My first 2011 snowdrop.
It was a dull slightly windy yesterday with a touch of drizzle in the air – just the sort of day when it is difficult to find any enthusiasm for the English February but then I saw this, my first…
Zeffirelli’s Aida – not all opera singers have the wrong bodies to be young lovers.
Too many people are put off opera because they can’t accept the visual contradiction between realatively mature singers playing young and supposedly attractive lovers. I have never been to bothered by that as, for me anyway, in the hands of…
Wolfie feels guilty about being nasty to camels.
OK, I admit that I was a bit mean about camels yesterday, the one humped Dromedary kind, so to prove that I am not unreasonable, I have been looking for attractive images of camels and trying hard to be positive…
Don’t point that camel at me, President Mubarak.
I am usually on the side of animals, wolves in particular, but there is something about a camel that just doesn’t appeal. They either look aggressive or just just plain dumb and they make a pretty repulsive sight even when…
Spring – almost here.
I awoke this morning physically challenged after my first full evening (two and a half hours) of martial arts training (White Crane Kungfu – see White crane fighting arts in Links in the right hand column)) in over two years.…
Did we elect the right people to run the British economy?
I wish I understood economics. When I was a schoolboy I wanted to do A level economic history but my school couldn’t make the timetable fit for anyone doing English, History and Economic History so I did music instead. An…
Let’s not be too selfish over Egypt
It is difficult to stop seeing the news as an action movie when big World events are breaking around us. Excited news reporters voices sound like children at Christmas telling us gleefully that history is being made. It is exciting…
Making Marmalade with Sigur Ros and Delia Smith
Us English believe that we are the only nation that appreciates marmalade but I am sure that we are wrong. Once, on a trip to the States, a friend insisted that I took my own marmalade supply telling me that…
My heart-rate monitor has begun to clock my return to fitness
I wore my heart-rate monitor for the first time in a long time, too long, yesterday. I was going back to see my personal trainer, Ricardo, to see if he can help me get back some fitness after a bit of a…
Wolfie at the movies: Black Swan
Black Swan (15) **** Director: Darren Aronofsky Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel R.T. 108 min. Brilliant young ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) gets a fairy tale offer to replace the prima donna in a prestigious New York Ballet production…