Thursday, July 26, 2007

World matters

Apologies for the apathy of late with regard to posting. I’ve been away on a boat outside London in the *gulp* countryside!? for the past week or so with no radio or telly, never mind a computer with internet access and so I have much blog reading to catch up on to find out what you guys have been upta! So I’m here reading blogs about films and programs on telly and books and I’ve just realised how out of touch with contemporary culture I am. I have no idea who Horatio is, never seen Heroes but it DOES sound like it’s for kids (or big kids!) and if anyone mentions Doctor Who in a conversation with me I automatically zone out and mentally label the culprit ‘Sci-fi nerd’. I also avoid, at all costs, reading papers or watching the news mainly because they try to unnecessarily freak people out and I’m much happier going about my day in a calm little bubble of oblivion rather than being made aware of all the crappy stuff that’s going on in the world that I am helpless to do anything about. This ignorance of world affairs and popular culture becomes incredibly obvious to me after spending a week in place where watching raindrops falling on the surface of the river can often be the height of entertainment for the day (hint: it helps if you’re tipsy at the time!) and I always find coming back from that to busy streets with people shoving scary headlines in my face every 5 metres or so really disconcerting. Basically what I suppose I’m trying to say is that I often wonder what it would be like if everyone lived a simpler life. And this is harping back to MW’s post a while back (might have been on her own page!) but I think if the ‘basic’ things in life, water, light, electricity, are suddenly not certainties anymore then the frills, the excesses in life, the ‘luxury items’ become irrelevant and are forgotten about, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Last Friday morning there was a massive storm. I heard a crash of thunder directly above the boat and all the power went. I thought maybe lightening had struck the boat it was that loud but Amy said it had probably just hit the ground nearby and the surge made the power trip. Then it rained really hard for about 4 hours. All the while G who owns the boat was stomping around trying to get the power working again cos we had to rehearse and had no light as the generator had packed in as well. We sat huddled in the dark drinking mugs of tea. G tried to get the generator started over and over. Each time we heard it whirr into action then immediately cut out again. As it would start up we all held our breath and crossed our fingers and as one we let out a disappointed ‘ah’ as the sound died abruptly. After a couple of hours of this G decided to try to sort out the mains power from the shore. Again we waited with bated breath. ‘Try it now’. Flick the switch. Nothing. ‘Okay try it again’. Still nothing. THEN! (a couple more hours later…) Flicked the switch, LIGHT!! A unanimous cheer goes up. ‘We have electricity!’ It feels like we are a group of early humans who have just rubbed two sticks together and created fire for the first time. There was such a feeling of camaraderie as we headed into the theatre to catch up on the rehearsal time we’d missed. So sometimes I think that you don’t need to spend loads of money on having a good time or buying nice, expensive clothes in order to feel happy. Sometimes all you need is a dry plug socket and a new fuse, hahaha.
Ps. Does anyone know of an actor called Andy something who had a (probably minor) part in the film Crash and was in some other film with John Hurt?
Pps MW, have you gone yet or is it next Monday??

2 comments:

  1. Fitz, I'm off on Monday...terrified! Really terrified:-) But if you can go and start your life over in a barge in London I can go to the states!Even if it's only for a week! You bring up a really important point, we so take the real luxury in life for granted...even flying, we want it cheap, I told a friend of mine that I was spending 800 euro for my return flights to boston, she was shocked..that's too expensive, could you not get something cheaper....oh because cheap is important when it comes to someone defying gravity and carrying me over the atlantic ocean, then again I worked for an airline in my youth and i know the real horror stories!!
    It's lovely to hear from you, and you are definately gonna get a visit from me in October....maybe I can twist Polka's arm to come with me. I know you guys will so hit it off. When are you home, can't wait to see you, Pam and her weenies visited me on Tuesday, lovely to see them! Talk soon, hugs!

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  2. Hmmm Fitz. Checked just for you, there was no-one called Andy in Crash. Am fascinated to know why you wanted to know!

    I've always, over the years, wanted to know what it would be like to spend "a week in place where watching raindrops falling on the surface of the river can often be the height of entertainment for the day" I think it'd probably give me the same perspective you had.

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