YouTube Milestones

Last month my YouTube Channel hit a couple of milestones - a total of 10,000 views (now 10,796), and one video 'Whitchurch' with 1,000 views (now 1,036). When I started the Channel in January 2017 I had no long-term vision for it. 

 In my naivety I supposed that as long as I added a video to my Channel, the videos would be seen. To some degree I was right, but only to a small extent. That changed dramatically in 2019 when I sent the link of one video 'Whitchurch' to Mel, the manager of the place I had been staying in Wem, Shropshire. She said "Would you mind if I sent this to the people of Whitchurch to view?". Was she a type of Town Crier? 

In a way she was. She posted the video to the Friends of Whitchurch Shropshire facebook page, and the viewing figures for that video immediately skyrocketed. Well, skyrocketed in a way small skyrockets rock. Skyrockets come in different forms. According to one list 'Baby Shark Dance' is the most viewed video on YouTube with 8,126,261,340 views that includes the interesting statistic that 11M didn't like it. I haven't got any problems like that. I don't think I'll be changing my style. 

YouTube must have thought for 'Whitchurch' 'Barrie never has viewing figures like this', and promptly discarded many of the views. But the happy story is that the views climbed back up again, to the current position. So, turning to 'Whitchurch' - it was of course one of my 'places' video. I have also made 'song' videos, 'buskers' videos (so far only in Cambridge, UK) and some others. I didn't set out to make videos to any pattern, it's just the way it's turned out. Music is an integral part of all my videos so far. The first it seemed, just naturally got licenses. Then I had a few where I was refused permission to use the music. It wasn't 'personal' - it just felt like it. 

By the time I was about to seek permission for 'Whitchurch' there was a YouTube permissions list. I wanted to use Eva Cassidy's version of 'True Colors'. I wanted that version because Eva had such wonderful intonation, phrasing and style, and he also had a talented band that supported her. It wasn't to be, and surprisingly as I thought I wouldn't be able to get permission for Cyndi Lauper's version, I did. Try this: turn Cyndi's version off, and listen to Eva's, see what works better for you. 

 So, sometimes I've taken Mel's example, and joined facebook Pages, and posted the relevant video to the Page. Generally it makes sense, with an audience that is a focussed Group.

Remembering Mum (Lore Gordon)

A few weeks ago, it suddenly struck me that this would be the first Christmas without Mum. That was even more weirdness, after her death from Covid-19 at the end of March.

In March 2005 Mum, Margaret and I went to see the operetta 'Die Fledermaus' at the Volksoper in Vienna. It was very good. Here is Mum on a tram on that visit. 'Die Fledermaus' was on Mum's Bucket List, although I think there were no buckets at that time, just a list.

Many years before - probably before I started Primary School in Bromley - Mum and I left the house, walked down Tweedy Road, turned left into London Road, and at the Swan & Mitre pub we turned right, down Beckenham Lane. Quite a steep windy hill. We walked maybe 200 yards down the hill, and turned left into the wall or so it seemed. But it was a secret passage (that's what I thought!) and we climbed the steps higher and higher, until we burst into some magical world (come on, I was young!) which turned out to be Martin's Hill, with Queen's Mead at the bottom. This wasn't simply 'going to the park'. To the right on the hill it looked like Monet's 'The Poppy Field near Argenteuil', at least I would often think so later. (Sledging would also happen in that area most of the early years). There were lines of robust large trees. Between the hill and the mead was a narrow river (the Ravensbourne) which in those days you could go to the water's edge (it was later culverted). From the hill you could look out to all of Bromley, or so it appeared. And then the piece de resistance was the playground on the other side of the river. I think it was quite basic - a roundabout, I'm not sure what else, but it was great (an expanded playground was later repositioned back over the river towards the hill). And so on.

About 3/4 years ago I was back in Bromley, walking down London Road and I suddenly thought 'why did we go down the hill by the Swan & Mitre, to go up the hill?! We could have passed the pub towards town, gone past the Odeon cinema on the right, and the Astor cinema on the left (diagonally opposite each other). On towards the Market Square, up right along Church Road to the iron gates at Martin's Hill and the War Memorial inside. Easy, on the flat, no hills, no frills. So why didn't we do that?

