Jacquetta http://www.jacquetta.net/ Jacquetta Megarry - publisher, author, photographer, adventurous grandmother en Copyright 2008 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:14:00 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Touching base, between trips Casa del Sole, Camaiore, this was a chance to see Italy afresh through the eyes of two-year-old grand-daughter Amy and daughter Helen. Keir and I (Il nono and La nona) enjoyed a different perspective. Yes we went to the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, but we also visited the Pinocchio Park (and the superb gardens of the Villa Ganzoni also in Collodi), the zoo at Pistoia, the play park in Camaiore and cycled around the walls of Lucca pulling Amy in her chariot. Considering that Keir was about the only person I knew at Cambridge who couldn't manage a bicycle, I thought it was remarkable that we all survived the Lucca walls without injury, and although the puddles spattered poor Amy she didn’t seem to mind at all. We all climbed to the very top of La Rocca in San Miniato for a great view over the town. The only downside of all this is that I have to leave home tomorrow morning at 0415 for my return trip to Kili. Were it not for the necessity of swapping Italian holiday clothes for high-altitude trek gear, it's barely worth returning to Landrick from Edinburgh airport. The trouble is that all that pasta and vino rosso has added to the task, and there was really no chance to do any training … I’ve always believed (hoped?) that the most important organ for trekking at altitude is your brain (rather than heart, lungs or legs) but I hadn’t expected to have to put this theory to such a severe test! The Lemosho route I’m trying this time at least has a long approach, but it joins the strenuous, scrambling Machame route. Although I’ve done Machame before, at the time I was an important 8 years younger, several kilos lighter in weight and much fitter. Still, if this ill-prepared pensioner can summit once more, it will prove that anybody can. So I have no small misgivings, despite the usual pleasant sense of anticipation of any long-haul adventure. I love Tanzania, I am still fascinated by the world’s highest free-standing mountain, and I’m hoping to bring back many and much better photos. I’m taking my new Leica-lensed digital camera and hoping that I’m far enough up its learning curve to dodge many of the mistakes I’ve made before. I look back with embarrassment to my 1999 attempts, taken with a borrowed APS camera(!) This pre-dated the formation of Rucksack Readers and was chosen purely because it was very light, at a time when I was most uncertain if I could carry weight at altitude! ]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/touching_base_between_trips.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/touching_base_between_trips.html Kilimanjaro Rucksack Readers personal Amy Kilimanjaro Lemosho photography Tuscany Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:14:00 +0000 40 years of marriage - all to the same man ... Chairman of Tapestry and still a leading light on the Scottish educational scene. He's come a long way since the idealistic 20-year old student who married me on the last day of our last term at Cambridge University. I'm glad to say he is still idealistic, in a good way. And over 40 years of being seldom apart, he has always been, and ever will be, my best friend, as well as cherished husband. I believe we have helped each other to be true to ourselves, to keep on growing, questioning and exploring. Our dearest friends Celia and Sheila had laid on a wonderful barbecue in their beautiful garden near Loch Lomond to help us to celebrate. Food and drink taste so much better in the outdoors, especially surrounded by family and close friends in a beautiful setting:groupLunch%201.jpg Daughter Helen had her camera along and captured the lovely flowers we'd just been given. Grand-daughter Amy was there too, capturing hearts, minds and limelight. Her Uncle Sandy is brilliant with her: it's a pleasure just to watch them interacting. And our dear dog Bramble was included, so the whole family was together: what a lovely day we had.7June2008%201.jpg sandy%2Bamy%201.jpg]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/40_years_of_marriage_to_the_sa.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/40_years_of_marriage_to_the_sa.html personal anniversary Cambridge University family Keir Bloomer Tapestry Partnership Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:20:33 +0000 Nigel is 60 Differences in Demolitions. Michael Popper performed an extraordinarily moving dance (to Bach/Busoni) without ever moving his feet and Ruaraidh, Nigel's young son, played piano and guitar for his dad. The formal part ended with Sevdah songs from Teo Krilic and friends, with lots of audience participation and scarcely a dry eye in the house. The party afterwards probably went on all night, but Keir and I had to come away, returning to Dunblane inspired and humbled by all that talent. Respect, Nigel, and remember that life begins at 60 ... from one who knows!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/nigel_is_60_1.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/06/nigel_is_60_1.html Tapestry personal Nigel Osborne Tapestry Partnership Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:03:19 +0000 A truly great thinker Tapestry Partnership event Learning and teaching and all that jazz. I had heard great things about the day before, when Nigel Osborne had masterminded the performance of 1000 Scottish primary children with Beats from Brazil and the Tapestry Jazz Radio Orchestra. But on Friday, I had two incentives: one was to hear Jerome Bruner, whose thinking I have admired for 40 years, and the other was a dinner in his honour at the Hotel du Vin (1, Devonshire Gardens). In 1969 while studying for a Master in Education at Glasgow University, I first heard the Bruner hypothesis, that
