Distraction Challenge 6 #ADC

/ March 26, 2020

Today I am working side-by-side with my son.

I always knew that double-desk would come in handy

Or rather: I am taking the opportunity to write my daily post right now as Master Guylty has just left the house for a walk. You may wonder why my son is suddenly here after I had mentioned he had gone into self-isolation. Well, after consultation with a doctor, my son and his three flatmates were given the all-clear and have been allowed to leave their flat. Before we get into a full-blown lockdown here, the lads felt that this was the only safe opportunity to actually go and see their respective parents for a few days. Especially as they are “uncontaminated” due to staying indoors for two weeks. So we have the pleasure of my son’s company for a few days. After that he will move downstairs into the basement flat with his friends again – and the social distancing from us upstairs will continue because one of the four lads takes up his job in retail again. If he catches anything, the other three will, too. So no contact to us from Sunday. Meanwhile I am enjoying my son’s presence here. It is a little bit like in old times – four people at the table, watching telly snuggled together on the sofa, and being able to order the children outside to do the shopping 😂.

On to today’s distraction challenge #6.

6. Which question would you like Richard to answer in a Q&A?

Ok, I’ll be really honest here. Right now I would ask him – Richard, where are you????????????

I know I know I know. I have no right *whatsoever* to demand or to even expect anything from anyone, least of all a celeb who hasn’t asked to be my “hero”. But I just can’t help but wish that Richard would put his wonderful sense of empathy to good use and kind of acknowledge the huge challenge that we are all collectively dealing with right now. Particularly as a performer – and as an artist with a number of subscribers on various social media – I think he would have a great platform to put in practice what he preached just recently. “Our mental health depends on the collective empathic experience of sitting together in a room and watching humans reflecting life back at us. It’s essential to our hearts and minds.” Let’s take away the “sitting together in a room” and replace it with “connecting via social media”, and there we have an adequate way of describing what would cheer a great many people who are currently in lockdown, self-isolation or social-distancing mode. I have very much enjoyed the daily home concerts by pianist Igor Levit on Twitter livestream. Patrick Stewart’s “A Sonnet A Day” is wonderful, too. I am grateful to these artists for attempting to cheer us up – with the tools that they have at their disposal, namely their art. It is not an obligation, I totally concede that, but it is a beautiful offering that proves to me *every day* that art is necessary. Let’s just hope that there are no nefarious reasons for Richard’s relative silence (excluding recent tweet bromancing with Harlan Coben and well-wishing with Jed Brophy).

On a lighter note – one question that I have had for a long time, is this: Are you superstitious? And what is the mysterious leather band we occasionally see you wearing? A talisman?

Hope that RA is well and sound, and his nearest and dearest, too. Also wishing that all of you are safe and well, wherever you are.

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85 thoughts on “Distraction Challenge 6 #ADC”

  1. How nice to have Master G home for a bit. In these strange times, family is so important.

    I wholeheartedly agree about the conspicuous absence of a certain someone. It doesn’t have to be a tap dance routine—though I wouldn’t say no to that—but a simple ‘hey, I hope you’re alright‘ would mean a lot empathywise.

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    • That’s a weird by-product of this experience – how family time suddenly has become so precious. I’ve enjoyed the fact that both my grown-up children are back at home so much.
      Yes, I would very much appreciate a little message of hope and optimism. Maybe it’s too much to ask for entertainment, but I simply would like to know how he’s coping.

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  2. Nice question. I have to wonder where he is as well. Just curious. He could be a number of places.

    I have been overwhelmed not only by the group projects via the internet and balconies, but also by certain celebrities trying to bring a little levity to the situation. I think my favorite right now is Steve Martin playing banjo out in the woods.

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    • Well, in terms of location, I would assume he is still in the UK. Even though travel was still possible when they shut the theatre, I would think that the performers are more or less contracted to stay nearby in order to take up work again whenever that happens?
      I have to say that I really love the little pieces of entertainment that some celebs have thrown out there. I have seen some hate posts in reply – and it makes me wonder why those people assume that there are ulterior motives in a performer attempting to cheer up others. I loved Steve Martin’s Banjo session, or Adrian Schiller playing the guitar. Just even discovering the other talents that these people have…

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  3. Also, my brother hasn’t seen his youngest in 10 days. They live a few miles apart. Youngest nephew works for a shipping container company – all those big containers you see being shipped all over the world, he’s the one who manages them. A lady in their office tested positive, so they are ALL on quarantine. It’s hard.

    Spawn is sitting next to me as we speak. We’re sharing a power cord lol! Actually, it’s nice to have him here. We’re currently plotting our escape.

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      • My mom is begging me to move home. I have a friend near mom and dad who has said it would be nice if I were closer. Right now, I have a job I really like and a good school to boot. I’m seeing all the horror stories coming out of other schools and I’m thinking for right now, I”ll stay put!

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          • At this point, that’s what I’m going to do. I know at some point in the next few years, i’ll be making that move home, but for now….

            As my friend so eloquently reminded me a few weeks back, when things go wrong with my car or other issues arise, like did a few weeks back, it’s easier if I were closer to home for friends and family to help me. He’s right in that.

