How did I spend Monday morning?

Not long ago, my answer to that question would have included trying not to fall asleep during Powerpoint presentations, or being told off by the boss for not stapling documents to her satisfaction. No more. Here were my bosses for the day:

Jessica in her newly cleaned hutch. Later on she and her mate, Roger, were snuggling happily together.

Tia.

Tia and her friend Nola, recovering from the indignity of being put into pet carriers while we cleaned their room. They rushed out with great relief and were soon settling in among their fresh hay.

This work does have the slight disadvantage of not paying anything (in fact, I'm paying Capel Manor for the privilege), but in another sense it's the most rewarding work I've ever done.

That's all for now. Tomorrow morning my boss will be Aristophanes.

From Flash Gordon to Eternal Flame

The building at 440-442 Alexandra Avenue in Rayners Lane has seen a lot. It started life as a beautiful Art Deco cinema in 1936. Altered over the years to suit changing tastes, it finally closed as a cinema in the 1980s, and for a time hosted a horrible theme bar where real aircraft were suspended from the ceilings. It then fell into disrepair entirely for several years, until in 2000 it was bought by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe and turned into the only European centre for Zoroastrian worship.

The Zoroastrian community have been a lot more conscientious than their predecessors in restoring the listed building to its original design. Today, as part of Open House London, we got to see the results of their work.





Yes, that's a bar. The Zoroastrians have no prohibition against drinking -- in fact, Cobra Beer was founded by a Zoroastrian.

The door in this picture opens on a flight of stairs leading to the old projection room, which now contains the "eternal flame" found in all Zoroastrian temples. We weren't allowed to go up there, but we did hear an interesting talk about the Zoroastrian faith. It seems like a pretty good-hearted religion; its followers focus on good deeds, believe in progress and see all faiths as coming from God. Zoroastrianism also grants women a relatively high level of equality. The speaker even claimed that the story of Portia in The Merchant of Venice was based on a Zoroastrian legend - except that in the original, the woman did not disguise herself as a man to argue in court, because she didn't need to. (I have to say, though, that I haven't found any scholarly confirmation of this theory.)

There are about 200,000 Zoroastrians in the world today, of whom about 5,000 live in Britain. They continue to face severe persecution in Iran and Central Asia.

A new direction

I've mused from time to time on this blog (most recently here) about what direction I wanted my life and career to take. Should I change jobs? Give up work to write full time? Go back to school?

Well, things have been brewing for a little while, and now I'm finally ready to announce my plans. Next week, I'll begin studying for a Subsidiary Diploma in Animal Management at Capel Manor College. I'll be going there two days a week, and in the evenings I'll also be finishing up my Creative Writing certificate at Birkbeck. (I've also signed up for an advanced Classical Greek class at City Lit, just because I've always wanted to take my Greek further.)

All this, of course, means I'm not working. This won't be a problem during the 15 months of my Capel Manor course, though I do plan to look for part-time work to fit round my studies. More to the point, I hope that once I have an animal care qualification, I'll be able to find a job working with wildlife. To gain some practical experience, I've started volunteering with the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum. We spent yesterday evening cleaning trash out of a pond where a little family of moorhens live.

If I can find a way to make a living out of my two great loves - nature and writing - then I will be very happy. I'm glad I've finally taken the first steps toward doing this, and I'm very excited about the future. I hope to start blogging more often and chronicle my journey.

Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril

This is the 110th anniversary of Toulouse-Lautrec's death, which makes it a good day to write about the Courtauld Gallery's current show devoted to his relationship with the Moulin Rouge dancer Jane Avril. (This is another one you'll have to be quick to see -- it closes on 18 September.)

Toulouse-Lautrec met Avril (real name: Jeanne Beaudon) in the 1880s, when both were in their 20s; she soon became a close friend of the artist and a frequent model. Both had already been through considerable sorrow. Toulouse-Lautrec's problems are well-known. Avril was abused as a child and spent a good part of her adolescence in an insane asylum, being treated for chorea. Some critics suggested that her illness contributed to the development of her eccentric, violent dance style.

Toulouse-Lautrec's portraits of Avril seem to focus on her inner suffering. In his pictures her face inevitably looks weary and prematurely old. Yet the exhibition also includes photographs and depictions by other artists, which show that Avril did not, in fact, look like this; her looks were slightly unconventional, but her face was youthful and pretty, and she is often shown smiling.

Like all the Courtauld exhibitions I've been to, this one was very well-done and thought-provoking. I did find myself wishing that I had a better idea of exactly how Avril had danced. Presumably no film was made of her, and though many pictures catch her in mid-step, I didn't really get a feeling for what the overall routine would look like.

Botanical art

You'll have to be quick to see the V & A's free show of botanical illustrations -- it closes on September 24 -- but it's well worth it. Actually, this exhibition has been on since February, but I only recently learned of it. In fact, the main criticism I have of the V & A is that it tends not to publicise its small, free exhibitions very well -- very little outside promotion, and no posters in the museum itself. Most people who have seen this show will probably have stumbled across it.

What they will have found is two rooms of beautiful art, spanning from 16th-century herbals to 20th-century seed packets. The show includes drawings, paintings, photographs and nature prints (in which an impression is made directly from the plant itself). Despite the buzz of museum visitors around me, I found walking through the exhibition very peaceful -- almost as good as visiting an actual garden.

Botanical art has traditionally been looked down upon as "mere" illustration, lacking the loftier goals of true art. And yet it seems to me that creating (and, to a lesser extent, even looking at) a botanical illustration could be viewed as an act of contemplation. Isn't there something profound about paying such close attention to a single fruit of the earth?

Prom 61

Both the Royal Albert Hall and I have seen some big events since Wednesday night, but I figured you'd still like to hear about Yo-Yo Ma's performance. He and the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Graham Fitkin's new Cello Concerto. Fitkin composed this piece with Yo-Yo in mind, and it showed. The long, subtle tones of the solos could have become dull in a lesser cellist's hands, but Yo-Yo made them tender and expressive. The orchestra gradually filled the background like mille-fleurs, then became louder and more insistent until it almost seemed to be competing with the cello; then it faded away again, and the piece seemed to return to the beginning.

I enjoyed the piece, but it was the curtain call that really made my night. Fitkin came on stage to get a big hug from Ma, who also presented him with a red yo-yo. The pair managed to knock over a music stand in their excitement.

The second half was Beethoven's Ninth, about which I really don't have anything new to say. The orchestra's performance was not electrifying, but the BBC Symphony Chorus and the Philharmonia Chorus gave the audience what they were waiting for in the Ode to Joy.