Any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development.
This bold claim has been the subject of ill-informed ridicule by people who think it's obvious that you can't teach calculus to a young child. But a very young child on a swing can experience acceleration and slowing-down, and may feel how the rate of change varies at different parts of the arc ... If so, he or she is well on the way toward an enactive understanding of calculus. Combined with Bruner's powerful notion of the spiral curriculum, in which children revisit subjects while moving from enactive to iconic to symbolic levels, this challenges the lamentable dumbing-down which results from underestimating what and how children can learn. Bruner.jpg It was a pleasant surprise to hear that a man who had risen to fame in the post-Sputnik era was still alive, let alone able to travel to Glasgow and perform in public. Yesterday he held 800 teachers and others spellbound. He was not merely "amazing for a man in his 93rd year", he was simply amazing. Lucid, articulate and able to draw on a long, rich lifetime of experience, this was no routine lecture. Bruner (unlike many other Tapestry lecturers) had found out a great deal about Scottish education, had related his message to the Curriculum for Excellence and was confident enough to depart from his script. He had that remarkable knack of engaging with his audience, who rewarded him with a well-earned (but unprecedented) standing ovation. And over dinner, I was lucky enough to be in conversation with this erudite, modest and charming man. I made the most of it. Here was my chance to ask about his journey from Harvard to take up his Chair at Oxford: he had skippered his 42-foot yacht across the Atlantic to take up this post, as you do, he explained, because shifting it by other means would have cost a silly price! He seemed to be enjoying his stay in Glasgow, having gone to Nigel Osborne's opera Differences in Demolitions the previous night, and fitted in a visit to Kelvingrove Art Gallery that afternoon. He kindly signed my copy of The Process of Education. This highly collectable book will never be up for auction on eBay, at least not in my lifetime!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/05/a_truly_great_thinker.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/05/a_truly_great_thinker.html Tapestry personal Bruner hypothesis Jerome Bruner Nigel Osborne Tapestry Partnership Sat, 31 May 2008 18:17:19 +0000 London Book Fair 13-16 April Rucksack Readers leaflet without its US dollar prices at the request of our European distributor for just this reason. Worse still, we've just realised that booksellers are buying direct from Amazon.com so as to undercut prices further. One of the bizarre by-products of globalisation (combined with the number of book trade middlemen working for narrow margins) is that many of our books are now crossing the Atlantic twice before being sold at a discount via Marketplace on Amazon.co.uk. Added to the 6000 miles they travel to reach us from our printer in Hong Kong, they are doing high mileages before they start. The customer who buys on UK Marketplace has no idea of this: the booksellers themselves claim "dispatched from the UK" – which is true only after they've completed their 12,000 miles! And in case you're wondering why books appear on Marketplace at daft prices like £0.01, it's because the seller still gets £2.75 p&p and the seller minimises what they pay to Amazon in fees. So if you can find what you're looking for on Marketplace, as a consumer you may win (but remember to add on the £2.75 before deciding if it's really a bargain). The dollar price conversation didn't really happen at Book Fair because I discovered something even more interesting from our US distributors, Interlink Publishing: its President, Michel and his partner Hildi are interested in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. My own book Explore Mount Kilimanjaro is in its third edition, but I had been half-thinking of returning to check out a fourth approach route from the west (Lemosho) for a new version. The idea seemed both tempting (the chance to refresh photographs, update the other routes and experience Lemosho for myself) and scary (what if I'm already past it? how will I remain credible? do I really need to go through all that again?). However, fired by Michel's enthusiasm I'm in the process of booking up through Harry Kikstra's www.7summits.com website. We'll probably go in June.]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/04/london_book_fair_1316_april.