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kalimagik · 4 years ago

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Strawberry

Fred Weasley x Pregnant!Reader

Word Count: 5k

Requested by @coffee-wihtout-caffeine - “Can I request Fred x reader where it’s throughout her pregnancy with supportive Weasley family? Like the entire pregnancy just bits through each month and dealing with the symptoms. Tia”

A/N: I had SO much fun writing this. I was so excited the whole time (i love babies and think pregnancy is beautiful, so I may have gotten carried away). It’s super fluffy, has something for each month, and a whole lot of cute Fred and a supportive Weasley family! It’s not my usual writing style, but still so fun. Feedback is always welcome! Comment, like, reblog! Happy Reading <3 (also, I got too excited to wait til tonight to post it, so its coming early)

Month 1

It had to be the stomach flu, what else could it be? Fred left you in bed that morning after you spent most of the night with your head over the toilet. You racked your mind, trying to figure out where you would have caught the stomach flu. That’s when it hit you. Running to the nearest convenience store, you bought the tests, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

You looked at the pregnancy test again and the other 3 that sat on the vanity, all positive. No, you and Fred weren’t trying for a baby, but you weren’t not trying either. A baby…you were going to have a baby, Fred’s baby.

The butterflies in your stomach were going to have a roommate. The thought made your lips curl into a grin as you looked into the mirror. A baby! Now you just had to tell Fred. Knowing you had a few hours, you rushed around the house like a mad woman. The rest of the day consisted of picking up, making dinner, and making yourself look presentable and not like you had spent most of the day in bed. The day also included throwing up every now and then, but you were actually kind of excited each time because it was just a reminder of the little boy or girl growing in your stomach.

When Fred walked through the door, you had your favorite “Love Songs” playlist playing, the dinner table set, and candles lit throughout the entire flat. “Is someone feeling better?” Fred called out above the music.

“Freddie! I’m in here,” you sang, still cleaning up pots and pans from dinner.

“What is all of this?” Fred asked, eyes widening at the sight laid out in front of him. “Did I forget an anniversary or something?” he chuckled, knowing very well that he didn’t. “This is wonderful, love. But, what did I do to deserve this?”

“Just sit down and you’ll find out!” You beamed, bringing Fred’s favorite food to the table, his mother’s meatballs with onion sauce with a treacle tart and cream puffs on the side for dessert.

“24 hour stomach flu pass?”

“Uhhh, for the most part,” you skirted around the subject a bit. You had a plan to tell him about the baby.

Dinner went by with your usual conversations about the day, the shop, and how George and the rest of the Weasleys were doing. When tart had been dished out, you stood up from your seat and went behind the couch to get your little gift.

“Okay, what is going on?” Fred asked, now confused as to why he got his favorite dinner, dessert, and now a present. “Did you do something I should be angry about? Did someone else do something that I should be taking credit for?”

“No, silly,” you giggle, sitting the present in front of him. “Just open this!” You watch him intently while standing as he takes the tissue paper out of the bag and unwraps the first little gift. The white tissue paper fell to the floor as he unfolded a little white onesie that read “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”

“What’s this for? I’m not going to be an uncle or something am I? Is George around here trying to punk me?”

You just shook your head, an amused, close lipped smile set on your face. “Open the next one.”

Fred stuck his hand back into the small, blue bag and pulled out the long box that had probably once held a bracelet. When he pulled the lid off, there was the 4th and final positive pregnancy test that you had taken earlier in the day. Fred looked up at you, eyes wide. The hand not holding the box with the test reached for the onesie as he put two and two together.

“Are you- Is this? Does this mean-” You just nodded as he stumbled over his words.

“I’m pregnant,” you told him with a laugh/cry. Honestly, you weren’t sure what the noise was, but it was a happy one. Fred flew out of his seat so quickly to embrace you that his chair fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

“You’re pregnant?” he asked again once he finally let you go and stopped kissing your face. You could only nod as the happy tears streamed down your face. “Oh, I guess I shouldn’t hug you so hard. Wouldn’t want to hurt the little lad or gal would I?”

“I think the little Weasley will be okay,” you smirk, hugging Fred a little tighter.

“So when can I tell George?”

You laugh as you kiss Fred’s cheek. “Not just yet, darling. Let’s see a doctor first”

Month 2

“So I can tell Georgie right after this right?” Fred asked as you sat in a room at St. Mungo’s waiting for the doctor.

“I enjoy you pretending to wait for my permission when I know you already told him,” you laugh, squeezing Fred’s hand while he helps you onto the chair for the mothers to be. “He was not very subtle when I came by the shop the other day. He was talking about inventing baby friendly products for the shop.” You rolled your eyes sarcastically at the memory.

“Okay, I may have apparated to our little flat above the shop where he was at the time after you fell asleep the night that you told me.” He pouted, looking for forgiveness from you.

You had to stifle your giggles when the doctor knocked on the door to let you know that she was entering.

“Good afternoon Y/N,” she smiled at you as she pulled out the contraption for looking at the baby’s growing form. “I see you have Fred Weasley with you again.”

The last appointment, he may or may not have dropped a dung bomb that made its way into his jacket pocket accidentally on their way out.

“Hello there, Dr. Woodson,” Fred grimaced. “Good to see you again. Don’t worry, I double checked my pockets before coming this time.”

“Very good,” your doctor nodded curtly. “Well then, let’s get started, shall we?”

Your doctor talked you through the images that you and Fred saw on the screen. “Your baby is now about the size of a pomegranate seed since you’re in the 6th week,” she finished. You sat and watched in awe. The baby was so much bigger than just a few weeks ago when you were in for the first visit that confirmed your pregnancy. “Do you have any questions for me?” Dr. Woodson asked at the end of the appointment.

You shook your head, already having read all about it in the pregnancy books you had bought a few weeks earlier. Fred was the one to pipe up. “So, my brother’s wife was pregnant a year ago or so, and she got really, really cranky. Is my wife going to do that too?”

“Fred?!” you scoffed, playfully slapping him in the arm.

“You see, it’s already starting a little bit and I was just wondering how bad it will actually get.” He continued ignoring you.

Your doctor chuckled slightly before she stood up with your charts in hand. “It was good to see you both again. Y/N, you can schedule your next appointment at the front desk on your way out. Send me an owl if you have any questions or concerns.”

After saying goodbye, Fred helped you off the chair, even though he didn’t have to, and you dressed back into your clothes that were not yet maternity wear, but starting to get a little snug in some areas.

“All ready, love?” he asked after you dressed.

“Let’s go.”

Month 3

“Are you ready?” Fred asked as you stood at the door of his childhood home. He was grinning from ear to ear. Today was the day that the two of you had decided to tell his family about the baby. You told your parents a few days earlier and they couldn’t be happier, but that was two people. Now it was time to face Fred’s parents, six siblings, and all of their significant others.

“Very ready,” you smiled back. Fred had been sitting on the edge of his seat for nearly a month whenever you visited. It was the end of your third month and therefore an appropriate time to start telling the family.

“Mum! We’re here!” Fred called out as he opened the door.

“OHHH! Y/N, Fred! Welcome. I’m so happy you both could make it!”

“We always come for Sunday night dinner, Mrs. Weasley,” you laughed while being buried into one of her notorious bear hugs.

“Woah there, mum. Don’t want to crush Y/N and our-” Fred cut himself off before he let the word ‘baby’ slip. Luckily, Molly was a blur around the house that she hadn’t even noticed. After giving Fred a quick hug, she called up to the rest of the family and feet began stampeding down the stairs.

“Wow, it is getting a little crowded in here,” you laughed as you hugged Ginny, Hermione, George, Ron, Harry and then Bill, Charlie, Fleur and little Victoire. “Even Teddy is here!” you smiled as you hugged the 3 year old with bright blue hair.

“The more the merrier is our motto!” Arthur Weasley boomed as he came into the kitchen as well.

“It’s a good thing that you think that way, dad!” Fred beamed, sharing a quick glance with George. At this rate, the family was going to learn the news before everyone even sat down for dinner.

Pre-dinner chats ensued and then Mrs. Weasley called them all from the living room to the table. That’s when she started handing out the wine. She had decided it was a special occasion because EVERYONE was at dinner. Bill and Fleur were in France the previous week and Charlie was back from Romania for a period of time. Even Percy managed to pull himself away from his busy work life. You looked at Fred with a small, close lipped smile, letting him know that it’s time to spill the news. Everyone would find out soon enough when you refused the wine.

You took your seat next to Fred with Ginny on your other side, leaning into Fred as he wrapped his arm around you and kissed your temple. Then, he cleared his throat to get the 12 other people’s attention.

“I’d like to make a toast,” he announced, raising his glass. “I can’t imagine this night being any better. Spending time with my amazing family, the extensions included,” he nodded to Harry, Hermione, and Fleur. “It’s a big family, but it’s about to get a little bigger. Currently a plum size bigger.” You nudged Fred slightly. He had been making fun of you for announcing which food your baby’s size matched each week.

“Oi, cut to the chase down there. I can’t hold it in for much longer! I’m bursting at the seams over here!” George hollered from the other end of the table.

Your smile grew as you made eye contact with Molly. You could tell she already knew what Fred was going to say, but was letting him break the news.

“Y/N and I are pregnant!” Fred’s signature grin was plastered on his face and you didn’t think that he’d been wiping it off anytime soon.

“This is brilliant!” Ginny cheered as she wrapped an arm around you. “I get to be an aunt, again!” she smiled at Victoire.

“Victoire,” Fleur got the little girl’s attention. “Yoo are going to be a couzin to a ittle boy or girl. Eesn’t zis exciting?”

“Ronald and I can babysit whenever you need a break,” Hermione offered, Ron nodding along, even though he wasn’t too sure if he wanted to be with a baby around his fiancé just yet.

The congratulations and excitement lasted all through dinner. By the end, Bill and Fleur offered you Victoire’s baby clothes if you had a girl, Arthur said he could fix up the cradle they used for all their children, Molly had already started knitting a little hat and bootie set. It was crazy and chaotic, but you loved every second of it. This was your wild family now and the wild family that your baby would get to grow up with.

Month 4

You paced around your flat with a hand on your forehead and one on your stomach. You had just gotten back from your appointment, the high of telling the Weasley family about the pregnancy two nights ago still lingering. Of course, once you went to see Dr. Woodson, the feeling changed.

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Dr. Woodson had said as she ran her wand over your stomach to look at the baby.

“What?” you asked. She’d never said anything like that before.

“It seems we may have missed something.” She pulled an image up. “Normally we would catch this earlier, but see that there.” She pointed and you nodded. “Well, there appears to be a second fetus and a second heartbeat that I must have missed before. Y/N Weasley, you are having twins!”

Laying down on the couch, you thought about what having twins would mean. Two of everything really. Fred and George’s shop was doing great again and they were acquiring Zonko’s in Hogsmeade too, so money wouldn’t technically be an issue. But, twins! They could be a little Fred and George exactly and that would be a handful. The doctor never said that they were identical necessarily, so you could have a boy and a girl.

“Honey! I’m hoooome!” Fred sang opening the door.

“With your favorite brother-in-law!” George sang after him.

Both twins sat grocery bags on the table. “What’s all this?” you asked, mind still focused on the news you got earlier in the day.

“We have decided to cook you dinner!” George said triumphantly.

You looked at the identical faces that stood before you, both grinning at you. “Fred, we’re having twins!” you blurted out at them, not able to hold it in any longer. Fred dropped the bag he was still holding, apples and oranges rolling all over the floor.

“Twins.” He said, eyes glazed over, looking past you and at the wall, where the onesie that you gave him the day you told him you were pregnant was hanging.

