I woke up this morning with a song I could not get out of my head. Bill and I had both watched a documentary on the plane. About a musician who often portrayed the dark side of life in his songs. At the same time, he had a light charm in his lyrics.
We had watched his last ever concert. He opened that hunched over, and there was a long silence before he started. You could hear the sound of a pin drop. Later he got up and danced, and was very rhythmical for a 79 year old.
It was an epic documentary. I loved how he went on tour when he was 69 because his manager had taken all his money, he had unfinished music business, and then his tour was legendary.
If you haven’t guessed, I am talking about Leonard Cohen and the documentary was called 'Leonard Cohen: A Journey, A Song.'
He said he learned to be grateful after a chequered life. The documentary was mainly about his song Hallelujah.
[From Wikipedia]: "Hallelujah," the song teaches us, is a refrain worthy of times of celebration, of mourning, of regret, of catharsis, and reconciliation. Cohen's song tells a story of broken love, true love remembered and mourned, guilt, penance, and finding peace."
I got hallelujah is like gratefulness. I am grateful to Bill, for our three magnificent children, to be able to travel, for my wider family, for friends, for being an empowered wife - thank you, Angela, for Masterminders, for the Wisdom community, for the gin and travels group, for Waiheke and the International communities, good health, for Bill editing this blog, and so much more.
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah.
Cohen apparently had maybe 150 verses written for the song. I decided to write one too using some of his words, but I couldn't get the last couple of lines - maybe you can suggest some for me?
Grateful at times and I could be more
Now I write what I'm grateful for
The power and the moonlight overthrow me.
Grateful is now a . . .
. . . . . . . .
From my lips, I sing in tune Hallelujah.
Then when I am practised singing it, I will post it here 😘.
I can't get the song out of my head. Maybe the other reason is Daniel and Lachie sang this song at my Mum's funeral. Lachie had also sung it at a Master's funeral (a longstanding teacher had died suddenly) when he was at AGS. The family connection, the connection to the religious and non-religious, and then being the theme song in Shrek has made the song so versatile. The documentary deepened Bill's and my love for the song even more.
Here are the boys at Mum's funeral.
We head off to Monza race track for the F1 Grand Prix practice day. (Editor is grateful for that.)
Our seats for the two days are in the 3rd from the bottom stand, the first smaller one on the left-hand side. There the cars are just exiting the pits on the other side of the track.
[From Wikipedia]: "For a hundred years, Monza has been an essential stop on the Formula 1 calendar and in 2023 the Temple of Speed will host the 94th edition of the Italian Grand Prix. History, speed, audacity, adrenaline: the Brianza circuit has welcomed and continues to welcome all the phenomena of world motoring because it perfectly embodies some of the fundamental values of motorsport. Among these, according to all the champions who have darted onto the track, a leading role is played by the extraordinary passion of the legendary “Tifosi”, who gives a further boost to the drivers and contributes to writing the history of each Grand Prix by doing become an event of primary global significance."
Everything over the speaker is in Italian except for the interviews with the drivers. (That is fair enough, we are in Italy.) We choose to wander before taking our seats. We see a car from a previous race being uplifted to be taken away.
We went past Liam Lawson's pit. He is the NZ'er who is has been subbed in for two races. (We are over the other side and you can only just make out his name).
[From Wikipedia]: "There have now been ten Formula One drivers from New Zealand, with four of them having started two or fewer races. The late 1950s to mid-1970s is viewed as the "golden age" for New Zealand in the sport and saw Denny Hulme crowned as World Drivers' Championship in 1967."
We went to the FanZone. There was a Formula 3 and then a Formula 2 race, though I did not follow them too closely - mainly because I could not understand the Italian commentator. I needed Chiara, Lachie or even Daniel who all speak some Italian. These were the Formula 2 cars that raced. [Ed: These were the Porsche cars that raced - we are still finding our way into car racing ...]
We saw the trophy for the season Championship. Some guy behind me said Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen each earn 50 million a year or more. The rest 8 million-ish.
I just hope no one gets injured tomorrow. I would not like to be a mother of one of these guys, nor mother of a top rugby player. However, 50 million and a risky business is all part of the adrenalin rush, which I will never discover. They may do a Women's Grand Prix in future, and like the soccer could it be equally as popular as the men? It seems there are plenty of women fans interested here.
Bill is the same age as this car.
1958 wasn't there, I was too old, so I found another.
All the cars of different eras.
We looked at the Ferrari shop.
We went back and watched another race. There was a mishap at the start.
We took an Uber back to our hotel to watch the first ten qualifiers fight it out for grid positions for F1 happening the next day. We had been there since 8am and Bill said it would be more interesting on the TV. They start with 20, then the slowest 5 drop, then the next slowest 5, then the last 10 have 12 minutes to do their fastest runs.
[From the Guardian]: The pole had hung in the balance until the final moments. Sainz and Leclerc were under investigation for failing to lap within the designated maximum lap time of 1:41 in Q1. The rule was instigated to prevent drivers from being dangerously slow and bunching up. Both drivers faced a grid penalty.
The crowds had been cheering every lap the Ferraris had the edge over Red Bull, blissfully unaware of the potential penalty. Then, as they celebrated with abandon, with some perfectly theatrical timing as Sainz completed his in-lap, the stewards announced there would be no further action against the Ferraris. The pole stood and Ferrari could breathe out and revel in what has been seldom-tasted success this season in the unique atmosphere of their home race. Sainz’s triumph ended Verstappen’s run of in effect eight poles in a row, given that he was quickest at Spa but a grid penalty prevented him claiming the top spot. Ending the world champion’s nine-race winning streak is a different challenge, however, but while Sainz was circumspect he was at least determined to give it his all.
“It can happen, nothing is impossible tomorrow,” he said of his chances of a win. “I am going to do everything I can to stay in front of Max but they have been quicker in every race this year so it will not be easy. But something could happen, we could have a particularly good day and get the win.”
This is Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen. Max has won the last 9 GP in a row, and no-one has ever won 10 in a row. But for Ferrari, the Italian GP is the biggest race of the year, the one they most want to win.
We had another early night - it had been a long, hot day and we did a lot of walking. Lovely hotel we are staying in, and with plenty of F1 fans from all over Europe and the US (and New Zealand).