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/04/london_book_fair_1316_april.html Kilimanjaro Rucksack Readers globalisation Interlink Publishing Kilimanjaro Rucksack Readers Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:11:57 +0000 Birthdays are brilliant Experience Ecosse, his gift voucher website, has to offer. My resourceful daughter and amazing grand-daughter gave me thoughtful, personal and feminine presents. And my endlessly creative husband has given me a voucher for a Mystery Trip in late March: so far I don't even know which continent, only the dates ... more idc. But I'm hoping that the stunning book of David Doubilet photos is a hint that there'll be some diving ... And the following Sunday, when I didn't think it could get any better, there was this truly wonderful party for grand-daughter Amy's second birthday. About 7 toddlers and 11 assorted adults all gathered in daughter Helen's flat, and had a ball for a couple of hours. Despite what they say about the Terrible Twos there were surprisingly few tears or tantrums, and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. I'll never forget Amy blowing out the candle on Sheila's and Celia's incredible birthday cake:P1070101.jpg Tomorrow I'm off to the Independent Publishers Guild conference in Brighton, which usually makes me feel more like a publisher again. Hope it still works this year! ]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/03/birthdays_are_brilliant.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/03/birthdays_are_brilliant.html personal Amy birthday Experience Ecosse Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:23:15 +0000 On becoming a pensioner Sheriffmuir Inn, my favourite watering-hole near the site of the battle. It's a pub I've been walking to with dogs for over ten years, and we'll walk both ways today. I don't, however, feel a day older and am getting fed up with the way officialdom has started to talk to me as if all pensioners are doddering, pathetic or faintly imbecile. TransportScotland tells you its bus pass is for "older and disabled people": older than whom? And don't they mean "or" and not "and"? Various letters have been arriving from schemes into which I paid trivial sums many decades ago (having turned self-employed when I was 30) demanding obscure choices to be made, screeching "you are retiring in X days": wrong, I'm not. Actually I've no intention of retiring now, nor in 5 years' time, nor perhaps at all unless my health breaks down. My father finalised his last book when he was 95 years old, and I'm enormously proud of that. I really love my job, and as long as people go on using our guidebooks I intend to continue publishing them. I suppose I ought to apply for the bus pass and I shall definitely spend any "pension" windfalls (probably on diving kit or a new digital camera). But please, no more talk of retirement as if it's axiomatic. I'm off to Ireland tomorrow to check out changes to the Wicklow Way, one of several new titles we'll be announcing this year: much more fun than retiring. Rant over!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/02/on_becoming_a_pensioner.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2008/02/on_becoming_a_pensioner.html Rucksack Readers personal retirement Sheriffmuir Inn Wicklow Way Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:48:06 +0000 Recycling, resurrection and rejoicing next Rucksack Reader at a printout-demanding stage. On Wednesday it arrived, and thanks to the simplicity of Mac, it was unpacked, installed and working inside 10 minutes ... and then I became uneasy about the landfill angle. Having recently installed a new, full cartridge in the old Apple printer, I thought I'd offer it back to the lovely people at Supercharge who have been providing my refills all these years. Bill McCormick sounded kindly, but amused. Seems I'm the last customer they have left using this antiquated printer. Oh well, it was worth asking. Before saying goodbye, however, I mentioned that felt from the fixing roller cleaner had wrapped itself around the roller, could that have caused a problem? Like Bob, he thought that impossible, but said it should work without one. So I tried removing it anyway, reconnected everything and was stunned when it sprang into life again: does this presage another 18 years?? So I phoned Bill again, whom I've never met, but who now seems more like a friend than a supplier. He has promised to send free replacement cleaners, and actually seemed happy about the renaissance. Perhaps he thinks we may go for the Guinness Book of Records. So obviously I'll go on buying cartridge refills from him. And after a slight struggle with temptation, I am keeping the elderly Apple printer and letting my husband have the superlative new Epson. OK, the Apple hasn't got anything like the resolution, but for long-service it surely deserves some loyalty. How many Windows users can be using the same printer as 18 years ago? So my printer is not dead, but resurrected, and recycling has paid off with a knowledge of its innards that I woudn't otherwise have gained. And as for saving the printer after experts thought it was fit only for landfill, I am astounded, but I rejoice.]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/11/recycling_resurrection_and_rej.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/11/recycling_resurrection_and_rej.html Rucksack Readers personal Apple Mac recycling Rucksack Readers Supercharge Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:00:05 +0000 Deeply chilled on St Lucia Explore the Inca Trail. Six years on, I am (escapist, perhaps) relieved to be away from television, newspapers and anniversary reminiscences. Like the images of floral tributes, I'm not sure that all that stuff helps us to learn, to regroup and to move on. Before leaving Scotland, I mentioned to a friend the forthcoming diving on St Lucia , and got a weird "Jetta, don't you ever just chill?" kind of reaction. But I've never known such depths of relaxation as when diving. Today's dive featured a large, friendly turtle, maybe one-metre across, on the wreck of the very photogenic Lesleen M at 21 metres depth (and the water so warm I don't need a wet suit). I'm diving with Island Divers, who combine sea-level relaxation with deep-water professionalism: highly recommended. Can there be anything more deeply chilled-out than swimming with a turtle, stroking a turtle, not even trying to keep up with a turtle? On arrival in St Lucia, my watch battery packed up. Soon after, I noticed that my travel alarm battery had also succumbed. I already knew that my dive computer battery was sinking too low to be viable (so I borrowed a depth gauge from Island Divers). At home, all this time-uncertainty would have driven me demented, but in St Lucia it simply didn't matter. And the village resort Ti Kaye was just wonderful: once you've stayed there, you'll never want to take a shower indoors again!