Dad

356 days ago, my Dad had a catastrophic stroke. We didn't think he would make it past the first week, but somehow he did. However, the incident left him severely mentally and physically disabled. He spent the rest of 2014 in a nursing home, where he was well looked after.

Two days ago, on New Year's Day, after a short illness, Dad finally passed away.

We knew that when the end came it would be a shock, and we would be terribly sad. And so it proved.

But it is also a great relief that he has now been released from the awful ordeal that he has been suffering for many months.

I'm not sure I can adequately write down how I feel about my Dad. Maybe I will try in to put it in words one day soon. He was strong, kind, generous, quick to laugh and very funny, and I am going to miss him for the rest of my life.

I love you, Dad.

Popping Up

Well, here's the thing.  When I said "see you in 6 months" in my last post, I didn't actually mean it.  So here we are five months later!


Zachary is now almost 10 months old (in two days time) which really accounts for my lack of activity here.


When I sum up what's happened since I last posted, it's very simple:

• Zachary.
• Work.
• Acting.
• Watching telly.

I'm currently rehearsing for RAODS' production of Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus, a play I directed a few years ago for Ottershaw Players.  If I hadn't been an idiot, I could have linked to my Habeas Corpus blog, but I stupidly deleted it a couple of years ago.

I'm playing Canon Throbbing, the randy, but ineffectual vicar, a part which Tim Matthews made his own and into whose Jesus sandals I am now stepping.

Do come along to see it.  It'll be great fun and our shows are usually sell-outs so you need to get your tickets soon.

That seems to be all there has been time for (although I'm conveniently forgetting a couple of lovely evenings out with friends Kirsten & Craig to see Jon Richardson and Dave Gorman at The Lights in Andover.  Not all at the same time.)

New Year, New Template

I've just been reminded that I haven't posted here since the end of August.  Somehow, with a new baby, and a job that's been taking up loads of time, I haven't got around to it.  But it's a new year, so here's an attempt at a fresh start.

Zachary is now 5 months old.  So, to celebrate, here's a picture.

Work has been insanely busy.  I've been technical lead on a project to move our company's middleware infrastructure from OC4J to Weblogic.  If you know what that means, well done!  If you know how to tune Weblogic for scalability, give me a ring!

I've also been doing stuff with RAODS (www.plazatheatre.com).  I've got a small part in their upcoming production of Ladies Day and I'm doing sound design for Frozen (which is coming up much sooner than I'd anticipated. Yikes).

And, of course, I've been blogging far too little.  Hopefully that will change this year.

See you in 6 months!

Gotta Dance!

So much for my "blogging every day of 2011" resolution.  Broken on day One.

Yesterday was spent moving a bookshelf into our dining room and filling it with three boxes of plays and theatre-related books.  I find it amazing that boxed things take up much more room than the same items on a shelf.  I have a very loose grasp of spatial dynamics!

Last night we drove up to Surrey to have dinner with my family in honour of Mum's birthday.  It's a birthday with a big, round number in it, but I'm not allowed to reveal the number.  We're not yet up to the number of trombones in the big parade though.

A huge curry was consumed, presents were opened (birthday and Christmas) and a good time was had by all.  Then we drove back, even though I was, by then, too fat to reach the gear stick.

Today, after some minor domestic chores, I had a rehearsal for Cinderella.  I'm getting there with my lines (just about) but I find that I can't remember lyrics and dance steps simultaneously.  I can do one or the other, but when I try both, I forget both.  Which isn't very helpful for anyone.  Extra rehearsals this Friday - I know that I need it!

I want to dig out my script for Outside Edge.  I think that was the last time I had to learn as many lines as I have in this show, and that was 7 years ago.  Small parts only for me from now on!

Cinderella, produced by Colbury and Ashurst Theatrical Society, on at Hanger Farm Arts Centre (West Totton, near Southampton) 21st to 29th January, 2011.  For times, ticket prices and booking information follow this link.

Wallop! Get in!

