August - the Second Half
2 September

Well, the summer is slipping by.

I've managed to do some college work in the garden writing about children's books and looking at some of the set texts but, to be perfectly honest, they mean absolutely nothing to me.

Ross and I went to see Jonathan Kent's staging of Britten's The Turn of the Screw live from Glyndebourne Festival at FACT in Liverpool. Like a lot of things that I am seeing these days, it was technically incredibly assured but left me feeling quite cold. I think that the reason for that was that Jonathan Kent had decided not to tell a ghost story but to produce a forensic depiction of child abuse in the 1950s. So, the coolness was a psychological process and it was very well done - just not what I wanted.

The cast were great. I liked the pairing of Giselle Allen as Miss Jessel and Toby Spence as Peter Quint. Thomas Parfitt was a remarkable Miles and Joanna Songi partnered him well as his sister Flora. Miah Persson's Governess was very good too. The whole was very well conducted by Jakub Hrusa.

It's just that the tingles were missing and I remember so clearly that night at the Royal Northern College of Music when the performance was simply heart-stopping. This was good but not that good.

Bank Holiday weekend brought a visit from Linda, Ian and Mary. Ross and I went over to my parents and we all went out for a meal at the Anchor Inn in Irby. I had a little quality time with Mary. The aging Ps are still doing well although Dad is less and less with us. Mum's fortitude is astonishing but she is also incredibly willful. Linda and I are trying to ease her into accepting assistance but anything to do with charity and the portcullis comes right down with a thump.

A large case in point was getting a consultant from Help the Aged to come in and make some suggestions for mum and dad to get an age friendly shower put in. To me, he talked sense about the sort of arrangements which would give them a hygienic and safe environment for toileting for many years to come.

And then,as soon as he was gone, they rejected the idea completely out of hand. What they wanted was what they had seen in the Daily Mail and what their friends had had and which our consultant had told them was a potential death trap.

I'm afraid that I let my dismay and anger show.

But the reality is that they have to live their lives according to their own lights even if I disagree with it entirely.

I managed to slip in another visit to FACT to see a broadcast opera. This one was not being performed live but the chance to hear Renée Fleming, Sophie Koch and Diana Damrau in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier was too great a temptation (and the three of them were radiantly beautiful apart and together in the final 20 minutes of the piece). Besides, once I am into being a student I may no longer have the time, the money or the energy for such treats.

Christian Thielemann conducted with a plump, plush sound. Jonas Kaufmann was luxury casting as the Italian tenor in Act One. Franz Hawlata was good but had been directed to behave with great coarseness and I simply do not think that this is right for the piece.

Herbert Wernicke was the director and he didn't, to me, make the best of this work. Still I enjoyed my night out and am happy to throw out three stars.

Now all I have to do is prepare for next week's preliminary placement.

I haven't seen Friends With Benefits but can I thank the whole production team for persuading Justin Timberlake not just simply to take off his clothes (which he has done in a number of movies) but to position himself so that we can all get a good look at that great arse.

And, to round things off (if I can say that after mentioning Justin Timberlake's ripe, firm buttocks), here's a sign from Northampton General Hospital. Sage advice for us all there, I feel.