Tag: You Can’t Go It Alone

Happy New Year Characters and Friends

The familiar view of Penarth

I’ve become so familiar with the seafront in Penarth that I’ve never ventured from the main path. Contented with the changes in the light, I found comfort in the same view.  On Boxing Day, crowds of people in Penarth forced me to walk a new path above the seafront.

An unfamiliar perspective of Penarth pier that allows me to look at the bigger picture

As I looked down on a familiar view from a new perspective, I released some of the characters in my work in progress. Maybe these characters will remain forever lost or appear in another story.  Who knows?  I’ve worked in my tiny writing room, with my cast of characters, for many months.  In the new year, I will print out my work in progress, read it aloud and look at it from a fresh perspective.

I realised that I needed to release some of the characters

It’s certain I will remain with Pearl and Jim who will also need to digress from their familiar paths.  Alas, they can’t text each other, connect via social media or email each other.  When the characters are a distance apart, they must physically travel to meet up or write a proper letter.  They can’t even use a landline as they don’t have telephones.

As the sun sets on another year, I wish you and my characters some happy and new destinations.

However, I’m grateful Anne Williams sent me back to the seventies to meet the young Pearl and Jim.   Maybe Anne could have a word with Pearl and find out more. Meanwhile, attitudes and beliefs in this era continue to shock me.  My twenty first century perspective means I can support my characters a little yet cannot control their anxiety.  The girls in the factory are currently on strike and they can’t google the legislation to find out more.  It would’ve helped if they could connect with the Dagenham strikers in a Facebook Group, but social media is decades away.  Of course, they’ve seen the headlines and the world seems to have gone on strike.  And I’m in despair because some of the women have been tempted to parade in a fashion show of clothes for the bosses. In future, they will learn about the Miss World protests.  I know these destinations are ahead of them but how can I navigate them and force them to take new paths?

Characters are distracting me and fluttering around in my mind and a couple of them have decided to take time out on the beach.  Do you see them? Pearl and Jim’s perspective remain strong in my head. I’ll stay on the new path that has a clearer overview.  With patience, they will eventually reach their intended destination.  I have no idea how to get Jim back home, but I do know what car he will drive and how much it cost.  Like me they are facing January, but the January of 1970 was a harsh one.  I have twenty ideas for the title of my next novel and all suggestions include the word ‘love’.  Love will guide my characters. In the words of Dylan Thomas. ‘Though lovers be lost, love shall not…’

As the sun sets on another year, I wish you and my characters some happy and new destinations.

 

Please see all my adventures at Handbag Adventures and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

Moments of Joy

The Tryo must have spent a lifetime perfecting their art and teasing out every single note.

Enchanted by a musical trio, we joined a crowd as they danced, swayed and tapped their feet to the beat.  The international language of joy spread across everyone’s face.

Situated next to the Roman Forum, musical notes suspended us in a moment.  The entertainers beamed at their audience’s response.  As I tapped my feet, I realised how few people placed money in the guitar case, and no one would part with ten euros to buy the compilation.   Many people expected the impromptu entertainment to be free.

The Tryo must have spent a lifetime perfecting their art and teasing out every single note.  I tried to imagine their stories.  Who were the loves of their lives?  How did they manage perform the music with such soul? As a gesture of kindness from a writer to musicians, I decided to pay the ten euros for the CD. The trio smiled again but looked a little surprised.  My action prompted a few others to buy the music.  I do believe that people had forgotten that we can’t always expect to be entertained for free.  Alas, other people continued to record the music on their phones and never looked up.  However, I did hear the happy clang of coins hitting the guitar as I walked away.

Here I am feeling happy in Delfryn Abbey (inspired by Tintern Abbey).

Listening to the CD at home takes me back to Rome and a moment that bonded a diverse group of people in the city of Romance. This weekend, I was suspended in another moment of joy when readers, across the world, paid ninety nine pence for ‘You Can’t Go It Alone’. My book climbed the charts, and I performed my happy dance.  I imagined the coins falling into my handbag ready for me to buy a coffee and another book.

Olivia, Rosa and Matteo’s Olive Tree Café and music venue.

I do wish I could gather the readers of my novel together, smile at them and say thank you to them for buying my words.  I would love to be able to invite the readers to the Olive Tree Café, in You Can’t Go It Alone, and ask Rosa, Olivia and Matteo to perform music for them.

Presenting You Can’t go It Alone

Wishing you all moments of joy.

 

Please see all my adventures at Handbag Adventures.

 

My New Love

‘The Millennium Centre looked bold in its bronze armour…’ You Can’t Go It Alone by Jessie Cahalin

Storm Dennis raged in Wales, and I sought sanctuary in the Millennium Centre for an experience on my bucket list – my first opera.

The space age reception area of the theatre prepared me to be transported to the alien world of opera. ‘Beam me up, Mozart,’ I muttered as I waited for The Marriage of Figaro to begin.  Convinced I would need to abscond from the three and a half hours marathon during the interval, I planned the best route for the exit.

The space age reception area of the theatre prepared me to be transported to the alien world of opera

My great uncle, a coal miner from Barnsley, was a great fan of opera and blasted out the music on his gramophone.  I never met Great Uncle Jimmy but of family legend deemed him eccentric for a Barnsley lad. Always amused by an opera loving miner in the family, I had to discover if one could inherit this passion.

Opera seduced me with the very first note.  The poetic actions of the performers showed me the way into the narrative. And the incredible harmonies of the signing convinced me that my Level 2 seat was in heaven.  Performers blended their actions and singing and taught me the emotional language of an operatic performance.  Suspended in the drama, I hardly looked at the subtitles.

Inside the theatre before the performance

For three hours, I felt as if I was able to interpret the Italian language that seemed perfect for the expression of the emotions.  Wow!  I now understand that Uncle Jimmy would enter a trance like state to escape the darkness and toil of his life under the ground.  And I know he warned my late father, ‘Don’t go down the pit, lad.’

There were layers and layers of humour and then emotions.  I do not think I blinked throughout the entire performance because I could not miss one single detail of this musical tapestry.  I loved the way the opera tested loyalty and love and relationships, but I was not prepared for the wonderful comedy.

I am in love with opera

To me the final scene seemed to be an expression of joy and happiness when everyone found their equilibrium.  I reached in my handbag for water to ease the emotion in my throat.  I couldn’t believe it!  The curtain call arrived too soon.  It couldn’t possibly be the end because I hadn’t heard Figaro’s Aria – the tune I’d attempted to warbled for months before this experience.  Where was it?  Well, now I realise this is in the Barber of Seville.  A perfect ending for me as I will have to return to watch the Barber of Seville later in the year.

I am in love with opera.  However, I’m unsure if this love is passed down through Uncle Jimmy, my father’s uncle.  My mother also attended the opera for the first time and adored it too.  I have found a new love!

“I speak of love awake I speak of love in my dreams, To the water, the shadows, the mountains, To the flowers, the grass, the fountains.” Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro.

 

Please see all my Handbag Adventures and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A copy of my novel is available here.