"Remembering Edwina Lavinia.."

So many lost things.
Such grief at the losing. BUT such joy at the finding.
What colour, what clutter, what mysteries, what lives, what stories...... lie within this huge room....this most emotional of places, this Railway Lost Property Office??

SEE a stuffed fox, leering beneath a glittery crown.
Handbags, tatty bulging tragic ones, glossy designer.
Mirrors? Ornate gilt ones, curtly shaped 60's ones...HOW do you lose a mirror like that on a train??
Flimsy lipsticky paperbacks....weighty learned musty old tomes...letters.
AND Rousseau jungley plants in pots.....
And false teeth, lots, with one pair still blooming with parsley!
Clocks ( a lovely Art Deco one) paintings ( the good, bad, ugly) AND brollies, of course....whole rainbows of them, stretched blindingly bright, bedazzling along heaving shelves.
Tshirts, scent/pong of their owners...ball gowns, pyjamas ( what story is THAT?) chairs (?) and bears and yes, EVEN AN URN...

I'm talking about a Lost Property Office, set up on the 5th floor of a towering office block.at Number One, First Street, Manchester. THIS was poet/novelist Jackie Kay's " Manchester Lines"... Manchester Library Theatre's second site specific work, ie. dramas taking place in unexpected places in the city.
Last May, we enjoyed " Hard Times" set in a mill in Ancoats, M/Ch, so this was a MUST and we loved it. It's in First St until Saturday July 7th.  http://www.librarytheatre.com/

** As we arrived, we were invited to jot down stuff we might have lost.
Some scrawled provocative things: " I've lost my perspective" ...."my little sister"... " my sideboard"... "my mind" " my mum"....one guy wrote: "IS it me you're looking for??".....
I jotted down " Edwina Lavinia"...because yrs ago, I lost my teddy on the tube ( don't ask!) ......and my husbandtobe kindly disappeard to Lost Prop at Baker St... and claimed said /sad bear.....the tatty, vulnerable 20 -something Edwina Lavinia...
And lo, Reader, I Married Him...

"Making Patterns In History..."

I first saw this amazing Caraveggio painting in art class at school. My friends and I thought it was MAGIC.

As was the first hearing of Stravinky's " Rites Of Spring" in a music class.... and  Holst's Mars, God Of War in another...

BUT watching the Thames on Sunday, many of us had the same wonderful first-time thrill.

THERE, in full view...sprawled our modern day 2012 river...thronging with boats and ships, royalty and sailors, oarsmen... and folk in boats just chugging along.
AND as the rain pelted, the Queen stayed majestic, the Little Ships sailed and the Embankment rang with rowdy cheers. AND Warhorse cantered and whinnied on a theatre rooftop, trumpets played,  tall ships glided...as soaking singers, hair plastered to beaming faces...sang jubilant songs and made age- old music in the rain.

Brilliant. Another River Pageant..uncannily like the Caraveggio.
But Monday was a first " in the flesh"...and no doubt, a last! for me..
Unforgettable....even on a TV nearer the Dee than the Thames!

**ADDED Saturday 9th: Just read Times journalist Caitlin Moran's piece re Jubilee Mania. Superb, particularly her review of the BBC's commentaries...and especially one mentioning my lovely Canaletto: There was a shot of 2 rowing boats and Caitlin quotes BBC's Paul Dickenson: "Certainly a Canaletto moment...all powered by the human shoulders, back, arms and legs"  ..........
OK, we know exactly what he meant, how utterly impressed he was, BUT....!

" Jubilee Jamming Close To Home...."

 

"Alexanders" ( www.alexanderslive.com/)  is a popular small cafe- bar-Jazz-Theatre... tucked away in a Chester courtyard.....and yesterday Rufus Court buzzed with music...as it often does...BUT this was part of the city's celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.
This included my son's new band" Deemon"...set up a mere 4 weeks ago.
AND here's a snap of some of my family ..1 husband, 1 daughterinlaw....2 grandsons, 2 granddaughters...PLUS some incredible moves!
AND, of course, there's my elder son, 2nd on right, strumming and singing in most welcome sunshine....