Locus Festival 2019

Locorotondo, Puglia, Italy.

The 15th Locus Festival and our third. A mixture of free concerts in the municipal piazza over several weeks plus a number of paid gigs, see Calendar of events 2019. For the free gigs we take along a couple of folding picnic chairs and a cool bag of wine and park ourselves at the back of the piazza where the raised position gives a good view of the stage, if a little distant.

Saturday 28-July-2019
Piazza Moro h 21 | Free
Live: JOSÉ’ JAMES “Lean on me” + Tonina feat. Dario Jacque

A funky set from the support act Tonina: "an independent singer/songwriter, bassist, music journalist and poet from St. Louis, Missouri who performs her original music along with her arrangements of covers in both Spanish and English."

That got the evening off to a good start.

The main act was José James: "Often referred to as a jazz singer for the hip-hop generation, New York City-based vocalist José James combines jazz, soul, drum’n’bass, and spoken word into his own unique brand of vocal jazz."

Not bad at all.

Wednesday 07-August-2019
Stadio Comunale h 21 | Ticket
Live: MS. LAURYN HILL + Mahmood

A ticketed concert with Lauryn Hill who we know only from her first solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" but another draw for us was the support act, Mahmood, who we were as much interested in seeing as Ms Hill.

As the concert was in the Locorotondo sport stadium we got there very early mistakenly thinking that they would use the terrace seating but no! They were sealed off and it was an all standing concert. We positioned ourselves against the barriers surrounding the mixing desk and camera tower so we could sit with back support or have something to lean against, if standing.

We discovered Mahmood when on a language course in Rome back in February. The bar where we often went for a nightcap was constantly playing his music. We liked it and so we bought the album.

An excellent set lasting a hour and playing almost every track from the album.

Lauryn Hill had her own support act so the first part of her set was DJ Reborn.

Then Lauryn came on a did a mixture of stuff we knew and stuff we didn't.

By this time we were a little tired so didn't wait to the very end but slipped out just before midnight.

Thursday 08-August-2019
Piazza Moro h 21 | Free
On stage: COLIN STETSON + Mammal Hands

Back to the free concerts and two bands / artists we knew nothing about.

Mammal Hands were excellent and very much in the mould of GoGo Penguin who we saw last year. Maybe that helped because our ears were already attuned to their mix of ambient, jazz, electronic music and world music. I went to buy the vinyl afterwards and chatting to the band it turns out they are big mates with GoGo Penguin and have performed together.

Colin Stetson was not our cup of tea at all. A solo performance using tape loop to lay down a denser sound but that sound was too raucous and self-indulgent for us. After the first couple of pieces we'd had enough, thank you, and cleared off out of there.

So, apart from Colin Stetson, a good showing from Locus 2019. Mind you, it is free so you can't knock it and it does introduce us to new artists. There were a number of other concerts but we could not make them all due to our hectic social life.

Locus 2020 is definitely on our "must do" list for summer next year.

Aperitivo Classico 2019

Bar Fod, Cisternino, Italy. July/August-2019

One of the highlights of summer in Cisternino is Aperitivo Classico, a series of Sunday lunchtime concerts in the town square organised by Bar Fod. Every Sunday at 12 noon in July and August, a drink and nibble of some local produce with an hour of live classical music. There is usually a recommended drink of the day to pair with the food.

We missed the first concert because we were in the UK.

14-July-2019.

The DAFF brass quartet and I forgot to photo the food.

21-July-2019.

An introductory spiel about a local wheat beer.

Octopus in a bun with red Tropea onion garnish.

A wind quartet provided the music.

28-July-2019.

A local rosé and a wheat based nibble.

A lad we have seen in previous years demonstrating that the accordion can be an instrument of some subtlety not just a folk instrument suitable only for dancing.

03-August-2019.

No Aperitivo Classico as that weekend was reserved for celebrating the town's patron saint, San Quirico.

11-August-2019.

Part one of the concert was a children's story with music.

Drink of choice was an Aperol spritz plus friselle with tomato.

Part two was sax and piano duets.

...and a second round of egg and cheese "lollipops" to keep the children's theme going.

