I've spent much of the morning clearing the field of rubbish in the freezing cold but sunny weather we've got today. William , Winnie and George mooched around after me whilst Mary was tied up at the gate . I cannot train the hunter in her and set free she will chase Irene and the bachelors until exhausted. The older dogs behave themselves with livestock.
It's amazing what winter crap I collected. Bin bags full of plastic bags, plastic flowers ( blown over the fence from the cemetery) paper and wrappers are the most common but I did find an empty bottle of Malibu and a child's plastic hammer on my travels..
I swept the wood burner flue out when I got back in to warm my hands then I ate homemade red pepper and carrot soup laced with chilli for lunch ( which incidentally blew my tits off).
I was going to offer done to old Trevor who lives behind our cottage but I thought the chilli may cause a drastic problem with the digestive tract of a 94 year old.
Anyhow I digress.
Last night the affable Despot Jason and I went to see the much acclaimed play The Weir at Theatre Clwyd . The subject of the piece ( which was set in an isolated Irish pub) was one of rural Irish ghost stories ( the supernatural kind as well as the emotional baggage kind that follow us around for most of our lives) and it sort of dovetailed my recent post on ghost stories quite nicely as we highlighted In our post production discussion in the car on the way home)
The Weir has four local men jousting at the one room rundown country pub.
Jack ( Sean Murray) and Jim ( John O'Dowd) are lonely single men who drink together for company at Brendan's ( Sam O'Mahoney) bar. They are envious of the more successful Finbar ( Louis Dempsey) who arrives with a young woman called Valerie ( Natalie Radmall- Quirke) who has just come to live in the area.
As the group drink, the men start to share ghost stories in order to impress Valerie, but as their stories become more personal and painful in nature, the cathartic nature of the conversations encourage Valerie to share a tragic and ghostly story of her own.
The Weir is a dark and at times creepy play which starts to come alive when the ghost stories ( each one progressively more chilling than the last ) start. The supernatural nature of the subject matter highlight the personal backstories of the characters where the themes of grief, loss, loneliness and regret are just as important as the ghostly goings on .
Sean Murray is excellent as the lonely, blustery Jack but for me it was Natalie Radmall Quirke's tear stained final monologue that was a real standout .
Natalie Radmall-Quirke plays Valerie
Sounds like a pretty amazing production.
ReplyDeleteSounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy soup must be quite boring in flavour ... my tits are still firmly attached ;-)
wahahahahah where they should be !
DeleteWe had tomato and red lentil soup today - cold weather food. Sounds like you enjoyed your evening with Despot Jason.
ReplyDeleteStandard local chicken vermicelli soup here.
DeleteThe play sounds really good. As for having your tits blown off, I hope you have been able to find them again and that Winnie has not wolfed them down. Try sticking them back on with parcel tape.
ReplyDeleteI think you'd like The Weir YP
DeleteI'd ask for the recipe but, honestly, what teeny bit of tits I have I'd love to keep.
ReplyDeleteLol dead easy....one leek ( cut and cooked Gently ) add four red peppers chopped, 2 garlic cloves four chopped carrots one red chilli, one small potatoes chopped , season ..simmer one hour !
DeleteI'm sneaking in this post that I loved yesterday's post and all the interesting comments. I like soup but know nothing about women's chest area.
ReplyDeleteWell I used to date woman and they still baffle me
DeleteI saw this play in London a few years ago. It lost something in a big London theatre. I thought it needed a small, intimate theatre for the creepiness to work.
ReplyDeleteYes that's what happened
DeleteLast night. It was not the full auditorium just the first ten rows or so
I've got 'The Weir' on audio tape, recorded from a Radio 3 broadcast of 20-odd years ago with its original Royal Court cast - and a good, atmospheric play it is too, working remarkably well in sound only.
ReplyDeleteYes I thought at one point that it was originally a radio play as physically little happens
DeleteThe play you described piqued my interest, and after Googling it, found it on YouTube. It will be 1 hour and 13 minutes out of my day. Now all I need is some soup.
Deletelet me know if you enjoyed it
DeleteI did enjoy it overall. It had an unusual edit as the one of the actors was telling his story; the next thing you know the Woman was telling her story. There was a learning curve with the ascents. Just enough supernatural.
DeleteYou have to train your ear to the broad Irish accent...the northern Irish accent can be a killer too
DeleteI made an Italian wedding soup and decided to play around by adding some tomato sauce...ended up tasting like spaghetti soup..! The teenager loves it.
ReplyDeleteI hate tomato soup!
DeleteSoup that warms going in and going out.
ReplyDeleteVery funny....
DeleteI always remember a doctor telling a print to each tinned peaches when she felt sick during pregnancy
" they taste as nice comming up as they did going down" he said
You make very nice soup-I like spicy food.I cook with chillies & ginger most days.I think I would be fine as I only have fried eggs x
ReplyDeleteNo a lover of ginger but I use the warmth of paprika a great deal
DeleteYour soup sounds lovely; just the way I like it too.
ReplyDeleteSoup sounds horrifying to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm farting like a trooper now
DeleteOh dear,it may be one of the dogs x
DeleteAre they tiles under your nice soup? If so where did they come from please.
ReplyDeleteNo it's a plastic tablecloth ! From John Lewis I think.
ReplyDeletenew post on hippo's blog!
ReplyDeleteNo! Thanks
Deleteits a poem it could be him because of the content but not sure as it could be someone else. We will wait to see if he replies to comments!
DeleteI don't believe it is him.....it's painful to see this.. but thanks sol
DeleteSol, thanks for bringing this to our collective attention. It sure is exciting news.
DeleteJohn, I left you a reply to your first comment on the thread in question. May it soothe your furrowed brow.
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Soup is the way forward, schools should teach kids how to make something out of very little. Forget ready meals, a few odds and ends of vegetables make a nourishing meal.
ReplyDeleteLX
Soup is art. Chuck in whatever you like and it may turn into a masterpiece. (Or may not.)
ReplyDeleteI had homemade soup tonight, no doubt inspired by you John.
ReplyDeleteI used chicken pulled off a roast chicken that had to be eaten or tossed .. and turkey broth and instead of dumplings I bought little cheese tortellinis at the market and tossed some of those in ..
It hit the spot :)
Ah, another award-winning title. I look forward to the title of the next post about the morning ablutions.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this your broadcast provided bright clear concept.
ReplyDeleteหนังŕ¸ŕ¸ŕ¸™ŕą„ลน์