Whizzzing.......

Another quick whiz catchup as lots of stuff has been going on but I've not managed to blog it, so here's some highlights.

Last week O sat at my table having blown out his candles and announced it was his best birthday ever! He'd been a little disappointed that the friends he wanted to share his birthday with were not available, so that plan was put on hold for a later date, so what to do on the day? Felixstowe pier has just been rebuilt and O was thrilled when I said we'd all go to the arcade. We all agree those machines are a total frivolous waste of money so O had never done them before and loved every minute and appreciated every coin spent. Have to say Hubby loved it just as much hahaha. We had lunch on the pier in the sunshine then home where M joined us too. Next surprise was a piñata as he'd mentioned to me last February that he'd "never had one in my whole life". As we were four adults we let O attack the piñata donkey on his own. I'd filled it with some sweets, 10 small bouncy balls and lots of cut up coloured paper strips as confetti, made a suitably impressive cascade. Birthday cake was pavlova by his request.

Yes my knee still hurts,  so I finally went to the surgery, and the nurse practitioner  (rare to see a doctor these days) thinks I've torn the ligament. He sent me for x-ray and referred me to the muscular-skeleton unit at the hospital (found out that's the posh name for physio). The next day I went into x-ray with my form and they told me straight away there was no bone damage which is good.

FriendH has now retired so I didn't need to drive to her's on a Friday evening and sleep over, this time she drove here early on a Monday and slept over so lots of catching up chat. Non-stop as usual and Hubby stayed out of the way. We've been friends since childhood, more like family really, so she was thrilled that Daughter made the time to call in and see her too.

R had a sleepover with me last weekend while on the Sunday Daughter&E went busking in London as Tudors and M and the boys were computer game creating and Hubby was out on a charity bike ride. So we were company for each other.

Lunch with my x-work team finally happened. Seems they will only get together when I organise them, they didn't even manage a Christmas dinner without me. It had been a year since our last lunch and everyone said we must do it more often hahaha.

I'd decided it was about time I'd heard when my follow up CT Scan would be (mid-May will be 6 months after my op) as once I'd got a date I could make sure to have my blood test done the week before. So I phoned hospital appointments and they had nothing, then I phoned the consultant's secretary who told me they are waiting for me to have a blood test BEFORE they sort my scan date! Lucky I'd checked as they hadn't bothered telling me the system had changed from how I was doing it for the last four years.

While I was in chasing people mode I thought it time to chase the Physio referral. Apparently they had not received anything from my surgery. I've now done the online self referral, I've received a couple of exercises to do and have an appointment for 17th May.

Hubby and I lunched with friendsN&T and chatting about holidays together they said they would love to late in the year as they have a very busy summer already. N is really nervous of flying and avoids it totally but says she is willing to give it a go for a very short flight so we holiday somewhere that's warm. So we are now looking for an October holiday in the south of France.

Hubby had charity money for banking so into town then we walked to Specsavers for me to collect my new specs. My prescription has changed a bit on my left eye but a lot on my right eye and my glasses now feel weird. Adjustments were made and I was told to give it a couple of weeks and hopefully it will all settle, if not go back. While looking back through my records the fitter said I'd had a big prescription change once before and I told her that both times has followed major surgery. She didn't think it was a coincidence!

Daughter is here today with her caravan to get it ready to use. So her and Hubby have been washing, scrubbing, fixing hinges, blocking up mouse holes, glueing the table and washing all the bedding/blankets/cushions/etc. I've done food and chatting with all three grandchildren :-)

And this evening is theatre again which will have a post of its own.
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Theatre: Kindertransport.........

Presented by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Les Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg in association with Selladoor Productions

By Diane Samuels
Directed by Anne Simon
Designed by Marie-Luce Theis

A deeply moving and timely modern classic about a woman’s struggle to come to terms with her past.

Hamburg 1938: nine year-old Eva is forced onto a train by her desperate mother in order to escape the threat of World War II. Arriving at Liverpool Street Station, tagged like a piece of luggage, she’s handed over to strangers.

Manchester 1980: Evelyn, a proud mum, prepares to say goodbye to daughter Faith as she leaves the family home. But what Faith finds in the attic will change her life forever…

This heart-warming production is from the producers of last year’s acclaimed revival of ‘The Crucible’. It marks the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, which saw thousands of Jewish children ferried from Austria and Germany to safety.

Diane Samuels wrote this extraordinary and haunting play 25 years ago. It has never been more relevant than today. 

