If only I could live like this

Over the last few weeks, after a shaky start, which led me to dismiss it as ‘Too ITV’ (a pretty damning assessment in my eyes), I really got into Lost in Austen, where a modern woman went back through a time portal into the fictional world of Pride and Prejudice*, swapping places with Lizzie Bennet just at the start of the novel.

I think it hooked me at the point where the plot began to deviate from the story, and Jane ended up married to the odious Mr Collins. Darcy was insufferable as he is in the early parts of the novel, but Wickham turned out to be a good guy, and Lydia ran off with Bingley, who’d turned to drink when Jane married another. As in all good fairy tales, it all ended happily, however, and Amanda, our modern heroine, stayed with Darcy, whilst Lizzie found a new life in modern Hammersmith.

So, when I went to Middlethorpe Hall for lunch on Friday, all this was still in my head, as I’d watched the final episode the night before.


I love Middlethorpe. It’s a beautiful 17th Century house, set in glorious grounds, and is now a hotel and restaurant. It’s usually a treat for special occasions, but this time we went for lunch as it was the York Food and Drink Festival, and also to celebrate C’s official appointment as my assistant.

Before lunch, as we sat in the lounge, C declared that she could happily live there, as it was ‘managable’. Well, yes, it is, but you’d still need an army of staff. One of the things I love is that the service is superb, but unobtrusive.

Lunch was lovely, and, fortified by two glasses of wine, we went for a stroll round the grounds. It was one of those mellow autumn days that Keats wrote about, with a hint of mist in the air, but still some warmth in the sun. We walked down the lawn to the haha, and ventured further into the orchard and wilderness, discovering the lake. All I needed was a regency dress, and Mr Darcy. The setting was all there.














* Mr Darcy, time travel, how could I not end up loving it?

The 'Strictly' Season

It’s that time again. The nights draw in, and Saturday night becomes a night for watching TV and ignoring phone calls. Yes, Strictly Come Dancing started last Saturday.

As you know I got just a little bit obsessed last year, and I'm hoping that I won’t go the same way this year. It’s too early to judge yet, as I can’t have a favourite until I’ve seen a couple of dances. I don’t support people blindly, they do need to have potential. After all, last year it didn’t hit me until Week 5 when Gethin danced the foxtrot.

We’ve had the ‘boy’s week’ and the front runners seemed to be Austin Healey and Tom Chambers*. This week it’s the girls and it looks like Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon are going to be good. Shame I don’t like either of their partners! The lovely Ian Waite has got the tallest girl again, and that’s rarely good.

All this, and there’s It Takes Two to catch up on every weekday evening. There’s a ‘Strictly’ programme on every day from now until the weekend before Christmas. And it’s actually quite scary to see it like that.

*who I will support as he's dancing with Camilla, and I'd like to see her get to the final

Never knowingly underdressed

For this week’s reading, we have to provide costume. I’m really trying not to be too precise, but I find I can’t help it. It’s in the blood. I know I’m running the risk of being the best costumed as I go down to Costume Hire.

‘I need 19th Century Russian’
‘Oh, it’ll be The Cherry Orchard* then’
‘Correct’

Later

‘I need to be downtrodden, but not poor’; we find a grey skirt, and I add a blouse which has Fiddler on the Roof inside – it’s hardly the bourgeoisie of Chekov, but it looks about right.

‘I now need an apron’.
The first few that are produced I dismiss as ‘Too Pollyanna’. Others are dismissed as ‘too nurse-y’. I find one with a bib, and no frills. ‘This feels about right’.

Next, I need a hat. There are so many to choose from. Some perfect 19th Century styles, which are sadly too decorative for the character. Others are too contemporary. Finally I find one that’s straw boater style, simply decorated with a bit of ribbon.

‘That’s my wedding hat, it’s Laura Ashley, circa 1980’s’
‘I don’t care, it looks right, so it’s now 19th Century Russia’

I just know I’m going to be more appropriately (and therefore inappropriately) dressed than anyone else on stage!

*It isn't actually The Cherry Orchard, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have described it as a new play.

Theatrical one-upmanship

I haven’t done much acting for a while, and I really miss it, so, when K told me that they were looking for people for a rehearsed reading of a new play, I jumped at the chance.

So, I go along on Saturday morning, having had the script sent to me last week. I was worried when I saw the level of detail in the stage directions*. Apart from K, I have no idea who is going to be in it.

I get myself a coffee and wait, trying to spot others clutching scripts. Eventually I spot a chap I think I recognise, and correctly identify him as the writer (and director) of the piece.

As we wait for people to arrive, we sit in the coffee bar. A number of them know each other, from a local acting group. There’s R, Shakespearean Actor, who has just played Leontes, and is full of the fact that he’s got an agent, Opera Man, and A, a student. I know R from the Mystery Plays, but I think initially she’s struggling to remember me.

A has just finished an MA in English and Drama, carries a copy of her thesis in her bag, and therefore knows everything there is to know about theatre, asks R, ‘what have you done?’ Shakespearean actor laughs ‘what hasn’t she done!’ Opera Man tells us that he’ll have to dash out at some point, to do promo shots for ‘Yeoman of the Guard’. Everyone is swapping theatrical CVs, of all the plays they’ve done, and what productions they’ve seen. Opera Man tells me of a group he works with, and I make the fatal comment ‘oh, they used to be good!’ ‘They’re still good!’ He replies.

I realise I’m not very good at this game, mainly because I don’t want to be, and it all strikes me as a little ridiculous. R asks me, ‘So, what have you done recently?’, and I know that this isn’t the time to tell them about my evening class! I mutter something about being busy with work.

All the time, I’m wondering what I’ve let myself in for.

*Examples being to say a line 'Russianly' and 'un-Russianly'

The Bad Idea Bears

Cat and I went to see Avenue Q the other Saturday, and were thus introduced to the Bad Idea Bears. We all have them, those bears that whisper in your ear that it’s a good idea to eat that extra piece of cake, and hang the diet, that you always need a new dress, and of course you should have another drink, and before you know it its ‘absinthe dacquiris’!

I was thinking of this when I was out on Friday. It was a ‘handbag walk’, though we’ve been struggling for where to go recently, because all paths seem to be waterlogged. So, after a trip to Brimham Rocks, we ended up in Pateley Bridge looking for a tea shop.

Of course, we looked at all the other shops too, and there were a couple of particularly nice jewellers. I went into the first one, tried on a few rings, but managed to resist. I looked in the window of the second, but didn’t go in. We went for tea, and shopped some more. I was looking in the second jewellers again when it began to rain.

‘I think that’s a sign we should head home’. But my Bad Idea Bear had other ideas.
‘No, it’s a sign you should go and try rings on’.

You’ve guessed it. I came out with a new ring. And very pretty it is too.

Like going back in time

‘I have photos of me here when I was about 5!’

On the way over to Scarborough, we’d decided to visit the North Bay (always the ‘posh end’) and had debated whether the miniature railway still existed.

We were a little shocked to see that the Corner Café had gone, and was being replaced by a block of rather exclusive holiday apartments.

We wandered into Peasholm Park, but were prevented going very far, as they were performing ‘Famous Naval Battles’ on the lake. J and I reminisced about the tree walk that used to be on the island, complete with Red Indians, a totem pole, and a pagoda at the top of the hill (!). It all looked much smaller than we remembered, but they did now have Dragon boats on the lake, which looked to be fun.

The North Bay does seem to be stuck in a time warp, despite the developments, and has all the more charm for it. As we crossed the road, we spotted the train, and the station, and went into the tea shop. A few moments later, A appeared, brandishing return tickets for a trip to Scalby Mills. We were childishly excited by the idea, and all 5 of us ended up squashing into one carriage (remember, this is a miniature railway).

Everyone screamed as we went through the tunnel, and when we reached the coast the view was beautiful back across the bay. The sun was shining, the North Sea actually looked blue for once, and the air was warm. It was Scarborough just as I remembered it from childhood.

Reasons for absence

After a few weeks of absence, I have a bit to catch up on. I’ve spent the last two weekends in London. As Cat said, as we arrived last weekend, it’s starting to feel like something I do at the weekends. Sadly, my bank balance can’t maintain it for too long.

Over the last few weeks, I have been to Scarborough and ridden the miniature railway out to Scalby Mills; been to a gay hen party, which included singalonga-Sound of Music, a Murder Mystery Dinner; and my first ever trip to the Kings Road, and Portobello Road; been to see Avenue Q; been to the gay wedding of the year; visited Kensington Palace and learned to curtsey like a deb, and to walk with a book on my head.

I’ve also worked hard, done a great deal of travelling, and been made an Associate Director in one job.

No, nothing much has happened!

The day the world didn't end

Today, they turned on the Large Hadron Collider (no, I don't understand what it does, either). As I don't watch the news, I knew nothing about this until I was watching Mock the Week last week.

We weren't sucked into a black hole. which has to be a good thing, right? There are theories out there that we're living in a parallel universe, but if we are, it seems just as full of c**p as the other one, at least as far a work goes.

I am going to try and catch up with a few blogs. Some are half written, some not even started, but I'll get there.