31 Thursday Oct 2019
Posted in Scribbling, Things
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Until a few years ago – say a decade or so – in a village not far from here, the old, old tradition of Meeting March was still very much alive: on the last night of February, young and old armed themselves with pans, and ran around making all the din they could, to scare away Old Winter.
It was good fun, older than the hills, quite pagan – and nobody found it a particular reason for scandal… Continue reading
01 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Books
How do you like your ghost stories?
Myself, I like them before sunset, thank you very much…
Ludicrous, you think? Maybe – but I’ve had a few sleep-killing experiences, including the short story collection I read while staying in my Fifteenth Century college’s guest-rooms. Considering that no one else slept there at the moment, considering the long, dark and deserted corridors I had to walk to get there, considering the gloomy November nights… well yes, perhaps ghost-reading after dark was not the smartest of ideas.
Anyway, let’s do something seasonal, shall we? I found these interesting book recommendations over at The Reading Room: The Woman in Black has been on my Kindle for years now – and some bright summer day I’m going to tackle it – and quite a few of the others sound very promising.
And, while we are there, why not try a few classic M.R. James stories, courtesy of the Project Gutenberg?
After dark, read at your own peril.
31 Friday Oct 2014
23 Saturday Aug 2014
Posted in Scribbling, Theatre
Actually, one game.
The one they play on the Shakespeare in Action Blog.
They start from some outlandish sort of What if, such as What if Shakespeare ran a Halloween shop?, and then answer it by selecting and arranging speeches from all over the Canon… Here is the Halloween shop one. And here several more. It’s silly, creative, very funny – and with the right company, I can see it as a perfect parlour game.
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