‘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.
Morley in the seventies. Nothing much has changed apart from the cars parked on the roadside. Photo from David Atkinson Archive, Morley Memories.
Hiraeth is a delicious Welsh word as it captures that nostalgic longing for home. As a Yorkshire lass living in Wales, I often yearn for Morley, a town in Leeds, where my family still live. Yet I also feel at home in certain places in Wales that connect to the spirit and soul of place I long for. Maybe it’s the spirit of the industrial past that connects me to South Wales.
Morley is a large town in West Yorkshire that was constructed from the blood, sweat and tears of coal and textiles. The stone buildings of Morley are crooked and leaned towards me with whispers of secrets. I always identified a beauty in the urban landscape of home and feel so happy when I return to visit my family. There is a community spirit in Morley and people will always chat and make me laugh.
I imagined Jim driving along this road in his Zephyr. The photo is from Wales online and is captures Cardiff fifty years ago.
Last year, I stumbled on some newspaper photos of Cardiff in the sixties and seventies and the people huddled together chatting connected me to a familiar community spirit and evocated a nostalgia. When imagining the people’s stories, I met Pearl and Jim, characters from my novel,Loving You (working title), searching for their dreams in a fictional Welsh town near to Cardiff.
Photo of the Welsh factory woman in the sixties is from BBC News in an article written by Gwyneth Rees, BBC Wales News
Pearl is a seamstress who dreams of becoming a singer. Jim is a car mechanic who yearns to be an artist. Secrets about Pearl’s late father thrive in Aberynys as people still gossip about him. Pearl and Jim’s dreams push them together and pull them apart. Pearl is immersed in a community, but Jim is a loner. Both characters are shaped by their lives in Aberynys and want to escape in different ways. Pearl’s friends in the sewing factory are influenced by the people my grandmother brought to life for me when I was a child, and their sense of humour is both northern and Welsh. Of course, a colourful cast of characters also barged into the book, and my fictional town of Aberynys is a port which was also influenced by visits to Barry Island, Cardiff Bay and the Valleys.
This photo of the Valleys inspired Aberynys.
Aberynys is the nostalgic place in my heart: a place built on stories I listened to when chatting to folk in Yorkshire and Wales. I created a place name with lyrical Welsh words: Aber is the Welsh word for estuary and ynys means island. Aberynys is a montage of my life experiences and a place that makes folk dream their dreams. Loving You remains one of my works in progress as I just love to visit the place in my heart where I can seek sanctuary from what is happening to us all at the moment.
Which place do you call home and is this different to place you live in now?
On arrival at Restaurant James Sommerin, we ordered a good Pinot Noir. We noted that the ambiance was calm, staff attentive and the other guests were very well attired.
Feeling relaxed, in our jeans and T shirts, we discussed the merits of the food; each dish looked elegant like a work of art. Much to my husband’s dismay, I started to make notes about the food. The guests on the neighbouring table were intrigued by the notebook. Clearly, I wasn’t a restaurant critic as I was wearing jeans. We sipped more of the wine that was so beautifully flavoured with summer fruits that it could have been a soft drink.
The delicious food improved with each course. Buoyed by this tasting experience, I was determined to write an analysis of each dish. I scribbled furiously between each morsel and took photographs of the dishes. More delicious wine was poured into a glass that could happily home several goldfish.
Alas, I cannot read the scribbles in my notebook. Throughout the notebook, I had repeated the words ‘great textures’ and ‘explosion of flavour’ albeit in various styles of handwriting. ‘Desert’ was underlined enthusiastically. Did I go to the Sahara to eat pudding? Other words were incomplete and I hope that they didn’t run off onto the beautifully laundered table cloth. I circled ‘black pudding’ purée several times because I didn’t have my highlighter pen. I do remember that I was offended by the puréed texture but I am a northerner.
Undeterred by the black pudding, I did note down Picasso’s poetry on a plate. Obviously, Pinot Noir should come with a cliché warning on the label. Mysteriously, the notebook has splashes of wine and food inside of it but I will keep it as a tribute to the Picasso chef.
James Sommerin is a chef and an artist. The restaurant was like a theatre of food and next time I will dress up for the occasion. The food was so good that I can forgive the corruption of the black pudding texture. I will wish on a star for the restaurant!
Anne Williams is a shining light in the bookish community and is a best friend to authors, bloggers and readers. Her kind and generous spirit is remarkable, and it is no wonder she has won many awards. I was intrigued to know more about Anne and what inspired her love of reading. Having invited Anne to my Bloggers’ Café, we settled down for a good chat about her childhood memories, reading and her life in Cardiff. We shared a pot of tea for two and a generous plate of Welsh cakes. We chatted for hours and she gave me some tantalizing facts about her life.
