Absolutely The Last One, I Promise

Isn't it amazing how a wedding can give you something to write about for months??

I picked up our wedding album from the photographer today. It's enormous - and really heavy! But the pictures are great. We also got a 20-image 5" x 4" album, which is great for showing people who are interested but not interested enough to sit through 120 pictures...

I Am What I Am...

The final show on our West End weekend itinerary was La Cage aux Folles, which we decided to see as John Barrowman was starring as Albin. I've been a fan of John Barrowman for years, since I saw him in Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi over 15 years ago, long before Captain Jack and Torchwood and brought him into the mainstream. He was playing a limited run in this show so we decided to see it while he was still there.

This is a great feel-good musical. If you've read my previous reviews you'll know that I like my shows to give me something more than just a few hours' entertainment, and while this show didn't move me in the way others do, the fact that the acting, songs, dancing, costumes and humour were all of such a high quality gave it the extra something I needed. The part of Albin was made for John Barrowman (well, not literally; it was made for Harvey Fierstein, but you know what I mean), and Simon Burke, who is a famous theatre actor but who I don't think I'd seen in anything before, was excellent as Albin's partner, Georges. The music is very melodic and easy to listen to, and the six-packs on the Cagelles, the dancers in the 'La Cage aux Folles' club, werea sight to behold... :).

This show must also be the only one I've seen where the number of men in the audience at least equals the number of women, and is certainly the only one I've seen where it's acceptable for men-only groups to attend!

You Don't Fancy Us, Do You Miss?*

After some shopping on Oxford Street for a Christmas present for Jen, and a thoroughly unimpressive lunch at the cafe in John Lewis, we headed over to the Victoria Palace Theatre for the matinee performance of Billy Elliot: The Musical.

This is a show that Jen and I have overlooked in the past because there was always something else that we wanted to see more. Mistake - this musical should be at or near the top of any theatre-goer's list; it's incredible. Being a show about dancing, the choreography is amazing, but what makes it amazing is that it's all done by a 10-year-old boy. It obviously wouldn't be nearly so impressive if it were a performance of some ballet troupe or other.

The language was unbelievably blue, although we knew to expect that. As it's set in the North East of England, and being a North-Easterner myself, it made me strangely proud of my roots - something I don't say all that often.

This show has everything. I laughed, I cried (a lot), I was blown away by the choreography. I just wish I hadn't waited so long to see it.

* The title is a line from the show - after Mrs Wilkinson suggests that Billy audition for the Royal Ballet School and tells him she will give him free, private coaching. Brilliant.

It's Show Time...

Jen and I just went on another of our crazy 3-West-End-shows-in-a-weekend-plus-shopping-and-eating-too weekends. We arranged it fairly recently, and having just watched this video for about the thousandth time since seeing the show last year, I stipulated that one of the shows had to be Jersey Boys, not only because I was desperate to see it again, but because I knew Jen would love it too.

After an initial confusing few minutes before we realised there were 2 H&M stores at Oxford Circus, our meeting point, we finally found each other and just had time to drop Jen's bags off at the hotel before heading over to the Prince Edward Theatre.

I would live in the dress circle of the theatre if I could. I love shows so much that I don't think I'll ever tire of them. And while I wish Rob liked them more, as long as he doesn't force me to go and see horror films with him I won't force him to see musicals, plus I've always got a willing companion in Jen.

I've written about this show before so I won't repeat myself again, but suffice to say that it didn't disappoint. Again, the language was a bit blue, but it certainly wasn't the worst we would hear this weekend, and all four principals were fantastic. Actually, one was a little off, but it didn't detract too much. What did annoy us slightly was the woman sitting next to Jen, who clearly thought people had paid good money to hear her sing. Despite that, we both enjoyed ourselves immensely, and after a lovely post-show Italian meal in the restaurant next-door to the theatre, we headed back to our hotel.

Nawlins

We arrived in New Orleans on Monday afternoon and went straight to the gym to blow away the travel cobwebs - and also because we hadn't been on Sunday, like we said we would :). Between Monday evening and Thursday evening I didn't see Rob a whole lot as he had conference stuff to do and people to see, but I spent the week hanging out with Keri, Annabelle and Corgan, which was very cool.

