The Great Gatsby

I also finished The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald recently, the first of my five classic novels that I intend to read as part of this list.  Rather like with Breakfast at Tiffany's, I wasn't bowled over, but I quite enjoyed reading it.  I was left feeling slightly that I might rather have missed the point, and it's possible that I have since sadly my only reading time is often standing up on my morning or evening commute and this doesn't always lend itself to the best levels of concentration!

The Great Gatsby is told in the first person from the perspective of a man named Nick Carraway, a young man who has recently moved to the suburbs of New York after the First World War at the start of his career selling bonds.  It is an intriguing insight into a way of life that I didn't know much about and I enjoyed being drawn into a world which was partly modern, and partly still harked back to an almost costume-drama-style world where (rich) women draped themselves elegantly over Chaises Longues, were prone to fainting and took great care over their appearance.

Nick lives next to a man named Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man, whose name was on everyone's lips in the summer that Nick describes for holding the most amazing parties where everyone who was anyone went, even if they did not know the host.  The story revolves both around Nick's unravelling the mystery behind Gatsby, and the story of some friends of his, their marriage, and the life they lead, and the way these two aspects eventually interweave.

After a slow start, I felt fairly engaged by the novel and found myself wanting to know what happened.  My overriding impression now that I've finished it, however, is one of distaste for the world that Nick was discovering.  One where rich people attend glamorous parties, live in lavish houses, but seem dissatisfied with their lives, have extra-marital affairs, occasionally make their money in less-than-above-board ways and ultimately don't care about one another.

Feeling that I may have missed something, or perhaps just lacking confidence in my own interpretation, I turned to the web to see what other people had to say.  My first port of call, as an introduction: the first paragraph of the Wikipedia page about the book describes it as 'a critique of the American Dream.' It continues 'Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamor of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and the lack of morality that went with it, a kind of decadence.'  I read the novel with no preconceived ideas and no knowledge about the author or what the book was about.  It seems, from a brief skim of Wikipedia and an American homework website (apparently the book is frequently studied by school students in America) that my reading of the book was largely in keeping with the themes that others have identified, and that Scott Fitzgerald intended his readers to dislike and question the morals of this post-war prosperous world of plenty in America in the 1920s.

Reading about themes and symbolism in a book I've just read rather made me miss studying literature.  I struggled with French literature during my degree because I never really 'got' the dissecting of a novel that I had enjoyed, until my final year when something clicked.  Now, with the benefit of hindsight and a more mature perspective, I'm starting to appreciate it again.  I'm hoping that reading the other four classic novels will continue to remind me of the pleasure and satisfaction that can be gained from reading 'proper' literature again.

My last point on this novel is one about language.  I had forgotten in recent years when I've mostly read fairly trashy chick-lit which is perfect for short train commutes, the way really 'good' literature can be delicious in its use of language and description.

I folded over a few pages in The Great Gatsby where the author used turns of phrases which I really liked. These are some of my favourite descriptions:

• The first description of Gatsby's smile: 'It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.  It faced - or seemed to face - the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.' (p. 54, Penguin Popular Classics, 1994)
• The description of why Carraway enjoyed New York struck a chord with me as it is also a reason I love London: 'the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye.' (p. 63)
• I liked the image conjured up by this metaphor: 'His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by.' (p. 71)

So far, I'm really pleased that I've set myself these 30 challenges.  It's making me do, read and visit really interesting, enjoyable things that I don't often make time to do.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I've been really lax with this blog recently so I consequently have four posts to catch up on now.  The first is about Breakfast at Tiffany's which we watched last weekend.

Now I know this will be seem like a travesty to many girls but I have to say I wasn't bowled over by it.  It was quite a nice, diverting film, but I wouldn't put it up there with my favourites at all.  I was surprised, for instance, that the main character, Holly Golightly, only actually had breakfast outside Tiffany's jewellery store once, at the beginning of the film, which for me rather takes away the significance of the title.

Not to give too much away to those that haven't seen it, the premise is that a young, very elegant party girl in Manhattan in the early 60s has a series of older, rich suiters who help her to pay her rent money.  At the start of the film she meets a new neighbour from the flat upstairs and the story basically evolves as they get to know each other and we find out more about Holly as he (Paul) does.  I found a few aspects of her behaviour and her story slightly uncomfortable and my feminist side baulks rather at her ambition and desire to be rich and indepedent manifests itself in the way it does, performing small favours for slimey rich older men. I suspect some would say that I have missed the point with my next point, and see Holly as very clever in her adoption of the attitude of a rather silly, unaware young girl in order to further her purpose.  I, however, found it slightly irritating that she never remembered her keys, and was, or pretended to be, completely unaware of the unsavoury world that some of her benefactors moved in.  

