At the moment I am reading the Iris Murdoch book; The Sea, The Sea. First published in 1978 it won the Booker Prize. I think I have said previously that I am working my way through many of the books that are either award winning or are lauded. I was lucky enough to be given this book as a Christmas present from my wife. I’m only a short way through, so no spoilers please, but so far so good….
The sea featured quite a bit in my life recently. After spending the Christmas at home we spent the New Year period down in a rented cottage in East Devon/West Dorset. We have recently come to really like the west Dorset coast. The added benefit that my sister lives nearby, so we were able to spend New Years eve with her. The day before though we managed to meet up with our friends Arabella Sock and her husband The Bedsock. We had some great food at The Hive at the beach at Burton Bradstock with me going for the traditional fish and chips (although the fish was described ‘tempura’ rather than ‘battered’). We have only eaten there a couple of times, but have yet to be disappointed. Although If you do go there you have to get seated by 12:00. Arrive at 12:30 and you are in for a long queue. After food we did a bit of a clean up on the beach. To be honest we were struggling to find much to tidy, which is always a nice experience. In contrast we went to the beach at Seatown 3 days later after the stormy seas of New Years day and could have spent all day picking up plastic. This is definitely a part of the country that we will be returning to.
I don’t want to sound like a stuck record but I’m not getting much pianolearning done.
I have been working on Edward MacDowell’s To a Wild Rose and Satie’s Gymnopedie No.1 both of which I plan on recording and writing about. For now I’ll leave you with a video of MacDowell’s Sea Pieces Op. 55.
pianolearner 
I do like Gymnopedie, good choice.
I have to report, very sadly, that I am now piano-less as it has gone back to my cousin’s parents as I can’t move it with me. I’ve barely been able to play it in this house, which annoyed me no end, and now it’s gone I feel rather bereft. I shall have to befriend a piano owner in my new town… The next piano I have will be my own, I am determined!
The hardest thing with the Gymnopedie is not the notes but getting the right feel. A lot trickier than it looks as i am finding out.
That’s such a shame about the piano. Still you’ll be glad to be in the new place and out of the current arrangements.
It’s a good time of year for reading. Good to see that you enjoyed the New Year period as you did. Cheers.
are you reading anything good at the moment?
I’m currently reading At Death’s Window by Jim Kelly and The Quick by Lauren Owen.
Well done for your bit of beach cleaning. It’s horrific what gets washed ashore on some of our beautiful beaches. The shingle beach near to my parents’ house can get quite awful, especially in high winds, but there’s a lot of shipping along the Solent and Southampton Water. I wonder where people think their rubbish goes when they just dump it? So infuriating and very damaging to the environment. Sorry, eco warrior rant over. Glad you’re enjoying your book!
Its such a shame isn’t it. If only 10% of those that visit the each did a 2 minute cleanup then they would stay pristine regardless of what gets washed up on the tide….
The Sea, The Sea is one of the many books I started (many years ago) and never finished. Perhaps I should give it another go, the title at least always drew me in.
Hive Beach Cafe never fails to deliver even with its small annoyances of having to requeue for the desserts or order them with the mains when you don’t know if you will have room for them! It’s a good job we got out over New Year, I’ve been stuck in the house ever since with a barrier of grey, damp, gloom to surmount before I can leave the house
If and when I finish it i’ll let you know if it is worth it….
I can understand why they make you pay for the food when ordering but they do need to come up with a better system to seperate tea/coffee and deserts from the main meals.
Lovely piece of music – is that you playing? I am impressed that you can add video to your blog – is this uploaded straight from your computer or do you do it via u tube? I hope you enjoy the book – Iris Murdoch is a favourite of mine although I haven’t read her for a while – I think this is a good prompt to reread this one.
You can embed any YouTube video into a WordPress post by just copying the address into the text.
Thank you.
I enjoyed the music, and I hope you are going to tackle the lauded novels of J.G. Farrell! (Troubles, The Siege of Khrishnapur…)
Oooh I had never heard of those. I will look them up and add them to the list