An eventful week
Some weeks seem to pass without any noteworthy events or developments. And others are full of them. Last week fell into the latter category for me.
This week I posted my 500th post on this site; not bad going considering that when I posted my first item four years ago I really had no idea what I was doing (I know a little more now but still feel I’m in the learner category). Many people have said that a blog site is a bit like having a puppy for Christmas – it’s all wonderfully new at the beginning and then as the weeks go buy you realise just how much hard work it involves. Blog sites, like puppies, do need feeding and maintenance and a bit of TLC from time to time. Never did I envisage how much time could be absorbed just on the maintenance side of the blog let alone creating new content… But hey, I made it!
Another cause for celebration was that this week marked by 32nd wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to the cinema to watch the live broadcast from London of Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet. This is not my favourite Shakespeare play by a long way – I find Hamlet a most irritating character (on a par with that other fictional ditherer Jude the Obscure). But Cumberbatch’s performance was stunning; delivering the most athletic version of Hamlet I’ve ever seen and far superior to the Mark Rylance performance I saw many years ago). The production values were extremely high (as you’d expect from the National Theatre) but the set was the most enormous I think I have ever seen. A truly memorable evening.
A milestone of entirely different nature happened on Tuesday when I got to have my day in court in the campaign to save our local library from closure. It was the culmination of 13 months of effort with some intense work load in the last four months, poring over documents from our local council, gathering witness statements and evidence and responding to claims and counter claims. As a journalist I attended hundreds of court sessions but never one like this where there were no witnesses or cross examinations, just the legal teams fighting it out and quoting legal precedents to back up their arguments with the judge interjecting when she disagreed with their comments or reprimanding them when they stepped outside the law. Now we’re in limbo until the High Court Judge makes her ruling.
Next week looks a little quieter – maybe I will even get a chance to catch up on some reviews.
How has your week been? Any significant milestones achieved?
Congrats on both achievements Karen. (I was travelling in Tasmania when you posted this). No milestones or anything here. But funnily enough my blog and wedding anniversaries occur in the same month too, though a couple of weeks apart. Last May my blog was 6 years old, and my marriage 37 years.
I was looking at this wonderful photos of Tasmania and wondering whether I’d ever get there. I’d love to but the thought of 20 hours flying is so daunting
We Aussies understand what you mean by all that flying, Karen, but it’s what we have to do to get pretty much anywhere, except SE Asia. West coast of US is around 15 hours, but non-stop that’s pretty exhausting. Tasmania though is VERY beautiful. 😉
Good work on trying to save the Library. I only hope that the judge will do the right thing! Also hail to Benedict Cumberbatch. what an actor!
I wasnt all that struck on Cumberbatch when I saw the Sherlock series on TV but then saw The Imitation Game and that began to change my view. So glad I saw his Hamlet ….
Ack! Closing libraries. That is one HUGE sin!! (And I’m not even religious!) I am the President of our local library’s Board of Trustees. Our little town would have nothing without the library! Wow! On 500 posts. I was proud because I just reached 100! 🙂 And the anniversary! What a wonderful week!
That’s part of the issue for us Lynn, the library is more than a place where people go to get a book.The older people go just to feel they are connected to the life of the village. It gets them out of the house …
Wow, that was some week! Congratulations on 500 posts and on the wedding anniversary! Fingers crossed the judge rules in favor libraries!
Fingers and toes in this case. I’m leaving nothing to chance
A belated congratulations on first, your wedding anniversary, and second, on your 500th post. When will the ruling be handed down? Any word yet? Hope the judge finds in your favor.
No significant milestones here, but did have fun reading books for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon on Saturday.
we’ve been told Bryan that it could take up to a month. We’ll get two days advance notice that its due so thats two sleepless nights. I admire people with the stamina to do those readathons. they sound exhausting
Happy blog and wedding anniversary. Interested in hearing how the library campaign turns out. I too went to the theatre this past weekend…in the spirit of sharing a bit of my world, I’ll share the link https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/tangled-web-reaction
WOW! Congrats on the 500th and the 32nd! Those are definite milestones and you played both of them down 😀 I hope you write more about Hamlet as I’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you and the library, I can’t imagine limbo is a better place to be at least before you had something to do!
Congratulations on your Wedding Anniversary. The Bears want to know if there was cake!
The problem with Mark Rylance’s Hamlet was that his pyjamas were too big. It is very difficult to play Hamlet in oversized pyjamas. I haven’t seen Cumberbatch’s performance yet. I think it’s the weekend after next. I’m not a great fan so it will be interesting to see if he wins me over.
Not cake this time but we did share a packet of salted peanuts… What a precious sentence “It is very difficult to play Hamlet in oversized pyjamas”. I’m not a fan of Cumberbatch either (I’m always a bit nervous when a big tv star takes to the Bard) but kept hearing how good he was and since this was the first time the local arts centre had broadcast a NT live performance I thought I’d giving it a go.
Congratulations on the wedding anniversary and the blog posts! I really hope that you manage to save your library – I admire your campaign.
Thanks for those good wishes, it will be a joyous day indeed if we do win. But I also suspect the local council will simply repeat the consultation only making sure this time they get it right
Good luck with the upcoming ruling for your efforts on behalf of the library. Sounds like you are fighting the good fight. My week? I had to work too much to get any meaningful reading (or anything else) accomplished, but that’s how it goes sometimes. 🙂
Ugh yes we all get those horrid weeks. sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get through it. Hope it was just the week though and you can get back to enjoyment this week Jay
Sounds like a great week for milestones! The highlight of our week was my son’s football game, followed up by Thanksgiving Dinner with my family a week late.
Thanksgiving?? Isn’t that a bit early – I thought it was November that event was marked?
In Canada it happens in October, It was 2 weekends ago, actually, but my family celebrated a week late.
Sounds like a fabulous week, congratulations on the wedding anniversary! My little sister (I cal her little, but she’s 30!) came home from New Zealand to visit for a month. I haven’t seen hey in the flesh for four years so it was very exciting.
What a special day that must have been when she arrived Cathy. Bet you had a lot to catchup on…
Congratulations on the blog posts and the wedding anniversary. I hope your library campaign goes well. We’re having a campaign in Fife where the ‘Cultural Trust’ intends to close 16 libraries, if they can get away with it.
its happening all over the UK sadly. Once one council thought it was an easy way to save money, they all decided it was a good idea. Are you being offered an alternative of the community managed option?
A busy week! And well done on campaigning for your library – good luck with that!
we’re certainly hoping luck is on our side
no personal milestones from me, though I did watch (from the sidelines) a friend bring a new restaurant into being and almost having a physical breakdown in the process. I would never want to be a restaurateur at any time, but in this day and age – I’m too old for that stress and lack of sleep! (e.g. he worked all day Friday, already stressed, left at 3am Saturday, went back at 6am, opened at 12, did a full day’s service – he’s a popular lad – and finished at 1 this morning. Thankfully he survived and he’s calmer today!).
I can relate to that story since my parents owned a baking and confectionary business. He frequently started work at 3am and didnt finish until late afternoon