In the movie Gosford Park there is an opening scene which has clung to me. Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Sylvia McCordle, Sir William’s wife, daughter of the Earl of Carton, an old but impoverished family, rides up in a flourish upon a horse to the front of the country house where a stableman takes the reins to permit Lady Sylvia to approach and welcome the arriving weekend guests. It is the start to an exciting Agatha Christie style dinner party!
Gosford Park is a 2001 satirical black comedy mystery film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film, which is influenced by Jean Renoir’s French classic The Rules of the Game, follows a party of wealthy Britons plus an American producer, and their servants, who gather for a shooting weekend at Gosford Park, an English country house. A murder occurs after a dinner party, and the film goes on to present the subsequent investigation from the servants’ and guests’ perspectives. Gosford Park premiered on 7 November 2001 at the London Film Festival.
The TV series Downton Abbey—written and created by Fellowes—was originally planned as a spin-off of Gosford Park, but instead was developed as a standalone property inspired by the film, and set earlier in the 20th century (from 1912 to the mid-1920s).
This afternoon (after having positioned myself on the balcony for an hour directly in line with the autumn sunshine) I went for a ride on my horse. There is no question that the metaphor of one’s automobile ride and a horse is not for nothing. With a degree of pressure I can recall from my childhood having ridden bareback upon an 18hands gelding on a ranch in Alberta. Curiously it was bareback riding used to introduce us novices to the subsequent English saddle. Upon reflection it was all about the use of one’s knees to preserve stability atop the beast.
While I hadn’t the threat or discomfort of riding a horse today, all the other traits of advantage were there. Not unusually I immediately opened the windows and the landau roof. In anticipation of this manifest breeziness I dress accordingly. Though I did not wear a jacket, I sported a Patagonia pullover which was sufficiently warm on this first of our cool autumn days. Once having initiated the jaunt I recalled having a pair of driving gloves stored in my glovebox. I withdrew them and put them on. The leather is good quality with a noticeable pleasantness.
The sheep that provides the leather grows hair, not wool, hence its name. The fine hair leaves no markings resulting in smooth leather. Favoured for its natural strength and elasticity, hairsheep leather is generally acknowledged as the best leather for gloves. Durable and supple, this is an excellent choice for lasting comfort.
Men's Classic Leather Driving Gloves
Customarily I do not have the radio turned on when driving with the windows open. However today I could not resist a bit of amplification. Seemingly yesterday I had already invited Siri to “play me some music”. The choice alternated between opera and baroque music. When however I had had enough of Giacomo Puccini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I invited Siri to shift to more modern compositions which ended including Pharrell Williams, Eminem, Queen, The Verve and Lana Del Rey.
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.
Music is unquestionably an ingredient of the successful ride. After filling the gas tank with Ultra 94 and employing the equally successful Petro-Canada App to wash the car, I was off! Because I had the decency this morning to get out of bed before nine o’clock, and having further expiated any lingering guilt by going for a short tricycle ride in the neighbourhood before indulging in the breakfast of steel cut oats and a small slice of carrot cake from Ashton Truck Stop (he added parenthetically), there was enough time remaining in the day to divert along the northern passageways and the Ottawa River to the hinterland of Renfrew County. There in the rugged countryside trucks like stallions are rampant. I have long ago abandoned the amusement of speed or excess; instead now I prefer to grimace at the cowboys as they fulfill their modern gallop.
On the return home I was greeted by further informatin from the Queensway Carleton Hospital where my upcoming surgery is now scheduled. I abated any possible sting of this latest intelligence by drinking a chicken soup sufficient I am certain to appease the magnanimity of Bobbie Gordon who recently wrote me about the remedial broth!