“You’re going to have a mini Fred and I?!” George squealed in excitement. He shook Fred’s shoulders, bringing him back to the present.

“That we are!” you smiled, appreciating the enthusiasm. “Well maybe, we could have girls, or a girl and a boy. We won’t know until the end of next month,” you explained, rambling.

That’s when Fred went into total care mode. “Do you need to sit down? You should be sitting down. Mum always complained about what Georgie and I did to her body and how hard carrying twins was.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Freddie,” you giggled, “maybe YOU should sit down!”

“Yes, perhaps I shall, love.” Fred plopped down onto the couch as you went into the kitchen to grab him a cup of water. “Twins, wow.” You heard him breathe out in the living room.

“He is happy about it, just processing,” George whispered to you as he started to put your groceries away.

“I know,” you smiled, “he is going to make a great dad!”

Month 5

Your stomach was really bulging at this point. Two little ones growing in there. You were beyond excited as you slid on a maternity dress with sunflowers plastered all over it. It had become your favorite dress, comfortable, stretchy, it had pockets. But, today, you put it on for your gender reveal party. Originally, you and Fred were going to wait and be surprised by the sex of the babies, but Molly and even George changed your minds.

They agreed that once they received the news, Dr. Woodson would write the genders on pieces of paper, seal them in an envelope, and send them with an owl to Molly. Now, you were getting ready for that party. You were more going along with Fred when you originally said you’d wait to find out the sexes, but now you were giddy!

“Love, are you ready? Everyone is downstairs,” Fred knocked on his childhood door as he opened to take in the room that hadn’t changed in years. You followed Fred down the stairs, him holding your hand the whole way to ensure that you didn’t trip down the stairs. He may be loud, boisterous, and reckless usually, but since he learned about the twins, he treated you as if you were a china doll, it was so sweet.

“Surprise!” a hoard of people called when you exited the Burrow. The Weasleys had completely decked out their yard on the spring evening. Twinkle lights flooded the area with light as the sun set to the west. Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom had brought in tons of flowers that surrounded the tables. All the pinks and blues were bright as can be, signifying the news that was about to be shared with everyone, even the parents.

“Merlin! It’s beautiful! Thank you,” you beamed, taking in as much of the yard at once as possible.

The party was a blast. Blue and pink food. Cute little presents left out with yellows and greens. Tons of little Gryffindor attire, even though you’d be okay with your children being in any of the houses. But the time for the reveal drew closer.

“Y/N, Fred. Stand here,” Molly ordered them. “George is out back setting everything up.”

You were shaking with excitement. Your family and Fred’s family all held sparklers that lit the darkness. The colors reflected off of your and Fred’s skin. He glanced over at you and whispered, “You’ve been glowing this whole time, but you’re really glowing now,” before leaning down and kissing your cheek.

“Everyone ready?” George called from behind the hedge. “3…2…1!”

The sky exploded with fireworks of blue and pink. Your hand flew to your mouth as you took in the sight. “We’re getting a little boy AND a little girl, Freddie,” you laughed, happy to now know. Fred hugged you tightly, leaving just enough room for your protruding belly.

“We’re having a boy and a girl,” he repeated, grinning ear to ear. Everyone let the two of you have your moment before flooding you with hugs and congratulations.

Month 6

“Psssst, Freddie.” You whispered, peaking at the clock quickly. It read 1:30 AM…oops.

“Yes, love,” Fred whispered as he yawned before turning over and lazily slinging an arm over your body.

“I’m hungry…” you said, big, pouty, pleading eyes already in place as Fred opened one of his. “Will you pleeeeease get me some chocolate covered strawberries and the cheesiest nachos you can find?”

“That is the strangest combination that I have ever heard.” Fred grunted as he pushed the blankets down. “You sure you can eat both of those things?”

So far, you had found that you could no longer even look at any kind of fish, tuna was WAY out of the question, the smell of tomatoes made you gag, and turkey was a big no go. In fact, most meat was starting to make you queasy and you could only eat it sometimes.

“It’s what I’m craving, so I think so?”

“Sounds good, love. I’ll be right back.” Fred threw on some pants and a jacket and apparated out of the flat. You laid back in your bed, feeling extremely content as you pulled the blankets up to your chin just to throw them off. You’d been going from freezing to feeling like a million degrees every few minutes.

That familiar pop could be heard as Fred brought the food to you in bed. “Nachos and chocolate covered strawberries for my beautiful, glowing wife. We can never go back to the Spanish restaurant on the corner or the market next to it ever again. You don’t want to know how angry the owners were when I woke them up.”

You had already dug into the food before Fred could undress and get back into bed again. “Are you going to save me any?” he chuckled, sliding back into the sheets.

“Yes, you can have some.” You told him, mouth full and chocolate dribbling down your chin.

“Let me run to the loo before I go to bed again,” Fred told you, getting up once more. By the time he walked back into the room, you were there fast asleep, box of chocolate covered strawberries on one side and box of nachos on the other. Fred couldn’t stop laughing as he picked up the open food and wiped off your face before kissing your forehead and pulling you close to him.

Month 7

“FRED!! It’s so hot!” you complained. You could feel the sweat sliding down every inch of your body and you felt disgusting. You felt huge and being pregnant was not fun anymore. You were big, couldn’t move easily, and your ankles had swollen to three times their normal size.

In the July heat, you just felt terrible.

“Let me get you another fan and some lemonade.” Fred offered.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so cranky with you,” you apologized to Fred when he came to sit back down next to you, handing you a glass of lemonade.

“You have every right to be cranky with me,” he smiled, kissing the side of your head as he had been doing so often now. “You’re carrying my babies. Speaking of which, we should come up with some names. It could be fun!”

You took a deep breath, trying to relax on the couch. “Yes, let’s do that!” Fred had already begun preparing the nursery and Molly and Fleur had sent over hordes of clothes. Planning was tiring you out, as fun and cute as it was, so maybe brainstorming names would be a blast.

“Now, George thinks we should name at least one of them after him. If we did that, we should name the girl Georgia because I think George would throw a fit if the girl was actually named after him. And then the boy could be Fred Jr.”

You looked dead eyed at Fred, not thinking his ‘joke’ was funny. “We are not making, no excuse me, forcing our twins to be mini-yous. Nope, not happening. Veto, next.”

“Okay, geez,” Fred chuckled as he took your hand in his own, knowing you would complain about being hot if he put his arm fully around you.

“Mhmmmm,” you thought out loud. “What about Andrew for the boy. You know, for my brother? I’d like to honor him after losing him 2 years ago in the war.”

“I think that would be nice,” Fred smiled softly at you. “Andrew it is. Andrew Weasley has a good ring to it. We can call him Drew for short too.”

“I think so too,” you agreed.

“Now, for a girl, this is a serious suggestion,” Fred prepared you. “Olivia. I’ve always liked that name.” he played with your fingers.

“Andrew and Olivia Weasley. I think it could work. That was much easier than I thought it was!” You laughed with joy.

“Fred, Y/N, Andrew, and Olivia. Our little family. You like your new names, kids?” Fred spoke to your stomach.

Month 8

“Nope, do not get out of bed!” Fred ordered after you tried to get out of bed. “Doctor’s orders. Plus, Mum is already here.”

Molly Weasley had been coming to your flat nearly every other day to help you and Fred around the house. Dr. Woodson placed you on bed rest the previous week and it was complete AGONY.

“But, Freddie, there is so much we still have to do. I can help.”

“Nope, George and I have it covered. Plus you know the rest of the family will help with whatever we need. You just sit here and rest. Liv and Drew are still growing in there.”

“Yes they are,” you giggled, rubbing your stomach. “I swear they were wrestling in there last night! They were being so active! Kicking and moving around. If these two fight during their entire childhoods, we will be in for some rough years!”

“I bet they will be best friends,” Fred smiled. “Look at Georgie and I! And, if they have any younger siblings in the future, they can team up against them.”

“I should hope not!” you scoffed. Your banter settled as Molly hurried into the room with a breakfast tray.

“Mum will take good care of you today and Ginny mentioned stopping by later, okay?” Fred told you as he kissed you goodbye. “I won’t be too late tonight. Everyone on Diagon Alley seems to know that you’re expecting, so even though business is booming, the shop is ready to be closed at closing!

“Sounds good, dear.” You replied, pushing the eggs to the side. You forgot to tell Molly that you weren’t eating those now because of the babies.

“I’ll take those for you,” Fred chuckled, eating your eggs, sipping some water, and kissing you one more time before leaving. “Have a good day!”

“Bye, hun,” you giggled again as she left. At least you had the company of all the Weasley guests throughout the days when he was gone.

Month 9

“They’re due any day, Freddie!” You squealed. You had attempted to jump a little, but that just made you have to pee, so you stopped that immediately. “When they get here, we can hold them all the time and I’ll be able to move freely!”

You had secretly begun doing the things that you hoped would speed along the delivery date. You were eating spicy foods, walking around when no one was watching you and forcing you back to bed, drinking raspberry tea, everything! Well, not everything. You had try to convince Fred to have sex with you the night before, but he refused. Said it was weird with two babies in there, even though you looked beautiful and he would love to.

You had just rolled your eyes at him in response, but you did try!

“You going to come out soon, little ones?” You asked your stomach. “At least one perk of being so large is that I can sit the box of chocolate covered strawberries on my stomach.” You hummed happily, eating another one of the treats that had been your favorites during your pregnancy.

You had eaten them so many times that Molly just started making them regularly for you so that Fred didn’t have to go buy them at all hours of the day randomly.

“Can I come to Diagon Alley with you today?” you asked hopefully. “I need to get out of this house. Everything is ready and I’ve been cooped up for too long.”

Fred stood there thinking, but you pleaded some more, getting him to finally give in. “Only if you promise to not walk around too much.”

“I promise! I’ll sit at Florean’s the whole time!” You drew and X over your heart to seal the promise.

You breathed in the air deeply as you took in the atmosphere of the Alley. The newer owners of the ice cream shop brought you more ice cream each time that you asked for some and whenever you tried to pay, they refused. Yet another perk of being pregnant.

Numerous people had walked by and chatted with you while Fred was at the shop and he came by every so often to check on you. It was a pleasant day. That was until an excruciating pain occurred in your stomach.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,” you whined, hands immediately holding your stomach. “Excuse me,” you pulled one of the waiters aside. “Would you run down to the joke shop and get my husband, please?”

The trip to St. Mungo’s was a blur. Fred was holding your hand the entire way, helping you into your hospital gown, and just being an overall sweetheart as per usual. Molly Weasley and your mum filtered in and out of the room. It wasn’t until Dr. Woodson announced that just those going into the delivery room could stay that the chaos slowed. Even if it was just you and Fred in the room, you knew that every single Weasley and Y/L/N was in the waiting room and would be until your two children entered the world.

Four hours later, you had finished pushing, you had finished working your body to exhaustion. Four hours later, you held two little babies in your arms and they were beautiful. Fred’s smile was so wide and he was so proud as he took Andrew from you and then Olivia.

“You did beautifully, darling,” he whispered, looking at the two children in his arms. The tears were still streaming down your face, stupid post-birth hormones. “Are you ready for the family? They’ll come back in small groups.” You nodded laying your head back on the pillows. It was September 8th. The day your little family had its first addition of many.

You could see the little heads of Olivia and Drew peaking over the blankets as different family members held them. Their hair was strawberry red, just like your favorite snack.