However, like with all older films, I did enjoy the fact that things were hinted at rather than rammed graphically down one's throat as they sometimes are in films today.  We were left guessing at whether or not she slept with these men, for instance, whereas I suspect the film's modern equivalent might be less subtle in its suggestions. Perhaps this makes me prudish, but I prefer certain things to be left to my imagination.  I like to watch films that are escapist, and the modern penchant for realism defeats the object for me as it ceases to allow me to escape from real life.  I can see that this film provides exactly that opportunity. It allows us to escape the world of today into a glamorous, well-dressed, light-hearted world of elegant black dresses.  A world where a girl was living an independent lifestyle, tied down to nobody, at a time when this wasn't as much the norm as it is today.

I've tried to write this first half of my blog before looking at other people's reviews of the films, but the first review I read reminded me of something else that I found a bit distasteful - the frankly very racist portrayal of a Japanese photographer by Mickey Rooney.

I like the point made by a BBC review of the film last updated in 2007 when it says

'"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a prime example of a film that often splits the audience from the critics. While it seems to spell magic for many, it is a movie that leaves itself open for professional vilification.' I came to the film looking for the magic that others seem to obtain from it, but perhaps I came at it, instead, from the point of view of a critic.

I think perhaps the film suffered in my eyes from the fact that I first saw it at the age of 29 when most people might associate it with a much-watched and much viewed film that they have known for years.  In the same way, had I come to a film like Grease from my adult perspective now, I might criticise the example it sets that 'good girls' have to change into 'bad girls' to get the man they want and that men don't need to change.  As it is, I first discovered it at the age of 8, love the music and have watched it so many times that I can virtually quote every line.  As such, I cannot see through my view of it as an absolute classic film that reminds me of how much I loved it as a child.  I'm perfectly prepared to see that many probably have the same feelings about Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I didn't dislike the film, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to.

Growing my hair down to my elbows before I'm 30

I'll update this post as I go along my (probably slightly ambitious) quest to grow my hair down to my elbows.

Here's what it looks like on 11 July 2010:

Beating my 10km time at the Boutique Run in Battersea Park

Last night I ticked another item of my list and I'm quite proud of myself on this one.  I don't know quite how hot it was yesterday evening but I reckon between about 27 and 30 degrees. And in that heat, I ran 10km in a personal-best time of 1 hour 4 minutes and 11 seconds (my previous time was 1 hour 5 minutes something).

I was running at the Boutique Run - 'a new running and lifestyle event exclusively for women' in Battersea Park. The premise behind the run was that after challenging yourself to a run you could enjoy free champagne, free showers, and free pampering while dancing to cheesy music and generally having a good night out.  It sounded like a great idea so I signed up with four of my friends - Annabelle and Mihaela to run the 5km and myself, Kate and Ros to run the 10km.

Before the race, feeling a bit nervous

We were all quite nervous as we approached Battersea Park smothered in sun cream and bug spray.  I have never really run in the evening before, having done all my training in the early mornings and I struggle with getting a stitch sometimes and my knees can be a bit ropey.

I've done two 10km races before but this was by far the hardest physically and psyhcologically.  They kept reminding us to stay hydrated and were giving out water around the race which was good but I think I was still pretty dehydrated by the end.  The first 5km lap was actually harder than the second and I found it psychologically quite difficult to see a load of people running to the 5km finish line when I knew I still had half the race to go.  My legs felt heavier than they did when I trained, and I was gasping with thirst and feeling slightly queasy all the way round.

My friend Ros was in my sightline but slightly ahead of me throughout the race but around the 9km line I caught her up. She had a stopwatch on so we knew that we had passed 9km around 59 minutes and still had a chance of me beating my time.  Running that last kilometre together really helped us both, we pulled a bit of a sprint out of the bag for the last 100metres or so and we crossed the finish line together at 1.04.11.

As soon as I finished running my whole body felt really weird, like every muscle was contracting and after just sprinting quite fast, I suddenly couldn't move very fast at all, but I felt triumphant!  Despite the heat, I had beaten my time, it was a great feeling.

