The Meme of 4

I haven’t done a meme for ages, so this one from Margaret at Booksplease seems fun. It’s an adaptable meme as long you do it all in fours …

4 Places I’ve lived in:
1. Purley, Surrey – Prime suburbia where I was born.

2. South Kensington, London – I went to Imperial College, part of London University. I can’t believe I lived virtually next door to the Royal Albert Hall for three years and never went to a single prom!
3. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk – Where my first job out of uni was, working for an electronics company in a town which, for a Sarf Lunn’ner (South Londoner), was more than a bit strange.
4. Harlow, Essex. I was sent to the labs here for six months, so escaped Norfolk for a bit, lived in the YWCA and had an absolute whale of a time in this much maligned ‘New Town’ involving much beer and learning to ride a motorbike.

4 Holiday destinations I have loved:
1. Northumbria, UK. Just got back from a week here. A wonderful county of castles, gardens, beaches, seafood and beautiful rolling countryside. It’s also home of the fantastic Barter Books, one of the largest second hand bookshops in Britain, housed in Alnwick’s old station. They are responsible for rediscovering the now famous ‘Keep Calm & Carry On’ unpublished propaganda poster from WWII.

2. Rome, Italy – Went for my 40th birthday. Loved it, want to go back soon.
3. New England, USA. I’ve been twice. The first time we toured widely taking in Boston, Hancock Shaker Village, Mt Washington, Newport R.I., Mystic Seaport, Salem, Plymouth, Shelburne Vermont, staying in Boston, Kennebunkport and Lincoln. The second time, we stayed on Cape Cod. Loved it all.
4. Chicago, USA. I loved this city. It had everything, wonderful, wonderful architecture, the lake, the Art Institute, and I felt very at home there.

4 Places I want to go on holiday to:
1. Rome, Italy – see above

2. Interlaken area, Switzerland – We went several times when I was around 8-12, with a coachload of Prep School Boys. Our nextdoor but one neighbour Gwynfor, taught at a local prep school, and needed chaperones to help run these hols so my parents stepped in and my bro and I went too. We went to Switzerland, Austria and Wales, Easter and summer for about 5 years. I liked the Interlaken area most with all the lakes and mountains. I’d love to take my daughter to this area and do the whole cuckoo clocks thing again.
3. Seattle up to Vancouver. The next bit of the USA up into Canada that I’d like to visit.
4. Vienna, Austria – somehow I’ve never been here yet.

4 Works of art which I’ve gazed at in wonder:

1. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in the Musée du Moyen Age, Paris.
2. Primavera by Botticelli in the Uffizi Museum, Florence.
3. La Danse en Ville by Renoir in the Musée D’Orsay, Paris.
4. Nighthawks at the Diner by Edward Hopper at the Art Institute of Chicago

4 of the latest blogs I’ve discovered:
1. Mrs Trefussis takes a taxi

4. Random Jottings

4 Books I could read again tomorrow:

4. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

4 of my most memorable theatre trips:

1. Hamlet for the RSC with Kenneth Branagh at the Barbican in 1993 – absolute magic on stage.
2. Oliver which I saw earlier this year and reviewed here
3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – by the Royal Shakespeare Company – I think it was 1986 and had fairies in Doc Martens, a slimline Richard McCabe as a punky Puck and David Troughton stealing the show as Bottom. So brilliant, we went twice – to the last nights at both the Barbican and Stratford!
4. The Rocky Horror Picture Show – around the end of the original production’s run at the Kings Road Theatre in 1979. We saw Daniel Abinieri as Frank’n’furter but he did a fab Tim Curry impression.

And that’s it. Feel free to have a go too if you want, adapt as needed!

0 thoughts on “The Meme of 4

  1. BooksPlease says:

    Thanks for the info on Barter Books. It looks wonderful. We're thinking of moving to Northumbria/Cumbria so local info like this is perfect. Swizterland is another place I'd like to visit and New England. I wish I'd thought of theatre trips – one of my most memorable was The Tempest with Patrick Stewart at Stratford.

  2. Annabel Gaskell says:

    I loved Northumbria. We were based in Seahouses – our cottage was 2 doors up from the Swallow Fish smokery which was on Rick Stein. Lovely kippers and fish (but pricey). Seahouses as a tiny town has more life than most of the smaller fishing villages. Bamburgh was lovely.Barter Books is just wonderful – just poised between Alnwick town centre and the castle/gardens.When I download our photos a post will follow …

  3. Annabel Gaskell says:

    Re Theatre trips – it was very difficult to just pick 4, I could have added Ian McKellen in Richard III at the National – chilling; McKellen and Sher in Uncle Vanya at the Cottesloe – amazing in close-up (actually within spitting distance!); McKellen again as Iago in Othello at the Young Vic; Kevin Spacey's Richard II was rather fine too; also John Malkovich in Burn this – crap play, but he is mega-magnetic! But one of the worst productions I've seen was Derek Jacobi in Macbeth at the Barbican – he was brill, but the production was very poor.I'd have loved to catch Pat the Spaceman (as he is known in our household) in the Tempest though – I've not managed to see him on stage yet. Now my daughter is more conducive to being babysat, I'd like to start going to the theatre again more.

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