I came along, just to bring you this song

I've been to see Rod Clements, once of Lindisfarne and Jack The Lad performing an acoustic set accompanied only by Ian Thomson on double bass. Clements originally left Lindisfarne while I was still at school and the forming and reforming of these groups is a mystery probably even to the members themselves. I can confidently say that he wasn't a member when I saw them a couple of years ago, although I believe he is now. Thomson is, I think, their current bass player, but whether he was then is another matter.

Clements has a great track record. As well as writing 'Meet Me On The Corner' he has worked with the likes of Bert Jansch, Ralph McTell (he played on 'Streets of London') and, more recently, Thea Gilmore and Nigel Stonier, artists much admired by this blog. Indeed Nick Hall, a local singer/songwriter featured fairly regularly in these pages, was in the audience and was deep in conversation with Clements after the gig.

As well as both Lindisfarne and Jack The Lad numbers, they performed a couple of Jansch's songs, Ledbelly's 'Bourgeois Blues' and, more unexpectedly, the theme from Barry Norman's film review TV programmes which the more elderly among you may remember. He encored with an instrumental version of 'The In Crowd' as originally made famous by Dobie Gray. An eclectic mix therefore, which showed off his guitar virtuosity and demonstrated that you don't have to be a brilliant vocalist to entertain a crowd if you have guitar virtuosity to fall back on.

Seek the lofty

I am off to the Big Smoke for a flying visit and thought I would bring things up to date before I left, just in case anything happens while I'm there that's worth writing about. First, there has been a satisfactory conclusion of sorts to the latest round of the Osprey book-ordering saga. Waterstones have acknowledged that a refund of £0 wasn't going to cut the mustard and have given me back all my money plus £5 as a goodwill gesture. I have immediately reinvested it in second hand copies of the same books from AbeBooks. They're no cheaper than the price of new ones, but surely I can assume that they already exist and are printed on both sides of the page; can't I?

Second, I have been to see The Matchmaker, the play by Thornton Wilder which was the original of the musical Hello Dolly. It was enjoyable enough, but also proved a truism that I have mentioned before: comedy is the hardest form of acting to do well, and farce is the hardest form of comedy to pull off successfully.

Third, and speaking of comedy/farce, I have been to see Hail, Caesar!, which was amusing, if somewhat unfocussed. It may presuppose a knowledge on the part of viewers not just about classic era Hollywood, but also of the life and works of Marx (Karl not Groucho), but 50% of the audience at the screening I was at were definitely experts in the latter; I can't speak for the lady sitting a couple of rows behind me.

Fourth and best, I have been to see Thea Gilmore. I have reported on seeing her before - indeed she was the recipient of the eagerly sought after Epictetus gig of the year award in 2014 - so I won't say too much this time. Suffice it to say that she and husband Nigel Stonier were as good as ever, still performing an intriguing mixture of her own stuff, plus covers of songs by bands such as Guns 'n' Roses and the Damned.

I haven't been to...

... Belgium again; and, with a new string to my bow, I haven't been to Turkey either. I have been to London - Marylebone or thereabouts - but that was dull. It was my first trip on the East Coast Mainline since it was reprivatised in the hands of Virgin and, to no surprise whatsoever, it was terrible, culminating in my return train being cancelled completely.

Other items of note over the last week or so:

• An unnecessarily large Napoleonic cavalry battle staged for no other reason than to get all my collection on the table. The French swept the Prussians from the table easily, but the Russian heavy cavalry won the day in the end. I remembered to take some photos, but I can't put my hand on my camera.
• I definitely had my camera with me when I went to the Otley Show at the weekend. This is the first of the large agricultural shows of the year in the north of England and was replete with livestock of all sorts and the farming community of the dales making merry. The absence of photographs means you are denied a detailed report on the ladies tug-of-war; which is possibly just as well.
• I have seen Thea Gilmore again. She was as excellent as on the previous occasion.

TWTYTW

"Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember." - Oscar Levant

Now I promised a review of the year - no I did, honest - and, da dah, this is it.

• Gig of the year: Thea Gilmore (not just for the tango on the street interlude during the fire alarm), with a special mention for Fairport Convention
• Play of the year: 'The Play That Goes Wrong' (absolutely hilarious), with a special mention for 'An August Bank Holiday Lark' 
• Opera of the year: 'La Traviata' (trite, but the only possible choice), with a special mention for 'The Threepenny Opera' (not actually an opera of course)
• Film of the year: 'Gravity' (must confess that I didn't actually see that many)
• Wargame of the year: got to be the opening of the wargaming annexe, with a special mention for James' Seven Years War scenario involving forces arriving from all four sides of the table.
• Boardgame of the year: Sail to India, with a special mention for Castles of Mad King Ludwig
• Event of the year: 'Le Tour de France' coming past my front door, with a special mention for actually having a front door to call my own for the first time in years.

I've got an achin' in my heart

It's good to know that something new can still happen. I went to see Thea Gilmore at Harrogate Theatre and the fire alarm went off necessitating the evacuation of the audience. It was all rather low key; the lowering of the safety curtain in particular being pretty unimpressive. Which can't be said for Ms Gilmore who was very good; what a voice. Highlights included excellent versions of songs as diverse as 'Sweet Child of Mine' from Guns n Roses and 'Summertime' from Porgy and Bess, but there wasn't a duff moment. During the period spent outside we were even entertained to some impromptu tango music by her string section before returning inside - once the fire brigade had rushed around aimlessly for a while - for an extended encore.

I'm also pleased to be able to report that wargaming - at least that part of it that takes place in the legendary wargames room of James 'Olicanalad' Roach - has followed cricket in allowing players to challenge the umpire's decision. I have taken advantage of this and we await the third umpire to scrutinise the slow motion tv footage and consult Hawkeye, Snicko and Hot Spot.