Revealing

Well done Mr Q and Mrs NappyValley who between them got to the right answer in my last post.  We were at The Globe, and there will be a performance of The Tempest there this year.  I did rather bastardise Mr Shakespeare's speech as spoken by Mr Brannagh at the Opening ceremony of the Olympics.  We were there to have a look around the work that's going on at the moment.  The Globe is a wonderful place to Shakespeare, but come the winter months, it lies empty as no one wants to freeze their bits off listening to The Bard.  It transpires that when Sam Wannamaker conceived the idea of re-building The Globe, there was always a plan to have an indoor Jacobean theatre too...funds have never been there to realise this dream.  Until now.  So from the existing building that was created at the same time as the Globe, a new Jacobean theatre is being built.  It will open at the end of the year, and there's a lot of work still to be done.  It should be a fascinating experience, as performances will be by candlelight...one of those will include The Tempest - apparently the opening storm scene was always meant to be played in almost total darkness.  We're looking forward to it.

A while back I started a blog looking at the Olympic Park as it was being built..it's on my route to work.  But I soon came to realise that building works progress slowly, so I stopped.  If you take a look, you'll see it's laid out quite differently to this one...I really like it (click on any of the pictures to see linked photos) but it's difficult to comment.  As people occasionally still go to look at it,  I have just posted up all the photos from my ' Great Olympic adventure'...soon I'm going to add the pictures from the days we visited as spectators....and at odd occasions I'll add to it when we go and use the facilities there...it's currently still shut and it's been quite depressing seeing everything being taken out.  I am looking forward to the big concerts that are going to take place there in the summer and a new cycle track plus the velodrome revamped for amateurs will be open in the not too distant future.  If you compare what we are trying to achieve with our Olympic facilities compared to other countries, you should be rightly proud that we have got it right.

I think we all know what thieving merchants insurance companies are, so it hasn't come as a surprise when it comes to the insurance for our little Toyota Yaris.  Insured for The Cat's Mother the cost was about £300, and adding on The Cat was an impressive, but not unexpected £1300.  We've now tried to add The Boy.  that will cost an additional £1100.  So here's the question to Direct Line...as you cannot discriminate between males and females, and the car cannot be driven by both at the same time, how do you justify that extra cost?

Not a SITE you will see very often

Any guesses why The Cat's Mother is dressed up like Bob the Builder?

The only clue is that: she was not afeared, the aisle was full of noises

In black and white

The Cat's Mother was concerned that I hadn't mentioned that the scarf on our snowman (soon to be deceased) is my old school scarf.  I regard this as editorial interference, but as she said, "They would want to know!".  So there you have it.  My scarf, which has survived forty years, is now roughing it in the back garden.

I wonder who briefed Prince 'take a life to save a life' Harry to say that he had killed Taleban.  If he wasn't a prime target before, he certainly is now.  But more importantly was the matter-of-fact way in which he delivered it.  A life is a life is a life, and any life lost should be mourned.  War is a nasty business at the best of times, and as I learnt in school at the age of 13 you can't win a war in Afghanistan.  So every life lost, whether British or Taleban is a wasted life as well as being a tragedy.

And as for Cameron offering us the chance to vote ourselves out of Europe...I'm lost for words.  The EU does need to change, but you can't influence change from the outside.  If we go, I bet €5 that within a decade we'll be hammering on the door asking to be let back in.  Of course, DC may be bluffing, certain that the Tories won't be winning the next election...but that won't help The Ed Miller Band come to the negotiating table

Yesterday's The Cat's Mother and I had a text conversation

"OMG on the 20 bus!!! xx"

"Not surprised.  Heard on the BBC that hell has frozen over xxx"

"They are in shock at Level One xxooxx" [ed: hairdresser]

""Did you go upstairs? Were you smoking on the back seat? Did you know they don't have conductors any more? xxx"

"All of the above. What a trip down memory lane.  All that was missing was me in my school uniform xxooxx"

"*drops phone* xxx"

A short while ago Kelloggsville asked for a cast list, so here goes:

Me - Nota Bene
My son - The Boy
My girlfriend - The Cat's Mother
My girlfriend's daughter - The Cat
My Mum - Grandma in Cyprus
My stepfather - Grandpa in Cyprus
My brother - erm, usually referred to as my brother...suggestions appreciated - I have used 'He ain't heavy'
UP - The Cat's Mother's brother
The Maestro - The Cat's Mother's other brother
Quenn Anne - The Cat's Mother's BFF
Muffin Mum - The Cat's Mother's sister
Muffin Dad - The Cat's Mother's brother-in-law
The Muffins - either the two daughters or the whole family
The Spanish girl - shares my office, and isn't Spanish
Gay John - used to share my office and isn't gay
Gay George - used to share my office and isn't gay
Office Dog - the office dog

The chorus...assorted characters who are given random names as needed, and these names may well change each time they appear..

If I've forgotten anyone, could they or you let me know?

Minding your Ps and Qs

I'm such a girl when it comes to shoes.  At one time I had 42 pairs.  That's a lot I know, when most blokes I know have one pair of shiny black ones, one battered pair of brown ones and a pair of trainers.  The reason is that everytime I dress to go out, I realise I don't have an appropriate pair.  The only answer is to buy a new pair.  With the snow this week, I realised that I don't have a pair of winter boots, so The Cat's Mother and I slipped and slid into the town centre  in search of a pair.  Loughton is full of coffee shops, opticians and TOWIE boutiques, but winter clothing is not in abundance, so I was quite pleased to find a pair I liked.  Designed by Alexander McQueen for Puma.  Yes, they probably wouldn't take you up Everest.  And there's the rub.  Literally.  By the time I walked down to the station yesterday morning and then at the other end to the office, I was practically crippled by the blisters.  Still they do look nice.

As I sauntered through Loughton yesterday morning on my way to the station, the workmen were hard at work clearing the pavement.  They were doing a very good job indeed, and I felt the urge to say a very loud thank you.  It often strikes me that the people who do the most important jobs get forgotten...and their efforts rarely acknowledged.  So here's a big thanks to everyone who has been and will be keeping the country running over the next few days.

I thought I would share a couple of pictures.

This one is quite atmospheric I think, and I took on my way home on Friday.

This one I took just before we broke up for Christmas....you get the effect by changing the zoom as the camera takes the picture...

Still in the snow

I enjoyed taking these pictures...and playing with them.

This one uses a special effect to make everything look tiny - on fact the snowman is six foot tall

And this one looks like he was on LSD

It's snow madness

Across the land there have been massive falls of s.........tupidity.  Particularly hard hit have been drivers, many of whom have been struck dumb.  The stupidity is continuing to fall and has been described as thick as two short planks.

Our house is near the top of a hill, and this afternoon I ventured out to see what was going on.  It was carnage.  There were cars spread all over the road...I spent a little while persuading more cars to stop before it was too late...but that didn't stop several ignoring me, heading down the hill...and sliding into the other cars that had done similar.  It sounded a bit like a giant 'Newtons Balls'.  When people were already in trouble, I encouraged them to do nothing until the cars lower down the hill were moved....but that didn't stop the suntanned bloke in his onesie deciding that his Range Rover was invincible and he could drive it OK...indeed it was impressive as two tonnes of shiny black Essex car slid gracefully into one car, then the next, then the next and the one after that before coming to rest in another.  At that stage I realised there was no helping any of them, so my blood boiling, I called them all stupid and went home.  Mr Suntan demanded to know why I was calling him stupid...I ignored him.

Meanwhile The Boy and I did what snowy days are designed for: