Behold my new computer! My previous one, although only 4 years old, constantly gave problems with interenet access> We’d gone to PC World origionally to get a new wireless card, but the prices of computers fall so rapidly, with a corresponding increase in power, that it made more sense just to buy a new machine. This little HP baby came complete with a printer/ copier and scanner all in one. It’s got Windows 7, which I’m still finding my way around, and I also get Word and Excel 2007.
So far so fab! The updated software is very intuitive – for instance when I stick the SD card from the camcorder into it, it instantly recognises the clips and imports them into Windows Live Movie Maker. From there, editing is a doddle, and it’s a push button choice of “Upload to Youtube” or “Make a DVD”.
Same with photos on my phone, which in the past have given me great problems. Now, the computer recognises the pictures and imports them itself, without any need for software from the phone.
Jem has inherited my old one, minus the internet access, but with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and iTunes it’s got lots of features that she needs for homeworks and music.
Jemima was lucky enough recently to get through the first stage of auditions for Just Dance, a reality show to be shown on Sky 1 next year. We flew to Edinburgh for the next round, unsure of what the format was going to be. Turned out she had to perform in front of a live audience, complete with bright lights and scurrying camera crew, and be interviewed back stage. The panel certainly had gravitas in the dancing world – Adam Garcia, Kimberly Pussycat Doll, and Ashley “Diversity” Banjo. And they were being extremely strict – in the 5 or 6 hours we were there I saw them approve one dancer. And no, it wasn’t our J. She’d danced her little heart out – all winsome smiles and graceful limbs. Her face lit up when Ashley asked her about the music, written for her by her boyfriend. And all the judges’ comments were constructive and believable. I was bursting with pride (yes again!) at her ability to cope unprepared with this tough ordeal, and to keep her chin up and keep smiling during the feedback.
Apologies for teh watermark on the video – having just upgraded my ‘puter to one using Windows 7, I’m rather disappointed that Movie Maker still doesn’t import mp4 or wav files, and so in order to capture Matty’s stunning music I had to use a free trial download.
I was privileged today to see a semi-costumed run through of Blood Brothers, my daughter’s school play, in which she plays the narrator. I’ll miss the actual show dates next week as I’m in Frankfurt and Luxembourg, but more of that anon.
Jem singing the Madman song from Blood Brothers
Boy does she make a great narrator! We’d had some discussion about the difficulty of bringing to life this role, who’s almost a Machiavellian devil character, so no background history or life story to use in playing the part. But I felt she got the right controlling stance and supercilious look.
It’s very heartening to see this great group of young women giving up their Saturdays for something like this – I do honestly feel our teenagers are much maligned in the Press. Well done to everyone who’d been involved in this production, and break a leg – I know there won’t be a dry eye in the house!
The city which is used as “base camp” for the trip to see the Terracotta Warriors is Xi’an, which means Peace in the West. It was a former Imperial capital, between 1,000 BC and 1,000 AD, including the prolific and culturally rich Tang dynasty. Much of its historical buildings are well preserved, from the impressive 9 mile city walls, to the great goose pagoda and the bell and drum towers.
Although it’s now a manufacturing centre, prone to some heavy pollution and with frightening traffic jams, this city of 5 million people is very pleasant. Being in the north means that it is drier and less humid than the Eastern seaboard cities, and there is more of a contrast in temperatures between day and night than in the southern sub-tropical zone.
It is too dry to grow rice here, and so wheat based dishes are the local specialty, particularly the Big Noodles. An astonishingly exotic range of foods is on display at the street markets, including roasted goats feet. I wasn’t tempted.
Remember big dog little dog, where I walked my sister-in-law’s 9 month old Jack Russell after she had an operation? Well, the little mutt is back, and he’s here all week, folks!
Now it takes a lot for something to make Max look calm and sensible, but watching Mac race round and round, in and out, jump up on your knee and then jump down again as soon as there’s a noise elsewhere in the house is making the older fella look incredibly dignified and restrained. I swear he rolled his eyes at me this morning as the wee one continued his hyper chasing about. I’m having to type this one handed as Mac likes to sit on my knee while I’m ‘puting.
He’s a smart kid: this morning as Rog and I had coffee in the study, he grabbed Rog’s slipper off his foot and ran away with it. When R and I had finished our sentence, I jokingly looked at cute little one-ear-up, one-ear-down pup who’d returned empty pawed, and commanded “Go fetch Uncle Roger’s slipper!”. To our astonishment and amusement he dashed off, and returned with the slipper in his mouth! He’s also adopted Mittens’ old basket, and there’s an occasional 10 seconds where the pair of them are lying content in their baskets.