Dum-de-dum!  Another far-too-long stretch of time since I last blogged.  Well, as it's December 31st I may as well make one of those oh-so-pointless New Year resolutions and say that I will try to blog every day in 2011.  Who knows, there may even be something for me to write about?

Usually, at this time of year, I do a round-up of what's been going on in my odd little world over the past 12 months.  But the last year feels like as if we've been in suspended animation, waiting for things to move on, and so a full review would be, for me, a teeny bit depressing.

In brief, 2010's highlights were:

• My last stage performance with Ottershaw Players in the Farrago (Feb).
• My last show with Ottershaw Players (stage manager for And Then There Were None in June).
• Joining CATS for Cinderella (Oct).
• NODA Summer School (Aug).
• Finally selling our house in Aldershot (Jul - Dec).
• Moving down into the countryside (Dec).

In between those highlights were lots of frustrations and worries.  My Dad's health problems weren't the least of these, but we're very glad that he's now making good progress.

Anyway, hey ho, and all that.  

This month, we've finally moved down to Over Wallop, which is in Hampshire, between Andover and Salisbury.  My 50 minute drive to work (usually well over the speed limit) is replaced by a sedate 15 minute drive.  So that should save me at least £300 in diesel every month.  And we no longer have a huge, unaffordable mortgage hanging over our heads.  Granted, we also have no savings and made next-to-nothing on the house sale, so I've got no idea when we'll be able to afford to buy somewhere else.

Overall though, we're ending 2010 in a much more positive and happier state than we started it.

Remembering Johnny

Some more memories of Johnny and stuff I've come across while we've been sorting out the wheat from the chaff at the house he shared with my late Nan for over 35 years:

• While I knew he was a keen rifleman, I didn't realise how good he was. For a spell in the 1970s he won at least 12 trophies at Epsom Rifle Club and was good enough to win free entries into three national newspapers' open championships.

• I was wrong about the MG - he didn't prang it in the '60s. The car he crashed on the A23 (on a stretch of road now covered by Gatwick Airport) was written off. The MG was bought in 1962 (for £423) and used until the late '60s when it was put into storage in Tommy Crossley's garage. Tommy was Johnny's best friend and lived two doors down when they were kids.
  
  
• He built a canoe (and "pinched" a pair of paddles) which he soon overturned in a deep part of the river, nearly drowining himself.
  
  
• In the early 1950s he would go to the pictures, with his mates or alone, 4 or 5 times a week. But then, so did lots of people back then. There were more cinemas and more films back then!
  
  
• Johnny was a good harmonica player and played in bands in his time. We've found 4 Hohner Chromonica harmonicas, in various states of repair - I'm sure that at least 2 of them are playable.
  
  
• His work as a cartographer for the Overseas Development Administration demanded great accuracy and attention to detail. This spilled over to his love for graphic design, typefaces and cartooning. We found dozens, maybe a couple of hundred, sheets of paper and cardboard covered (sometimes literally) with doodles, sketches, designs and hand-drawn and painted lettering - most of it so well done that it would be taken for Letraset at first glance, but then you notice the construction lines underneath. Some sketches seem to indicate that he had a small sideline, maybe unpaid, in sign-writing and designing business cards or adverts for businesses.
  
  
• For around 3 years in the mid-1960s, Johnny was a member of Lasham Gliding Club and he learned to fly gliders.
  
  
• We uncovered a notebook with some handwritten notes that seem to read like a memoir. Some parts are obviously autobiographical. Some could be fictional. But they are written in an easy, almost informal style, but with a real sense of flair and poetry. It's impossible to tell when they were written, or if he ever intended to write more. If only he'd shown them to someone - the talent he had for writing shines through. I'll reproduce parts of it here soon.

This is all random stuff now, much of which I had no idea about before this sad week. The one thing I don't really know - and haven't found any clues about - is what sort of music he liked. I would have thought he'd be a rock'n'roller, but Dad doesn't seem to think so. All their records were stolen at a party, so there's no clues to go on - unless we manage to dig something up tomorrow.