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/09/deeply_chilled_on_st_lucia_1.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/09/deeply_chilled_on_st_lucia_1.html diving personal 9/11 diving holidays St Lucia Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:07:37 +0000 A touch of greatness: Alfred Brendel play the previous evening in this very place, so were not too overawed to mumble something about how much we had enjoyed his concert, only to be told, in his self-deprecating way, that it wasn't a terribly daring programme. (It had been a masterly performance of Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart piano sonatas, plus two Schubert impromptus.) Now you don't want to impose on the world's most famous living pianist, especially not in a programme queue, but we couldn't quite let that pass. Only at the Edinburgh Festival does this kind of encounter take place!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/a_touch_of_greatness_alfred_br.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/a_touch_of_greatness_alfred_br.html personal Alfred Brendel Edinburgh Festival Jordi Savall Monteverdi's Vespers Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:24:30 +0000 Lunch with a composer Nigel Osborne was in good company, musically speaking, and the audience obviously liked the fact that the composer was not only present, but also shook hands with the performers. Even better, because husband Keir works with Nigel Osborne through the Tapestry Partnership, we had lunch with him in a nearby restaurant, so I got to ask him the questions that had been building up in my head. The conversation ranged widely over Balkan history, James Joyce, his pioneering work in music therapy for child victims of war, his music school in Austria, the Robert Winston conference in Glasgow in September and a dozen other topics. He speaks about a dozen foreign languages more fluently than I'll ever speak a single one, and if he weren't such a modest chap, I'd almost resent so much musical and linguistic talent in just one person. After lunch, we went to some Fringe theatre, and finally to On Danse, the most eclectic and athletic dance programme I've ever seen. Montalvo-Hervieu is a blazingly creative Spanish-French partnership, and their company marries creative video animations and multi-talented live dancers in an improbable but brilliant fusion. Hip-hop, classical ballet, break-dancing and trampolining all blend in this choreography, to a background of music by Rameau. The playful computer-based morphing and antics of the animals made us laugh out loud at times, with elephants pirouetting on tightropes and storks doing gymnastics. There was a subtle and surreal interplay between the live dancers and their filmed (naked) selves, via the catwalk, halfway up the massive upstage screen. It was utterly different from any other ballet.]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/lunch_with_a_composer_1.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/lunch_with_a_composer_1.html personal Edinburgh Festival Hebrides Ensemble Montalvo-Hervieu Nigel Osborne Tapestry Partnership Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:42:28 +0000 The West Highland Way revisited (north) book. Of course I could and did check the validity of the directions, but I suspect I'll end up having to go back in better weather. It's really frustrating, having climbed the Devil's Staircase, knowing that you are looking north over the splendid scenery of the Mamores, to see nothing but cloud, rain and mist! On Monday morning I had walked from Inveroran to the King's House, where a nice thing happened over my lunchtime bowl of soup. Being in the business, I always look to see which guidebooks and maps people are using, and had been talking to some Danes with a really old Footprint map that they had used 9 years ago and were still finding good this time around. A guy from Paisley then told me about this neat guidebook he had, with drop-down map and signpost graphics and all waterproof. I waited until he got it out before producing mine and saying "snap", revealing myself as author and publisher. Even better, he too was using it second time around, it having rained both times, and although it wasn't pristine, it certainly didn't owe him anything. He thought this was an amazing coincidence. It certainly made my day. On arrival in Kinlochleven, I fell into conversation with a fellow guest who clearly knew the Way rather well. I asked how often he had done it, but he couldn't remember "about 15 or 16 times" he thought. This underlines the fact that this walk has something special. After my last hike, I took up the issue of how the official website recommends maps, by the way, and I am delighted to report that as a direct result it no longer lists the 10 OS Explorer maps. So if my friends Bees, Brad and Marc are reading, they can see that I listened, learned and acted - even though they had bought the wrong guidebook!]