Jessie: Anne you work tirelessly to support authors, and we don’t know what we would do without your support. I’d like you to relax, have a cuppa and tell us more about yourself. Tell us about your childhood in Bangor and your fondest memories. Do you speak Welsh?
Anne: Lovely of you to say so, Jessie – while it’s lovely to be able to give authors my support and a bit of exposure, it’s got more to do with the fact that I just love books and reading, and love talking about them whenever I get the chance!
The view from her parents’ house in Port Dinorwic
I actually come from a small village between Bangor and Caernarfon: in those days it was called Port Dinorwic (it’s where they used to load and ship the slate from the quarry), but it’s now been renamed Y Felinheli. I don’t speak Welsh, sadly – although my dad came from the village, my mum was from Swansea and an English-speaker, so we never spoke Welsh at home. I can understand conversations though, translate things into English and watch the occasional programme on S4C.
My memories are all about family really. We lived in a converted schoolhouse until my O-level year (that’s what people took before GCSEs!), when we moved to mum and dad’s new-build dream house, overlooking the Menai Straits. I had a brother, Nigel, who was eight years younger than me – and was the constant pain little brothers often are (very sadly, he died a few years ago from a heart attack – by then, we were friends again). After we moved house, all I can really remember is an awful lot of studying – I desperately wanted to read English at university (I got there!) and to spread my wings a little.
Jessie: Did your parents inspire your love of reading? If not, who did inspire the beginning of your reading journey?
Anne loves the quote from Maya Angelou – “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Anne: My mother’s always been a reader and taught me to read and enjoy books before I started at the village school aged 3 (maybe I was a bit of a prodigy!). I remember us having floor to ceiling bookshelves in the alcoves in the lounge: I read the books, my brother used them as a climbing assault course. And then I had my library ticket and can remember looking forward to choosing my five books a week into my late teens. I was always the child who preferred to sit in the corner with a book rather than get involved in the rowdy stuff – I was also painfully shy, and I think the books were a bit of an escape (and they probably still are!).
Jessie: You told me you lived in Cardiff thirty years ago. What was Cardiff like three decades ago. Where did you like to go? Were there lots of bookshops? What advice would you give to your younger self living in Cardiff?
This is the Cardiff that Anne remembers
Anne:I went to university in Hull, did my growing up and really didn’t want to go back to a small village – and I didn’t have to because I joined the Civil Service and they posted me to Cardiff. I was in my twenties, remember – reading took a bit of a back seat (the need to dissect and analyse had dampened my book enthusiasm a little) while I got on with having fun with friends and discovering the opposite sex. I don’t remember book shops – at that time, I was keener on music and searching out vinyl, and there was a great shop on the Hayes (long gone) where I spent many happy hours. I spent a lot of time in and around the Chapter Arts Centre in Canton – at that time it was a pretty amateur set up, but a great place to see obscure art-house films, wander the gallery, eat vegetarian food (rather exotic at the time!) and to meet friends in the bars. There were the many clubs and bars too, of course – a couple of hours’ sleep was plenty then, and the hangovers weren’t as bad. It was the era of the New Romantics, and I do remember a few outings to the Casablanca in the Docks – and the many places where you could get happy hour cocktails (not a modern phenomenon). Advice? I wouldn’t have listened anyway…!
Jessie: You visited Cardiff recently. How has Cardiff changed?
Anne sat in this coffee shop in Cardiff Bay. This place is very different to her memories of the Docks in the era of the New Romantics.
Anne: While all the landmarks are still there, it’s really changed beyond all recognition. The city centre I remember is no more, totally swallowed up by that enormous shopping centre – but it was nice to see that the quirky arcades have been cared for and are still full of those fascinating little shops and cafes. Docklands was a bit of a no-go area back in the 80s, and that’s certainly changed – and I very much liked the new waterfront development. They always say you shouldn’t go back though, don’t they?
Jessie: Do you miss Wales now that you live in Yorkshire?
Anne: I haven’t lived in Wales since the mid-80s – I lived in Wigan, worked in Manchester, for over ten years before I moved here. I visited North Wales regularly when my parents still lived there, but never had a hankering to return. I guess home is anywhere you can be happy, and I haven’t regretted for an instant making Yorkshire mine.
