Welcome to the weekend! Strangely I'm feeling sociable!

I finished work early yesterday afternoon so I took Mum shopping to get some Easter presents for my sister's kids. I don't know how we ended up doing that but we did and now we can't stop... Mum took the opportunity to look for a lightweight summer jacket, which in reality means something beige. How many beige coats can a man look at?! She has a nasty habit of picking ones that make her look like and old lady, but I was feeling opinionated so I may have used the word "frumpy" more than was necessary. Then when she finally found something nice she decided it was too expensive! Mothers!

In the evening I went to see Jan & Barry and ate too much then ended up having rambling conversations about scary music: Kevin Ayers anyone? There's something very 70s about a flute... Barry is determined to open my mind to odd music, but I'm equally determined to resist anything that sounds like it was made by men wearing capes! Lovely to see you both! xxxx

And today? Well I have things to do, but for now they can wait as I'm having a lie in!

Brief Encounter



You must have seen Brief Encounter - and if you haven't then shame on you! It's fantastic and always makes me cry. But it began life as a play and in some strange circular way it is now a new play, which I went to see last night.

Obviously I was nervous about going - you've got to be incredibly confident, or completely insane, to mess with such a well-loved classic, because if you get it wrong people will be furious! This one also uses the songs of Noel Coward in it, something that the original never did.

The story stays the same - woman meets man in train station cafe, meets him again in a restaurant, starts to meet him regularly and has an affair with him in a very 1930s kind of way (no sex) until he leaves for Africa and she resumes her previous life.

It begins with the cast wandering amongst the audience and gathering at one side of the theatre where they start to sing. Then they vanish behind the curtain and the two actors playing the lead roles stand up from the seats they have in the stalls, whilst a cinema screen has appeared on stage, then the female character walks through it and suddenly appears on the screen. So far so modern.

The first half is a bit more comedic than I would have liked, mostly involving the staff of the railway cafe. Some of it is almost smutty, which isn't very Noel Coward! I know it's not the film and I need to loosen up about it and thankfully once they sing some more I did. The second half is better because it's less funny, and of course it has the unhappy ending.

The cast are great, getting that clipped English accent spot on. The actress - sorry, I will not say actor, I don't get the point of that, please can someone explain? - playing the woman who runs the teashop is particularly excellent and has a great voice. There's dancing, puppets, a rowing boat and trains. Possibly there's a bit too much going on, but it's never boring. I'm not sure it completely worked for me: I have a huge fondness for the film, and could appreciate how good the cast and staging were, but there was a tension in my head at least between the two of them. Still it was much better than the dreadful redoing of The 39 Steps that has been so popular recently. I must rewatch the film soon.

The old sofa:



The new sofa:



So not massively different then, but sturdier and comfier! Less room for cushions though, which might not be a bad thing as they were rather taking over! I'll be testing the comfiness of the sofa for the whole evening.

By the time I went to bed last night was a bit fed up, having realised that I'd done nothing more useful with my afternoon than play Bejeweled and watch Gossip Girl - what a waste!

I also had a slightly wobbly moment about furniture - once the sofa had gone the living room seemed so much bigger: just me, an armchair, footstool and laptop - perfect! It made me think I might have a little bit too much furniture, and part of me wishes I was brave enough to manage with a lot less and enjoy the space.

Today was the first day most people saw my new glasses and I spent most of the day feeling self-conscious as people looked at me as if there was something different going on but couldn't work out what. It's enough to make a person paranoid!

Last night I could have gone to see a comedian in town, but comedy needs company and I was going alone so I changed my mind and stayed in with Ben & Jerry's instead. God bless them!

Overnight the clocks went forward which means British Summer Time started today, and coincidentally it's been lovely and sunny! Typically I didn't really make the most of it....

I spent the morning with Mum, and somehow I ended up in her loft trying to work out if her chimney is leaking - like I'd know if it was! Thankfully my sister turned up with the kids which distracted her and meant I could get away and take my sofa up the tip in preparation for the new one. If it doesn't turn up this week then I'm in trouble!

And then this afternoon when I could have been outside pruning things that desperately need pruning I was indoors wasting time online. Bah! And now I'm pondering chips....