1K notes · View notes

fortheheavenssake · 5 years ago

Text

PG MM Anon Interpretation Collection - 25

💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻PG INTERPRETATION MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜

171: Jan 16

MM ANON,……… laugh and carry on……… isolation desperation ……… W&K leapfrog ……… not jaw jaw …… pseudo Trudeau ……… re-distribution …………” just scrapping by ,sausage” ……… LA NA. ……… gizza job……… ahhhhh’ the ubiquitous tape……… brotherly shove ………… “ the tour will proceed” ………… Diamond Dogs……… 🦂🦂🦂………… twice shy

💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜

RIDDLE #171

January 16/2020

1835 hrs CST

laugh and carry on

THE ROYAL FAMILY MOTTO HAS BEEN KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. LIKE A DUCK SERENELY FLOATING ON THE WATER, BUT UNDERNEATH ITS PADDLING LIKE MAD. NOW WITH ALL OF MADAM’S MACHINATIONS AND PHOTOSHOPPING GAMES ONGOING, BESIDES EXPLODING WITH ANGER OR BREAKING DOWN IN TEARS, LAUGHING IS THE BEST RESPONSE. SHE! HATES!🤬🤬🤬🤬BEING! LAUGHED!AT! THERE IS NOTHING MORE A TRUE NARCISSIST LOATHES IS NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND LAUGHED AT. SO PLEASE KEEP THE FUNNY POSTS AND SUBMISSIONS COMING. WE MUST CARRY ON WITH OUR LIVES. IF YOU FEEL CONSUMED STEP AWAY BECAUSE THAT IS GIVING HER YET ANOTHER VICTIM. LAUGH AT HER!

isolation desperation

MADAM HAS GOTTEN EXACTLY WHAT SHE WANTED, ALMOST. SHE WANTS PERMANENTLY RID OF ANY ROYAL DUTIES BUT STATES WANTS FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣SHE HAS NEVER HAD THIS HER WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN ABOUT USING OTHERS OR USING HER BODY FOR MONEY. IT PHYSICALLY SICKENED ME TO SEE HER , A DECLARED FEMINIST, BE SO MISOGYNISTIC AND USE WOMENS SHELTERS OR AT RISK WOMEN CENTRES FOR HER OWN PR AND MERCHING REASONS. GOD SEES YOU RACHEL, HE KNOW THE BLACKNESS IN YOUR SOUL, I SAID I WAS NOT GOING TO PLEAD WITH YOU TO REACH OUT TO GOD BUT I DO , REACH OUT AND RID YOURSELF OF IT! SHE IS SO DESPERATE TO REMAIN RELEVANT AND IN THE TABLOIDS SHE IS DOING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, ALL THE WHILE MERCHING AND USING VULNERABLE CANADIAN WOMEN. PEOPLE ARE LIVID!

W&K leapfrog

LEAPFROG IS A SET OF ELECTRONIC INTERACTIVE CHILDRENS BOOKS AND TOYS, EXTREMELY LEARNING BASED AND POPULAR. I THINK THEY USED THE NAME FROM THE OLD CHILDREN’S GAME OF LEAPFROG,WHERE YOU CROUCH AND HOP OVER THE PERSON CROUCHED AHEAD OF YOU. IT WAS GREAT FUN. USING THE JUMP OVER EFFECT, THEY HAVE LEAPFROGGED OVER MADAM IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. I THINK THERE IS AN INSTAGRAM GAME, I JUST CHECKED AS OF RIGHT NOW THE SUSSEXES HAVE 10.8 MILLION FOLLOWERS AND THE CAMBRIDGES, DRUMROLL PLEASE HAVE 10.9 MILLION.FOLLOWERS. THEY HAVE LEAPFROGGED OVER. WITH A NORTH AMERICAN ROYAL TOUR WITH THE CHILDREN, THAT WILL EXPLODE!!! RIBBIT RIBBIT 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣

not jaw jaw

JAW JAW, SEEING THAT REMINDS ME OF THE MUCH MALIGNED JAR JAR BINKS CHARACTER IN STAR WARS. ANNOYING AT FIRST I GREW TO KIND OF LIKING HIM. SERIOUSLY JAW JAW MEANS TO YAMMER ON TALK AT LENGTH , LONG WINDED, POLITICIANS FOR EXAMPLE. THE BARD, “FULL OF SOUND AND FURY SIGNIFYING NOTHING” OF INTEREST, I FOUND THIS QUOTE, YOU KNOW ME YOU GET DINNER AND A SHOW WITH EACH INTERPRETATION 🤣🤣😂😂😂

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war. ATTRIBUTION: WINSTON CHURCHILL, remarks at a White House luncheon, June 26, 1954. His exact words are not known, because the meetings and the luncheon that day were closed to reporters, but above is the commonly cited version.

SO HMTQ IN HER BRILLIANCE, DESPITE ALL IN FLAMES ABOUT HER, USING PEACEFUL MEASURE STEALTHILY AS WE HAVE SEEN THIS WEEK. MADAM NATTERS ON AND ON, HMTQ SAYS LITTLE BUT OH HOW POWERFUL THE CHOICE OF THOSE WORDS WERE. WELL DONE YOUR MAJESTY.

pseudo Trudeau

OUR PM , FOR ALL HIS FAULTS, IS LOVED BY MILLIONS WHO LOVE HIS FATHER THE SAME DESPITE HIS. PSEUDO IS FALSE. IS OUR PM AND CREW APPEARING TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS AT THE REQUEST ON HMTQ AND TO EMBARGO OR NOT BE PUBLIC ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE USUAL POLITE CANADIAN STYLE!! HE AND SOPHIE ARE OUR POWER COUPLE AND MADAM HAS WORMED HER OR SOMETHING ELSED HER WAY TO THE HIGHEST ECHELONS OF CANADIAN SOCIETY.

re-distribution

DOES THIS REFER TO HER PATRONAGES AND CHARITIES BEING SPREAD OUT, REDISTRIBUTED AMONGST THE OTHER SENIOR ROUALS, I AM CERTAIN AS SHE HAS VOICED HER WISH TO NOT LIVE OR WORK, 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣, WORK IN THE U.K. I AM CERTAIN THERE IS A GRAND PARTY AMONGST THE THEATRE COMMUNITY OVER BEING RID OF HER AS THEIR PATRON.

just scrapping by ,sausage”

I KNOW SAUSAGE IS PP PET NAME FOR HMTQ BUT I KNOW THIS IS NOT HMTQ JUST SCRAPING BY. IT IS AN INSULT TO MADAM, LIKELY BY PP, TO HER BEING BROKE AND HAVING TO MERCH AND HEAVEN KNOWS IF SHE HAS ACSUGAR DADDY GIVING HER MONEY.

LA NA.

LA IS LOS ANGELES NA IS NOPE. SO SHORT AND SWEET, NO LA FOR NOW!

gizza job

IN THE UK AND SCOTLAND EVERYTHING AND NAMES ESP WERE CHANGED TO A Z SOUND. EXAMPLE MY FRIEND KAREN WAS CALLED KAZ, HARRY HAS BEEN CALLED HAZZA YOU GET IT. GIZZA MEANS GIVE US A JOB, MEANING MADAM NEEDS MONEY AND SHE NEEDS A WAY TO GET A LOT IF IT. SHE IS COMPLETELY UNQUALIFIED FOR ANY WORK SO LETS NOT THINK FURTHER HOW SHE WILL GET WHAT SHE WANTS.

ahhhhh’ the ubiquitous tape

THIS HAS ARISEN AGAIN, ITS BEEN TALKED SBOUT SO MUCH AT ONE POINT WILL IT BE MADE PUBLIC? I AM CERTAIN IT WILL BE WHEN IT CAN DO MAXIMUM DAMAGE TO MADAM AND MINIMUM FOR TO CROWN IF IT IS EVER RELEASED.

brotherly shove

IS WILLIAM GIVING HARRY A SHOT IN THE ARM SO TO SPEAK? HELPING HIM WITH THIS LONG TERM PLAN AND DELAYING HIS LEAVING WITH CONTINUED PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS? I AM ASSUMING BEHIND THE SCENES THERE IS A LIT IF BROTHERLY COMMUNICATION GOING ON.

“ the tour will proceed”

THE OFFICIAL GO AHEAD FOR THE CAMBRIDGES TO TOUR CANADA! MARVELLOUS!! THIS IS SO EXCITING, I WONDER IF THEY WILL STOP BY MINE??😁😁😁😁 I ALSO WONDER IF AMERICA IS INCLUDED?

Diamond Dogs

KNOWING MM ANONS LOVE FOR HIM I HAVE NO DOUBT SHE IS REFERRING TO WIKI

Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 by RCA Records. Thematically, it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie’s own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Bowie had wanted to make a theatrical production of Orwell’s book and began writing material after completing sessions for his 1973 album Pin Ups, but the author’s estate denied the rights.[2] The songs wound up on the second half of Diamond Dogs instead where, as the titles indicated, the Nineteen Eighty-Four theme was prominent. End wiki. SORRY KIDS IT SAVES MY HANDS TYPING.

SO EYES ARE ON MADAM 24/7/366 AS THIS IS LEAP YEAR. GIVEN THE CIRCLES SHE TRAVELLED IN, IN THE MISSING YEARS , CANADA AND MARRIED INTO, I HAVE NO DOUBT SHE IS ON THE RADAR OF THE FIVE EYES AND MI6. SHE REPRESENTS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO THE MONARCHY, ALONG WITH ALL IF HER BACKERS!

🦂🦂🦂

Lobster 🦞 is this, lobsters mate for life. These are 🦂 scorpions, three of them. SCORPION STINGS ARE EXTREMELY PAINFUL AND TOXIC. HERE WE HAVE THREE SCORPIONS POISED AND READY TO ATTACK, WHO DO THEY REPRESENT?

THE MOS/DAILY MAILY LAWSUIT IS 🦂 NUMBER ONE. TM, DADDY DEAREST IS 🦂 NUMBER TWO. THE COURT JUSTICES, LUMPED TOGETHER ARE 🦂 NUMBER THREE. THEY ARE CLOSE TO THE PATERNITY DECISION AND ANNULMENT OR DIVORCE. I TRULY BELIEVE SOMETHING HAPPENED AT CABADA HOUSE TO MAKE HER SWEET AND ILLICIT THAT SMILE AND THIMBS UP FROM HARRY!!

twice shy

HERE WE HAVE TWICE SHY AGAIN, I WENT THROUGH THE WHOLE ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY EXPLANATION JUST A FEW DAYS AGO I THINK. HARRY COMING TO CANADA IS BEING DELAYED BY TODAYS RUGBY AND NEXT WEEK HE HAS HIS ROYAL DUTIES. SO HE WAS BITTEN NOW TWICE SHY TO RETURN TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR MADAM.

1950 hrs CST. GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Fantastic! Thank you PG! We so appreciate this! Sounds good!😊💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

—————-

172: waiting for MM anon....

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sliceannarbor · 5 years ago

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Jeff Gordinier

Food & Drinks Editor, Esquire Magazine Author/Food Journalist Hudson Valley, New York jeffgordinier.com noma.dk Photo by Andre Baranowski

SPECIAL GUEST SERIES

In this, our 122nd issue of SLICE ANN ARBOR, we are honored to present food journalist and author Jeff Gordinier. Gordinier talks with SLICE about his new book Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World — and life.