18-August-2019.

A guitar and flute duo.

A selection of locally produced cheese and salami.

25-August-2019.

Some operatic arias.

Champagne and seafood plus mortadella.

The last official concert always includes a team photo for the regulars.

01-September-2019.

A bonus concert the first weekend of September after most of the, mainly Italian, tourists have gone home. We were treated to a collection of pop songs, mostly featured in film soundtracks.

A brightly coloured food presentation as a homage to Andy Warhol and the exhibition of his work at nearby Martina Franca. A quasi-breakfast theme with a blue cappuccino (a frothy alcoholic cocktail) and red (beetroot) scrambled egg on toast.

More sax and piano duets.

Most of the regulars are now friends or we know who they are.

Lots more photos from Vito Zizzi, the official photographer, on the Bar Fod Facebook page.

That's it for another year...

Benson Row - 05

Penrith, Cumbria. August-2019.

This last month the builders have been busy completing the rebuild of the stairs and demolishing the wall between dining room and kitchen.

The new staircase going up to the raised landing.
The extra turn at the start gives us a little extra headroom under the stairs. That means the toilet can be tucked in under the second turn leading to the flat landing. This in turn gives a straight run to the shower at the back under the main landing. In this picture the last stair section up to the main landing is yet to be installed.

Supporting the little bedroom floor. 
Originally we had hoped for an open staircase but it was necessary to provide structural support for the little bedroom floor upstairs so the first flight will be boxed in.

Removing the wall.
This is done by drilling holes through the wall to take box girders that are supported by Acrow props. Once the upstairs is supported the demolition can begin.

New pillars for the steel joist.
Either side of the opening foundations were dug for a concrete pad on top of which the brick pillars are built.

New steel beam in place. 
Actually three steel beams were placed on top of the pillars and bolted together. Then the Acrow props and the temporary girders are removed.

This is an extra beam put in to support the slightly bouncy floor upstairs.

Re-opening the old door.
Part of the works involves blocking up the kitchen door and re-opening an original door that was blocked up in 1975. That has revealed a nice threshold and lintel which we will endeavour to preserve.

Timber Lintel.

The under stairs space.
The new shower and toilet will go here. They took a jack hammer to the floor from the new door all the way along to accommodate the drainage. In the middle you can see the top step of three that, up to 1975, lead down to storage space under the original stairs.

New linen cupboard.
We bought a refurbished, old-style linen cupboard which unfortunately would not go up the stairs so we had a Right Said Fred moment:

"All right, " said Fred, "Have to take the feet off
To get them feet off wouldn't take a mo."
Took its feet off, even took the seat off
Should have got us somewhere but no!
So Fred said, "Let's have another cuppa tea."
And we said, "right-o.".

So it is now upstairs and legless - like some people we know!

Planning the kitchen.
Now that the structural work has been done (although much plastering and making good remains) it does mean that we can start work on the kitchen design.

After many variations we have gone for a basic U-shape. There is also the possibility of an island unit which would be on wheels so that it is movable. We may or may not go for that in the first instance. We have decided to keep the boiler in its original location, likewise the washing machine. That will help keep the costs down a little. The final installation be painted pale blue-grey (Dulux Country Sky).

We await further updates from the builder...

Parkrun Tourism Part 02 - 2018

Parkun tourism continues with another 7 locations added in 2018 (showing location, date, my time and number of participants) bringing the total to 13 unique locations:

• Grangemoor
• Salento
• Wimbledon Common
• Reigate Priory
• Troon
• Bicester
• Fulham Palace

Grangemoor. 10/3/2018. 26:48. [144]

Our best friends from Italy live in Cardiff in the winter. Like us they travel back and forth to the UK for the winter season. They were able to get tickets for Italy v. Wales rugby match so off we went for a weekend in the Principality.

I nearly did the main Cardiff parkrun but when I checked the distances from their marina apartment I discovered Grangemoor was a lot closer.

A nice flat course with a modest number of runners (144). That meant I was able to get right up to the start line which greatly increases the chances of a PB and so it came to pass. My fastest parkrun to date knocking nearly a whole minute off my previous fastest.