Jessie: I am in awe of the number of books you read and the quality of your reviews. How do you balance reviewing and blogging with the rest of your life? How long does it take to review a book?
Anne: Thank you! When I was still working, I’ll admit it was difficult – I have the greatest admiration for bloggers who can balance life, work and blogging – and I only took things up a gear after I retired. There was a time when it seemed to have become my new full-time job: I’ve eased off a little with the need to care for my mother, and three or four posts a week now feels about right. My reviews take ages, if I’m honest – I’m a bit of a perfectionist and want every review to be as good and complete as I can make it. I probably spend four mornings a week writing posts, and then a little more supporting others on Twitter, being sociable on-line, and doing the necessary admin. The reading’s no hardship – I’m not really much of a TV watcher so I read in the evenings and in bed and can sometimes manage an occasional treat of an afternoon.
Jessie:What makes a good review? Do you have a review structure, or does it depend on the book and your inspiration?
Anne:I don’t really know what makes a good review, but I do seem to have accidentally landed on a shape that works for me, and hopefully for others. I rarely tell the story – I get annoyed when I find myself doing so, because the author does it so much better. And I’m quite paranoid about spoilers – totally unforgivable, and not really that difficult to avoid. My reviews are really just my personal reaction to a book: I’ll mention whatever I particularly liked (and sometimes things I liked less), but the emphasis is always on how a book made me feel. And the only reviews you’ll ever see on Being Anne are of books I’ve enjoyed – I don’t enjoy everything, but then I stop reading and pick up another.
Jessie: You must receive lots of books in the post. Where do you store all the review copies you receive?
Anne: Do you know, I actually don’t receive that much book post these days – I’ve asked the publishers I work with to stop sending them. My eyesight is worsening with age, and I find it so much easier to read on my kindle – but don’t ask me how many books are in my kindle library! Although a lot of the books I read are gifted or downloaded from netgalley, I can’t resist buying even more – probably at least twice as many as I receive. I had my bedrooms decorated last year, and decided I needed to do something about my 4000+ unread books, spread over half a dozen bookshelves. Most went to the library, and some to charities, and it really didn’t hurt (much) – I now have just one (large) bookshelf for my signed copy collection.
Jessie:Besides reading, what other hobbies do you have?
Anne: To be honest, I don’t really have other hobbies. I enjoy theatre, cinema, concerts (of all kinds, with a newly found love of classical), museums and galleries, and visit as often as I can – but everything else I do tends to be book and reading related, including running a real-life book club. For the last couple of years, I became an almost full-time carer for my mum, who has vascular dementia: now she’s being far better cared for in a home, I visit or take her out every other day, but I’m just getting used to the idea of having “spare time” again, and really must do something about revitalising my social life! I also always used to go on two major holidays a year – US, South America, Africa, the Far East – but that’s been just impossible recently. For now, I’ve decided to explore the UK a little – three book-related stays already planned for this year, and a few more I need to get round to sorting out.
Jessie: If you wrote a book what genre would you write in? Have you got any characters hassling you to tell their story? What names would you give you the leading characters?
Anne: I did have plans, didn’t I? I don’t think it’s ever likely to happen – and if it doesn’t, I don’t think I really want it enough. Genre-wise, I think it’d be women’s fiction – maybe romance, perhaps with some travel included, and definitely with older characters. But I’ve never really come up with a story that’s made me enthusiastic to develop it further – and I’ve definitely never got anywhere near coming up with names!
Jessie:Finally, is there a famous quotation about reading that resonates with you?
For instance, I often quote C.S Lewis:
‘We read to know we are not alone.’
Anne: Not really about books and reading, but I do love the quote from Maya Angelou – “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And that works pretty well for books too, doesn’t it?
Anne has been nominated for an award at the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards. Voting closes on 24th April at 9pm. https://annualbloggersbash.com
Feeling relaxed, in our jeans and T shirts, we discussed the merits of the food; each dish looked elegant like a work of art. Much to my husband’s dismay, I started to make notes about the food. The guests on the neighbouring table were intrigued by the notebook. Clearly, I wasn’t a restaurant critic as I was wearing jeans. 
We sipped more of the wine that was so beautifully flavoured with summer fruits that it could have been a soft drink.
More delicious wine was poured into a glass that could happily home several goldfish.
I circled ‘black pudding’ purée several times because I didn’t have my highlighter pen. I do remember that I was offended by the puréed texture but I am a northerner.
Mysteriously, the notebook has splashes of wine and food inside of it but I will keep it as a tribute to the Picasso chef.