Uncle Johnny

My Uncle Johnny, my Dad's brother, was born on 26th January, 1935. He died this afternoon, aged 74.

When I was a kid he was my favourite relative. I looked forward to his visits with glee because he always brought us presents - sometimes more lavish than Mum & Dad would have liked. For my first (I think) birthday, he bought me a top-notch Scalextric kit. No matter that I wouldn't have the wherewithal to play with it for another 4 or 5 years, at least. With no wife or kids of his own, and after spending most of his life living at the family home, I guess he could afford to spoil all his nieces and nephews.

One glorious day, in the early 1980s I guess, he turned up driving a fantastic sports car, the like of which I'd never seen before. It was an MG TF, built in 1954. British racing green - as all sports cars should be. Imagine the thrill when he took me for a drive on the recently completed motorway round the corner. The car had been slowly and carefully rebuilt from scratch after it had a "prang" many years earlier (early '60s?), if I remember rightly. Johnny told my Dad that he wanted me to have the car someday. But some time ago he needed money to live on and sold the car to my other uncle. It sits in a garage now, waiting restoration one more time. I couldn't afford to store it anyway...

Johnny and Dad shared the same sense of humour and there was rarely a time when a joke wasn't far from his lips. In recent years, he "let himself go" as people like to say. His long, unkempt beard and habit of answering the door in his underwear could be off-putting, to say the least. And while he spent most of the last 10 or 15 years in the pub smoking his roll-ups, surely a factor in his demise, it never really dulled his intellect.

The last time I saw Johnny was not long after my Nan's funeral. Astonishingly and shamefully, that was nearly 3 years ago. I had 'planned' to go and visit him 'sometime'. To pick his still-sharp mind about the family history and the mysterious fate of his own uncle, their Dad's brother, while he was still around to do so. Too late now...

Johnny was a talented artist; a keen rifleman; and a kind, generous person. He was unique. I'll miss him.



Raymond John Moore, 1935 - 2009. RIP.

Merry Chrimbo

We're making the best of Christmas this year, but it won't be as merry as it has been in the past. Money is very tight, with MLYW still out of work and my job finishing in just 7 days time (and I'll only be paid for 4 of those).

There's a sniff of a possible short-term contract for me which might materialise in the 2nd week of the New Year (fingers, toes and everything else crossed), so I think I should look upon the first week of January as an enforced holiday - unless I can find anyone who needs holiday cover for their Oracle databases!

Our entire family decided has decided to forego Xmas presents this year altogether. Though I'm sure that my nephew Tom will still have a bundle of things to open on Christmas morning. While it will be odd not to have a pile of gaily-wrapped gifts to open on December 25th, that's more than balanced by not having to brave the shopping hoards and it's been great not to have to spend money which can be saved for more essential purchases; like the mortgage payments, or a new, uncracked windscreen...

Anyhoo - it's all been a bit depressing of late, hence the lack of posting recently. I'm sure things will pick up in 2009. We've already made plans in January to meet up with friends we haven't seen for a year or two. We've neglected old friends of late (though it's a two-way street!) and 2009 is going to be the year of catching-up with people - so beware!

Wait for Weight

I was a bit stuck for a subject to blog about today. Then I read my sister's blog where she's announced her plans to lose weight and track her progress in weekly posts.

I think she's very brave. Sure it's a great motivator, knowing that you will be sharing your successes and failures with the world (or the little of the world which reads your blog!), but I think if I was to try it I'd have more failures than successes and it would turn into a record of my terrible self-control and greed.

But I'm sure that Jo's will be a far more positive experience! Yes, it will. Indeed it will.

I know that I need to lose a couple of stone (28lbs). I'm slimmer than I was about 4 or 5 years ago, when I think I hit a peak of around 17 stone, mostly due to eating junk and no exercise.

A couple of years ago, I was down to around 14 st 10 lb, which was heading in the right direction. Eating 'proper' food and getting out on my bike 3 or 4 times a week worked wonders. But for some reason it ground to a halt...