Jeff Gordinier is the food & drinks editor at Esquire and a contributor to The New York Times, where he was previously a reporter. In his latest book, Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World, Gordinier chronicles four years spent traveling in Mexico, Australia, and Denmark with René Redzepi, a Danish chef and the creative force behind Noma, often referred to as the best restaurant in the world. Gordinier provided commentary for an episode of Netflix's Chef's Table series featuring Jeong Kwan, a Buddhist nun in South Korea and an avatar of Asian temple cuisine. His work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Details, Elle, Fortune, Creative Nonfiction, Spin, Poetry Foundation, and anthologies such as Best American Nonrequired Reading. A graduate of Princeton University, Gordinier is also the author of X Saves the World and coeditor of Here She Comes Now. When he’s not working, you can find him taking care of his four children. Gordinier lives north of New York City with his wife, Lauren Fonda; they have a view of the Hudson River from their bedroom.

[Jeff Gordinier will be at the Shinola Hotel in Detroit on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, to celebrate the release of Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World, where he will be in conversation with chef George Azar, owner of Flowers of Vietnam, Detroit. The discussion will be moderated by Devita Davison, executive director of FoodLab Detroit].

FAVORITES

Book: Impossible to say, but for now, Patti Smith's Just Kids, James Schuyler's Selected Poems, Alexander Chee's How to Write an Autobiographical Novel.

Destination: Anywhere I have never been before, so I will say Japan.

Motto: "I promise I will get back to you."

THE QUERY

How [and when] did the concept for Hungry originally take shape?

When I first met chef René Redzepi, in 2014, I was working as a food writer on staff at The New York Times, and it's safe to say I was wary of the fame he had achieved and skeptical about the New Nordic movement that he had instigated. Redzepi and I wound up traveling through Mexico together for a story I wrote for T Magazine, and that led, over time, to more Noma-oriented encounters and experiences. I soon started spending my own money to check out what Noma was doing in Copenhagen and in Australia, et cetera, and eventually I became intrigued enough that I quit my job to join the circus: I left my post at the Times and began tagging along on the trips that make up the bulk of Hungry. (My gig at Esquire gives me a lot of leeway to travel, and the only way to tell this story was to be free to hop on a plane at a moment's notice.)

For decades I've been a fan of the D.A. Pennebaker documentary Don't Look Back, which captured Bob Dylan at a crucial moment in his career, with all of the friction and frustration that that entails. We're lucky that Pennebaker managed to be present to get footage of Dylan, this pioneering cultural figure, when the singer-songwriter was in the midst of so much pressure and transformation. I guess I hoped to do a similar thing, in a book, with Redzepi — I felt as though I had warts-and-all access to this influential person during a genuine inflection point, and I didn't want those observations to go to waste.

What if, I thought, you were riding alongside Dylan from, say, 1965 to 1968 — from the moment he (controversially) went electric all the way through the recording of Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding? That sort of framework seemed available with Redzepi, because he and the Noma crew were preparing to embark on a series of risky, difficult pop-ups (in Japan, Australia, and Mexico) at the same time that the chef was planning to shut down the restaurant that had made him famous and reopen it in a new form on a site that looked like an abandoned nuclear dump. It was a dramatic set-up - and impossible to resist.

What was your overall vision for the book, before you embarked on the journey?

I had embarked on the journey long before I envisioned it as a book. I was just taking these crazy trips. Along the way I got to thinking that I might have material for a book. The structure of the book came together finally, in my mind, when I realized that it was a cult narrative: Hungry is ultimately the story of a lost man (that would be myself) who found clarity and purpose by joining a cult, only in this case the cult happens to be a restaurant called Noma.

How would you describe the evolution of your relationship with René Redzepi, from day one to the end of the travels?

He talked. I listened. At first I was slightly dubious regarding the whole mission of Noma, but eventually I realized that there was no point in trying to say "no" to this chef. It was more fulfilling to say yes.

What was a typical day like as you worked your way across the globe?

A lot of eating, a lot of driving, a lot of talking, a lot of analyzing. By the end of each day I tended to be exhilarated and exhausted. But I should point out that I didn't perpetually travel with Redzepi for years on end. Most of the time I was simply back home with my family, working on articles, et cetera. And Redzipi was back in Denmark with his family and his restaurant team. We would take these trips now and then, usually on a whim, over the course of about four years.

Who did you meet along the way from the culinary world (or from other worlds) that you'll likely never forget, and why?

Reporting the book was like being stuck in a culinary version of The Canterbury Tales, because famous chefs floated in and out of our orbit as we moved along. David Chang, Kylie Kwong, Danny Bowien, Enrique Olvera, Roberto Solís, Rosio Sánchez, to name but a few. What I won't forget is the summer day when René and Nadine Redzepi held a picnic in their backyard at which some of the world's top chefs got together and cooked: Jacques Pépin, José Andrés, Danny Bowien, Kylie Kwong, Jessica Koslow, Gabriela Cámara. Daniel Patterson, Bo Bech, Alex Atala. That was wild.

Is there a moment that stands out as most remarkable during the journey?

Really it was one remarkable moment after another. That's why I kept going back. It felt like an amplified version of life.

How has Redzepi changed the global culinary dialogue about wild and cultivated sourced ingredients?

Answering that would take a couple of days.

Why did Redzepi "have to do this," a question you asked early in your travels, referring to the closing of Noma in 2015 and its reopening/reinvention in 2018?

Most chefs work hard in a ridiculously challenging environment. Many chefs are perfectionists. But Redzepi is unlike anyone I have written about in the sense that he is never satisfied with sitting still. As readers of Hungry will see, he's allergic to coasting. At this point he and the Noma crew could just keep cranking out the most popular dishes. Customers would continue to beg for tables. But Redzepi seems convinced that his creativity would dry up if he let that happen. So he's always conjuring new challenges — exercises in team-building and flavor-searching that would wear most of us out.

How did this experience ultimately create reinvention in your life; how did it change you?

When I first met Redzepi, I was feeling stuck, which is something that happens to a lot of us, of course. Redzepi's philosophy — his whole approach to living — represents the opposite of stuckness. Like so many intensely creative people (from Bowie to Beyoncé), he's adept at escaping stuckness by propelling himself forward. He doesn't like to dwell on the past; he doesn't like to stay put. When he and I met, I was in a period of my life that was pretty much all about dwelling on the past, and that contrast seemed narratively fruitful to me. (The book starts off by quoting the first lines of Dante's Divine Comedy, which is sort of an inside joke, because from one vantage point the Divine Comedy can be read as an extravagant metaphor for Dante's midlife crisis.) I felt like both Redzepi and I were at pivotal moments in our lives. As readers will see, I wound up getting kicked out of my mental rut.

What is the wisdom of tearing it all down and starting over?

I think what drew me to Redzepi, long before I tasted his cooking, was his crazy commitment to making the most out of his life and the opportunities that have come his way. For those of us (and maybe it's all of us) who toy with the notion of reinventing ourselves, well, Redzepi comes across as a kind of mad avatar of renewal. He has reinvented Noma itself over and over, and he has also, in a way, reinvented Copenhagen, almost single-handedly turning it into one of the most compelling culinary cities in the world. It can be seductive and intoxicating to be around people who have that kind of energy.

What do you think the Danish chef might have learned from you along the way?

I am still much better than he is at making tortillas.

#jeff gordinier #andre baranowski #noma #foodlabdetroit #reneredzepi

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elizadoolittlethings · 6 years ago

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Mark Gatiss on The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse, The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who and Dracula

'I’m writing Dracula for the BBC with Steven Moffat which will go into production next year.'

This week will see the opening of The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse with Mark Gatiss taking on the lead role. We catch him during rehearsals to talk theatre, Nottingham and the Netflix society…

You’re starring in The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse – what drew you to this story?

Adam Penford, the artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse directed me in The Boys in the Band two years ago and I’ve known him since he was an assistant director at the National Theatre when we did Seasons Greetings together. He asked me if I would do The Madness of George III and I said yes.I’m a huge Alan Bennett fan – he’s one of my formative influences. I love the play and I was very flattered and thrilled to do it. I also love being King!

Why should people come and watch the show?

It’s a marvellous play – obviously it’s one of Alan Bennett’s best-known and best-loved works and I think it’s an ambitious project to do for Nottingham. And it’s very relevant actually – as all the best historical drama is – you can pick out threads which are pertinent to the way that we’re living now… and the idea of a slightly dysfunctional head of state (or leader) - draw your own conclusions!

What drew you to the character of King George III? What can people expect from the show?

He’s an intriguing man - I did George III and his ministers for history ‘A’ Level so I knew, at some stage, quite a bit about Fox and Pitt and the whole set up of the Regency. The big characters of that period, I find, as Alan Bennett does, very interesting and the king himself is a very sympathetic character I think – unlike George I and George II he feels properly British as opposed to German and I think he had a kind of sensitivity – they called him ‘Farmer George’ – he was interested in actually making a success of the monarchy and making his family into an ideal unit – you could cite it as the beginning of the modern monarchy. But then obviously his illness threw everything off track and his terrible relationship with his son came into sharp focus. I think he’s a very interesting and contradictory figure.

It’s a very moving and slightly harrowing drama about mental illness but it’s also a grand, sweeping, historical epic with lots of fascinating political characters - many of whom you can find modern comparisons for.

You said in an interview that before a play you feel ‘terror’ – what makes you so nervous/ terrified/ excited about performing?

Same thing as any actor – weirdly I went to see Alan Bennett’s new play Allelujah at the Bridge Theatre the other night and I got out of the car and saw my friend Sacha Dhawan tucked around the back of the theatre, pacing up and down, nervously going over his lines and I thought I wouldn’t interrupt as I knew exactly what he was going through.

Everybody goes through the same thing – you can’t really imagine why you put yourself through something so stressful and bowel-wracking yet again, but you do – and then you get through it and then it’s ok.

The play is set to be screened as part of the National Theatre Live – what makes this so exciting for audiences and cast alike?

The NT Live scheme I think is a fabulous thing and I’ve done one from Donmar – a nerve-wracking but exciting experience. To think you’re being beamed all over the world from the theatre at that point - it’s lovely to have a record of the show but also to know that it’s reaching far beyond the narrow confines of its original base.

I remember doing Coriolanus and getting a message from a friend in Canada who said they were sitting down in a small cinema on Vancouver Island to watch it – slightly thrilling idea that it was being beamed from Covent Garden all around the world.

NT Live is an amazing opportunity for Nottingham and the East Midlands as a whole – why is it important regional theatre gets a share of the spotlight and raises its profile?

I think the reasons are obvious – this is one of the first NT Live events from outside of London which throws a spotlight on the fact that there is great theatre happening outside the metropolis. It’s fantastic to make people aware and also celebrate regional theatre and its incredible contribution to the national whole.

Do you think performing in a city like Nottingham will be different to London and if so, how?

Yes, I guess so – I’ve toured a lot and there is an interesting difference from city to city. Different places have a certain feel to them and you can get the sense of how audiences are different especially compared to London. I think what’s wonderful is that Nottingham has such a loyal audience and I know Adam’s play about the miners’ strike [Wonderland] recently had an extraordinarily different audience profile to the one you might expect and we can only try and encourage more of that and get people to the theatre who wouldn’t normally think of going.

Why did you want to work with Adam Penford?

It was blackmail, mostly. No, I’ve loved working with Adam and I think he’s immediately done a fantastic job taking over as artistic director at the Playhouse – there’s a real buzz about it which I think is so exciting.

I was very flattered to be asked to play a classic part in a great play and with Adam directing, it’s a great package.

What led you to becoming a writer, actor, producer – who or what inspired you in your life?

Well it’s all I ever wanted to do and I’ve been fortunate enough to get away with it so far. I was genuinely inspired by all kinds of actors – particularly people like Leonard Rossiter and Alistair Sim - people who combined great comic timing with proper dramatic skill – who could make you cry and make you laugh. Those were my heroes.

