The Pig Yard

February 2012

House Project

There has been some discussion between all the participants as to whether we needed an architect because at one time we believed Potton, the timber frame supplier, would hand hold us all the way through to the point of handing over the keys. It turns out that due to the recession in the building trade their internal resources are no longer available. We’ve all agreed to use an architectural practice based in Cleethorpes called Hodsons. These are the same architects who obtained the original planning permission on the site we’re buying. We look forward to working with them to produce designs that fit our different requirements and to make best use of the site.

Tony & Jude Visit

Our friends Tony & Jude were in Northamptonshire so we arranged to join them on a cultural visit to London. We had time to catch up on the train down and then after a coffee we split up with them going to the Lucien Freud exhibition whilst we tried to get into the London Aquarium however because it was half term the queues were too long so we enjoyed a stroll along the embankment and then meandered through the city until we found ourselves at the Royal Academy of Art and meeting Tony & Jude for lunch in the RA restaurant – very swish too.

After wandering around the Hockney exhibition we walked down to the South Bank for an early dinner in a restaurant overlooking the river. Unfortunately we couldn't get on the same train back because our cheap tickets were for a specific train and so we had to wait an hour at Euston.

Chris Addison at the Derngate

We went to see Chris Addison (Mock the Week) this month. We arrived at the venue with ten minutes to spare only to be told the time on the ticket was wrong and we had to wait for over twenty minutes before being allowed in to take our seats, not a good start. Thankfully Chris Addison came on and announced that he was his own warm up so we were in for quite a night. In the first half he appeared to be overdosing on adrenalin with some of his humorous comments being lost in asides to himself. He lived up to his reputation of being a middle class comedian who takes the piss out of his own class and hates the coalition government with a vengeance. Such phrases as – “I hate the Tories, they are scum” shortly after chastising Cameron for his sexism and suggesting he’s worse than the cartoon stereotype of Silvio Berlusconi who, nudge, nudge “genuinely tried to get young people into politics.” He muses on the recent riots and likens the TV coverage to a new drama series, filmed over three nights and featuring different cities, cleverly poking fun at his own middle class views and perceptions. Chris links each of his themes together in a way that often appears chaotic and unscripted, interspersed with moments of giggling at his own comments. It seems he has rambled off into a completely unrelated topic, and you can wonder where this is going, but he always draws the strands together and delivers on the punch line.

If there’s one criticism that is that he kept balancing his acerbic wit with a softening tale, an example would be his decrying of the Royal Family only to then say how much he enjoyed the humour displayed by Prince Philip. His material shows a great comic and observational talent, so that even when he is saying things that are controversial, the audience can’t help but laugh and to some extent agree with his views. He then goes on to discuss how views are often established whilst very young and cemented in by the choice of paper or media you decide to read or listen too. The message is profound and delivered in a charming style often poking fun at himself and his beliefs.