Salento. 09/06/2018. 29:36. [8]

Our favourite parkrun. We had friends to visit us in Italy and they said “let’s do a parkrun”. “There isn’t a parkrun here” we said. “Oh yes there is” they said. Cue pantomime style banter. And they were right! Salento Parkrun had only just started five weeks before. It was a bit of a drive, 1 hour 15 minutes, but we thought we'd give it a go. Drove down there to discover that our carful was 50% of the park runners that day, four out of the eight participants.

There we met the course director Saverio and his mum Luana who was the sole volunteer, tail walker and cake baker.

Saverio starts us off.

We have been back many times since. For me it is the second most frequently attended location. It is a very flat course set in a nature reserve out in the middle of nowhere. Mary power walked her way around the course practising her Italian with Luana. Saverio persuaded Mary to sign up so she can get a bar code and an official time. That means that Salento is Mary‘s home parkrun. Now if we go to a UK parkrun and they ask “Any visitors?” Mary can put up her hand and say “Yes, Italy!”

This parkrun gets a regular attendance from holidaymakers to boost the numbers. Not so much when you go in February. One week Mary and I were the only two runners to turn up. I was the fastest in my age group, the fastest male, and first across the finish line, result! That is never going to happen again!

Wimbledon Common. 16/06/2018. 29:17. [517]

Our London flat is pretty equidistant between three parkruns so I thought I’d tick off Wimbledon Common. Cycled up the hill by way of a warmup on a lovely sunny day. Another large crowd where the course director’s introductory speech was held some way from the start line so we had to relocate after the spiel.

A pleasant flat course on gravel paths through woodland.

A fellow runner described the dust kicked up in summer as resembling herd of Buffalo stampeding.

Reigate Priory. 15/09/2018. 29:05. [248]

I was due to visit my mum in her residential home on the boundary between Redhill and Reigate. And then going to visit my sister in Reigate afterwards for a cup of tea and a chat. That meant I was going to miss my Tooting parkrun. Suddenly an inspiration. I checked and Reigate Priory was very close to my sister’s place.

So I went down early, did my Parkrun, went back to Jane’s place for a shower and a cup of tea and then went to visit Mum.

There is one stretch of the two circuit course that is distinctly up hill and down dale through a wooded section. I’m not good on anything other than the flat hence the time. I got chatting to a fellow parkrunner who it turned out was on their first Parkrun so I was endeavouring to make encouraging chat. At the end she came up and thanked me for providing some inspiration which touched me.

Troon. 22/09/28. 27:05. [130]

The following weekend it was up to visit Mary’s mum fully expecting to do the local Eglinton parkrun. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the recent high winds. There were a lot of tree branch debris on the course plus the risk of further branches falling on our heads. It turns out that Troon is not that far away so I drove over to tick off an unexpectedly additional parkrun. The Troon course is very flat, two circuits out and back along the promenade.

With cold winds whistling in across the Firth of Clyde it was pretty nippy. Afterwards I went to Betsy’s café but there weren’t many people there and they didn’t seem particularly inclined to be chatty. So I warmed up with a cup of tea and a cake and then back to Mary’s mum.

Bicester. 03/11/2018. 26:36. [204]

We were on our way back from Penrith to London and planned our journey to include an overnight stop and meet up with a friend of Mary‘s. She unfortunately had to cancel but our hotel booking was not cancellable. So we went anyway and arranged to meet up on the Friday night with some friends from Italy who live not too far away. Then did the parkrun on the Saturday.

A pleasant two lap course including a circuit of a Neolithic stone circle which is a bit of a novelty.

Fulham Palace. 10/11/2018. 27:31. [505]

Having done Wimbledon Common I had to complete the Bermuda Triangle of nearby parkruns. This meant going north of the river *gasp*. An easy 20 min cycle ride but it was a bit tricky to find a start point.

The course is all on paths which unfortunately get a bit narrow in places which means you really have to slow down to avoid banging into other runners, trees and park benches. Given the closeness of the other parkruns near me I’m not sure I would bother with this one again. Sorry FP!

So by this point I’m up to 13 different parkruns. Next 2019...