May Soliloguys

Before I know it, May has almost ended. May can easily be the most fabulous month in the year, particularly now that Su has become part of my life and she was born in May. I always adore the lyrics in Camelot where Guenevere labeled it as the lusty month of May, as that lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray, as that shocking time of year when tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear, and as that gorgeous holiday when every maiden prays that her lad will be a cad. Such beautiful and suggestive lyrics were created by Alan Jay Lerner while the music in the Broadway musical was the work of Frederick Loewe. The musical was based on a novel by T H White and adapted and directed by Moss Hart with Julie Andrews as Guenevere, Richard Burton as King Arthur and Richard Goulet as Lancelot, which ran from 1960 and had staged nearly 900 performances. It was later adapted into a 1967 film directed by Joshua Logan, featuring Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere, Richard Harris as King Arthur and Franco Nero as Lancelot. The film made the story and the music even more famous and lasting. Julie Andrews referred to both the Broadway musical and the film in her memoirs with affection and detailed admirably her friendship with the major protagonists – rather moving.  Sadly, nearly all the characters I mentioned above had passed away, except Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave, and of course, Julie Andrews herself. All of them were blessed with exceptional talents and skills, and their creations and performances have delighted, inspired and motivated so many throughout the ages. The film sound track, for example, became a top selling LP for 60 weeks. I am glad that we had a copy.

Still on “the lusty month of May”, Guenevere went on to sing that May is mad, gay and features a libelous display of dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks and everyone makes divine mistakes. More to come. It’s a darling month when everyone throws self-control away, it’s time to do a wretched thing or two, and try to make each precious day one you’ll always rue. It’s a month of great dismay.

I first picked up the lyrics and the sentiments of Camelot from the film version when I was an undergrad and I was so intrigued with the plot and the music which had stayed with me all these years, surfacing every now and then, not always at the most opportune time, and the lusty month of May lyrics always come up in May.

We spent 12 days in Kansai and the municipalities around Kobe, travelling light and hugging the railway systems with which we had learned to live. We ate a lot of good food and drank a lot of good wine, mostly in places only frequented by locals, many of which wouldn’t take credit cards, as a result of which we almost ran down our cash to a dangerously low level such that we had to call for reinforcement from brethren whom we knew would join us later. Su had posted a lot of what we did, what we had eaten and what we had drunk, so I won’t repeat them here. Suffice it to say that we had a jolly good time, and we would do it again.

And of course, we celebrated Su’s birthday during our travel, mostly quietly and in private. The hotel we stayed in took some photos for memories, but did not offer anything special, even after the staff were prompted.

But even as we were spending time in Japan and probably before that, Su was already plotting a serious trip a year down the road in faraway land – Iceland – of which I had not the faintest idea what it would be like. I cast my mind back to the days we first met when we were comparing our diaries or schedules and making efforts to book an additional space for each other so that we could travel together, which led to the suggestion that maybe it would be more cost effective if we travelled together as a legal couple rather than paying single supplements. The rest was history.

Perhaps because Japan is only an hour’s difference, we hardly require serious time adjustment, but then we quickly found ourselves in Macao for a Rotary International District Conference last weekend, which was a delightful and pleasant experience. Governor Nigel Lo certainly did a great job and from the verbal and body languages displayed by the Rotary International President’s Personal Representative, I am confident that he would receive an excellent report which would enable him to go far, or as far as he would want to.

We had a presentation from Vivian Kong, the champion lady fencer icon. She is good value. She was surrounded by fans, but she was completely comfortable and relaxed. More importantly, she appears genuine, she knows her place, she knows what she wants, she does not over-value herself and will always offer her best for the better of her community and possibly her friends – I can’t be sure, because I am not in that category. I wish her well. She deserves a good future so that she can inspire more people.

Macao is an interesting place, in more than many ways, and I am still learning to cope with the city or the SAR and its people.  Over the years, I have made so many friends there, but I am not good at maintenance of relationship. Maybe I am too passive or maybe I am defective and have yet to learn the skill sets. As a start, I have problems putting names and faces together, and that doesn’t with Macao. Today, for example, I went to a lunch – resumed recently after a few years’ break – and ouldn’t pick up a few names, and on the way up the club, I met a few who could name my name but I couldn’t name theirs. I take comfort in being able to do many things I like to do and in being able to remember things I like, such as the lusty month of May.