I think it was doing the London 2 Brighton bike ride. After that, I was so knackered that I didn't get on my bike for months and the healthy eating took a bit of a back seat, so the weight's been creeping up again.

Today I went to a seminar for work at Ascot race-course. The path from the station to the course has a steep uphill section at one point. I'm ashamed to say I was out of breath and feeling unfit very quickly.

Time to get on the bike again. Only now I'm training to get my weight down and not just aiming for a charity ride...

Pant

This morning MLYW took part in the Cancer Research 10km run - that's about 6 miles for those of you working in old money. It was originally supposed to happen at Loseley Park, but due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak it was cancelled. Luckily, Dunsfold Park aerodrome heard about the problem and offered to host the event at the last minute. So well done and thanks to them.

Anyway, the weather wasn't bad, a bit cloudy with sunny intervals, perfect weather for a run, but not so good if you're a spectator who didn't bring a sweater or jacket!

MLYW finished in around 52:45 - a personal best - and finished as the 47th lady runner (I think!). Not bad in a field of nearly 700 runners in total!

It was a great effort and I'm very proud of her. It's not too late to sponsor her yourself if you haven't already. Just go to her page at http://www.10ksponsorme.org/kathleenmoore

Well, that's enough about her for now. Tomorrow it'll be me, me, me again!

Accident

Unfortunately MLYW had an accident in the kitchen.

Luckily I was able to get a couple of pictures before I dragged her out and buried her in the garden...

Now, how to spend the insurance money...?

Zooom!

On Saturday my Dad and I went on our now annual pilgrimage to the Goodwood Revival.

It's a fantastic day out - or 3 days if you've got money to burn. Lord March (son of the owner of most of West Sussex) invites loads of motor racing celebs and millions of pounds worth of classic motor racing cars and bikes down to his back garden. Luckily, he has one of the UK's fastest circuits near the potting shed.

Thousands of people turn up dressed in fashions of the era (1948 to 1966) to watch qualifying sessions and races for vehicles which reaced between those years. It's great fun to watch, especially the production saloon car race, which never fails to provide some spectacle. This year's was special as a MkII Jag lost its engine and most of its oil on the entry to the first bend of Lavant corner, where we had grandstand tickets. At least 6 cars pirhouetted across the track, each one to bigger cheers than the one before. Those who ended up knee-deep in gravel (like the vast, fast, but lumbering Ford Galaxies) received cheery rounds of applause, while the skillful (well, lucky) drivers who managed to stay on the track were cheered as if they had just won the F1 championship in a milk float.

Next year I really must make the effort to go along in costume. Any suggestions for something to wear?

Many, many more pictures available here...

D.I.S.C.O.

We went to Gloucestershire at the weekend to attend the 30th birthday party of my cousin and her husband. There was a fancy dress theme: School Disco.

So, lots of girls (and boys!) in gymslips and pigtails.

I chose to go as a teacher, so it was on with the gown and mortar-board (thanks to Mum for the loan of those!).

The best costume for me was my nephew Thomas's. He decided he'd be a science teacher. For some bizarre reason he had an uncanny resemblance to Mark Heap as Dr Statham in 'Green Wing'...

Statham	Thomas

Just Five Minutes...

Blimey! It's been a busy week.

Sunday night we continued rehearsing for Whose Life Is It Anyway? Eek! It's about time I updated that blog too...

Monday - Ottershaw Players committee meeting.

Tuesday - rehearsals again.

Wednesday - AGM of the Woking Drama Association, which I needed to attend as I have (for some mad reason) agreed to act as publicity officer for the group.

Thursday - back in Woking again to see The Woman In White presented by Horsell Amateur Drama Society in the Rhoda McGaw.

