Tomorrow

Friday I leave for a holiday in Gran Canaria. Hopefully it will provide sun, relaxation and a little fun to alleviate the general malaise I seem to have slumped into. Oddly, I am finding it very difficult to develop any enthusiasm for this excursion. Paul is coming with me and it appears to be his first holiday overseas in his adult life, as he has had to get a passport for the first time. My packing is nearly done, I simply have to get some travel insurance and change up some money.

I may do some blogging, as I know there are computers on the resort but I will not be able to upload any images - which judging by my selection of clothes, is probably a good thing.

I need to let go a bit on this holiday.

My Birthday

Well, I suppose as I get older I can’t expect every birthday to be a real hum-dinger, but I must say I rather enjoyed myself last Friday. Aside from domestic squabbles, a hearty congratulations to Jules, Paul and Griff for joining in with the karaoke and to everybody else who came along. The Windsor Castle at Clapham Junction has to be the straightest pub in South London and last Friday they were treated to myself and others camping it up something cronic. Griff proved that he obviously keeps his throat in good shape with a hearty rendition of Gold; Jules did her standards, Crazy and Dream a Little Dream. But the biggest surprise of the evening proved to be little Paul, who couldn’t quite shed his years as a performer and brought the house down with an uncanny turn as Bjork singing It’s Oh So Quiet! Couldn’t resist getting a snippet. He also did a duet with Jules of Love Shack, which I thought was great! Was lovely to see Chris, David, Robin and Terry too. Thanks to all who came.

Passive Aggressive

Confrontation has never been my strong suit. I have very firm views on certain subjects that I can argue about ad nauseum and if truth be told I probably do. But I am not what you would call confrontational, even on a domestic level and have even been labelled passive-aggressive by one or two people. I am not sure how fair that is but I suppose elements of it appear in my psyche. What happens when two passive aggressive people get together, I am not sure. I guess, somewhere in the future, a huge silent argument will rage violently.

Getting On

Next weekend I shall be 43 years old. I would like to say I have lots of things planned but I don’t. Nothing. Nada. I haven’t got a clue what I want to do. Do you know what? I think I have finally reached the time in my life where I would kind of like someone to surprise me. But as a pointer here are some of the things I don’t want to do.

1. Discover fun in the darkroom at XXL
2. Take drugs

You know what. I may just go out of town for a couple of day and see if anybody actually notices!

Here to fight the force of evil

Getting there..........

Am I bovered?

Sorry...couldn't resist!

An Iconic Image

This image by Tristram Kenton made the centre pages of the paper this week as David Tennant opens in Stratford in Hamlet. I found the image highly evocative and can't wait until the Donmar try to get their own back with an equivilent image of Jude Law in his Hamlet. Don't even think about asking if I can get tickets for it when it hits the West End. It sold out practically immediately and I believe tickets are already being sold on e-bay for £500

Harvest

I always loved harvest festival!

Busy

It seems to have been really busy this week and I seem to have been at the theatre constantly - not the case obviously, but you know what I mean. Last Thursday I went to review Elaine Stritch at Liberty at the Shaw Theatre with Paul. It was good fun and she can still keep an audience on its toes. We were invited to a party after the show got to meet the lady herself, drank free wine and ate too many canapes! Hurrah!

After a shift at the hotel it was down to see The Shadowmaster at the King's Head. Not great but I couldn't work out if the actors were awful or the script. I decided it was the script. Still, it looked very good and it was the first instance I have ever seen a Colourist listed in a Fringe programme. What a larf!

On my only day off, I opted to drag Paul along again, this time to see An Audience with Edith Head. As I wasn't reviewing this, I shall link to the Wikipedia page as nobody seemed to know who she was. Funnily I got picked on by her throughout the show for my sartorial elegance - "What are those shoes? I haven't seen anything like those since The Ten Commandments!" Thankfully it was a VERY small audience and not press night, so nobody noticed. I did get my picture taken afterwards, as part of the 'package', with the dress she designed for Bette Davis in All About Eve. It was a fun, very camp night! For those wondering - yes! She was the woman upon whom Edna Mode in The Incredibles is based on.






Thursday, I found myself at The Roundhouse for the first time ever to see Miss Behave's Variety Nighty. It was all great fun but I was there alone, which was a bit sad. Howard was feeling poorly, Lloyd was consoling a friend who had just seperated from her boyfriend and Jules was knackered. Somedays I guess you just can't give away a free ticket! Next week I have Piaf at the Donmar, where there is no spare available.

She's a wonder!

100cm x 100cm - early stages of an acrylic on canvas

Spotlight

The Spotlight Showcases took place in July this year. On the first night I took Lloyd along. He seemed to enjoy it although in most of these pictures he looks as miserable as sin.

The second night, as Lloyd was working, I invited Paul along.

Julie's Birthday in Balham

Was not a sober affair. It was, though, a fancy dress. I went as a San Francisco Daddy circa 1972....mmmmm

An English Country Garden

It may not be the most elegant garden on the block but it has been very successful this year already.