It's obvious really - it wouldn't have been anywhere as much fun. And Mum was the perfect guide then, and always. Thoughtful, funny, kind, clever, serious when she needed to be, fair and much more.

So many memories of Mum. Missing you this Christmas, and missing you anyway. Thinking of you. Thanks for who you were, and what you did.

(Originally published on Facebook 24 December 2020)

Lore Gordon (1923 - 2020) From Wuppertal, Germany to Bromley, England

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52SiBiduBo

Mum was British through and through, but her origins weren't. The video is of her original home city in Wuppertal in Germany - and specifically of the iconic suspension railway/monorail/floating tram Wuppertaler Schwebebahn which runs over the river Wupper, and roads. It was established in 1901.

I'm not going to say much, as luckily Mum did an interview at the Imperial War Museum (IWM), London in 2007 which produced a 90 minute audio only recording, divided into 3 reels. You can hear it via Mum's Guardian newspaper obituary (https://www.theguardian.com/…/tributes-paid-to-woman-who-es…), published last week. In addition the IWM has a photo of her rucksack that she carried on the journey from Germany, that is mentioned in the interview - here under her maiden name Lore Heimann. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30083397

Art School and internment on the Isle of Man: From the audio interview, Reel 2, Mum says:"Now, I made one friend at the Art School (https://staringoutofthewindowdaydreaming.blogspot.com/searc…), also a refugee girl whose my 'twin' - we share a birthday - she lives in America now. She's as little as I am big, and we have the same date of birth and everything ... "

The new friend was Bertel, and she grew up in Leipzig, and travelled on a Kindertransport. Both Mum and Bertel were interned on the Isle of Man.

At the end of the war Bertel signed on with the US army as a translator and got back to Germany but not Leipzig since it was in the eastern zone. She met her husband there. He went home in 1946 and Bertel got to the US in February of 1947. Mum and Bertel remained friends all their lives. (Thanks to Bertel's daughter Alice Hertz Marable for helping with this story).

My son Joe (Mum's grandson) takes up this much later story! Joe knew her as 'Oma' - German for grandmother."I was a teacher at Townley Grammar School, Bexleyheath, England, and sometime around 10/11 years ago Oma came to talk, to the whole of Year 10 about her personal experiences of living through the Holocaust and coming to England via the Kindertransport.

She talked without notes for an hour and then responded to student questions for another hour. The talks were organised jointly by the Religious Studies and History departments; however, many teachers from across the school also chose to attend. Oma was a fantastic public speaker, who really connected on a personal level with the girls – who were around the age she had been when she’d taken the Kindertransport – as she leapt from story to story. The girls were in awe of her positivity, compassion, resilience, and wisdom. Here are some examples of Lore’s responses to questions" -

“How important is the Holocaust in your life?”
“I suppose it changed my life completely. I try to live my life from day to day. I don’t feel sorry for myself or anything like that.”

“Did you know how bad it was going to get?”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t think people could imagine.”

“Were you scared on the Kindertransport train?”
“I think that I was apprehensive but not stressed or scared. You’re very resilient when you’re 16. Life is still an adventure, isn’t it?”

“What was it like when your classmates did things like Hitler salutes?”
“Well, assemblies always ended with a Hitler salute and I was determined not to do one. But you know what it’s like, everybody wants to be like their friends, don’t they? But I wouldn’t. I refused. To this day I will not stop a bus with my right hand.”

“How can you be so positive when you’ve seen what you’ve seen?”
“I had a very happy childhood. I had a wonderful family. And somehow you make it through … I have a friend who suffered in Auschwitz. She said, ‘The things we experienced: for character-building there is no equal.’ It hardens you. I was lucky."

“What were your experiences of going to a school in England? Did you experience anti-Semitism or people treating you differently because you were German?”
“No. I attended a school as a visitor and the girls were lovely. They taught me the Lambeth walk, because that was all the rage. They were so kind and lovely.”

“What did you do when you heard the war ended?”
“My husband and I danced all the way down the Mall to Buckingham Palace!”

