WHAT PANTOMIMES....WHAT FUN!

The ingredients were all there, the surprises, the magic, the traditional pantomime dame, (British style, of course) comic local references, good giggly humour, lots of audience participation and some wonderful kids from the audience, who made great little impromptu comedians.

There was a talented cast of adult who who were encouraging the newer amateur dramatists to develop for future roles.  There were lots of dancers from the local population, real looking people, not audited 'beautiful people'.  Their enthusiasm, the obvious fun they had while dancing, was infectious.

This is the Pantomime season here, in the run up to Christmas.  There is one more local pantomime to enjoy this week. Quite honestly, I have no desire to go to a professional performance, not when I can support great local talent, and have such a happy,lovely, fun time, shared with lots of other people and their children, all within reach of home.

 THE SIZZLE AND CRACKLE BUILT UP.
 Spitting mad, I certainly was.  I could feel the sizzle and crackle building up within me.  I had arranged a mail order of goods early November, for delivery the beginning of December, with a company that has an enviable reputation and a certain international caché .  And no, it was not Harrod's of Knightsbridge.

Long Distance Phone call:
 2nd December 2009. "Indeed madam, all the items of your order are here ready to be sent out to you".
......."I requested delivery the first week of December, please expedite this order". "Oh, it looks like someone has written this up for between the 1st -7th December......."I will flag up the urgency of the order for you".......
"Thank you".......
" I wish you a happy Christmas Madam".

7th December.... No sign of any goods, they are now late, and I am in a position where I start making deliveries of gifts tomorrow, the 8th December with none of the gifts I selected.
Another Long Distance Phone Call.
"Let me see if I can find your order madam", I give her the order number and she tells me one item has been sent.  I remonstrate; ..."sorry, yes, I see everything has been sent"...........
"When?"......"It has been sent out by our courier service".....
"When?" ......."Hasn't Parcel Force left you a note? I'm tracking the order, just hold please".........
"No I don't have a note from Parcel Force, (couriers) now when was the order sent from your shop?".......
"I'll pass you on to my supervisor to speak to you".........
"Hello".........."  "Now, please tell me when my order left your shop"......"The 4th December Madam".
"Are you going to arrange to perform a miracle of delivery; we don't have weekend deliveries and is it already early evening on Monday 7th".
"We have tracked your order to the courier sorting hub, the packages have been mis-sorted, they do not have them, at the moment they are lost".

I was very, very cross.  I cancelled the order and with the remaining hour of the business day, I went out shopping to find some replacement gifts I could wrap up tonight. I tried to obtain similar to my original ideas, which was difficult, as my choices and ranges are limited.

 DUNKING BREAKFAST....

I left half my breakfast in the toaster this morning. Discovered it much later on. But, all's well that ends well. It made great dunking material for the lunch time stew.

What else can I constructively forget?

THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR........


This is the time of year when, as I study my address book, I see the changes in personal friendships, of those who have lived and died.  Perhaps it is because of the phase of my life, that this year, there have not been any divorces or separations. There are no new additions to family groups.

At this time of the year, I am thinking what stage of development we are all at.  The very young ones, what will best suit them; the teenagers, maybe something 'off the wall'. But then, what seems very different to my way of thinking, may be really weird for them...if that's the case, then it's definitely out of the box thinking, and I will go with it!

What about my contemporaries?   They are scattered all over the world.  What do their life circumstances and tastes tell me; they generate ideas as to what those friends might appreciate or enjoy.  Some ideas I have are very simple, some a little more complex, others arrive serendipitously.  We, me and my contemporaries, are moving inexorably along, to being the older generation.  Our older generation have nearly all passed on.

 FIRST WINTER ICE

We had our first really wintry night and day. A hard frost lay over the land, there was no freezing mist, there was no bright sun either.

I donned my padded coat, with its ribbed neck collar and double storm front, found my warmest gloves, made sure I had comfortable footwear, with a suitable sole, and trotted out. 

It was just the right kind of day for a walk, that sort of healthy dry cold weather, in which you meet unhealthy people with their current viruses, coughs, colds and laryngitis, keen to let you know, what they've got, by whatever means possible.

I was taking a short cut to the other side of town. Most of the ice underfoot had disappeared on the paths; but, on one slope, there was an almost invisible stretch of it. Someone coming in the opposite direction noticed the ice patch and carefully stepped round it. She talked about where it might be safest to continue her walk.

Another person trotted down the slope, I called out a warning. She was unsure how to deal with it,not a good thing. I talked this woman through the few steps round the danger point. Last year, she said, she had fallen, and did not want to repeat the experience. 

Both of the ladies were wearing flat dainty 2-lace holes shoes, with unsuitable soles. (Must be a generational thing). I hope they are able to have a re-think about their footwear, now we have had our first experience this Winter, of real icy conditions.

 TICKLED PINK BY THE THEATRE MONKEY


I am tickled pink! A friend has had his first book published.  It’s not a novel, it is a ‘guide’.   My attention was drawn to this delightful phenomenon when I heard a non-sexy BBC radio 4 discussion on ‘You and Yours’ on Friday 27th November, 2009, about London Theatre land, (London U.K that is). It can be picked up again on the BBC ‘Play it Again’ feature, for another five days or so.

I was in my car. Actually, I had just parked and was about to hop out and get into a shop, when I heard two people whinging about poor theatre seat positioning and structural problems with some views,  plus changes to seating arrangements which were unexpected, and so on, when a most useful site to help overcome such difficulties, was mentioned.

www.theatremoneky.com  “Wow!” I know that site, its developer and mainstay. I knew it in its infancy, many years ago, when it was no more than a page of words. The baby has since grown into a great, dynamic well performing international website.


Once home, I emailed my friend.  Mine was one of a clutch of similar emails he had received. Since then, I have purchased two copies of his book, Theatremonkey, by Steve Rich, to gift as presents to people I know, who would be able to get lots of benefit from it. It’s available by mail order at The book Depository (www.bookdepository.com) or Amazon.  If you are in the area, there’s also a theatre shop in Monmouth Street London W1. where the book can be found. I think the name of the shop will be on Steve’s site www.Theatremonkey.com

 LOVELY MEDIA!

I get thoroughly bored with those who jump on the media's favourite bandwagon for the day or the week, rarely giving time for any other non-sensational information to seep out, if it is given space to. Not to mention, of course,  hearing about issues other than the navel gazing variety.   You would almost believe that the media is neutral, balanced, unbiased, sweet and nice.