Diamond Jubilee

My favourite Jubilistic word is Jubilymipics.  I learned it from my wife.  She watches a show called Twenty Twelve which is a satire on the organizing of the 2012 Olympics in London. Although, based on watching the news, the real Olympic organizers might be parodies of themselves.  So in the midst of the previously blogged Shakespeare event, the Diamond Jubilee happened.  We would have had a spectacular view of the Thames flotilla had the landlord not sold the flat we were lettting.  We were booted out 5 days before it. 

Fortunately, the residents association had booked a boat trip along the Jubilee route 10 days beforehand.  It was cool.  We left from the pier built while we at the compound and headed off to the starting point near Putney Bridge.  Then we rode to Tower Bridge and came back.  

The actual flotilla happened on the same day that we saw Hamlet.  After the performance, we waded through the riverside crowds on the south bank until we got to the Blackfriars Bridge, or more accurately, down the road a bit from it.  We couldn't see the river but we could see a giant TV that was on the bridge.  Well, mostly… sometimes a tall person or someone with a child on his shoulders blocked our view.  We waited there for the Queen to pass.  I had this expectation that we would hear cheering or something that would indicate she was passing.  Nope.  Best I can figure, she may have been going under the bridge at around the time when I saw a bunch people on the bridge running the width of it from west to east.  At some point 10 minutes later, someone standing just behind me shouted that he could see the royal barge.  Barring hallucinogens, basic optics says he most definitely did not.  He seemed pretty convinced as he described what he saw again and again.  His mates seemed pretty happy for him.  I have decided that I am happy for him too.

Globe to Globe

While we were flat hunting, building furniture, and moving house, there was a rather unique event at Shakespeare's Globe as part of the London 2012 Festival.  It was called Globe to Globe.  For six weeks, all 37 of Shakespeare's plays were performed by 37 companies from all over the world in 37 languages.  I had serious doubts about this idea when I first heard it.  But experiencing it was amazing.  I only saw 3 plays: Henry VI Part 2  by the National Theatre of Albania in Albanian, Coriolanus by Chiten in Japanese, and Hamlet by Meno Fortas in Lithuanian.  My beloved as you might expect saw many more.  And based on her reports of her experiences, they were even better than mine

I am afraid that the production value of Henry VI Part 2 was not up to the level you would expect at such an event.  But the experience was still utterly enjoyable.  It helps to have a Shakespearean scholar spouse to give a quick synopsis on the way to the theatre, especially when you don't speak Albanian. We stood in the yard right against the stage (photo) and I pounded my fist on the boards shouting 'Jack Cade! Jack Cade!' along with the actors during the uprising scene.  Thankfully, 'Jack Cade' in Albanian is 'Jack Cade'.  It was great fun.  There was a small contingent of Albanians in the audience and you could see the pride in the actors faces when they waved their Albanian flags.  It was magical to see the power of getting to perform Shakespeare's work in their own language in that replica of the space so close to where it happened for real hundreds of years earlier.  You could feel it in the air.  

Coriolanus on the other hand was amazing in terms of production value.  One actor played Coriolanus while everyone else was played by the same four actors.  But unlike Rylance's incoherent Tempest, the role sharing in this production worked marvelously.  The four players were part individual actors, part chorus complete with masks, and part modern dance ensemble taking on thought-provoking abstract forms and movements that somehow went perfectly with and became part of the plot.  I cannot say enough about this production.  It was superb.

The last play I saw was Hamlet.  The repeated use of ice in the production was very clever.  They smashed stuff covered in ice for auditory effect, and there was stuff with ice in it or on it that melted for visual effect.  I suspect that this effect will be much copied.  This production also used other material props to clever audio-visual effect as well.  And because these numerous large props were stored on stage, this was the first production I have ever seen at the Globe where I was not constantly distracted from what was happening on stage by the Globe's needlessly punitive volunteer stewards policing the audience.  I couldn't see them at all: the stored props blocked my view of them!  It was a bold choice though because the props also blocked my view of the action on stage.  But it was worth finally experiencing a Globe production without omnipresent  stewards upstaging the actors. And the bits of performance that I managed to glimpse between the awkwardly stored props was quite good.  I wish there was a way I could have seen more of it.  

Globe to globe was amazing because not only did I get to see Shakespeare in the context of different cultures… it seems unlikely that I would get to see these three companies in a typical lifetime… I also got to see them do it on that hallowed ground.  And because the companies attracted people who shared the cultural heritage of the company on stage, each performance was a little cultural pride / appreciation event via the vehicle of Shakespeare.  I suspect that the cultural contributions within each of these companies' typical performance venues are probably taken for granted.  Adding new cultural ingredients to the already mystical location that the new Globe represents is what made this event so special.  It was nothing short of amazing.  Thank you Shakespeare's Globe for such a wonderful event.  

More Furniture Building

Just some more pictures of flat packs turning into furniture from several weeks ago.  Things are mostly settled even if there are still lots of boxes still kicking around.