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            • Sure it is nicer to be closer to home, especially when the ‘oldies’ get to this age where they need more care and looking after. And I do think that we need to live our lives primarily for ourselves – in terms of work at least.

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              • I”m worried about how and what they eat. What they are sustaining themselves on. They can’t go on like this.

                And mom is getting more and more cantankerous. She has surgery on her rotator cuff in 2 weeks and there are a few doctor appointments she says she is NOT going to! She actually answered the phone from a doctor yesterday and told them to cancel everything. I’ve never seen my dad move so fast! She accuses him of giving her her meds several times a day. I’ve told both of them – you have pill containers – USE THEM! That way you know!

                I’ve been here almost 2 weeks. Only one sibling has come by and he was here 15 minutes. I know he comes by more often normally, but…

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  4. Given that he has not yet taken up the performance challenge I posted to him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/armitagebesotte/status/1240817527757946881), I will instead posit questions. I want to know:
    1. What piece of your real life ended up in The Stranger?
    2. What’s your recipe for spag Bol?
    3. Have you ever read any of the fanfictions about yourself?
    Anyone who ever has an opportunity to pose a question and wants to use one of these, feel free, I will send you a reward for doing so! I have no. idea what the reward will be, but worthwhile for sure!

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  5. I’m glad you can see Master Guylty for a while!

    I think I would ask which has been his favourite role to date, either because of the role itself, or the group of people he was working with at the time.

    Uplifting things on Twitter – do follow The Reverend Hale (aka Adrian Schiller) as he plays some lovely guitar pieces 😃

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  6. Why don’t you *write* some fan fiction or, better, why you don’t share some of your oldies? Because all that preliminar writing work actually is. Skip the part where you die, please.
    I’m curious about real life in TS, too!

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  8. yeah, it would be lovely if Richard did a little something rather than just keep referring people to Audible …maybe we can hope he’s just thinking about what he could do? lol

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    • Yeah, that Audible post was a bit clumsy… I’m just a teeny bit disappointed that he’s only communicating to celebs at the moment. Nit that he communicates with any of us. But he was active politically before, and I liked that he expressed an opinion. I’d appreciate his thoughts rn, too.

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      • sometimes i think he’s in a bit of a bubble- i imagine he’s probably fairly comfortable and not paying attention whilst people are losing their jobs/having no money coming in and he’s asking people to spend money–it really grated on me (which you may have noticed with my couple of posts suggesting people could listen to some of his work and other audiobooks for free via their libraries! lol)

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        • Bubble is right. As humble as he is – but I think he’s lost touch a little bit. And his Audible tweet was definitely not particularly well advised, no matter whether it was intentional marketing or not.
          Lucky you re. the audio books available for free in public libraries. The vast majority of fans probably don’t have that luxury.

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              • i mean, i’m not the only fan in the UK who can access it I feel like this is coming out all wrong. Obviously it’s a shame its not available wider for more fans

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                • I think I had this convo before, somewhere else – in Ireland, ‘good for you’ is taken at face value, i.e. is not meant as a snide comment but literally. As in “lucky you” or “I’m glad for you”.
                  But in truth I *am* jealous of your library box system 😉

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                  • oh ok, my anxiety is appalling atm and i feel very much that everything i do or say is wrong . Re borrowbox,there’s only a few of his audiobooks on there but it’s better than nothing. Its interesting because ive tried listening to other audoiobooks but not many narrators are as good as Richard

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                    • Worst time ever for anxiety… I have never felt I was a candidate for that but I am beginning to understand what it means.
                      I am listening to a German audio book at the moment and I have to say it is absolutely brilliant and easily reaches RA in the variety of voices and accents. (But that’s the one and only audio book I have ever listened to in German. I must have been lucky.)

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  9. I’m glad you managed to snatch some nice family time. Guylty I’ve been curious about RA’s silence too and hoping that all is OK. Perhaps he is a bit freaked out by it all and the postponed play, future work, planned projects all up in the air. But yes please,sing Aerosmith or play the cello, RA, or both combined!

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    • I sympathize with him freaking out. Not getting into APM but I also wonder how much exposure those actors had in the days before the closure. Fingers crossed he’s just lying low to gather his thoughts. Or busybusybusy recording audiobooks day and night….

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  10. Are you providing support for donations to Dr. Scott White, Dr. Alec Track, Dr. Tom Steele, Dr. Astrov in these difficult times?

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  11. Lovely bit of reflection on family life in virus-time. And, I am intrigued by that telescope! Meanwhile we are going to watch the last episode of “The Stranger” tonight. It has done an excellent job of making me forget everything else whilst I am viewing it. There is one scene, where Adam is in his bed imagining Corinne there with him, and you actually see her there, but the camera pulls out and she’s not there at all. I wondered if the director nicked that from Conor McPherson’s “The Eclipse,” where there is a similar scene with the widowed Mr. H. In any case, very effective.

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    • The telescope is trained at the park outside my window for the birds. And occasionally at the moon 🙂
      Interesting observation re. that particular scene and a similar one in The Eclipse. They used the technique several times in TS. There was another scene where Adam comes down into the kitchen on the first morning after Corinne’s disappearance and she turns to him, kisses him good morning, and walks out of the frame. I really liked the way they did those flashbacks.

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