[Capsule review: Not a bad performance, though it was at least 30 mins too long at 2.5 hours! Though that's partly due to the script (Victorians must have had sturdier bums) the production also could have done with some pep and pace in places. Standout performance was the actress playing Marion (sorry, can't find her name online!) with an honourable mention to Tim Morley as Sir Percival Glyde. Richard Walton gave a good performance as Mr Fairlie, but the decision (his or the director's?) to play the role for laughs, rather than to show what a nasty man he really was, did not help us to believe in the character. Finally, the story seems to come to a precipitous halt with a rather ludicrous explanation, entirely dependent upon unlikely coincidence, and leaves plenty of gaping holes in the plot. I'm not familiar enough with the story to tell whether this was the fault of the original material, the play or the production, but it made for a very unsatisfying ending. All-in-all, a decent effort from HADS, but let-down by a poor text in the final act.

One surprise was seeing housekeeper Mrs Vesey credited as "Marion Fields". This was the name of my 5th form teacher who also taught me drama for 4 years. And the lady did indeed bear a remarkable resemblance to my teacher. The only reason I thought it might not be the same lady is the fact that last time I saw her (a school reunion a few years ago) I'm sure she said she now lived down in Devon... Now I wish I'd gone backstage to say "hello"!]

Friday - I'm doing front-of-house (tickets and seats!) for Teechers at Brook Hall tonight. There's still a few tickets available for the performance on Sat 28th April if you want to come along.

Saturday - along with watching the football (this week I shall be mostly cheering for Man Utd and Bolton) I also need to get some miles on my bike in readiness for my charity ride. And we're entertaining my out-laws in the evening, which is always fun.

So - it's been nothing short of hectic this week. I haven't had a chance to watch anything on the Sky+ box (so it's lucky we've got 20% free). We've got the whole series of Spiral (8 spisodes) to watch at some point. Who knows when we'll get the time...

On The Move

Just as Delmonti moves into Addlestone, I am moving out.

Sorry Mr D, it's nothing personal. In fact, it's evidence that the area is becoming more posh and it's making me uncomfortable!

In approximately 24 hours time, my lovely young wife and I will become homeowners again, after a few years on the grubby slopes of Mount Rental.

Off to sunny Aldershot in Hampshire.

From now on it's our problem if the gas boiler stops working or the windows fall out. On the other hand we're also free to redecorate, put up shelves and have pets if the mood takes us.

I know which I prefer.

The day we move will be easier than the last 3 or 4 weeks. I've gradually whittled my 40-item to-do list down to something manageable (while working my new job and starting rehearsals for our latest play!) and most of the remaining items can probably wait until we've moved.

Another chapter...

You Won't Get Rid Of Me That Easily...

HELLO!

I'm still here. I'm still reading YOUR blog. Thanks for posting away so diligently while I've been sat here quiet as a church moose.

[They stand in the vestibule and you hang your hats on their antlers...]

Sorry I haven't commented recently - my new job's too busy to while away as much time coming up with snide remarks to leave scattered around the blogosphere.

Sorry I haven't posted recently - see my excuse above. And we're caught in the whirlwind of moving house in (tick, tock, tick, tock: "Jack Bauer's having a bad day!") only 3 weeks time. Add the play I'm directing (rehearsals start on Sunday - "what happened to Merry Wives of Windsor?" Don't ask!) and it's all a bit mental.

Sorry we haven't spoken for so long - recently I seem to manage to catch up with a maximum of 7 friends per year. If I keep going with a strict rotation I'll be able to get around to you in, ooh, 2009?

Sorry I didn't send a birthday card - that's especially for Delmonti and Councillor Mac, whose special day it is today.

Sorry about the state of the world... Oh! That one's NOT my fault. Cool!

Tock follows tick follows tock. And the farmers wife chopped off their tails with a carving knife. Ah! Guinness!

It's All Happening

Time to expand on the brief note in my last post, which seems a long time ago now.

Yes, I've found a new job! I'll be working for one of the world's premier fruit and produce manufacturers and distributors. Not that I'll be doing anything fructous myself; I'll still be looking after databases.

But I'm sure that the chance to sample the odd peach segment may present itself.

So, it's more money for doing work that appears to be less arduous, but more interesting, and with the chance to expand my skillset into more report-writing. And it's only 5 miles from home, instead of 50. Fantastic!