Tuesday we went to Audubon Zoo, which was a trolley ride away from our hotel downtown, then we had a walk through the Garden District on the way back to the hotel. On Wednesday we had a walk around the French Quarter and got roped into taking a horse & carriage ride round the area, which we hadn't planned on doing, but it was great. Thursday we visited the Louisiana Children's Museum then walked back towards the French Quarter, stopping at Cafe du Monde for some beignets. Then on Thursday evening all the SpringSource people who hadn't already left to go home went out for a meal on Bourbon Street. Afterwards I went with a few of the guys to the bar in our hotel, but left after one drink just after midnight, when I heard they were planning to stay out for a while. Rob didn't get in until 05:00, which pretty much put paid to us doing anything on the Friday as he went straight back to bed after breakfast at IHOP, so I went to New Orleans City Park with Keri, Keith and the kids. On Saturday after the Donalds left, Ben, Rob and I had a look around the French Quarter (me for the third or fourth time; them for the first) then we left Sunday to come home, arriving this morning. Actually, I came home; Rob went straight from T5 to T2 at Heathrow to get on a plane to Prague for another conference...

New Orleans is an interesting place. Our horse & carriage tour guide told us that the French Quarter didn't actually get damaged all that much during Katrina - everywhere up to about 12ft above sea level was flooded, but the French Quarter is 14ft above and was barely touched. My first reaction to that was 'Great!' At least the main historial and tourist area wasn't badly affected. But that then led me to ask 'So what's its excuse for looking so shabby?' Sure, it's old (well, by American standards it's old), and I guess that brings with it a certain amount of charm, but I think the French Quarter in particular has crossed the line from 'charming' into 'a bit tired'. We didn't find a whole lot of jazz in New Orleans. What we did find a lot of were bars and strip joints. Which I'm sure will interest some people, but me not so much.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to visit a new city; glad I've seen it, the weather (barring one afternoon and evening when there was a storm) was much nicer than at home, and some areas - the Garden District and Audubon Park in particular - are beautiful, but it's no New York.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few: -

At the Zoo

French Quarter

St Louis Cathedral

Corgan making bubbles at the Children's Museum

Cool Statue/Monument in Woldenberg Park

Steamboat (obviously)

Capital City

This week it's the fifth annual SpringOne conference, but this year it's in New Orleans in October rather than Florida in December. I didn't go last year - a combination of no holiday entitlement left and no money, plus the fact that I'd been for the previous three years - but with the change of location this year, I decided to go. We knew there was no way we could get a direct flight there from the UK, so we took the opportunity to do something we've been talking about for years - at least, since we started watching the West Wing - and spent the weekend in Washington DC. Turns out there was a flaw in our plan though, as none of the direct flights from DC to New Orleans was with anyone who partnered with our trans-Atlantic BA flight, so we ended up connecting in Dallas, but it was pretty painless, as connections go.


It was pouring down when we got to DC on Friday afternoon. In fact, just walking 5 or 6 blocks from a restaurant back to our hotel was enough to soak Rob's shoes and socks right through, so he resolved to find a pair of slightly more waterproof shoes on Saturday morning. In true man-on-a-shopping-mission style, he walked into the men's shoes department of Macy's, picked up the first pair he saw, tried them on, liked them and bought them. And put them on straight away, leaving his rain-soaked shoes at the store. He remarked that these new shoes were great because they struck a balance between smart and casual - they didn't look out of place with jeans but they were equally good with smart trousers, so he would probably wear them next week at the conference, instead of wearing the shoes I had packed for him. That was when I remembered I had forgotten to pack his more formal shoes…


Weather-wise, Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday. After Macy's, we got the Metro over to Capitol South and had a look around the Library of Congress, then we walked across the road to the Capitol Building and did the free tour. We walked up the Mall towards the Washington Monument but it started raining really heavily so we ducked into the Air & Space Museum to escape the rain for a while. Turned out everyone else had the same idea - it was packed. So we got the Metro up to a micro-brewery Rob had found and had a late lunch. We were pretty wet and cold by then - we had brought waterproof jackets with hoods etc, but once my jeans were wet through and my legs got cold I started feeling a bit fed up. Plus we were both quite jet-lagged so we made our way back to the hotel via the White House, got in our pyjamas, watched a movie, ordered milk & cookies from room service and went to bed at 9pm. Bliss.


Sunday was colder than Saturday, but it was dry, which made for a much better sightseeing experience. We started out at the Jefferson Memorial and walked to the Lincoln Memorial via the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial, then we walked across the bridge and into Arlington Cemetery. We got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to watch the changing of the guard ceremony, and we also saw the Kennedy graves. Then we walked up to the Iwo Jima Memorial, jumped on the Metro at Rosslyn (remarking that we hadn't realised that the place where President Bartlet got shot was quite so close to Washington) and rode back to our hotel.