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/the_west_highland_way_revisite_2.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/08/the_west_highland_way_revisite_2.html Rucksack Readers personal Footprint Maps Rucksack Readers West Highland Way Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:11:45 +0000 The West Highland Way revisited (south) Rucksack Readers, the guidebook business that now more-or-less earns my keep. Naturally, the WHW was one of the first books that we produced (in 2000), and I updated it for a 2nd edition back in 2003. With stocks are running low, I thought I'd re-walk the entire Way for the next edition. The southern portion is accessible from Dunblane, so I'm doing it in stages: last week was Milngavie to Balmaha (20 miles), then Balmaha to Inversnaid ("only" 14 miles, but more tiring because of the terrain). Yesterday, with a good forecast, was Inversnaid to Crianlarich, so husband Keir kindly gave me a lift to Inveruglas (having dropped off my car at Crianlarich en route). That let me reach Inversnaid by ferry across Loch Lomond, which was a glorious start. A robin made my day by posing on a waymarker; I'm holding my breath while reaching for the camera. Then it was splendid walking along Loch Lomondside, noticeably easier than last time (in May 1999 I rewalked the whole way, with rain morning noon and night, but when you're charity-sponsored, giving up is not an option). It wasn't just better weather or that I'm more experienced, the Way actually has become easier, with bridges over burns and boardwalks over awkward bits. Some mixed feelings about the wildness tamed. Also, now that I'm using my poles properly, powering along using upper body strength, it's like having an extra gear. From time to time I walked with three lovely guys from down south, who were doing it for the first time. Bees seemed very fit, and I think Brad and Marc were wondering why they had let Bees decide the important things like how many days to take (six is ambitious for first-timers with heavy packs)! I enjoyed the chat, and it's amazing how quickly the miles sped by. If they remember to email it, I'll add the photo I took of them. I was surprised (and indignant) that having read on the official website that a map is essential, they had assumed that they had to buy all ten OS Explorers (at £7.99 each)! I showed them my handy little Footprint map which costs £4.95, shows the whole route, is waterproof and fits your trouser pocket. Since they hadn't yet got their Explorers out of the rucksack, guess which is more useful? Tempted as I was to linger over lunch with them at Beinglas Farm, I knew I had to bash on to Crianlarich, from where I'll resume soon to complete the northern half.]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/07/the_west_highland_way_revisite_1.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/07/the_west_highland_way_revisite_1.html Rucksack Readers personal Footprint Maps Rucksack Readers West Highland Way Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:44:08 +0000 Death of a red kite Today is Friday the 13th, and the news is both sad, and predictable. A rare and beautiful bird of prey has been killed by the turning blade of the ugly, pointless wind farm on the Braes of Doune. Red kites were persecuted almost to extinction in the past by gamekeepers, although we now know that they mainly eat carrion. Various reintroduction projects, including the one at nearby Argaty, have worked hard to save the red kite. Now we are killing them in a different, 21st century way. Like long-distance walking, the opportunity to see rare birds such as red kites and osprey is known to attract environmentally aware visitors. Wind farms are springing up in Scotland because of crazy government subsidies that make them attractive to landowners, while ruining our most precious asset: our scenery. Now we know that they not only could kill rare birds, but actually have done, will the tide of public opinion turn against them before it's too late for other skylines? I'm not against renewable energy. We have plenty of water hereabouts, and schemes like Cruachan have proved that hydro power can provide electricity when the grid is under pressure without despoiling our countryside. Water power is controllable, unlike wind power which is notoriously fickle; wind power is least likely to be productive when power is most needed - in cold, high-pressure winter weather. So let's have more hydro power and save our scenery, as well as the red kites. http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/07/death_of_a_red_kite_1.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/07/death_of_a_red_kite_1.html personal hydro power red kites wind turbines Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:02:52 +0000 Retirement, celebration and departure The Kintyre Way. It may sound ambitious, but at least it's an answer to all those prophets of doom who say that Keir's retirement will create a problem for me in having him around all day ... It looks like he too will be busy with freelance work, and it'll be at least a fortnight before we will coincide at Landrick on a weekday.]]> http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/05/retirement_celebration_and_dep.html http://www.jacquetta.net/2007/05/retirement_celebration_and_dep.html Rucksack Readers personal Clackmannanshire Keir Bloomer Kintyre Way retirement Rucksack Readers Sat, 05 May 2007 17:38:36 +0000