Mac and Max in their beds
Naturally there’s a bit of competition for attention, and over toys: squeaky ducks and ragged tuggers that have lain ignored in Max’s basket for months are suddenly of immense value to him, simply because little Mac wants to play with them. And the different temperaments of the breed are fascinating to observe – Mac is a chasing terrier, who sticks his head through the railings where the local lads are playing footie, longing to join in (the boys took pity on him and gave him one of their old and disheveled balls, which Mac ran home with in his mouth, pleased as punch.)
I’m working on getting him to sit and stay, and he seems to be a fast learner.
But I’ll still be glad to hand him back at the end of the week…
Jem had her first paid work in a theatre yesterday, at the preview of this year’s panto in the Grand Opera House. At first we thought she was just going to be a sort of stand-in dancer for some photo-shoots, but it was actual appearing on stage, with Dame May McFettridge, and included a stint as the back end of a dragon, which is obviously vital training for any budding thesp.
Jem with stars in her eyes
So today her picture was in most of the local papers, as well as this lovely publicity still on the Grand Opera House website. Honestly, if this is going to happen every time she goes to work I’m going to need a much bigger box in which to put all her photos, certificates, publicity, programmes…
Well we said our goodbyes today to a family treasure – Mittens the cat. She’d reached the supremely ripe old age of 24 (which is about 150 in human years) and at times seemed to be immortal. Every time we left her at the kennels, the woman there enquired what we’d like done should the inevitable happen while we were away…
…and every time we came back to find her hale and hearty, mewing loudly every time she reckoned it was time to eat (every hour on the hour if she’d had her way!)
Max and Mittens share the sofa
She and Max worked out how to share living quarters – he was as curious as a puppy can be about this strange smelling and moving creature – she’d just bat him on the nose if he got too close. He’d get jealous if she jumped onto someone’s knee – she just purred triumphantly.
I know Roger will miss her enormously: he’d had her since she was a kitten, and that amounts to almost half his life! She used to snuggle into him when he wasn’t feeling well, and even though I’m not really a cat person, even I enjoyed her purring rubbing around my legs. I know my son Harry will miss her very much too – he always made a point of giving her plenty of attention when he visited.
Max and Mittens share the water
I left Rog to say his goodbyes at the vets this morning. She’d gone downhill rapidly over the weekend, not able to eat or drink, and falling over each time she tried to stand up or walk. We couldn’t just sit back and watch as all her internal organs failed, so agreed that a painless end was what this dignified lady deserved.
And I took Max outside for a walk while the deed was done. When I turned back round the corner and saw Rog in tears with the empty cat basket I knew just how deep his loss was. There’s certainly a Mittens-shaped hole in our lives today.
It was so good in China to be able to see the very very old as well as the brand spanking new. I’m a huge fan of modern architecture, and one of the highlights of last year’s Olympics had been marveling at the structures that had been erected for the event. So I was thrilled to be seeing the Birds Nest Stadium and the bubble swimming pool building up close and personal.
The village is a huge draw for lots of school parties, and Roger and I were charmed when a group of young schoolgirls, aged about 8 or 9, chorused “Hello!” in unison to us, and then giggled behind their hands when we replied.
The usual touts and vendors were there, and though a glass model of the birds nest was tempting, we resisted.
Well it’s all over! All the organising and planning finally played out, and we had a rather wonderful family get together. Bit of a last minute hiccup in the DVDs: the so-called pro that I’d given the tapes to ages ago (as well as a large sum of money) produced, with less than a week to go, some poor quality disks that had to be redone (and even then, still weren’t working properly). I had a long cry, a loud scream, and then set about making the disks at least look good. I bought from PC World, for £15, some software that could use existing photos and turn them into labels for the actual disks themselves, as well as inserts for the boxes. And I have to say, when I was finished (last thing on Saturday night before the do…) the result was quite impressive! And anyway, it’s the boxes they’ll be showing to their friends, more than the actual contents.
The song went better than I could have hoped for. Everyone agreed to join in (even teenage boys who rightly pointed out that it was cheesy and stupid). Dr Drama waved her magic theatrical wand and sorted out harmonies and intros, and absolutely vetoed use of tambourine (too Sally Army). We were just getting ready to perform, using the ruse that I was going to recite a pome, when the photographer arrived! We hastily stashed the guitar behind the sofa, posed outside for photos, and then waited for him to leave, while my Dad kept topping up his whisky glass….
Mum, dad, cake and song
Eventually we got to perform, Mum and Dad were suitably gob-smacked and teary-eyed, and we all hugged and laughed.
This beautiful collection of buildings set around a large lake was the peaceful summer retreat of the Emperor and his family. It was a favourite haunt of Dowager Cixi, who reputedly built the folly of the marble boat with money that had been intended for the Chinese navy. The 900m Long Gallery is decorated with colourful paintings, and noisy sweet corn vendors yell their sales pitch. The lake is peppered with a variety of boating activities.