Unfortunately we weren't able to make much use of the facilities as we queued for too long for a shower (which we eventually gave up on) and the pampering sessions were all booked up but nevertheless we had a nice time. 

With Annabelle and Mihaela afterwards who had better luck in getting a shower and a change and hence look much more elegant than sweaty me!

The Boutique Run was really well organised and a great idea for an event, I'll definitely be trying for it again next year, and hopefully we'll time it better for the pampering.

I didn't feel great in the evening as I think I was pretty dehydrated despite all the water and my body temperature was a bit all over the place, so I'm taking it easy today but I still feel triumphant!

Well done to Kate (who got a fantastic 59 minutes and 55 seconds time), Ros (who kept me going the final lap) and to Mihaela and Annabelle (who both got great 5km times around 30 minutes and successfully completed their first ever races). I'm taking a week off running now and then starting to train slowly for the Royal Parks half marathon in October. Hopefully it'll be cooler then!

Chelsea Physic Garden

Yesterday I officially ticked the first item off my list - I went to Chelsea Physic Garden!  I had a day off from work because I had a lot of extra hours built up and had a really LOVELY day pottering around the shops and having lunch and visiting the garden.

My first impression was 'what a haven!'. The Physic Gardens are a lovely little spot right in the middle of bustling Chelsea and aside from anything else, a really lovely place to wander around, look at pretty flowers and relax, oh and visit the lovely tea room.

The brief history factsheet that they give you on the door told me that the gardens was founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries of London 'so that their apprentices could learn to grow medicinal plants and study their uses.'  It was originally built here because of the promixity to the river which meant that the climate was a bit milder and so they were able to grow plants there that might not otherwise have survived our harsh winters. 

I found the pharmaceutical beds particularly interesting and learnt a few things about the medicinal properties of some plants.  I didn't know, for instance, that some plants can be used for cardiology problems and I was interested in the dermatology section as well because of my eczema (they cited evening primrose oil as an example of something prescribed for eczema.

Mostly, I just really enjoyed wandering around in the calming atmosphere and in the sunshine (it was 30 degrees yesterday!) and reading bits and pieces of information about the plants.  My only slight disappointment is that I would have liked to know a bit more about each particular plant, for example how long this particular plant had been in the garden, and where it came from.

It was amazing to see things like pineapples growing in London!  I sat for a while in the lavender part of the History beds and scribbled some notes into my phone and took a few photos.

Then I went for a slice of orange and almond cake and an apple juice in the lovely café. They even offered me a choice of three apple juices - cox, russet and something else which I can't now remember. The cake was lovely and so was the juice (cox).  I think it would be nice to go back there sometime with family and have a proper lunch. There were lots of elegant Chelsea 'ladies who lunch' sitting on the white tables and  chairs under white umbrellas and it all looked very civilized!

This is just a quick post as I'm going to go and have a nap in a minute (I'm running a 10km race this evening and hopefully beating my time and hence ticking another item off my list).  As you might have realised from the photos though, I've now set up a Flickr account for this project so you can see more of my photos from the Chelsea Physic Garden there.

I'll blog tonight's race tomorrow or soon afterwards hopefully. Wish me luck!

30 things to do before I'm 30

Thanks for taking an interest in this blog. This is a personal project to do 30 things before I turn 30 on 3 June 2011.  These are either things I've been meaning to do for ages and haven't, or things that are challenges, or things that I'd like to do before I'm 30 because I might be less able for financial or other reasons to do them after I'm 30. You can read the list now on the right-hand side of this page.

Some things on the list are very easy to achieve but will nevertheless be interesting.  I, like a lot of Londoners, am guilty of not making the most of this amazing city that I live in.  For this reason, I hope that this list will help me to do that by giving me an incentive to visit a load of places and go to the opera and the ballet, all of which I've wanted to do for ages.  I'll try and blog about every visit and performance I go to so you can hear what I thought and maybe it'll encourage you to go and do the same things!

