Slow Start

It's Saturday, it's 11.40 am and we have just finished breakfast. Tonight is the last night of the girl's show and then we can start to get back into a normal regime... My only main task for the day is to complete my talk for tomorrow morning on "Thou Shalt not Murder" an interesting topic given recent events.
On a differect note, I have just spend three lovely days in the Greenbelt office helping out with bits and pieces of admin type stuff and would make public my admiration and appreciation at the quality of the Greenbelt staff. They work long hours, often there until 7pm, remain mostly good humoured, have mountains of work to plough through and are very patient with mildly ham fisted temp workers who occasionally mess up the system.... Never again will I silently think unkind thoughts when I get the answerphone, it really is frequently manic there what with bookings being called in, artists being sorted out, purchases being made/ confirmed as well as all the normal day to day running of an organisation. Quite how they managed before online booking was invented I will never know!
Laura, Sarah, Beki, Catherine and Gill, not forgetting Paul - I think you are all wonderful.

Proud Parents if frazzled

This is going to be quite a week as it is the week of the girl's ballet school show. Sunday technical rehursal, Monday competition, Tuesday dress rehursal, performances Weds, Thurs, Fri and Sat! This means they will be getting to bed at about 11pm for the whole week - not a recipie for peace and harmonious relationships.
Went to see the show tonight with both my parents and Claire's and biased though I may be, my daughters both looked beautiful and did themselves proud. Esther was a little Chinese girl and Naomi a Flower (Nutcracker Act III). Esther had originally been down to carry a parasol, but this was swapped during rehursals for a fan when it was found that only her feet could be seen!
Naomi was entered for the competition on Monday and although we didn't have much preparation time, she still managed to come second in her class.
I'm such a proud parent!

Not an Acknowledgement

Monday I spent the day in the Greenbelt office helping out. There had been a slight hiccup with the ticket run and amongst those assisting was the lovely Steve Foster. I am now (apparently) in his debt, but only on the condition that I do not acknowledge publicly on my blog not just that he made me a cup of tea, but that it tasted very nice to boot.
Apparently he feels that were it to become public knowledge, he may get a new role at the Festival with people like Liz taking advantage of him (as if).
So I'm afraid you will all have to remain in blissful ignorance.

Giselle again

Well, another performance over with. Chelsea Ballet did two shows today at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and audience attendance was reasonable.
I was again in dual mode, Wilfred in Act I and Stage Manager the rest of the time. The only point where the two roles nearly conflicted was when I had to drag Albrect off at the end of Act I and then dash to my post in time to close the curtains - a close run thing!
At the end of Act I, Claire didn't find it difficult to act upset at the death of Giselle given the news that morning , in fact it was all a bit too close and the tears fell for real.
Next week sees us starting rehursals for the Christmas production which is to be Swan Lake.

Another one bites the dust

No sooner are the girls getting over the loss of one great grandparent, but they lose another. Claire's grandfather passed away on Friday following a stay in hospital. It was not unexpected as he had cancer and had suffered a stroke, but it was upsetting nevertheless.
Esther turned tearfully to me and asked why was everybody dying...

Devastation, but life goes on

One of the few blessings with being unemployed is that you are less likely to be in the capital when some nutter (technical term) decides to let loose a bomb or four! Unfortunately it was going to happen one day and no amount of intelligence, police work etc would be able to stop some group finally managing it. Struck by the comment of one chap who was on a tube train that the people who perpatrated the explosion should be pitied...

We didn't even know about it until nearly lunchtime as we only put the radio on on our way back from Tesco's (what an exciting life I hear you cry) to find Classic FM's programmes 'interrupted'. On our arrival home I got a panic call from my Mum en route back to Devon worried about my sister who works in St Katharine's Dock, not far from Aldgate East.. I duly managed to track her down and ascertain she was undamaged, but not looking forward to the journey home. She was however relieved that someone had finally checked up on her. It would seem she was almost the only person in the office not to have had a call from the majority of her close and not so close family members, plus various acquaintances. I rung Mum back to pass on reassurances etc and then sent an email to my brother in Plymouth who I later found out had the attitude that it would take more than a bombing campaign in London to damage Jill!
Warm feelings engendered later by Stuart Traffic who rang to check we were all ok. It's so nice to know people care.
Annoyingly, ballet got cancelled due to the lack of transport facilities, but I did ride into Victoria to rescue a friend who had managed to walk from Charing Cross to Victoria, but was unable to get any further (destination Acton - another 5 miles on) due to foot problems. She called me her "knight in shining leathers" - aah!

Great Mother, 95 all out

On Monday I got a call from my Mum to say that they were staying up in Surrey because the Doctor's thought that Great Mother had had a stroke over the weekend and it was not looking good. My Aunt had also been recalled early from her honeymoon in France.
I decided to go down on Tuesday and visit as it might be my last chance... On arriving at the hospital I found not only my parents but my Uncle and Aunt ( Mum's brother and sister) and the curtains drawn round the bed. They had had a call from the hospital at 07.40 that morning calling them in...
Perversely, the final treatment on Monday to clear her lungs worked perfectly and she was now able to breath without supplementary oxygen for the first time since being admitted! Unfortunately, everything else was starting to shut down.
Never one to give up without a fight, GreatMother doggedly hung on and the medical staff put her on morphine to make her as comfortable as they could.
Our prayers were that she would gently slip away with dignity and that it would not be a prolonged process.
Mercifully, at 03.15 on Wednesday morning she just stopped breathing.
A wonderful woman with great strength of will and vitality, also a bit of a dragon, but we loved her dearly. On one of my previous visits had derided me over the fact that I had still failed to take for a promised ride on my motorbike! She had also decided on which outfit she wanted to wear for my Aunt's wedding in September which even included one of my Aunt's hats.
She will be missed.