Alan Bennett himself was a massive influence on me – a fantastic combination of melancholy and truth and proper “Northerness” which is what he’s managed to celebrate. I remember seeing a film of his called Our Winnie with Elizabeth Spriggs taking her daughter to a crematorium on a Sunday and every single thing about it rang so true. I remember thinking: “How does he know all this?” – it was like he’d taken a peek into my own life. That’s why he remains a hero.

If you weren’t an actor and writer, what do you think you’d be doing now in terms of your career?

The only other thing I actually wanted to be was a palaeontologist, but I didn’t have the Latin (as Peter Cook used to say).

What was the first ever production you starred in - were you ever cast as a tree in a school production?!

I was never a tree – the first thing I was in was definitely Old Macdonald had a Farm in 1971. Then I was a carpet bearer to the 'Tsar of all the Russias' in ‘Baba Yaga ‘– the house with hen’s legs. My first starring role was in an adaptation of a children’s radio series called Journey Through Badlidrempt and I played Brains! I can still remember the song I had to sing in it.

In an on demand, ‘Netflix society’ what continues to make the theatre relevant for young people?

Well I think everything goes in cycles. It’s very interesting what the Netflix revolution has done for storytelling. You could argue that longform stories and the boxset mentality has returned us to a similar era when people used to read very long serials or huge Victorian novels. I think it’s all part of the same desire and hunger for stories which people have always had and will continue to have. With theatre it’s genuinely different every night and actually watching people live in front of you is an entirely different experience.

The League Of Gentlemen at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham - first night review

What’s the most valuable piece of advice you were given that you pass on to young people working in this highly competitive industry?

My motto is “Work Hard, Be Kind” – that’s the clean version of it! I would say in terms of writing there’s no such thing as a would-be writer – just get on with it. Have a go. There’s nothing to stop you except the voice in your head telling you that you can’t do it. It may not be great, it may not be any good at all but unless you actually pick up that pencil or tap that keyboard for the first time you’ll never know. Don’t let that stop you from doing it. Generally, as Woody Allen once said: “90% of success is turning up”. There are a lot of people who don’t turn up and there’s always a thought that they might have been able to crack it had they had a go. Don’t hold yourself back – you’ll regret it.

Have you been to Nottingham before? What do you like about the city? What do you like about the theatre?

I toured there with The League of Gentlemen. I’d like to do the Robin Hood experience very much. I went to visit the theatre with Adam to have a look around all the departments. It’s a fantastic theatre – I love its history and the fact that John Neville, who’s one of my favourite actors, used to be the AD there.

I think it’s a fantastic regional beacon and I’m hoping it will once again really boost the East Midlands. It’s a brilliant stage with a brilliant history and you look at the walls of past productions and at John Neville’s past seasons and you can’t quite believe they did all these amazing plays in one season. It has a great history and a great future.

Do you have any other personal or professional links to the East Midlands?

Derbyshire – only because The League of Gentlemen was filmed there in Hadfield. I don’t really know much about the area but that’s the bit I know quite well.

What role/ character do people tend to ‘shout out’ to you the most?

It will be for Sherlock or The League of Gentlemen. Mostly people just say they like my work which is a very nice thing to hear.

What’s been your proudest career moment to date?

I’ve had a lot and I’ve been very lucky. One of my happiest experiences was making An Adventure in Space and Time – my drama about the creation of Doctor Who. That was a lot of things I love coming together at once and it was an almost entirely trouble-free shoot. A very beautiful experience. I’m always very excited about the future and the idea of playing this part is very exciting so hopefully George III will be one of them.

Do you ever get star struck?

Rarely – and I’m not being blasé about that. I always think of the story that the great Anthony Hopkins once told about his father meeting Laurence Olivier and talking to him about the football and Anthony Hopkins getting slightly sweaty that he wasn’t giving Lord Olivier the deference he deserved. His dad just looked at him and said “Well, he breathes air doesn’t he?”

However, the first time I was properly star struck was when I met Michael Palin who, again, was a huge influence on me. I got a bit tongue-tied around him.

Where in your home do you store all of your awards?

They’re on a small shelf that we’ve recently discovered damp under. That must be a metaphor for something.

After The Madness of George III, what’s next for you?

I’m writing Dracula for the BBC with Steven Moffat which will go into production next year.

The Madness of George III runs from Friday, November 2 until Saturday , November 24, including a special Gala performance on Thursday, November 22, with proceeds going towards Nottingham Playhouse’s 70th Anniversary Fund.

The Madness of George III will also be broadcast to cinemas across the globe as part of National Theatre Live on Tuesday, November 20.

For tickets visit nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call 0115 941 9419.

To receive one WhatsApp message a day with the main headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07790 586202. Then add the number to your phone contacts book as 'Nottingham Post'. Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group.

#MG #mark gatiss #whats on #the madness of george iii #nottingham post #the man behind the genius #all things MG #interview

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love-max1982-us · 3 years ago

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However with an increasingly diversified global Rogue portfolio

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bryonysimcox · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Mindfulness, Onions and Jealousy: Week 10, Spain

It’s hard to fathom that we’ve entered double digits as I count the weeks we’ve been living away from the UK, and even harder to fathom the coronavirus crisis that the world continues to face. This week, I explore mindfulness, barbequed spring onions and the evils of jealousy.

The last week of March has brought both sunshine and rain here in Catalonia. Sunday was glorious, and the warm rays of sun felt like nature’s invitation to take the afternoon off from film editing and staring at screens. Even I, who usually finds it hard to ‘just’ chill out, responded to this invitation and slowed right down, sipping cheap Spanish lager and whiling the day away with a good book. By contrast, there have been numerous days of solid rain here too. Temperatures have dropped and George and I remain huddled inside, wrapped in layers and eternally grateful to have a house to stay in throughout lockdown.

It looks like the weather in the UK has been pretty glorious. It’s sod’s law that after a long winter, when Brits are finally ready to get out and about, everyone is required to stay at home and can only see and admire the sunshine from afar.

This state of lockdown is undoubtedly a reminder of our need to access nature, especially for those who are living in urban areas and apartments.

The flipside to the restrictions, of course, is that reduced travel and activity means reduced carbon emissions and pollutants. Like many others, my heart has been lifted by photos of Venice’s canals which now run clear, satellite imagery and data showing dramatically reduced air pollution in major cities, or sound recordings of magnificent birdsong made audible thanks to minimal traffic. Similarly, whilst I’m not a huge fan of the rain, it’s a real blessing here in Catalonia, a region which is often very dry. The land around us in the cottage is looking more luscious than ever, and the rain is doing wonders for the green beans, olives, herbs and spring onions (or ‘calcots’, but more on them later) which grow here.

(images) Mother nature’s gifts.

I’ve been feeling infinitely more connected to nature while living in lockdown. Not necessarily because we’re staying in the countryside, though that helps, but perhaps because I’m increasingly aware of my dependence on it. The natural world (which we often forget were a part of) provides us with the sustenance we need to survive, and I can’t help but feel like empty supermarket shelves in the UK are a symbol of how disconnected people are to where food actually comes from, and the supply chain which starts with mother nature.

Nature is not only essential as a source of food but as a source of energy from which we nurture our minds.

The alarming spread of coronavirus and its devastating and far-reaching effects threaten to overwhelm me. As I mentioned in last week’s post, I constantly feel at the edge of this overwhelm, ready to be swept under by the noise and chaos of news headlines which just keep getting worse. In an active effort to address these feelings without adopting a ‘keep calm and carry on’ approach of outright avoidance, I have started to practice mindfulness, using breathwork techniques from Gaba Podcast’s daily sessions.

Nature has become a central part of my amateur mindfulness practice, as it provides a constant calming presence in the now on which to focus. Simple things in the natural world have proven incredibly grounding, like the cycle from day to night, the passing of clouds across the sky, the sound of little birds scuffling across the roof of the cottage and the fresh aroma of soil after it’s rained. Of course these elements don’t erase the existence of Covid-19 and the lives it is both threatening and taking, but they provide a counterweight to the noise and anticipatory grief that I’m experiencing.

(images) Stuff can get pretty overwhelming at the moment, so the natural world has become a steadfast element on which to rest my focus.

I have also been thinking about the way in which nature is not just a resource to be taken from, for our wellbeing and our existence, but something to give back to. I’ve been inspired by so many people I follow online, and their mutual apprehension that this could be a pivotal point of change for the world. Their shared thoughts and musings suppose that we might move away from our addiction with consumption and competition, and towards more regenerative cultures. Friend and ex-colleague, Adam Russell, has written a fantastic summary of ten books worth reading if you’re interested in regenerative cultures and living in harmony with the planet. The summary can be found at the Saltbush Projects website, which documents the pretty cool journey that Adam and his family are taking in suburban Australia, of growing food, making things and living more simply. Adam’s project is one of a few which are inspiring George and I to shape up our own dreams for a self-sustaining lifestyle and off-grid house.

Amid panic, paranoia and overwhelm, I am optimistic about a different future in which equality, sustainability and community emerge as the shared values by which we live.

Unlike the accounts of our adventures before lockdown, I don’t have much to report on a day-by-day basis. Back during our time in France and our initial month in Spain it felt as though every day was rammed with new experiences and places that George and I had visited in the van! Now though, the days start to merge into one, and I have lost my usual motivation to spring out of bed and into action. I try not to beat myself up about it, and in fact have leaned into the ‘not-knowing’ of the future and the monotony of the present. I trust that one day, somehow, our travels will continue, and try to reaffirm the motto “I’m exactly where I need to be” even when it can feel super frustrating that all life plans are on hold for the time being.

(images, left to right) Layered up in lockdown as it rains outside, watching a live stream DJ set from England complete with visuals created (live, too) remotely by my brother in Scotland!, and slowing down and soaking up the sun on Sunday.

The monotony of the present has also allowed for me to reflect inwardly. I think a crisis of the magnitude that the world currently faces puts certain things into perspective, and after another week filled with skype calls and catch-ups, I don’t think I’m alone in my increase in philosophical thoughts. The insecurities of weight gain, obsessions with career progression, anticipation for planned holidays, fixations with buying new things and other everyday thoughts shared amongst my friends and I now seem like petty hiccups in the grand scheme of life.

Food, friends, our health and shared prosperity feel like the only things that matter anymore.

On that note, I’ve been thinking about jealousy - a strange and ugly emotion that I have grappled with for years. In last week’s post I talked about my shifting relationship with social media in recent weeks, and the possibility that sharing things like photos and status updates can be perceived as insensitive, and perhaps even trigger jealousy. Whilst it could have seemed that I was referring to jealousy induced by the things that I post, I have also been thinking about my own jealousy, and taking a tiny step back from Instagram and Facebook has been part of that.

As a child, I remember being preoccupied with other people’s looks and achievements. I think at one point I even claimed to my mum that I wanted to be my best friend! That jealous streak is something which has filtered through my life, and it’s probably only in the last five years that I really feel like I’ve faced up to it. Jealousy is horrible for so many reasons, but for me, not only did it make me feel rubbish but it also impeded my ability to be happy for others. Instead of relishing in shared pride for a friend or family member’s success or good fortune, that success would become a cruel tool to devalue myself. It would push my focus away from them, and back onto me, leaving me both as a crap friend and a selfish individual.

(Image) I’ve grappled with jealous over the years, a muddy and confusing emotion that threatens your ability to reflect on yourself and others.

This period of lockdown feels like a closing chapter for me in addressing jealousy, which is perhaps why I’m sharing it even if it seems personal, in the hope that it may be of use to someone else.

