Beautiful Lofty Things

Harry Eyres' Slow Lane column in the FT today featured a list of his 2007 highlights. In it he referred to a poem by Yeats called Beautiful Lofty Things where Yeats discusses memories and images he found special. It's a great poem.

'Beautiful Lofty Things'

Beautiful lofty things; O'Leary's noble head;
My father upon the Abbey stage, before him a raging crowd.
"This Land of Saints", and then as the applause died out,
"Of plaster Saints"; his beautiful mischievous head thrown back.
Standish O'Grady supporting himself between the tables
Speaking to a drunken audience high nonsensical words;
Augusta Gregory seated at her great ormolu table
Her eightieth winter approaching; "Yesterday he threatened my life,
I told him that nightly from six to seven I sat at this table
The blinds drawn up"; Maud Gonne at Howth station waiting a train,
Pallas Athena in that straight back and arrogant head;
All the Olympians; a thing never known again.

-- William Butler Yeats

Chelsea Chelsea

Boxing Day's match against Aston Villa was one of the greats. Four all, three sendings off. Shevy scored two goals including one thumping shot that made you realise why people used to rave about him and Michael Ballack came back looking like he had laid off the potatoes while he has been off for the last nine months. Worryingly it doesn't look like high-scoring draws will be enough to keep Chelsea in the title race. With the four Africans off for a month, Terry and Lampard injured and Calvalho and Cole suspended, it looks like January 2008 will be the month when Shevy and Ballack get to finally show why they have been paid so much. Either way it is much better entertainment than the days of Droy, Bumstead and Lewington. Interesting that in Jose's last days he resorted to pushing Terry up front for the last ten minutes like they used to do with Mickey Droy. What goes around..........

My 2007 Cultural Highlights

Thinking of my year's cultural highlights has been a salutory experience as the list of options has been distressingly shorter than I would like. However the best ones have been brilliant. In January we saw "My Face", the first play by 20 year old Polly Stenham, at the Royal Court Upstairs. It was a brilliant play about a family driven apart by alcohol and angst with storming performances from Matt Smith and Alison Steadman. All the more powerful for being staged in a theatre with around 80 people sitting in a quadrangle around the stage. I have read loads of books, few of them self-improving, but I loved reading my first Trollope "The Small House at Allington", which kept me reading in bed however tired I was and Robert Harris' "The Ghost" made one feel one was very close to the post-PM lives of Tony and Cherie. I waded through Alistair Campbell's Diaries in the summer alternating between frustration at the absence of Gordon from any of his stories and admiration at their determination to tilt at every windmill at the same time following the 1997 election. Film-wise one film stood out for me - "The Lives of Others". No other film was quite so gripping and moving as this film. I loved the performance by the main character - Ulrich Muhe - who sadly died this year. I thought the best TV was, by far, the Xmas special "The Thick of It" which covered the impending resignation of the Prime Minister. Not many comedies could be at the funniest while doubling the length of the programme and losing its leading actor. Roger Allam as the Tory Minister adrift in a new touchy-feely Cameronian world was brilliant - "How's my Blog?" and I think the Cabinet needs to find a place for Ben Swain. I have also enjoyed Lead Balloon more and more but it hasn't yet dared for the outrages that make Larry David so special. Seen some great concerts, notably the Jim Capaldi tribute at the Roundhouse with Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Pete Townsend and, most winningly, Cat Stevens. Lily Allen at Somerset House with my daughters in mid-summer was also an uplifting experience - let's hope she can keep it up!

Led Zep

STS regulars will remember that I expressed an interest in seeing the concert of the century. Well, guess what? Last Friday, out of the blue, I received a call from someone I have met only a few times who announced he had secured two tickets and would I like to come? An act of unsolicited generosity that totally restored my wavering faith in the human condition.

It is not often that a group comes back twenty years after their last concert and performs just as well as, if not better than, they did in their heyday. For two hours a bunch of old men made a fantastic noise. Robert Plant still has the chords to hit the top notes and Jimmy Page made it very clear why he is considered the guitar god of all time. What's more they all seem to still like each other which is more than one can say of The Eagles, The Police, The Kinks etc etc.

The French

Last week we went to France for a few days to complete on the purchase of a small house . People in the UK are generally quite rude about the French saying they are slow, bureauocratic and arrogant. All of this may be true but, conversely, it was very refreshing to deal with real people, rather than computers, throughout the process. It made me realise how automated, computerised and depersonalised many of the services we use have become in the UK. When we signed the contract we sat with the seller and the estate agent as the notaire read through the contract in detail. We have lost something over here in our relentless drive for efficiencies and cost-reduction...and what's more we probably haven't noticed we have done so.

HEROES FROM THE SEVENTIES

There are two historical icons on display down in the Docklands this December. I caught Tutankhamun in the early seventies after a six hour wait. I remember being distinctly underwhelmed when it was finally my turn to shuffle past the golden mask. I never saw the other icons on display - Led Zeppelin - as I was initially too young, and then too contemptuous, being more into punk by the time they broke up. I wouldn't mind seeing Led Zeppelin this time around as their music has lasted better than most other 70's music, notably punk, and Kashmir is a piece of genius. But I didn't get lucky in the auction and a remortage for a pair of tickets doesn't seem that attractive right now. Hopefully Led Zep will enjoy themselves enough to consider a Knebworth next summer - that would be something. As for Tutakhamun, well, I guess he is, like Dylan, on a never-ending tour so I will leave it to younger generations to discover his magic this time.