I always like to have something to look forward to. Doesn't have to be a huge thing though an exotic cruise or being whisked off to Paris by a gorgeous man would be nice (Oh yeh?? fat chance...), but just something. So working on this premise I have been lining stuff up for me to savour and enjoy in the months to come.
In a few weeks time I am visiting friends and staying in London and we are going to see Billy Eliot. I saw this musical a few years ago, persuaded to go when I really had no interest in it at all. Boy, was I glad that I went. Simply stunning and one of the best musicals I have seen in years so when another friend wanted somebody to go with, this time I said Yes Please.
Also in February, I am going to see Just a Song at Twilight by Noel Coward at our local theatre in Colcheter, the Mercury. This theatre has had its ups and downs and over the years I have been living here I have seen some good, bad, indifferent and dazzlingly good performances and at the moment it is going through a really good spell. It is one of the top local reps in the country and this year a lot of interesting events and plays. This particular Coward play, which I have never seen, is only on for a week and the main part is taken by Peter Egan, who is always good value so looking forward to that.
Then the piece de resistance for February: The Flying Dutchman at the Royal Opera House with the wonderful Bryn Terfel. I have seen him sing this before at the Welsh National Opera but in a production of unremitting awfulness so am hoping this will be better. It is being sung straight through without an interval as Wagner wanted, so have splashed out on a ruinuously expensive seat so I can be comfortable and have good sight lines of the stage. Helen and son in law James are also attending that night though as they are young and supple and with better eyesight they are sitting in seats aloft of mine, but we will be meeting up prior for a bijou snackette to build up stamina for the evening.
Then in March I am being taken by my elder daughter to the Donmar to see Madame de Sade with the incomparable Dame Judi Dench. Kathryn booked these tickets last year well in advance for my birthday present so I feel very blessed in having such wonderful daughters who know what to get their ma.
Then in May, Kathryn and I are taking a long weekend and going to visit Istanbul, one of those cities on my list of places to see and that I am very much looking forward to. I also feel blessed in having a daughter who likes to go away with her ma, we used to have a beach holiday together every year but have decided that seven days and nights together is perhaps a little too long and irritation starts to set in. Kathryn is as independent and determined as I and knows what she wants to do or not do, so we have decided that long weekends exploring a city is a really good idea. Four days is the just the right amount of time to be together. I love my children dearly and I know they love their mum, but they are grown up now and always best to know one's limits. Last year we went to Barcelona and had a great time, before that Prague and this year off to Turkey. I do the booking of the flights and source the hotel, Kathryn plans the trip and what we are going to see, she is a brilliant map reader and it is great every day to get up and be told of the plan for the day which I have not had to organise.
Then today I took out a second mortgage and bought two tickets for a Saturday in June, and they are going fast, to see the new production of Oliver at Drury lane with Rowan Atkinson as Fagin. Had rave reviews and one of my all time favourite musicals which I first saw on the stage back in the 60's with the original sets by Sean Kenny, the like of which we had never seen before at that time. Moving and swirling around the stage and I well remember Oliver running for his life and being chased while the sets of the streets of London swung around him. Quite breathtaking.
The Mercury also has some pretty good stuff later on in the year and I have just received all the gubbins from the Globe and am organising a party to visit there in the summer so it is all go. Bear in mind also that Bryn in a revival of Tosca is coming up later on in the year and lots on the horizon.
This is why I commute and work so that I can afford these treats enjoy myself while I can. Once I become a retired old lady it will be sitting in front of the TV with bedsocks on, teeth in the glass and staying at home.
Actually, I don't think that is going to happen....at least I am going to make sure it is a long way off.