When I say ‘closing chapter’, it’s not as though jealousy will never rear its ugly head again, because of course it will. But the common cause of tackling this horrible virus has been a trigger for me to consolidate what I’ve been practicing these last five years: to turn jealousy around into more constructive feelings, like pride and admiration for others, and aspiration or contentment for myself. All that said, it is really hard to find coherent words to explain my relationship with jealousy, and I do not at all profess to be immune to it! I only hope that I can continue to address it head on, rather than suppress it and let it eat away at me.

On the topic of eating, food has become a crucial part of mentally surviving lockdown! George and I have been cherishing the opportunity to take longer to cook, to experiment with new recipes, and even new ingredients (if we can find them in the tightly controlled supermarkets). I know we’re not alone in this, and have heard stories of friends’ first homemade loaf of bread, experiments with pickling and fermentation, making pasta by hand and brewing beer at home. By cooking and eating more slowly, I think we are also showing our appreciation to nature, and re-assigning value to a ritual intrinsic to humanity.

Calçots, as I mentioned at the start, have been a magical little food discovery for the two of us. A type of green onion renowned in Catalonia, calçots are best cooked on an open fire. After letting them crisping up for five minutes, you peel the blackened outer skin off to reveal a sweet and juicy inner, which when dipped in romesco sauce, is absolutely delicious.

(images, left to right) Calçots in the garden, roasting over a fire, and ready for dipping in sauce.

The sauce, known as ‘Salsa de Calçots’, can be made at home with blanched almonds, hot peppers, garlic, tomatoes and olive oil, but we actually picked some up in the supermarket. A few nights this week, we’ve had the pleasure of cooking calçots like this, and not only do they taste incredible, but they’re messy, fun and super simple.

While it could sound ridiculous, small experiences like cooking fresh spring onions on an open fire have transcended into special, almost spiritual moments of communion for me. I believe we need these glimpses of normality and conviviality to survive what is an extreme and scary time.

As it sinks in that we could all be living like this for a while now, let’s not forget to look after ourselves and others. Rather than settle for judgement and jealousy, I am trying to equip myself with kindness and compassion, a choice inspired by the nurses and doctors, farmers and supermarket workers, respirator-makers and scrubs-sewers, soup kitchen volunteers and careworkers, newly-appointed homeschoolers and online mindfulness coaches.

These people give me hope.

#traveldiaries #SuziTheVan #BryonyandGeorge #digitalnomads #lifeinlockdown #covid-19 #coronavirus #estadodealarma #overlandadventures #vanlife #hiacevan #toyotahiace

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steelplatedhearts · 7 years ago

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sorcerer’s stone reread

it’s been 20 years, the epilogue just passed, i’m emotional as shit, it’s time for a full reread, one book at a time. these posts are gonna be less recaps and more reactions, tagged ‘madi rereads harry potter’ for your blacklisting needs, here we go!

-i'm reading this in the new fancy illustrated form because my original copy is lost in a box in the garage somewhere because i didn't label my shit properly when we moved, and it's kind of throwing me off because i left it on the lawn overnight when i was six and the sprinklers went off and now the pages are all warped and kind of rainbow-ish from the smeared ink, and i've gotten used to it. the SPINE IS INTACT on this new book, what is that NONSENSE

-there's a little grunnings picture in this that says BORING IS OUR BUSINESS. imagine working at a company where that's your motto.

-"it was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge" is this like the weasley's clock at all?

-honestly, what the fuck was dumbledore thinking. a LETTER? he couldn't have knocked on the door? did he just not want to give them a chance to refuse? what if they hadn't read the letter? what if they had just turned and dumped harry in a foster home? THERE ARE TOO MANY VARIABLES HERE, DUMBLEDORE. you left a small child outside in november.

-harry potter is cinderella. discuss.

-...you know upon reread i'm kind of...worried about dudley? because, okay, he's been spoiled to shit by his parents, and he's gotten the message directly from them that Harry is an Acceptable Target, and i'm kind of wondering what other messages he internalized? messages like different is bad and this is normal and maybe even if you're different we'll treat you like him. what might the dursleys have done, if dudley showed any signs of being different? if they didn't have someone they considered Obviously Inferior around to hold dudley up next to as a shining example? i think there's an interesting point to be made about the cycle of abuse and how it can be perpetuated even through children but like...fuck, guys, they're eleven years old and i will never stop wanting something where they banded together.

-also, fuck harry's old school instructors who just ignored the signs of neglect. we like to think it got better at hogwarts, but it really didn't, did it?

-damn guys i PROMISE THIS ISN'T GONNA BE A DOWNER THE WHOLE TIME

-i love the fucking snake scene. someone give harry a pet snake.

-come on, mrs. figg, you couldn't even let harry watch TELEVISION? sure, dumbledore didn't want you to make it "fun" or whatever, but you could've at least made it not miserable.

-when i was like, eleven or twelve, i got a harry potter stationery set for christmas and i used the book and a green marker to write myself a hogwarts acceptance letter with the plan of like, going to britain and talking my way in, somehow. I didn't make it out of the neighborhood, but i still think it would've worked.

-what happens if a muggle family doesn't want to send their kid to hogwarts? do they even get a choice??

-"Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag." does an eleven year old need a television, vcr, and computer? no. does this demonstrate exactly what i was worrying about a few bullet points back? yes

-these illustrations are fucking amazing. hagrid has a TROLL DOLL KEYCHAIN.

-HAGRID IS SO WONDERFUL! he brought cake! he treated harry gently! he listened! i love him!

-so wait, hogwarts knew that harry was living under the stairs but didn't know that the dursleys hadn't told him about magic? or if they did know, they didn't bother to fill in hagrid? WEAK.

-“I know some things,” he said. “I can, you know, do maths and stuff.” my precious son

-i just now realized that this illustrated edition has the british text, and my ancient original copy has all the american changes they made when they first published it.

-i would read a 50k epic about nothing but petunia and lily.

-"Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake" #same

-...okay, hagrid, i adore you beyond reason, but why didn't you give uncle vernon the pig's tail, considering he was the one you were actually mad at, rather than dudley, who was literally just standing there?

-I bought a harry potter knitting pattern book once and there were all these patterns for molly weasley but nothing for hagrid, & that's some bullshit. molly and hagrid should probably be in a knitting circle. god how many sweaters and hats and shit does hagrid knit for harry's kids

-i would also read 50k of quirrell backstory fic

-honestly, the wizarding world needs to get with the paper money program. can you imagine just carrying around PILES OF GOLD every time you go out? my purse barely fits all my shit as it is

-has anyone done any deep-delving goblin stuff? because i would be all over that

-"After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great.” man this line has ALWAYS STUCK WITH ME

-this whole "owl or cat or toad" thing clearly isn't even all that enforced if multiple weasley generations can get away with scabbers

-how does everyone already know about harry's scar? like, who told everyone?

-don't fucking @ me he's my son and i love him

-i honestly kind of wonder about the differences in reading this as an american person vs. someone from the uk? because reading this the whole concept of houses was cool and unusual, but would it have really been that ~magical~ for someone who was used to the concept?

-"mandy brocklehurst" sounds like the mean girl from an early 00s teen movie

-i love that the wizarding world has jello

-ah, the days when taking a single house point was an apocalyptic event

-madam hooch is a Lesbian ™

-parvati patil: the founding member of the neville longbottom defense squad

-parvati patil: ALSO the first person to defend harry to mcgonagall

-parvati patil: severely underrated, y'all

-i love that professor mcgonagall is 100% willing to ignore the rules if quidditch is involved

-as a former lonely smart child, hermione is so relatable

-i absolutely forgot neville was involved the first time they found fluffy. SORRY NEVILLE

-"so I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" ...hermione is my dad here, RULES ARE RULES GUYS

-they should at least modify the bludgers so they're less dangerous when you've got eleven year olds playing

-do brits really call baked potatoes jacket potatoes that's the funniest goddamn thing i've ever heard

-just let a bunch of live bats loose in the cafeteria, no way that'll cause a problem

-"harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid" and continued doing so for seven books, i love my son

-oh my god this book stops for two pages for "newt scamander's guide to trolls"

-"Inside a troll's mind: Food, violence, kittens, nose-picking, keep thinking it's tuesday"

-this book's hermione has hair that's almost IDENTICAL to my hair as a child

-hermione may be unwilling to believe that snape is a bad guy but she sure does zero right in on him at the quidditch match

-fred and george repeatedly hit voldemort in the face with snowballs while he couldn't do anything about it

-what's wizard church like? they celebrate christmas, surely some of them go to church. is there a wizard pope?

-i love that ron is good at chess even if he isn't traditionally book smart

-this picture of harry and dumbledore sitting on the floor in their pajamas in front of the mirror of erised is so cute and almost heartbreaking when you consider the future

-i know dumbledore is basically Grey Morality: The Musical, but i really do love him

-"harry found that he had fewer nightmares when he was tired out after training" oh no harry you're too small for this sadness

-look if you're letting literal children play a sport that makes them genuinely worry about dying, then there's a PROBLEM THERE

-"i'm worth twelve of you, malfoy"

-hermione hugs parvati, bless

-let hermione granger have more female friends

-that's, uh, something i'm probably gonna hit on a lot in these

-"wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life" oh, you sweet summer child

-i had to pause to look up how often the illustrated editions will be coming out because they're beautiful and i want them all

-it looks like once a year in october

-"four students out of bed in one night! i've never heard of such a thing before!" sure jan

-it's understandable for people to be pissed at harry for losing all these points the first time, but after five years of him being disliked for some reason and then vindicated in the end, you think they'd learn

-malfoy's got a point, this probably isn't something they should have students doing

-MARS IS BRIGHT TONIGHT

-”If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me!” i love him so much i want to cry

-"oh come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"

-and i cry and my tears are golden trio feelings

-"But if we get caught, you two will be expelled, too." "Not if I can help it," said Hermione grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve per cent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that." bless you hermione

-NEVILLE MY DARLING SON

-YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE

-ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT

-also i really like that bit, mostly because, okay, Hermione's been learning about magic for a year, but that's stacked against eleven years of not defaulting to magic, that's probably a difficult instinct to change

-when i was maybe ten or eleven, i had a harry potter birthday, and my mom went full Artist on it, it was the coolest thing ever, but a special shoutout to the old antique keys she bought and glued feathers to and then hung from our ceiling fan

-i'm so proud of you and your chess skills, ron

-but holy shit they didn't even go over to check on him after, they just KEPT GOING

-which like, fair, it's a race against quirrel at this point, but DUDES. U GOTTA WATCH OUT FOR CONCUSSIONS.

-look, there's no way around it. a bunch of magically talented professors got beat by three eleven year olds.

-"it wasn't the snitch at all. it was a pair of glasses. how strange." harry is either way too chill or has no chill at all, there's no middle ground

-hagrid's scrapbook is the most precious thing

-when i was five reading this for the first time i was so pumped about gryffindor winning the house cup. i am less pumped as an adult, he could've awarded those points BEFORE the decorations were up, dude, where's the cutoff?

-ANYWAY this was so good, i remember back when when i first read these i would read a passage, leave the book in my room, run downstairs and recite an entire page at my mother before running back up to finish it

-those were the days

-this is the greatest book

-NEXT UP CHAMBER OF SECRETS, in which i will most likely be reading from my original waterlogged copy

#madi rereads harry potter

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sileancastle · 5 years ago

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CHAPTER THREE

The next morning, Jake was standing in front of his house, trunk beside him, and a bag on his back.

"Make sure you email us monthly." Helen said, fussing with her son. "Don't get into trouble. Make sure you get your homework done."

"I'm fine mom," Jake said, pushing her away.

"Where's your crown?" Penny asked.

"I forgot!" Jake said. "It's on my bedside table!"