 

Bingo

With our recent move, I have been neglecting the blog.  So I have much catching up to do…. I never got around to telling you about our local March holiday.  It was much needed .  We saw a star-studded cast of a play at the Young Vic called Bingo (Edward Bond).  It wasn't groundbreaking, at least not in 2012 terms, but I enjoyed the calm unassuming nature of the play.  In it, a passive, elderly somewhat-lost Shakespeare (Patrick Stewart) meandered in and out of the struggles of a town before it became the tourist-created oddity it is today.  The town is in the throws of enclosure, a practice which results huge savings for land owners at the expense of the non-lander owners.  This situation would resonate with our current economic predictament, if we cared to look. But as most of us have do not look past our own fences,  there is little chance for it to.  Shakespeare is depicted as struggling to stay connected to reality, but with little insight as to what is occupying his mind.  It left me feeling sad as the most plausible explanation of the play's trajectory is that the author of so many remarkable plays and poems must be suffering from some age-related dementia.  Comic relief was provided by Ben Jonson's (Richard McCabe) visit and was a thoroughly enjoyable distraction.  But even Jonson cannot rouse Shakespeare out of his dullness.  But the Young Vic is an excellent venue.  We were right in close.  Excellent experience.

Photo Credits:

Young Vic Advert

Steward & McCabe

Talk amongst yourselves

The unintentional silence on my blog has been the result of a culmination of small and unrelated events.  One of these is furniture building.  Our sojourn to Surbiton's suburban serene solace is our first foray into a flat that is not fully furnished.  I am not quite ready to explore the emotional trauma that is Ikea in any depth.  I think I can summarise my feelings by saying burjsta docksta henrikstal hallen finnvik kolja hyklje phalaenopsis fossing fidjetun #@!%.  While I recover, I hope you find some amusement in watching the emergence of furniture from stacks of laminated pressboard, bags of screws, and one molecularly-scaled allen key

Finally the Exhale

We finally signed the lease for the new flat, but not without several derailings on the way. Just a few are recounted here. I had been very adamant from the beginning that we were traveling and that was why the date needed to be moved up to the 14th. I even called again on the 2nd to let them know that if they needed anything from me I was out of the country so they better tell me by the 4th. I was told,"we do not need anything more from you, see you on the 14th." Of course, there is no reason to believe that statement anymore than when they told me on 24 March that I would know whether I was accepted on 25 March…I found out on the 29th. Or when they said they would email me the links for the reference check in the next few days and I called them two more times and it was more than a week later before they actually sent them.

So on the 5th, three days after I reminded them of what I said from day one about being out of the country and the entire reason for our signing date, they posted me a draft contract. Keep in mind that every other document was sent by email. But not this one. So then I get an email on the 10th asking me if I have had a nice holiday, if I have read the draft tenancy that they posted, and by the way, you have to do a bankers draft (which I have to be in the country for but I am not) or an internet transfer (which they are claiming takes 3 days). Notice that would mean that I have to do the transfer immediately without having looked at the draft tenancy because I am on the plane all day on the 11th.

Well, so much for "see you on the 14th". Of course, that email is no more accurate than anything else they have told me. So I asked them to email me the bank info for the internet transfer and the tenancy agreement immediately. Surprisingly, they did. Now, my experience with internet transfers has been that they are nearly immediate. So I ignored the 3 day thing and did it on the 12th using the info they gave me. That gave me time to read the contract on the plane. As soon as I did the transfer, I emailed them a screen shot of it. They replied with an email saying they had made a mistake: They gave me their own account instead of the landlords and could I do the transfer again. This is six months rent we a talking about.

What happens next is my favourite bit of all the things that happened. I call them and get transferred to a man that tells me that it may take some time to fix this at his end. Funny how I can transfer into his account immediately but he cannot transfer into mine immediately. So then I said, well if this is going to take some time, keeping in mind that the signing is less than two days away, maybe he should transfer the money directly to the landlord. He said he cannot do that because of money laundering regulations. He has to return it to me and I have to pay the landlord. I said fine, as long as their error does not result in my losing the flat. He said definitely not. So the next day (13th) at lunch break I check my account, and the money has not been returned. So I call. Now the story is that they are going to transfer to money to the landlord. So much for money laundering regulations.

I won't drag this out any longer even though the antics at the bank were quite amusing except to mention that the tenancy agreement presented at the signing was not the one they emailed me. But that is par for the course really… and not at all surprising. But we do have keys. So now we just have to get the internet up and running and close and open utility accounts, pack, and move. You know, everything, but at least I do not have to deal with that letting agent anymore. Yikes.

By the way, the blue lines in the drawing represent windows. Keeping using the old address until you hear from me.

Back on the rail

So I found out a piece of hugely empowering news yesterday from someone whom I trust. Apparently, just about any letting agent will accept 6 months in advance on any let regardless of the 'reference' outcome. This is huge news. I just went from wondering if I would find any place to accept us to feeling like I can get anyplace in London… within reason. And it worked! We offered 6 months in advance, and we're in… verbally anyway. Once you get past what they are saying, this place works just like home… money talks. But you have to know the magic words. Past experience say there will be one more derailment about some other thing yet to be mentioned. But maybe now that we have been here long enough, there will just be this one. But even so, this time, I have an ace in the hole… a letting agent who I know outside of this deal. So I am boldly proclaiming that I am NOT holding my breathe. This is great… I am excited again!

Photo Credit: Today in Social Sciences