I loved the Jefferson Memorial. It was far more beautiful - and less crowded - than the Lincoln Memorial. I really liked Washington generally: it was quite European in its feel; it reminded me of somewhere like the Ringstrasse in Vienna. Well worth a visit.

Next stop: NOLA.

The Pines

Our staff team (minus Smithy who was ill) just got back from 2 nights away to discuss the various aspects of the Church's work. We went to a house called The Pines in Coldwaltham, which is a place in the middle of nowhere the other side of Chichester. I went for a run each morning, and yesterday morning the sunrise was beautiful, so I resolved to take my camera with me this morning. Trouble was, the sunrise was rubbish this morning. Typical.

Still, I took some pictures while I was on my run. I really must read that Lightroom book I borrowed off Andy and learn how to use it - these pictures are just slightly retouched using iPhoto.

I think this one would look nice if I could black-and-white out the background. It's pretty much there already.

It took me forever to get this shot. I had my zoom lens on the camera, and it took me so long to find the dragonfly through the viewfinder that by the time I did, it had flown off again. I'm really pleased I got this one in the end.

I Heart the Big Smoke

Rob & I spent this past weekend in London. We got the train up on Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel and went straight out to meet Brent, Joe & Tara for a meal. It was amazing - it called itself 'Healthy Meal' but there was so much of it; I'm not sure it was all that healthy to eat such a large amount of food in one sitting :).

Saturday was our shopping day. I mentioned at work last week that I was looking to buy a ring in London and one of my colleagues told me to call her friend, who owns a jewellery wholesale business. I spoke to him on Friday, and he gave me the name and address of a jewellery shop in London that they supply. When we got there on Saturday, they had been told to expect us, and they gave me about 17% off the price of the ring I chose, plus a bottle of champagne to take away. Result! It's not what you know...

I also got a watch and a handbag, and two separate opportunities to speak some Italian. Rob got a key ring. But it's a nice key ring.

In the evening we met up with Joe and Tara again and went to see The Shawshank Redemption at the Wyndhams Theatre. I don't know how faithfully the West End production sticks to the original play, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (or even how the film fares against the original, for that matter), but as a stand-alone piece it was pretty good. By no means as good as the film, but there's only so much you can do with a play about a prison escape when you can't actually portray the guy crawling through miles of sewage pipe. There were some noticeable differences between the play and the film, but as I said, taken in isolation it was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday night.

On Sunday we got up early and walked down to HTB for the 09:30 service, then afterwards we made our way back towards the hotel, walking past Harrods just as it was opening :). We had a quick browse around before going back to the hotel to check out and get the train home.

The more I go, the more I love London. I couldn't live there, but it's great for a few days.

So That's What That Thing Does...

Rob bought me an SLR camera over 2 years ago, just before we moved down here, and I have never used it out of Automatic mode. Until today...

We both went to a 'Getting to Know Your Digital SLR' course at Portsmouth Dockyard today, and learned the basics like setting aperture, checking shutter speed, adjusting white balance and ISO settings, the rule of thirds and hotspots. I learned about depth of field and had fun taking pictures around the dockyard, experimenting with my camera's settings, getting blurry backgrounds, moving the focal point from one side of the picture to the other, etc. Here are a few un-retouched first attempts.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

6 of us went to see Les Miserables on Saturday in the West End. I love living just over an hour from London! Only one of us had never seen it before, and by the time we came out of the theatre, between us we had seen it 24 times...

It's over 4 years since I last saw it, so it was about time I saw it again. It really was just as good the sixth time as it was the first! The guy playing Valjean was the understudy (we saw the matinee performance) but he was absolutely awesome - when he sang his diction was really clear so you didn't miss what he was singing, which as you may know is one of the things I look for. Javert, on the other hand, was less articulate, and I was worried that Cathy, who was the Les Mis rookie, would miss what he was singing about, but she said she followed everything OK.

Having listened to the music countless times over the past 20 years, I have to say I'm a bit fed up of most of the better known songs in this show. What I love, though, are the not-so-famous songs and interludes, in particular One Day More, the Act I Finale, and the Epilogue from Act II. [NB: Don't click these links if you don't want to know what happens! But if you haven't seen it, rectify that as soon as you can!] One Day More is possibly my favourite ever song: it combines the 'theme tunes' of all the main characters into one song and took months to write, but it was well worth the effort.

It turns out most of the people I work with haven't seen Les Mis either. I feel another trip to the Queens Theatre coming on...