Film – Biopic 1 – Nowhere Boy

I was not sure that I was going to like this film about John Lennon’s early life, but in fact it was surprisingly enjoyable.    It followed John Lennon from his last year or so at school to just before he went off to Hamburg. John lived with his Aunt Mimi since he was small, but [...]

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The Price – Lyceum – First Look

I enjoy Arthur Miller plays, but had never seen The Price, so a visit to The Lyceum’s new production was a must.   Especially as director John Dove had done such a good job of Death of a Salesman and more particularly, All My Sons. The play is set in the attic of a New York [...]

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Curling – The Grand Match

The Grand Match is a massive outdoor curling competition, which takes place in Scotland only when there is enough ice to play on.   The ice needs to be around 9 inches thick to be safe, as there can be up to 2000 curlers with their stones taking part.   North vs. South.     It rarely ever happens, because [...]

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Binwatch

With the current weather to cope with,  our local Council in Perth and Kinross have been struggling to empty the bins of the more rural folk like us.   Like many Councils, they now empty bins fortnightly, and we have two wheelybins at the end of our road – one for general waste, and the other for [...]

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Festival of British Youth Orchestras

With the press and media so preoccupied with snow stories, and whether Gordon Brown will be ousted from No 10 ahead of a general election, the small stories struggle for space. But today there is a small story which really matters:    The Festival of British Youth Orchestras which has taken place in Edinburgh and Glasgow for [...]

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A Cold Snap

It has been really pretty cold, even for round here.    And we are told to expect 2 more weeks of the same at least.    It has not really been above freezing much since well before Christmas, and often well below freezing. In the country, we are pretty used to coping with adverse conditions, but our local [...]

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Review of the Year 2009

It has been a rich year in the arts in Scotland, although the  exceptional has remained elusive. 23 plays seen.    In Perth, the year kicked off with an excellent adaptation of Tam O Shanter, and took in the tour of Be Near Me.    With a good cast, Silver Darlings promised much but never quite produced a sum of its [...]

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