Festive Meal at La Tortilla Asesina

We’d a lovely evening on Thursday 18th ^tDecember at the HighlandLIT Festive Meal. It  was held at La Tortilla Asesina, in the upstairs room overlooking the Castle Esplanade – a cold meat and cheese selection board was followed by ‘Christmas Paella’, and we wound up the meal with Cinnamon Churros, all accompanied by Sangria. (There was also gluten free and vegetarian provision.)

There was lots of great chat throughout the evening, and it concluded with an open mic for which no specific subject had been set. Six people read.

The first was Iris Perrin, who showed us a little picture book she had created for her young niece and nephew (‘by Auntie Iris’) telling in verse and illustration the adventures of ‘The Christmas Mouse’ whose festive season had a most positive outcome.

Second up was Morag Forsyth who also brought a Christmas poem, retelling the nativity from the perspective of two Friesian cows, Daisy and Gertie. The duo mull over events  taking place in the stable one starry night. Gertie is puzzled by all the special visitors who come to see the new-born baby. Is he special? ‘I think he’s important. Too early to say,’ Daisy muses.

Next, something completely different!  S.J. Groenewegen read us part of their short story ‘Cold Case’ (published in the Havoc Files 6, one of a series of spin-off adventures of Lethbridge-Stewart (The Brigadier from Dr Who).  Lucky, an ex-soldier who has served in the army from 2011-2014, travels by train the following year to an Edinburgh heaving with tourists. From the Castle, the Colonel drives her in great secrecy to a hidden rural location. S.J. left us hanging with the Colonel’s instruction to Lucky: ‘Don’t look at the aliens’……….

David Goldie began his set by reading a vintage Edwin Morgan piece, a  very prescient ‘concrete poem’ from  1968 – ‘The Computer’s First Christmas Card.’   Inspired by this, David had created his own poem ‘Deck the Halls – an AI Christmas Carol’, which he then shared  It’s a brilliant piece of work, organized in 3 ‘staves’, a mash-up of lines and phrases from Christmas carols, woven together with imagination and verbal dexterity.

Malcolm Timperley treated us to a ghost story for Christmas, set in a railway signal box. Malcolm spoke highly of Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story ‘The Signalman’ which was published  in 1866. (Malcolm also rates highly the 1976 BBC adaptation.)  He has, literally hands-on experience of working in a signal box, volunteering in this role at the Speyside Railway.  ‘Rule 72A’ is inspired by the Dickens work, and occasionally nods in its direction, as Paul mentioned. It’s a brilliant piece of Timperleyan macabre, brilliantly delivered.  And there’s a twist in the closing lines….

Finally, we heard some work from Colm Black. He read two short poems about walking his dog in the park at Drakies. We miss so much, he said, because we only see what we expect to see. Realising this, he resolved to look around him on his dog-walks with a spirit of openness, a readiness to see. And in a couple of poems, the first entitled ‘Music to the soul’ he described two epiphanies, two sacramental moments in the park.  In conclusion he read, against a musical background, a poem consisting of lines from Christmas carols interspersed with questions as to the significance of the birth of Christ, and ending with phrases from carols of joy and jubilation. It was a very effective, moving conclusion to the evening.

Thanks to everyone involved in making the event such a success!  We meet again in February – please look out for details on the web site!