I received two books for my 80th birthday: ‘Prospect Cottage - Derek Jarman’s House’ by Gilbert McCarragher and ‘Meadows at Great Dixter and Beyond’ by Christopher Lloyd with a new introduction by Fergus Garrett.
Both are books I had made up mind to treat myself to the next time we went into Nottingham City Centre and visited Five Leaves, our favourite bookshop. It is an independent shop which adds to the pleasure. It’s owner Ross Bradshaw is someone we have known a long time, from the 1980s when Susan was curator of Mansfield Museum & Art Gallery and I was a Nottinghamshire county councillor representing a Nottingham city ward, with responsibility for the arts, and, in a personal capacity, chair of The Midland Group, then the city’s premier independent art space. Ross was the county council’s Literary Officer at the time. If you follow the two links you can learn more about just how remarkable Ross Bradshaw is.
In the event, our close friends Rosie and Paul from Stoke-on-Trent bought me the Christopher Lloyd book and my daughter Alicia and son-in-law Steve bought me Gilbert McCarragher‘s wonderful collection of photographs showing the interior of Prospect Cottage.
We hope to visit both later this year when we go to Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex to spend some time with my sister Ros. My sister bought me the largest bird feeder I have ever seen so that the small birds in our garden do not have to compete endlessly with pigeons and squirrels for treats off our bird table!
And today this arrived from Tate Gallery in London. We simply cannot afford the cost of going to London for the day. Railway fares are prohibitively expensive, then add other costs and you are looking at c.£200 before you have bought exhibition admission tickets. Once there would have been no charge but those days have long gone, so our solution is to buy exhibition catalogues. This one costs £40/U.S. $50.
We don’t have to jostle for close-ups in crowded galleries and we get a guided tour of sorts as well. Increasingly, galleries are offering online ‘guided tours’ for as little as £15, which are screened directly to your television or a local cinema. Recently, we went to see a live performance of the National Theatre play ‘Nye’ for £24 in total in the company of 400 people (sadly, most oldies like ourselves) at a local cinema. We have now seen a good few plays this way and, in our book, it saves a lot of hassle, as well as being far cheaper.
Books still beat the web when it comes to taking an image in. Just hold the page steady and let the photograph reveal itself to you. No rush. Take as long as you want.
Taken together, here I am six days into being an octogenarian with three new books I know I will visit again and again at no extra cost. Right now, I do feel like one lucky octogenarian bunny.🐰
A P.S. The cover of the Tate catalogue has a Dame Laura Knight painting on it. She is and artist with a Nottingham connection.
Sandra. Thank you. Your support is much appreciated. I hope you are having an enjoyable time with your sister.🐰