“Did you go back to live in Germany?”
“It never occurred to me to go back, because I was happy here and people were kind.”

“What can we learn about ourselves as human beings from the Holocaust?”
“I think basically to respect each other, to be helpful and kind, I think… To avoid aggressiveness.”

“Do you think it’s important we keep learning about the Holocaust?”
“Oh I do, I think it’s very important, even just as a warning that things like that must not happen again.”

Lore Gordon (1923 - 2020)

My dear Mum, died on Tuesday 31 March 2020 in hospital in Bromley, Kent, following a short illness after catching Covid-19 (Coronavirus). She was 96, just over two months from her 97th.

For the last four years she has been living in two homes. The first was for over 3 years at Elmstead Care Home, Chislehurst (a residential home), and over 6 months at Sundridge Court, Sundridge Park (a nursing home). I want to thank both homes for looking after Mum so well. Thanks as well, to my sister Margaret for finding both homes, with help on the second from friends at the Elmstead home.

Mum was kind and thoughtful. Funny and wise. She wasn't passive - she was going to do something about it - whatever the it was! She was always supportive, always 'there'. Mum also liked to laugh - understatement. She laughed at any opportunity!

One day, probably when I was 17, Mum was going away for a few days. She called me into the sitting room (lounge) and we sat opposite each other, and the exchange went:
Mum: Are you ready?
Me: For what?
Mum: You're coming with me
and where we were going was Paris, for an extended weekend I think, meeting friends who lived there, and exploring the city. She hadn't said a thing, and I had no idea this was going to happen, a perfect surprise and I think it was to mark me having finished school. All very exciting.

Then we jump a bit. Catie and I were starting out, and my parents offered us a part of the house to rent, which we accepted! We had two large rooms, and shared facilities, including spending time with Mum and Dad. Also watching television with them, or on our own. We paid rent. At the end of the time we were there, possibly one and a half years (where we left to live in our first house) they paid most, if not all, back to us! They said it was just that they wanted us to get the hang of saving. That was another big secret.

As time went on, Mum started to bubble up with excitement about secrets, and most times let the cat out of the bag!

I hope to write one or two more posts at some point.

(First published on Facebook 3 April 2020)

Light reflections on Jenny

It's now a year since Jenny died (see post 'Jenny hurtled into the past tense' 1 November 2018)
Time to reflect on some of the many lighter moments.

AGE
I had a little bit of difficulty with our age difference at first.
The conversation went something like this:
Jenny: (encouragingly) Brigitte Macron is 24 years older than Emmanuel Macron.
Barrie: Yes, but he's President of France.
After I called her my girlfriend. Jenny: at no stretch of the imagination can I be called a 'girl'.
Barrie: but that's what people say at any age - girlfriend or boyfriend.
Jenny: but I'm 77 and you're 62.
Jenny: we're 15 years apart.
Barrie: sometimes 14.
Jenny: you mean we're 14 3/4 apart?
Barrie: no, sometimes it's 14, sometimes 15. We get a year off for good behaviour (or not).

RELIGION
Jenny liked it that I was Jewish. So the conversation went something like this:
Barrie: but I'm not really Jewish. It's true that I have Judeo Christian origins, but for several years I've been an atheist.
Jenny: you know the Jews wandered in the desert for thousands of years?
Barrie: I've been to Camber Sands - it was windy there, and sand got into my eyes. Does that count?
I never did get an answer. Just a huff.

MUSIC.

Jenny only liked Classical Music. Or that's what I thought. BBC Radio 3, CD's etc. Top of her list it seemed was Mr Hyphenated or alternatively Mr Double-Barrel. I just called him that because I couldn't remember his name. In reality he was the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. I tried my best, but I never managed Dietrich.