"I'll get it!" Penny said, and she rushed inside.

"I told you I'd forget something." Jake said to no one.

"You'll be fine." George said.

"Don't stay up too late." Mrs Day said as the little girl came out of the house with Jake's crown.

She handed it to the boy, who placed it on his head. "Thanks Penny."

"You're welcome!" She said smiling as the bus pulled up.

"Come here," Jake's mom said, pulling him into a hug.

"Mom stop! I got to go!"

"Oh," she released him, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good luck!"

"See you!" Jake said as he climbed the stairs.

He made his way down the aisle to Kelly, who was sitting near the back.

"Hey," he said as he sat down, sliding his trunk under the seat. "Is Luke's house coming up?"

"Yep," the girl said, twisting her unusually brushed hair, tiara crooked.

Glancing down towards the front of the bus, he saw that a bunch of the seats had one or more acupant. Some he could just see the top of the heads, but a few he saw their crowns. Near the front he saw one that reminded him of ram horns.

They soon made it to Luke's house, where he was standing in front of a one story house with his older brother, who ruffled his hair as Luke approached the bus.

Climbing in, the red haired boy made his way to the back, and sat down across the aisle from Jake and Kelly.

"Switch with me," Kelly muttered, and Jake stood up so she could scoot to the aisle seat. "Is your mom okay?"

"Yeah," Luke said after he put his trunk under his seat. "She didn't feel like standing outside too long, so she said goodbye inside. She also told me to give you guys these."

He took a split container and handed it to Kelly. Opening it, Jake saw that one side was chocolate chip cookies, the other was snikerdoodle.

"Awesome!" Kel said, taking a chocolate chip cookie. "Your mom is the best!"

Jake noticed Luke's sad smile as he took a snikerdoodle. "How is she?"

"Hanging in there." He replied, taking off his crown to fiddle with it.

Jake took his own crown off, feeling awkard with it on, and set it on his lap. "That's good."

"So what do you think school will be like now?" Kelly asked with some cookie in her mouth.

"I heard that the teachers are a lot more strict at Silean." Luke said.

"Didn't your dad go to Silean academy?" Kelly asked, turning to Jake.

"Things are probably a little different. Duchess Silean was the headmistress when Dad was in school. And there'll probably be different teachers as staff too."

"What school did your brother go to again?" She asked, turning around again.

"Robert went to Kerick academy by the south coast."

"Oh that reminds me!" Jake said, "I met this girl in the garden before the submission test who was from the south coast."

"Did she tell you her name?"

"Umm, Serine Yarrowbrook, I think. May be wrong."

"Strange she came up north to take the test." Luke said. "She would have plenty of time to travel from there to Silean castle. Classes only officially start till August. You sure you got that right?"

"She had a strange accent and way of talking." Jake said. "She said she 'granted' me her name. Oh!" He snapped. "Serine YARRLOCK! That was it!"

"That was the kind of talking Robert described." Luke said.

"Oh look!" Kelly said getting on top of Jake to look out the window to a forest scene. "We're almost there!"

Jake looked out the window, seeing a castle just emerging into view. It was on top of a slanting hill, near a river. It's many towers looked over the court yard. Jake saw on some of the walls were banners of the Silean family crest, a buck and a doe together on a blue background.

The vehicle climbed the hill to reach the gate, which had two status of undefinding figures, one male, the other female.

Entering the court yard, the bus made its way through shaded grassy areas with plenty of places to sit.

Jake noticed that there were some kids hanging on the grounds, most likely students who stayed over the summer.

The bus stopped near the front exit, where other busses had already parked, and as people were standing up to get off, a lady near the front wearing a simple gold chain crown stood up. "Everybody sit down!"

People muttered as they sat back down, some having to move back a couple of seats cause of how fast they moved.

"Now," the lady said. "We will dismiss you separately. Leave your luggage here, and it will be sent to your rooms. Now, first two rows."

She made room for the front rows to get off the bus. Jake waited as the bus was disembarked row by row.

When the lady called for his row to leave, he picked up his crown from his lap and stood up, following Kelly down the bus, with Luke behind him.

"Ooooh! I'm so excited!" Kelly said as she hopped onto the ground.

"I know right?" Jake said, slipping his crown onto his head.

"I'm kinda worried about our stuff." Like said as they walked to the entrance.

"You're just killing the mood." Kelly said, going through the giant doors.

Jake stopped for a minute to take in the entrance. The ceilings towering above the students filing in was covered in a mirror, reflecting the crowd below.

In front of them was two grand staircases, swooping to meet a story high.

Hanging from the staircase was a banner with the crest again. This time Jake could read the motto above the deer. "Familia Est."

Following the crowd, Jake walked through the doors under the banner. They made their way through hallways with the walls covered in paintings of the past.

The crowd filed into a auditorium, filling the seats. Taking a seat near the front, Jake looked around at the other students.

"What's going to happen?" Kelly asked, sitting to the left of Jake.

"They're probably going to introduce us and explain some things." Luke said on his right.

"That makes sense." Kel said, twisting her hair already in some knots.

"You would think that you wouldn't be allowed to be on your phone." Jake said, seeing a dark haired girl with a purple-blue flower crown on her phone in the front row.

"Look look!" Kelly said, grabbing Jake's arm and pointing to the edge of the stage.

Seven adults had appeared from backstage, and were lining up on stage.

The man in the middle was standing a foot in front of the other teachers. "Welcome students!" The chinese man said, smiling. "I am Headmaster Silean, and I welcome you to my school!"

He gestured to the other people on the stage. "We're all so glad you could make it. Before we continue with our welcoming, let us introduce ourselves."

He stepped back, and the woman at the far left took a step.

"My name is Ms Pascoe," she said, wearing a yellow jacket." and I'll be your student councilor for your time here."

She took a step back and let a big broad man step forward.

"My name is Professor Carroll," he said in a deep voice, blue eyes shining. "And I teach Physical Education and history."

"My name's Professor Hormel," A southwestern woman said, brown hair in a crew cut and wearing a skirt. "And I teach the seer youngsters."

"I am Professor Mardis." Said an older balding man on the other side of the headmaster, smiling wrinkles around his light brown eyes. "And I teach spell casting."

"My name's Professor Dodge," said a black woman with black curly hair. "I teach teleportation."

"And my name is Professor Cooper." Said a spanish man wearing a shirt that had a math joke on it. "And I teach Math."

"Now that we're all introduced," Mr Silean said, checking with the other teachers, some of which nodded. "Let me explain a few rules.

"Students are not allowed in the river, classes are an exception. Sign ups for electives will be in Ms Pascoe's office and in the dining hall.

"In just a moment, you will come up here, and collect your dorm room number, class schedule, and to have your crown inspected. Our school prefers it's occupants' crown's to be in pristine condition."

He nodded, and five of the adults left stage right, leaving the headmaster Silean and Ms Pascoe.

Students started to stand up to get into a line, and Jake stood up and followed his friends.

"Why do they have to inspected?" Kelly asked as they got in line.

"They probably want to give us a habit of taking care of our crowns." Luke said from in front of her.

"Too bad for you." She said, looking back at Jake.

He shrugged, not really saying anything.

He didn't want his crown cleaned. The same gut feeling he had last night came back stronger. Something would happen if his crown was cleaned of the layer of rust.

He was so in thought that the person behind him had to clear her throat.

"Oh sorry," he said to the girl as he stepped forward in the line.

"It's fine." She said, her blue eyes watching him.

"What's your name?" Kelly asked, spotting a potential conversation.

"Azari. Azari Lynn."

Jake took in her blond braids, and a flower crown with white tulips on it. "I'm Jake Day, and this is Kelly Buhrman."

"And this is Luke Piercy!" Kelly said, pointing her thumb to their red haired friend.

"Nice to meet you." Azari said as they stepped forward. "So you all know each other?"

"Yep!" Kelly said. "Luke and Jake got in easily. I barely passed."

"Where're you from?" Jake asked.

"More up north, near Jambore city."

"Cool!" Kelly said. "We're from the nearby town Manshore."

"So you can go home for the night!"

"Actually no," Luke said for the first time. "This is a boarding school. You're supposed to be focusing on school, and living here helps with that."

"Why are you such a downer right now?" Jake asked.

Shrugging, Luke turned to climb up the stairs to collect his papers.

"Is he usually this negative?" Azari asked.

"No, he isn't." Jake said as Kelly followed Luke.

After she was done, Jake went up to the table to collect his papers.

"Name?" Ms Pascoe asked, looking at him with her grey eyes.

"Jake Day." He replied, watching her look through her pile of papers.

"Here you go!" She said, handing Jake his stapled papers. "You can have your crown inspected after Mss Buhrman."

Jake turned to see Headmaster Silean hand Kelly back her tiara. "It's in decent shape." He told her.

"Thank you!" She said as she skipped off the stage.

"Let's see yours, Mr..." Silean said, moving his eyes to Jake.

"Day, sir." He said, slipping his crown off his brow and handing it to the man.

"Hmm," Mr Silean said, barely touching the crown with his fingertips. "This is covered in rust. Did you inherit this?"

"No, it chose me by appearing on my bedside table." Jake said.

"Right. That would explain it." He said, tapping a rock on the table. "Happy Birthday!"

Jake was confused at the last part until a clear liquid spurted out of the rock like a giser. The headmaster must be a spell caster who had to shout out a word unrelated to what he wanted.

Headmaster Silean took the crown and moved it under the liquid, the rust coming off easily.

He gasped as Jake saw the metal underneath, a silvery substance that shined rainbow in the light like a pool of oil.

As more of the rust fell off, Jake could see how beautiful his crown was, glistening in the light.

He looked at Silean's face, which was in-between awe, surprise, and another emotion Jake couldn't place.

"That looks like Duchess Emily Silean's crown!" Said a kid still in line.

Hearing that, nearly every eye turned to Jake and the headmaster. Handing his crown back, Silean raised Jake's free hand.

"Behold. The heir of Silean Castle and the future Duke of Uphonia!"

#sileancastle #chapter 3 #literature #original creation #cliffhanger #plot twist #practically no-one reads this

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gencottraux · 6 years ago

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That’s something I never thought I’d do: start an essay by referring to the Bible (or any other religious text). It’s so not my style. First of all, I’ve never read the Bible so quoting the Bible or anything remotely Biblical is beyond me. The Bible would be one of my nightmare categories if I ever competed on Jeopardy! or any other quiz show. Along with sports and pretty much anything to do with geography.

I think of myself as more of a secular pagan (if there is such a thing) than anything else: I love feasting and gift giving but for reasons of all kinds and on a daily basis, not because of any religious foundations. I’d much rather celebrate solstices, equinoxes, the seasons and nature. And kindness as an everyday way of life. Which leads me to Proverbs.

I didn’t get there by myself. The author Alex George took me there in his book Setting Free the Kites.

Alex George. Author portrait.

On page 39, the main character Robert, after the new kid at school, Nathan, defends him from the school bully, is being told by his mother, ” ‘So now he needs you to be kind back. Remember Proverbs: Do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.’ She smiled at me, and I knew the game was up.”

Do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

This struck me as possibly one of the most important things I’d read in a long time. (If you must know, it’s Proverbs 3:3, according to Google.) Words spoken by Solomon, who I was thinking about just the other day. Really.

A story I do remember hearing often is that of two women both claiming that they are the mother of a fought-over baby and King Solomon, deciding the case, advises cutting the baby in half. I was always horrified by what was called the wisdom of Solomon. But of course the upshot is that he correctly surmises that the woman who says she will give up the baby is the real mother. In her love, she’d rather give him up than have him hurt.