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I don't think it's just because I'm Jewish that I found this so powerful and emotional as my friends felt exactly the same.

Really well acted and a very clever way to have current day intertwined with the history it came from.

A performance I would very highly recommend.
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My way (#14)....

Over the years I seem to have developed some very definite ways of doing things and usually it's for a very good reason, so I thought I'd share. 

Only just realised you might find this useful, though I've done it all my adult cooking life, because I've a very cautious respect for graters!

Soft objects like cheese, hard boiled eggs, etc can be grated slowly but for hard veg you need to get into a firm rhythm and before you know it they're done. So I stick a fork right near the veg end and hang onto the handle not the veg so my fingers don't get too close to the evil useful sharp bits.

Obviously I'd normally be holding onto the grater as well as the fork but I was also taking the photo 😉

What's your way?
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Theatre: Our Country's Good........

A Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company Production in co-production with Ramps on the Moon
By Timberlake Wertenbaker
Based on The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally

     Our Country’s Good is both a comedy and a powerful drama which shows us how we can escape the chains that bind us.
     In 1787, ships each with over 700 convicts on board set sail on an eight month voyage. When they arrive in Australia, their survival is by no means certain: supplies are running out, the convicts are stealing food or trying to escape and the guards are threatening mutiny.
  Our Country’s Good tells the extraordinary true story of a group of convicts and a young officer who rehearse and perform a play – Australia’s first theatrical production. With opposition from the officers and a leading lady who may be hanged, the odds are stacked against them.

Our Country’s Good is a touring production made in co‑production with Ramps on the Moon, whose previous collaborations over the last two years include the comedy hit The Government Inspector and a critically acclaimed version of The Who’s Tommy. The production features the creative use of audio description, signing, and captions. For more information visit rampsonthemoon.co.uk


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This performance was very long, over 3 hours, but it didn't drag at all. I really needed to know what happened next. The set was very minimal but that worked well. The cast (mostly d/deaf or disabled) were brilliant and although there were screens either side with descriptions and subtitles and the cast were constantly signing throughout it didn't detract from our appreciation of characters and their story telling.

One of our group left at the interval, she wasn't enjoying it at all, and we noticed a few people rudely leaving during the second half, but my two friends and I were pleased we stayed to the end. We said very enjoyable and thought provoking.
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Theatre: Teddy......

Elephant and Castle, London. 1956. Saturday night.

Teddy and Josie are about to hit the streets of London for a good time. Hair quiffed. Red lipstick. Dressed toe to head in the latest threads. So what if it’s pouring down, they’re totally skint, and someone wants them dead? A little trouble never stopped a Ted from having a good time. Desperate times call for rock ‘n’ roll.

From the writer-director team behind Boudica at the Globe and Frankenstein at The Watermill Theatre and Wilton’s Music Hall in London comes Teddy, an award-winning, punchy new musical that races through the dark and damaged world of post-war London: a brand new Britain bombed to bits by the Blitz, belts tight with austerity, but ripe and ready for revolution.

With electrifying original songs influenced by hits from the 1950s performed by the on-stage live band Johnny Valentine and the Broken Hearts, Teddy is the ultimate story of rebellious youth and the birth of a new musical era. Bursting with the energy of a live gig, this is theatre that leaves you on a high and jiving all the way home. 

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This is a hard one to give my opinion on.
The music was great, the musicians and voices all very good. The two main performers, Teddy and Josie, played their parts so well, both having to learn masses of dialogue, mostly spoken to the audience, often very aggressive, some of the time portraying different characters. The script was clever too, often rhyming in a Shakespearian way. Their dancing was also amazing, very talented!
However, there were no contrasts, no lows or gentle moments, just highs, loud and aggressive, so I found it monotonous and hard to stay focused.
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The Fantasy of others......

......this is my reality!

Yes I'm sitting knitting with my feet up while Hubby is vacuuming floors, walls, ceilings etc. He's also done two machine loads of laundry!

I'm spoilt hahaha.
But in my defence I had a fall a few days ago and still hobbling, so he keeps insisting I have my leg raised.
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Theatre: Rope.......

Presented by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and New Wolsey Theatre.

A chilling and spine-tinglingly gripping thriller by Patrick Hamilton.

