‘What might have been and what has been...

Point to one end, which is always present.’  TS Eliot. 

I am writing this chapter on what would have been my first day of shows - Hereford Steampunk Festival - Summer 2020.  If only I’d had a 20:20 vision of the truth of what has been. 

How I already miss the face to face.  So much of my life I have avoided the call of the small screen which, apart maybe from the fame it might have brought, I have always eschewed. I have always said quite honestly that the reason I love what I do grows from the personal closeup immediacy of live performance. Immediate responses from people fashion the detail and nuance of my shows, whether a fully choreographed performance that I have presented in the same order every weekend, every season for forty-five years or a brand new micro-closeup routine for one or two children, presented impromptu at the end of a long day.

And all now gone perhaps never to return without prior sanitisation, a safe six feet and the issues, for me at least, of age and immunity. The government saying it will be a long time before older people will be allowed out in polite society without masks and rubber gloves. 

But it’s probably too soon to know the truth of what time future might be.  There are many things none of us want back.  Or maybe we dread them coming back and we’re not quite sure how to stop the inevitable.  Maybe it isn’t inevitable.  These many moments of isolation must have taught us what is important and though no-one would swap a virtual hug even for the memory of a real one, the things we have learned will stay with us forever.

As for me, I am learning very fast.  I have put the stage up in the workshop and have recorded ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0MKPENfPQ) - the first (I hope of many) short ‘divertissements’, which I am calling ‘an autobiography in performance’.  Of course there will be magic and manipulation, merriment and mayhem.  There will also be moments of meaning.  Well, maybe meaning.  Enough of the alliteration and on with the show.  Learning this new craft is taking up my every waking moment, well, almost every.  I baked bread today for the first time in many, many years.  And wow how delicious it was, warm with best butter and homemade rhubarb and ginger jam bought last year at the West Show in Guernsey and tasting of pre-covid sunshine and optimism.

I have also discovered an old cabinet treadle Singer sewing machine in a forgotten cupboard here at my workshop.  A little internet research found that it was made on the exact same month and year of my birth. (October 1949, if you didn’t know).  Parts are still available and I am thrilled to report it is now oiled and up and running and I sewed the new curtains for the front of my lorry with it.  The lorry is resplendent with all manner of new accoutrements, far too many to list and I am loving living in it in my yard in the peaceful Cheshire sunshine.  Life is a joy.

And so it will go on.  Watch out for more blogs than of late and links to my collaborative Facebook shows with Greg Chapman (search Facebook for him and Felicity his lovely, sanguine, reflective wife) and my solo efforts which will be not so much show (you need a live audience in front of you for that and let’s not pretend anything over the internet is live)… not so much a show, but a reflection of a life spent in live performance of one kind or another.  I have many ideas and if you have any requests for things you have seen me do live and for real in front of your very eyes, please do let me know through the usual channels.  I’m not a great purveyor of social media but I do respond more or less immediately to emails (david@mralexander.co.uk) and I love hearing from you.

All the best from a road, safely more than six feet away, from you,

Mr Alexander

A time of change (again)

Well it has been a real change all this for all of us.  All my events cancelled or put on hold.  The government saying it will be 18 months before 70+s will be allowed out. Some terrible things.  Many millions of people dying or made very ill.  All the things we thought of as permanent now shown to be completely ephemeral.

And some wonderful things.  Sublimely quiet streets and foxes and deer coming back into our everyday lives.  Birdsong every morning uninterrupted by human interventions.  A clear sky.  The ozone layer returning.

We are having to rethink our lives and for the better.  It will never be the same, hopefully.  And we must be hopeful. 

And as for Mr A.  Well he’s not going to be the same again.  Grown a beard.  The first of my life apart from a very sorry attempt years ago.  Actually I had to this time.  I was being ID’d in the queue at Sainsbury’s old people hour.  At least I look my age now even if I don’t behave it. As you will see if you manage to read this before 15:00 today Sunday 19^th April as I’m doing a special guest appearance on my friend Greg Chapman’s Facebook Show.  Here’s the link -  https://www.facebook.com/events/221643285849511/  but if the day is past then Greg’s own Facebook website should contain a copy of the show here:  https://www.facebook.com/GregandFelicityAdventures/

I do hope you can watch it.  I enjoyed filming it and am planning to do some more.  Maybe I will yet become a star of the silver screen, as I’d always dreamed.  I have put the stage up in the workshop and it has become a small scale TV studio.  I have learned a great deal about video and sound in the process, much thanks to my ingenieur and friend Ralph in Wallingford (how I will miss BunkFest).

And how I will miss being on the road, especially if the 70+ edict becomes law.  Those boffins better hurry with the anti-vac. It is amazing to think that my first booked gig would have been next weekend.  So the season would not have even started yet.  Martin Orbidans, my brilliant accompanist, would still be in Cairo, which is where he is staying, hunkering down in the heart of the Souk.  Rather him than me, brave soul.  He sends his very best to all of you who have come to know and love him as I have.

So let us end optimistically and hopefully, as we began.  Let’s enjoy and embrace this change.  Let’s enjoy the peace and the moments of great joy we can find in these days.  We will remember them as being moments of epiphany.  Let’s remember those who have given and go on giving to make this world a place suitable for civilisation and humanity.

I have learned so much and go on learning.  I’m rehearsing every day and doing yoga.  Cooking wonderful concoctions in the lorry and I have everything I need.  Later today I’m having a Zoom meet up with my family.  Up until recently I didn’t even know what that was, now I’m so looking forward to embracing the brave new world.  It’s a beautiful one.

This morning I listened to a podcast recording (Rumble Strip if you’re into podcasts) and a recording of a balcony performance of ‘What a wonderful world’ from somewhere in America.  It said it all and will bring tears to your eyes as it did to mine.

All the best from a road near you,

Mr Alexander