Maybe the story wouldn’t have scared me as much if I’d seen it told with Legos.

I have to remind myself every day to be kind. As much as I wish it always came naturally to me, it doesn’t. People try my patience and elude my understanding. I find myself being judgmental, envious, dismissive. Working in an animal shelter, I see both the best and worst in human nature. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, part of the unpredictability of being human.

I felt called upon to be Solomon not so long ago when two women were arguing over who should get to adopt a particular dog. Would Solomon have suggested cutting the dog in two and seeing how the women reacted? Neither was willing to step back and let the other adopt the dog. I had to make a decision based on our first come, first served policy. Whatever my decision, one of the women was going to be very angry with me. My interior voice was saying that there are plenty of little brown Chihuahuas (also called LBDs, Little Brown Dogs) to go around so let’s not argue over that particular one, but I can’t say those things out loud. I really don’t like the feeling of having made someone angry and unhappy. And if I had handled it better, two dogs would have gone to new homes, not just one.

I wish I had remembered the wisdon of William Ury rather than Solomon. Ury is a noted writer, speaker, negotiator, and helped found the International Negotation Network with former United States President Jimmy Carter.

William Ury

Here’s his amazing TED talk, The Road to Yes.

https://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

I am familiar with William Ury from his book The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop.

I automatically went to the role of arbiter in the dog dispute, but I could have explored other roles. If I’d only had the book with me and the time to consult it! As an introvert operating in an extrovert job, I find myself not always thinking fast on my feet. I like to mull things over, reflect, and formulate my responses. I’m terrible at witty answers to stupid questions, too.

One of my go-to sources on postings about life as an introvert is Introvert, Dear. I’m not alone in my need for time to respond. Plus, if I said the first thing that comes to mind, I could get in a lot of trouble.

The motto “the customer is always right” really sucks sometimes. Because the customer isn’t always right. Alexander Kjerulf listed 5 reasons why the motto is wrong:

It make employees unhappy. True. We take a lot of bad mouthing and abuse and smile while we do it.

It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage. Absolutely. Squeaky wheel syndrome. Bad behavior is rewarded.

Some customers are bad for business. Yes, anyone causing a ruckus at any place of business will turn off other customers and they will go elsewhere. Or we will get a bad Yelp review.

It results in worse customer service. If we are tired, humiliated, frustrated, we may unintentionally reflect that to clients who are there with the best of intentions.

Some customers are just plain wrong. They are. And sometimes we have to convey that to prevent harm to an animal. Tactfully, of course. Our ulitmate priority is the health and safety of the people and the animals we serve.

I can list many examples of all of these points, some funny (the male dog returned after 2 hours because the woman felt awkward explaining to her 6 year old about male body parts), some sad (the elderly woman who fell in love with and wanted to adopt a particular dog but her son said no because he didn’t like the breed mix), some infuriating (people who insist on animals living outdoors despite evidence that animals who live indoors with their human families generally live longer, healthier lives), some downright puzzling (the woman who pointed to a kitten and asked “do you have that one in gray” as if she were shoe shopping). And don’t get me started on some of the phone calls we field!

“You want me to come catch the wild turkey in your office parking lot?”

We all have bad days, make mistakes, could use a little leeway. I try to keep that in mind with the people I deal with. I wish everyone kept that in mind when dealing with others: we don’t know what another person might be going through, what might be making them act they way they do, what their story is.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind. To each other, to animals, to the earth. To yourself.

A song I adore (got to get a musical reference in here somewhere!) that speaks to love, kindness, and writing them on the tablet of your heart is Clem Snide’s Find Love. Love is an infinite commodity. The more we give, the more we have.

I do have a quibble with Proverbs. Our hearts are not tablets. That to me implies stone, a hard substance that wears away with time. I think of the metaphorical heart as able to grow, to be nourished and to provide sustenance, more like a garden. Apparently Jesus said that hearts are like gardens too (I didn’t know that, I just Googled “the heart is a garden”). I also discovered a poem by Katherine Merrill, Heart’s Garden.

Heart’s Garden

By Katherine Merrill

My heart is a garden where thought flowers grow. The thoughts that I think are the seeds that I sow. Every kind loving thought bears a kind loving deed, And a thought that is selfish is just like a weed.

So I must watch what I think each minute each day, Pull out the weed thoughts and throw them away, And plant loving seed thoughts so thick in a row, There will not be room for weed thoughts to grow.

Buddha also compared the heart to a garden. As did Oscar Wilde. I feel like I am in such good company on this one!

If this is too high-minded for you, think of Dr. Suess’s character the Grinch and his tiny little heart that grows when he discovers the power of love and kindness.

You might have noticed I haven’t addressed the truth side of the Proverbs quote. Is it possible to have kindness without honesty? Honesty without compassion is cruelty, I’ve heard someone say. Bruce Kasanoff writes about the downside of honesty without compassion. Maybe brutal honesty is just brutality. Michelle Reid addresses the question of whether honesty and kindness can coexist, and they can, if we stop and think before we speak. And I’d add, reread and think before you hit send on a text or email.

If I am honest with myself at this moment, I should go fold that load of laundry waiting in the basket. But I’m going to choose kindness, and get back to my reading.

Peace and hugs.

Remember Proverbs (Cultivate Kindness) That's something I never thought I'd do: start an essay by referring to the Bible (or any other religious text).

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mdye · 8 years ago

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“There are images I can never forget.”

Yeonmi Park is a 23-year-old North Korean defector and human rights activist, born and raised in North Korea before escaping to China at the age of 13. She grew up under the oppressive regime of Kim Jong Il with little access to the outside world.

Now, Park lives in the United and States, where she advocates for North Korean refugees. She has written several books and gives talks about her childhood experiences. In the book In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, Park describes her memories of growing up and eventually escaping her home country.

The following excerpt from this book details Park’s childhood in North Korea.

North Koreans have two stories running in their heads at all times, like trains on parallel tracks. One is what you are taught to believe; the other is what you see with your own eyes. It wasn’t until I escaped to China in 2007 and read a translation of George Orwell’s 1984 that I found a word for this peculiar condition: doublethink. This is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time — and somehow not go crazy.

This “doublethink” is how you can shout slogans denouncing capitalism in the morning, then browse through the market in the afternoon to buy smuggled South Korean cosmetics.

It is how you can believe that North Korea is a socialist paradise, the best country in the world with the happiest people who have nothing to envy, while devouring movies and TV programs that show ordinary people in enemy nations enjoying a level of prosperity that you couldn’t imagine in your dreams.

It is how you can sit in Hyesan watching propaganda videos showing productive factories, supermarkets stocked with food, and well-dressed people in amusement parks and believe you are living on the same planet as your government leaders.

It is how you can recite the motto “Children Are King” in school, then walk past the orphanage where children with bloated bellies stare at you with hungry eyes.

Maybe deep, deep inside me I knew something was wrong. But we North Koreans can be experts at lying, even to ourselves. The frozen babies that starving mothers abandoned in the alleys did not fit into my worldview, so I couldn’t process what I saw. It was normal to see bodies in the trash heaps, bodies floating in the river, normal to just walk by and do nothing when a stranger cried for help.

There are images I can never forget. Late one afternoon, my sister and I found the body of a young man lying beside a pond. It was a place where people went to fetch water, and he must have dragged himself there to drink. He was naked and his eyes were staring and his mouth wide open in an expression of terrible suffering. I had seen many dead bodies before, but this was the most horrible and frightening of all, because his insides were coming out where something — maybe dogs — had ripped him open. I was so embarrassed for him, lying there stripped of his clothes and his dignity. I could not bear to look at him, so I grabbed my sister’s hand and we ran home.

My mother tried to help people when she could. Homeless wanders would sometimes knock on our door to beg for food. I remember one young woman who brought her daughter to our house. “I’m so cold, so hungry,” she said. “But if you give me food, I’ll let my baby eat.” My mother understood that feeling because she had young children, too. She invited them inside and gave them both plates of food. I watched them closely, because the daughter was nearly my age. They were very polite, and ate delicately even though they were starving. I wonder often if they survived, and if they are still in North Korea.

There were so many desperate people on the streets crying for help that you had to shut off your heart or the pain would be too much. After a while you can’t care anymore. And that is what hell is like.

Almost everybody I knew lost family in the famine. The youngest and oldest died first. Then the men, who had fewer reserves than women. Starving people wither away until they can no longer fight off disease, or the chemicals in their blood become so unbalanced that their hearts forget to beat.

My own family suffered, too, as our fortune rose and fell like a cork in the ocean. In 1999, my father was running a business using trucks to smuggle metals out of Pyongyang, but there were too many expenses to pay drivers and buy gasoline, too many checkpoints and too many bribes to pay, so he ended up losing all of his money. My mother took me and my sister with her to live with her relatives in Kowon, about 230 kilometers away from Pyongyang, for a few months while my father made up his losses.

We arrived in Kowon to find that my mother’s family was also struggling to survive. Grandfather Byeon had died a few years earlier, and my grandmother was living with her older son in the family home. Her youngest son, who had been imprisoned years earlier for stealing from the state, was visiting them as well. In the labor camp he had caught tuberculosis, which was very common in North Korea. Now that there was so little food to go around, he was sick all the time and wasting away.

My grandmother had taken in lots of neighborhood children, and in order to make sure everybody else was fed, she ate only a tiny bit of food each day. She worried that she was a burden, even though she consumed so little and her bones were as light as a bird’s.

I loved my little grandmother Hwang with her wooden leg. She never got upset with me, even when I cried and pestered her to carry me on her back like a horse. She always smiled at me and she was a wonderful storyteller; I would sit with her for hours as she told me about her childhood in the South. She described a beautiful island off the Southern coast called Jeju, where women divers can hold their breath for a long time and swim like fish while they gather food from the bottom of the sea.

I as so curious when she described the wide blue ocean to me, and the playful dolphins that lived there. I had never seen an ocean or heard of such a thing as a dolphin. Once I asked her, “Grandma, what is the biggest thing in the world?” She told me it was the whale that breathes in air from a hole in its back and makes a fountain come out. I had never even seen pictures of whales, but they sounded like something I would like.

Most of her stories were from the time of Chosun, when there was no North or South Korea, only one country, one people. She told me we had the same culture and shared the same traditions as the South. She also told me a little bit about the time she visited Seoul, although even saying the name was forbidden in North Korea. You just didn’t mention such an evil place. I knew it existed only from propaganda, newspaper articles describing anti-imperialist demonstrations by its oppressed masses. But somehow my grandmother planted deep inside me a curiosity about this place she had loved. She told me, “come to my grave someday, and tell me that the North and South are reunited.”

It was a sad time to visit Kowon; because of the famine, so many people were dying. My grandmother took a lot of medicines, some opium for the pains of old age and other pills to help her sleep and forget the suffering around her. One morning before I went out to play, I saw her take lots of her medicine, much more than usual.

“Grandma, why are you taking so much medicine?” I asked.

She was very calm and smiled at me. “Grandma just wants to have a good sleep,” she said. “She needs a good rest.”

Later that afternoon, I heard a terrible sound coming from the house. It was my uncle calling my grandmother’s name. We ran inside and he was shaking her in her bed, wailing, “Wake up! Wake up! Answer me!”

But she was lying there peacefully, and no matter how loud my uncle shouted, she could no longer hear him.

A few months later, my uncle would also be dead. Sometimes I can still hear his voice, screaming for his mother, begging her to wake up. These are some of the things I wish I could forget, but I know I never will.

From In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park with Maryanne Vollers. Reprinted by arrangement with Penguin Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Yeonmi Park, 2015.

First Person is Vox's home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at [email protected].

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