I've aged.
It was my birthday last weekend. To celebrate last year, I handed Danny Boyle the first medal awarded in the Olympic Stadium...a gold wrapped Cadbury's chocolate one...as we rehearsed. To be honest things have never been quite the same between Danny and me since - after saying thank you he suggested I went to the other side of the stadium to see Emma whose birthday it was also. "Mind you", he said, "That's more of a treat for you than it is for her". I was hurt, so handed my seventy other chocolate medals out to the rest of my team.
Previous years have been spent seeing Kings of Leon in Hyde Park (they're rubbish live) and Foo Fighters in Milton Keynes (they're great, but The Boy and Mr Muffin were sick as dogs all day long). This year was slightly different in that we did nothing. And by nothing I mean nothing. We were down in Brighton, and relaxed for the day. It was glorious.
That is not to say we did nothing to celebrate. On Friday night we went to see The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe. I don't know how well you know The Tempest, but you may in any case be interested to know this was played as a comedy. And very, very good it was too. The key character of Prospero I always think is one of Shakespeare's most difficult to play, so it is rarely done well. But Roger Allam did extraordinarily well once he had warmed up...the humour of the part is something I'd never really thought about before, but it was an excellent turn. The performance was dominated by Caliban...the fearsome monster...and he was extraordinary, although I do feel sorry for the man in the audience who had his bald head slapped a couple of times...James Garnon played the part with energy, enthusiasm and aplomb...I hope he wins an award. I absolutely loved his rendition of the speech given by Kenneth Brannagh at the opening of the Olympics:
And Colin Morgan was as Ariel was equally outstanding...and remarkably athletic as he danced and swung around the stage. And just in case you thought I couldn't work the Olympics into this again, try this (it's called Caliban's Dream):
Anyway, enough of the Olympics...we spent Saturday at lunch with friends and family...including The Muffins. We started at Formans, which just happens to be the nearest restaurant to the Olympic Stadium...ooops. Then we moved on to see a new film that I have to tell you has been very eagerly anticipated in our house for over six months now. We were seriously over excited, and it was a really birthday treat for me.
Which only goes to prove how wrong Grandma in Cyprus is. I am not 'grown up but act like a teenager'...I am grown up and act like an eight year old, maybe. :-)
It was a shame that we were out when my brother decided to drop in unexpectedly to deliver my birthday present of whisky... :-( So sorry 'bruv', but the whisky is delicious, and the thought was extremely touching...