So it's ironic that my other big piece of news is that it looks like we are buying a house in Aldershot. It's nowhere near as difficult to get to work from there as it is at present, but it won't be the "just around the corner" that I envisaged when I interviewed for the new job.

Fingers crossed that the mortgage application, surveys, conveyancing, etc, etc, all goes smoothly... Though the vendors have no chain and neither do we, so that bodes well.

Looks like January and Feburary are going to be pretty busy!

Mark Owen Loses Temper in Dramatic Tram Breakdown

Good day to you!

In an exciting, suspenseful and dramatic ceremony, conducted this afternoon by Kathleen, Pele and Terry Wogan, we have finally decided the allocations in the Moore family's Not-So-Secret-Santa extravaganza 2006.

I know that you've all been waiting for this news for some weeks now, so with no further ado we'll get down to the announcement...

But first, here to entertain us with a song from their latest album - it's Take That!

Wow! Wasn't that great! Thanks to Howard, Jason and Gary for coming along this evening. We're sorry that Mark was unable to make it, but his tram broke down somewhere just outside Croydon.

So, now it's time for the announcement. Jordan - can I have the envelope please...?

Jo will be buying a present for Kathleen.
Dad will be buying a present for Mum.
Pete will be buying a present for Dad.
Mum will be buying a present for Pete.
Kathleen will be buying a present for Jo.

And that concludes this evening's entertainment. Join us again next time when you could have another chance to be lucky. Don't forget - it could be you!

From all of us at the Addlestone Studio... Goodnight!

Blogmeet

I don't think of myself as a blogger. Obviously, I do blog. Once in a while. Though recently it's become once in a week.

But I'm not one of those people who are driven to get something down at least once a day. Sometimes more often.

People like Diamond Geezer. For me, he's the king of bloggers. He has a subject that he (usually) confines himself to. He writes reams of witty, interesting prose, packed with so many links that to visit them all would mean that none of us would get any real work done, ever.

No, I'm not a real blogger.

And, as such, I would never expect to go to a Blog-Meet and swap blogging stories with like-minded bloggers.

So you could knock me down with a feather when I realised that that's exactly what I did yesterday.

OK, to be fair, it was really me and my Lovely Young Wife, plus my sis and her son, Thomas, who were meeting Shorty PJs' MaryB for lunch at the 'delightful' Italian restaurant in Weybridge.

Life stories were swapped, work tales were told and blogging was barely mentioned. It wasn't a blogmeet - only 60% of those present have ever blogged. So I think I've escaped without having to define myself as a blogger - yet... Phew!

Here's MaryB and Jo (in that order) swapping fishing stories!

Famblies

Nan

I wrote about my Nan the other day. Unfortunately, she died two days later. I guess it was a blessing/release (and all those other platitudes we use to try to stop ourselves feeling upset). She turned out to have been a great deal sicker than anybody suspected when she went into hospital. And I know that we all have to go sometime, but I still think I'd prefer to pop off in my sleep, with no idea that I was even unwell.

Nan was a kind, generous person and we're all going to miss her.

Trees

The events of the past few days inspired me to start recording some family history. Nothing complicated (I thought at the time), just a record of who was who, when they were born, etc.

But our family is nothing if not complex (as, I suspect, is everyone's once you peel back the years).

I've already had an account setup at GenesReunited.co.uk - a site which you can use to record your family tree - so I logged in and started updating what was there and adding various grandparents, etc.

Trouble is, it's an addictive pastime. I seem to have spent most of my spare time over the past 3 days registering for various websites which hold census, birth, marriage and death records and scouring them for pertinent information. And the deeper you go the more you want to find out.

It really is an absorbing activity and I can understand why there's been such a surge of interest in genealogy in recent years. Nostalgia as a whole seems to be big business - and I'm not immune; I've ordered some books and software from Amazon to use when I get more time.

Mum commented that if I carried on at this rate there might be another divorce to add to the family tree, so I think I'll give it a rest for a bit and get into it again when I've finished directing Habeas Corpus.