAS!