Phantom Nasties

I mentioned in an earlier blog that we had a family outing to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Liverpool Empire.

Phantom is a family thing. I took my husband to see it years ago at Manchester and he fell in love with it. I must admit it was more of a slow burn for me, but when the DVD came out, after several viewings I found that I loved it too as did my boys.

Three years ago, me and my husband went down to London for the weekend to celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary (sans children). We had a wonderful weekend, stayed in a fab hotel by the Tower of London, had a champagne ride on the London Eye and revisited some of my old haunts from when I used to live in the city.

But the highlight for me was going to see Phantom there. I

’d booked seats four rows back from the front of the stalls. I had wondered whether we’d get neck ache like you do when you are too close to the front at the cinema, but it was completely the opposite. We were so close to the drama on stage we actually felt as we were part of it, especially as the massive chandelier spent most of the show hanging right above our heads.

Last year Phantom came back to Manchester and I wanted to take the whole family to see it, but in the end I couldn’t get tickets. Well I could have, but the seats cost a fortune for the four of us, and they were so far back, it would like have been sitting outside the theatre.

Then it went on to Liverpool, and although the tickets weren’t cheap, they were at least in the circle with a half decent view, and the boys were really excited about going, which really made the night for me.

Whilst the production was fantastic, because we had been spoilt the last time we saw it, this time I did feel rather removed from the action. But what really let it down, for me, were the three noisy people sitting right behind us. They chatted and laughed all the way through the first half, so that I could barely hear the speaking parts.

I began to get really annoyed and did a few hard stares behind me which worked for a while, but soon the annoyance returned. I really wanted to say something but kept remembering a time when my friend had spoken out at something similar, and ended up having to leave the theatre herself half way through the show when the people causing the disturbance turned nasty.

Eventually though I couldn’t stand it any more and turned round and politely but firmly asked them to be quiet.

It didn’t go down too well, and apparently they were making nasty gestures behind me, but at least they shut up.

I raced out to the bar at the interval and wasn’t looking forward to going back afterwards. But when we got back to our seats they were gone. And other people around me thanked me for being so outspoken and wished they had done the same.

The second half was much more enjoyable, especially as I was buoyed up by the fact that I had stuck up for what I believed was right.

Not sure I would have had the guts to do it though if I had been on my own.

Theatre tickets arent cheap though, we had been looking forward to it for weeks, and I can’t understand why people would pay that price for tickets and then completely disregard, not only the production they were going to see, but also the feelings of others around them.

Perhaps its just me, but I was brought up to have respect and consider other people’s feelings.

Shame other people aren’t the same.

Busy Busy

It’s been a busy few weeks but now, thankfully, I have the time to re-group and, hopefully, get some work done.

Youngest’s arm is fixed and my eldest now has a permanent brace fitted to his teeth – top and bottom.  The words, Metal Mickey, spring to mind, but bless him, he’s adjusting to it really well and so far is taking the cleaning of it, which is a bit of a nightmare, really seriously. 

And now, without trying to tempt fate, I have a clear run ahead of me without a plethora of hospital, doctors and dentists appointments to attend.

Last week was half term, and needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done.  It was also my husband’s birthday so we were busy busy, including watching Les Miserables at the cinema, which was fab, a trip to the theatre to see Phantom of the Opera (third time for us oldies, a first for the boys).  The boys loved both Les Miserables and Phantom, what cultured children! In fact, at the theatre, they were better behaved than the adults who were sitting behind us (but that’s another story).

We also had a visit to Quarry Bank Mill in Styal and The Grosvenor Museum in Chester (other children get to go to theme parks, but not mine poor things! They will thank me later in life.)

I’m looking forward to a quiet week now, applying my bottom to my desk chair and my fingers to my keyboard.

 

Just need to un-cross those fingers now

Shirley Valentine and Times Gone By

The other night as I was idly flicking through the television channels I came across the film Shirley Valentine. No matter how many times I’ve watched the flim, it always comes across as fresh as the first time I watched it and is just as poignant.

The film was at the hilarious point where Shirley meets her old school friend (Joanna Lumley). Shirley admits that she thought her friend was an air hostess and Joanna comes back as says, “Good Lord no, I’m a hooker.” or words to that affect.

The bit that really got to me though is when Shirley is on the bus going home, and is remembering how she used to be when she was a girl, full of hopes and dreams for the future.

I think that bit really got to me because I had a similar experience recently. At the end of March I celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary. Ten years – where did they go then?

We decided to celebrate by going away for a weekend without the children which we have done so rarely in the last ten years. (I was pregnant with our first son on our first anniversary, so technically we haven’t yet had an anniversary on our own).

We looked at various different options but settled on a weekend in London. On the Friday morning we travelled down on the train, stayed at a really nice hotel close to Tower Bridge (with swimming pool and spar), had a champagne flight on the London Eye and went to see Phantom of the Opera at the theatre. All in all a wonderful and memorable occasion.

I enjoy going to visit London because for nine years I used to live there. I’ve always had a fascination for our capital city and decided to go to polytechnic in north London when I was 18. I didn’t come back to the north west until I was 27. I lived in a variety of places and had so many experiences there that I can barely remember them all. But sitting on the tube and exploring places where I used to go or live brought a lot of them back to me. On the Saturday we got the tube to Richmond where I used to live and work and then followed the river all the way round to Chiswick; also a place I have lived in.

It was really weird, as though those things had happened to a different person in another lifetime and I found it really hard to reconcile the person I am now to the person I was then.

I’m not saying that I’m unhappy with my life or how things have turned out just that the years have flown by so quickly. In my head I’m still in my early twenties and sometimes it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that I’m actually in my early forties (despite the continual reminders from my boys).

I also began to think about all the time I wasted when I was down there, when I should have been out and about and making the most of the attractions of such a wonderful city and its made me more determined to make the most of what I have here, especially now the sun has started to shine.

Have you had any profound or thought provoking experiences recently?