Gradually it became apparent that she liked some non-Classical music too, and that interest went back years. I think she had heard Kraftwerk's 'Pocket Calculator' when she was a Maths Teacher - you can see the attraction for her with that title alone. She also liked their 'Autobahn'. I added 'The Model' and 'Computer Love' to the mix, but I think the Calculator had it. She liked The Beatles, particularly the earlier ones like 'Norwegian Wood' and 'And I love her'. Buddy Holly 'It doesn't matter anymore'. She really liked Jilted John's 'Gordon is a moron' - what a gem of a lyric - we laughed a lot at that. The Smiths 'There's a light that never goes out'. I think I introduced her to The Pogues 'Dirty old town'. There was Traffic's 'Hole in my shoe' she had heard many years before.

Jenny was very encouraging about the slideshows and videos I made, and put on my YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC91CicOwQSJxn9bmsHdSl1w/videos?disable_polymer=1

She loved an early short video (actually a slideshow) called 'Outdoors', which I think was made prior to having my Channel. She said that she saw it over and over again. I think I made it as a test to see how quickly it could be made, and to include music. I only put it on my Channel when she had died.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgr0Ja2wCrE

The videos all have music so far. One was 'Melton Mowbray' - nothing controversial so far, you might think -  but I didn't get permission to use the song in the video - Neil Young's version of 'Four strong winds' (the Ian Tyson song). That was the first time I'd had any music rejected. I replaced it with a song by the Decemberists - but Jenny hung on to the original file I had sent her on an email. That song remained a favourite of hers till the end.

Then there were The Kinks. She really loved a lot of it. Here is Ray Davies at Glastonbury 2010

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuSIDsWm-YQ

ART

Jenny was a good artist. She liked to go to two art classes a week, one for life drawing, and the other for a variety of styles. Here's a drawing, with a self deprecating comment!

Jenny hurtled into the past tense.

In my head I’ve written this several times. I have written a draft for my blog, but it’s not finished. It doesn’t matter how it’s written, it always ends the same way.

The photo is of my partner, Jenny, when we were in Battle - actually we were staying in Eastbourne, both of these places are in Sussex. It was mid April this year. We were enjoying the holiday. Her craving for ‘ready’ green leaf salads probably started before we got to Eastbourne. We might be going somewhere, and she’d say ‘we’ve got to get green leafy first’. There was an urgency about it, but we also had a laugh about it. I think she said she’d never had a craving before.

In June the stomach aches started, and then a whole lot more. Tests and more tests. Blood tests, MRI, CT Scan, Colonoscopy and so on. Back and forth to GP and hospital. Diagnosed with bowel cancer in July. By that time we realised the cancer was stealing her iron, so that’s why she needed her ‘green leafy’. Then in August we found out the cancer had extended to other organs. Only palliative care now, as the cancer was terminal. Then a further complication, and her ‘life expectancy’ dropped dramatically to just a few days. She died 1 September 2018 in a hospice.

My thoughts are with Jenny. I know there are many who are trying to come to terms with her death.

Many thanks to family and friends of both of us, to the NHS, and to the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity in Cambridge.

(Originally posted to my Facebook page 8 October 2018) 

"Somebody called me Sebastian"

Recently I heard the name Sebastian again, and on this occasion was transported back 40+ years to the 1970's - listening to a small radio under the bedsheets in the middle of the night so that others in the house wouldn't be disturbed, but also so that I could hear the amazing new sounds being beamed in! Coming from Radio Luxembourg or Radio Caroline perhaps? Radio Luxembourg broadcasting from mainland Europe, Radio Caroline from a ship rocking on the high seas. Beautiful songs, some maybe challenging. Songs that were getting longer! More expansive. Songs that were colourful, melodramatic. There was Traffic - 'The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys' - nearly 12 minutes long in it's original form on the self-titled album, Sparks - 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us', Jethro Tull - 'Locomotive Breath'. Terms like progressive rock, underground music, jazz-rock were coming in.

Then there was this really weird and wonderful one called 'Sebastian' by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. It probably helped that Radio Caroline would come through in waves, and with Radio Luxembourg possibly similarly. Eerie, in and out of poetic oddness, an odd song.

So now we have the internet. Hooray! Trawling YouTube there are two versions, among many by Steve and band, which are brilliant. First, a recording from 2011 in Oslo, Norway:

and the second, from the Isle of Wight Festival 2004:

My YouTube Channel: Barrie Gordon