Some of them are a little silly and potentially outside my control - growing my hair to my elbows, for instance, may just be impossible as it seems to be growing pretty slowly! Some of them are real challenges. Controlling my eczema, digestive issues, positivity and stress levels will require huge amounts of will power. I've started to learn in the past 6 months or so that I can control a lot of my niggley problems including digestive issues, eczema and other skin problems, allergies, energy slumps and even knee problems, by following a very strict diet most of the time. This is easier to follow at some times than it is at others, but sticking with it for any length of time is a challenge (particularly avoiding chocolate, cake, biscuits, ice cream and cheese!), but so worth it when my eczema on my hands clears up completely without the helps of any medicine or scary steroid creams that thin your skin etc. I am also aware that my eczema and other problems are acutely linked to stress so I want to to work on being more positive and on trying to tackle the stress which I largely inflict on myself.

A few of the items are to do with self improvement.  I want to learn new creative skills to broaden my repertoire (I make jewellery and cards and do a bit of sewing and cross stitch).  I like to feel that I have a life outside of work as this helps me to remember to work to live rather than live to work (although I do find my job and the sector I work in interesting and stimulating).  Being creative is one aspect of this and maintaining an active lifestyle is another (more on this below).  Broadening my cultural horizons is also something that I want to concentrate on. 

I used be a really avid reader as a child and I read a considerable number of the classics when I was relatively young.  As I've got older though, other things have taken precedence and I miss the escapism I used to be able to get from a whole afternoon of just curling up with a really amazing book, not to mention how much I learnt about the world and the past through reading really good literature.  I hope that by reading 5 'classics' that I haven't read before I might broaden my horizons a little more.  I've selected my 5 classic films partly from ones that I've meant to watch for ages like Breakfast at Tiffany's but also from a selection that my 91-year old Grandma tells me she and my Grandad (who is sadly no longer with us) saw at the cinema together in the 1930s. 

Also, in the spirit of reviving past skills and loves, I desperately need to revivify my piano playing.  I achieved grade 8 in piano and flute around the age of 18 and whilst I still (rather badly) play flute in a concert band, my piano has now diminished to a woefully low level of rustiness so that I can barely play Chopsticks any more.  I spent 12 years, from the age of 6, really perfecting this skill and I can't bear the idea that this was all wasted so I want to refind the enjoyment I used to get from it by learning 3 new proper, difficult piano pieces.
One of the most important self-betterment items on that list, however, which I really hope I can manage to achieve is the point about writing a handwritten letter or card to someone I care about every week.  My close and extended family and my friends are an incredibly important part of my life and I want to show them how much I value them and try to be a good friend and relative to them, even when I'm busy.  In a world where the internet is everywhere (and I LOVE the fact that it is) I think the art of writing letters by hand is dying and yet the pleasure that can be derived from receiving post hasn't diminished so I hope I can repay my family and friends a little for their support, love and friendship by bringing one of them a little bit of pleasure each week.

You'll notice that there are quite a few running-related items on my list.  If anyone reading this doesn't know me, let me dispel any images of me as some kind of fitness freak.  Until 2 years ago I was an exercise-averse, horrifically unfit person who couldn't walk up stairs without getting very out of breath.  Since leaving secondary school I'd done very little regular exercise, and had let various well-intentioned gym memberships lapse.  In 2006 I ran a 5km Race for Life but the propsect beforehand made me really nervous because when I started to train I felt unable to run for more than 5 minutes (or even 2) without getting out of breath and having to stop.  I ran it very slowly in something like 45 minutes but this was a big achievement.  In 2008 I joined an organisation called Fit for a Princess which runs women-only outdoor workouts and bootcamps around the green spaces of South West London (and further afield now thanks to some recently established franchises).  We work out (very) early in the morning - from 6.15-7.15am - and lots of people think that I am completely crazy.  However, in the two years I've been doing it, I've found an exercise formula that really suits me, I enjoy it and I feel so much better.  It's also through FFAP that I've rediscovered running which was the only sport I was any good at at school.  I set myself a goal at the start of 2009 to see if I could run two 10kms last year, a half marathon this year and maybe, just maybe, the London marathon in 2011, just before I turn 30.  I promise you that this is a MASSIVE deal - at the moment I've never run further than 10km, and whilst I am a lot fitter than I was, I'm not one of those people who really is at the peak of their fitness.  And I'm really nervous about the training that would be required for the marathon, but it's good to set yourself really challenging goals I think.  I am running a 10km this coming Saturday, and have signed up to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October this year.  After that I'll think more seriously about whether the marathon is a possibility.

I hope you will join me in my journey to get these 30 things ticked off before 3 June next year and that enjoy reading about it all here.

Thanks for reading!