Two well-bred young men murder a fellow Oxford student just for the fun of it. Placing the corpse in a wooden box, they invite a group of friends over to their Mayfair apartment – including the loving mother of the boy they’ve just killed. Supper is served on the chest holding the gruesome contents. But one of their guests is starting to become suspicious…

Will this daring pair get away with their cat and mouse games?
Based on a 1920’s real life case, this dark classic, brilliantly evoking a jazz age generation, was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and remains to this day one of the most tightly coiled of thrillers.

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Hmmm well we didn't find it chilling or spine-tinglingly gripping at all. 
I'm sure Alfred Hitchcock used the very long pauses, or the non-stop crossing the stage to light a cigarette only to cross the stage to put it out in an ashtray to build nervous tension, but here it just seemed to drag everything out for the sake of it. And if they'd actually consumed as much whisky as they were drinking liquid from that decanter then at least three of the characters would have been completely comatose! 

My friends and I did all agree but I do think I was probably more critical because I took a nasty tumble on my way into the theatre on uneven ground and consequently sat through the performance with a very painful knee!
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Theatre: Quartet......

Mark Goucher and David Ian present
A Cheltenham Everyman Theatre Production

Paul Nicholas (The Real Marigold Hotel, Just Good Friends, EastEnders) Wendi Peters (Coronation Street, Oh What A Lovely War), Sue Holderness (Only Fools and Horses, The Green Green Grass) and Jeff Rawle (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Drop the Dead Donkey) star in a brand-new revival of the bitter-sweet comedy Quartet.
Quartet is the charming tale of four ageing opera singers. Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred reside in a magnificent retirement home in Kent, where the rumour circling the halls is that the home will soon play host to a new resident, and word is it’s a star. When Jean arrives old rivalries resurface, secrets are revealed and chaos unfolds, but in true theatrical tradition – the show must go on. A celebration of the twilight years and the hilarity of growing old disgracefully! 

The grand finale.  

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I haven't actually seen the famous film my friends were comparing this to so wasn't so critical, however I did think the first half was a bit flat with both ladies overacting. The men were brilliant. The script really funny at times and also raising a level of empathy as I head towards that age bracket (thankfully a way off yet).
The second half was so much better, it had purpose to all stage movements while the script opened up the secrets to old relationships giving the characters more emotions.
The finale was brilliantly performed by all.

So glad we braved the dreadful snowy conditions to get there. One of our friends couldn't come as buses were cancelled from her village. Online it had been a sellout performance but there half the seats were empty, such a shame.
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My valentine man......

Valentine's day is also Hubby's birthday and this year it fell on a Wednesday so our usual gang of three couples, who always spend Wednesday nights together, agreed to celebrate our valentine's and Hubby's birthday together.

All dressed up for a special evening at the lovely old Orwell Hotel in Felixstowe.

Starting with a complimentary glass of prosecco blush in the bar.

We made our way into the full dinnig room, where we were the only table of six as all the rest were romantic two's hahaha. Once seated we were greeted by the maitre d', Costas, (who knows friendsM&P and has seen the rest of us a few times) greeted the men with a handshake but for us ladies it was a kiss, a long stemmed red rose and a small box of chocolates!

This was the menu.....

As you can see if we ordered starters and main course we got a sharing dessert for free, so that's what we did. Dessert was two portions but served on one plate between us so each couple huddled together romantically 😉

Quite late and all very full we still decided to continue the evening and ran to our cars in the most dreadful wet and windy weather and drove to a newish bar that the others had tried once before but I'd not been to. It's called Copas on the Felixstowe sea front, and it's very elegant inside.

It even has a free pool table, so the men were happy and didn't miss out on their Wednesday game.

A lovely evening had by all, especially my birthday/valentine boy! 

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DIYman is at it again......

This is the state of our dining room at the moment, as Hubby has put on his tool belt again! The office is an extension with four outside walls attached to the house by not much more than the doorway. So it's always been colder in there than the rest of the house.

Some years ago he added a second radiator and last year the double glazed windows and door had the glass replaced by more efficient double glazed units. It has improved each time until Hubby just felt it was chilly at ground level.

The original laminate floor just had a paper underlay over the concrete and as the laminate boards had been glued together it stayed as it was and new was laid on top with a heat reflective foam underlay in between.

So a lot of work moving everything out. Desk legs needed to come off and be cut down before going back on. Hubby on his knees for most of the time over three days. Two new flat pack high shelf units installed. And now a good opportunity to sort stuff before it all goes back. 

But when it's all done, unless I'd written it all here you'd probably not even notice the difference just hopefully warmer legs. 

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