October 31st, 2015 - a spooky Halloween post!

I have been involved in recent weeks and months in the creation of a FUN Recipe Book for my daughters school; mainly in the role of Editor. Along with a few other parents at the school, this project has been useful to help keep my brain working in a non pressured environment, and it has been fun to read the recipes and find places for them within the book. Being able to take my time and rely on others for proof reading and mistake spotting has been very good for me. The book is a fund raising idea that hopefully has brought the school together to make something worth buying (for parents and relatives, maybe even members of the public alike) in order to help finance the Prayer & Reflection Garden recently opened by the Bishop of Chelmsford.

This project then led into another shorter one; the taking of some photographs firstly when the garden was originally built and planted and then again when Bishop Stephen Cottrell officially opened the Garden in early October 2015. I then put these photographs into some sort of order; collated, sorted and then put into two sets of images. One on a day just after it was built and then the official opening day. Being aware of not putting children's faces into the forefront of images taken, once selected the photos were made into a short video (under 7 minutes). Set to music, this short video will be available on my very own YouTube Channel when it goes live in November/December 2015.

Also appearing on the Channel will be two other short films; both made my myself and both originating from a collaboration with another parent at the school, who has created a wonderful piece of art and invited me to participate in it in a way that I was both able to and pleased too! As this project is still 'secret' and has not been revealed to anyone that it is intended for, I'll not go into details here - even though no one ever actually reads this blog - just in case it spoils the surprise when it is revealed to all!

The final film on my Channel will be another short film of my photographs from an 'Alice in Wonderland' event at Nevendon Manor in Essex. This was a super day marred only by the cold and rain, but I took some photos of the very professional event and set it to some music - 'Carry On Up The Vicarage'.

When the time comes, I'll post a link to my Channel here and, should anyone pass by this little web room of mine and feel interested enough to have a look; the finding of them will be easy.

On a fairly different note, I was incredibly surprised and amazed to recntly meet - purely by incredible chance - a long standing hero of mine. The family had gone up to see the Yeti for a few days and were on our return journey when we stopped for a drink and a stretch of the legs at a service station we had never used before.

Whilst we had a toilet break and got some coffees, I turned around to see Mr Steve Hackett and his lovely wife (Jo Lehmann) standing almost directly behind me in a queue to purchase something (I did not see what so cannot impart that nugget of fool's gold)! For those of you who might be younger or less musically orientated than I, Steve Hackett is a superlative guitarist, recording artist and previous long standing member of my favourite group - Genesis. Although he left in the 1970's, his musical talent and song writing ability helped them in a myriad of ways then and later in their career, and his solo albums ever since have honed his innate skills and talent (resulting in his latest album 'Wolflight') incredible heights.

Now I ask you, in my position what would you do? My wife made it clear that I should not intrude into his world nor disturb him with my babbling and effusive praise. She is self-effacing and a human embodiment of the British reserve. A few years ago I was on my way home from London when I saw the very tall and imposing figure of Mr Rick Wakeman (of Yes and Solo fame) at Liverpool Street Station. He was walking across the concourse heading for the Norwich train and I had a few moments to decide whether to approach him or not. It must be odd to be going about your daily business and to be approached by a stranger telling you how great you are (Phil Collins' 'Wear My Hat' is a great illustration of this situation). I know that people are people, often have bad days and may not always be gracious when approached suddenly out of the blue. Thus on that occasion I did what my wife would always do in that situation - I did not want a 'hero' of mine to turn out to be bad tempered or in a hurry. Thus I did not approach him; and I've always wondered what it would have been like if I had.

On this occasion my 'hero' was with some of his band, (I was amazed that they were not in a huge Tour Bus but a very nice discreet silver machine; though not borrowed from Hawkwind) and I was able to quietly ask one of them if he thought that Mr H would mind suddenly being approached by me in this way at this time. He told me that not only would Mr H not mind, he'd be very pleased and was a very nice man. So, I did, and I am really glad I did! He was gracious and open, his wife lovely and I spent a few minutes chatting to him about his current tour ('Acolyte to Wolflight') as he was on his way to appear at Ipswich that evening (sadly I did not have a ticket), his music and the tour. I managed to pluck up even more courage - much to my wife's chagrin - and I walked fairly quickly to my car and returned (he was still there bless him) and gave him a copy of my two published works. I did not have the wherewithal to personalise them before I handed them to him, but I did want him to have some of my words as I have enjoyed so many of his.

I believe that poetry has a music to it just as strong as other audible forms of art; Steve Hackett (both with Genesis and on his own) has made some incredible music, written some important songs for me and a lot of others and to know that he has (or had lol) copies of my poetry is something I am very 'proud' of. Yes I did get carried away thinking (hoping?) that he might find a poem in them that he loved (they can be a slowburn read) and just had to make into a song - even though he has never needed this before - but I am realistic to realise that that would not happen, as he, his wife and team are without peer in that area. But, I hope that he has read a few, understood some of the need behind the writing of them, and has gained something approaching pleasure in that process.

Whether he enjoyed any of them, read many or not, he was extremely nice and I subsequently had a nice 'chat' on Twitter (my first!) with @euanfar who obviously knows Mr H and has an inside track into that world. Who knows, @euanfar might even have been on the tour bus!

Now I have left the really 'spooky' things to last - it being Halloween and all. On our long drive to and from the Yeti, it is my habit to share the sounds of the radio (BBC Radio 2 by choice, or BBC Essex if Dave Monk is on), CD's that my daughter likes and 'my' music from my iPhone via the car's Bluetooth player.

At this point of our journey it was my 'turn' to select the music and for the last few miles I was playing a few songs from an album called ''The Tokyo Tapes'.

The artist? Mr Steve Hackett!  

If that isn't of interest; in a pleasing synchronicity for this post, and following the idea of 'the total interconnectedness of all things' (look it up); the music to the 'Alice' film ('Carry On Up the Vicarage') was from a great 1978 album 'Please Don't Touch' featuring Randy Crawford, Richie Havens, members of Kansas and John Hackett.

​The artist?  Mr Steve Hackett!    

Until the next time, stay safe on Halloween and keep on reading!   ​