Hello again

Dear Blog (and anyone who reads this)

Sorry!

Did you think I’d gone? I’ve not written anything for about 6 weeks. I kept meaning to, there have been things I could have written about, and things I couldn’t, but somehow I just couldn’t pull the words together. Too much that I would have written about seemed far too trivial.

It’s been a tough few weeks, for reasons I won’t go into on here, but I do want to get back to blogging. It’s just that sometimes the words aren’t there. Hopefully they will be again soon.

Don’t give up on me, I will be back.

Three Years on - a slightly belated birthday blog

On 16 April 2006, Easter Sunday as it was that year, I started this blog. I didn’t know what I’d be saying, and I didn’t know how long I’d keep it up for, but I wanted somewhere to post my thoughts.

Three years on, and much has changed, but then again, a lot hasn’t. I’ve found that when I’m at my busiest, I write less, so significant events go by without a record on here, whilst more trivial things warrant a post.

97 entries, by far and away the most, are tagged ‘theatre’, so no surprises there. However there are more entries tagged ‘David Tennant’ (29) than there are ‘musicals’ (25)! There are only 12 ‘Griffins’, and 3 ‘Fox’s’. What I definitely didn’t anticipate when I started this was the 34 entries which are tagged ‘walking’!

I started off not intending to talk about work, and still try to keep away from it, yet it has crept in and tags 21 entries.

There are 22 Reality TVs, 20 Strictly’s, and Gethin Jones (16) is tagged more than John Barrowman (12).

What does this say about me? Quite a lot, I think. Basically, that I don’t change that much. I still love theatre, I still get crazy obsessions, some of which last longer than others, and I still find work frustrating, and stressful a lot of the time. Looking back, though, I’m very grateful for all the fabulous things I’ve managed to do, and even more grateful for the good friends who’ve shared them with me.

For those who read this, thank you.

Happy Blog Birthday

Yes, it's this blog's birthday today. One year ago, Easter Sunday, I decided to plunge into the world of blogging. I wasn't sure where it would take me, or what I'd say, or if it would be read by more than one or two people. I still don't have a wide readership, but I get hit by quite a lot of 'theatrical' googles (though the 6 different googles on variations of '57 academics punched the air' amused me!).

I know I've enjoyed writing it so far. As expected, it's been heavily theatre orientated, but other things have featured more, or less, than I'd have expected. Some weeks I have little to write about, others, like this last week, there's so much I can't keep up with it. How long will I keep going? I don't know, but I'm not bored yet. And I do like to read your comments.

So, happy birthday, blog. Here's to the next year.

The biggest blog in history

Today bloggers have been asked to record their day for posterity as one day in history by History Matters, so I have. Here's my account of my day

Tuesday 17 October 2006

What did I do today? Not very much really. I got up around 9 – I’ve got very lazy on days when I’m not working – had breakfast – two slices of toast, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else till the evening as I had a hospital appointment in the afternoon. I’ve been dreading it, but actually couldn’t dread the actual day for too long, as I only opened the appointment letter yesterday. Yes, I know, I could have missed it, but I didn’t, and at least I only had last night, and today, to stress about it.

I did some ironing – oh, how I hate it, but the pile was so large it was threatening to fall off the chair. I then went out, first to Tescos for food – mainly cat food really, but I got some other bits as well, well, £15 worth anyway. Then on to Monks Cross, I went into Marks and Spencer, and then into Laura Ashley, which had a sale on. Oh dear. Well, my excuse was I needed to take my mind off the hospital, and I’m looking for something to wear to my friend’s birthday ‘do’ in December. I tried on quite a few things, and ended up with a black skirt, and a fitted silk top, both of which are ‘going out’ clothes – suitable for the theatre, or a meal out, at least. In my heart, I knew I didn’t need either of them, and it was mainly ‘comfort buying’.

On the way home I stopped at the Toyota Garage, and looked at some cars. I’ve arranged a test drive in a Yaris for Friday. I’m pretty sure I won’t get one though, as I found the salesman far too smarmy, and disliked his style of calling my by my name 6 times in the space of about 2 minutes.

Once back, I logged onto the computer for a while, and checked all the sites I regularly visit. Blogs of friends, a couple of fan sites and forums, The Stage, and checked my emails, dealing with a couple of work related ones. I was filling in time till I had to go out again,

My appointment wasn’t until 5.20pm, but I got there early, and was appalled at the price of car parking at the hospital - £2.60 for two hours (well, I was sure I’d be delayed). I was actually in, and out, by my original appointment time, so for once well done to the NHS. As I walked out I thought about the times I’d been to that hospital, as a visitor, and as a member of staff, as I used to work in the adjacent hospital. Some happy, and some very sad memories. I also remembered having a guided tour round it before it opened. It’s changed a lot, and had bits built onto it over the years.

As for my evening, well, it was just watching tv, and a bit of reading. There really wasn’t very much on, and I found myself watching an episode of Dr Who for about the 4th time, well, if there’s nothing else on, you can’t beat a bit of David Tennant. Later I watched an episode of ‘The Amazing Mrs Pritchard’ starring Jane Horrocks. It’s a drama series which is now about 3 episodes in, but this was the first I’d seen. It was quite good, a little quirky around the edges, and pretty unchallenging, but it was good to see some strong roles for actresses of a certain age.

So, that was it, my day –pretty ordinary and unexciting really.

Public diaries

I'm sitting in a (frankly smelly) fringe theatre venue with a friend, watching a show about Blogging. It's based on real life blogs, but ones of a very sexual nature, it's funny, and well acted, and I'm laughing at some of the things the 'bloggers' are saying and acting out. It bears little resemblance to the blogs of people I know, or those that I read.

After the show, we go for a drink. My friend comments 'I guess that's what most blogs are about'. I find myself explaining that actually most aren't like that, and that people write them for different reasons, but with an understanding that anything that goes out there can be read by anyone. That they are, in fact, public diaries. One of the very true aspects of the show was one guy who blogged that his ex found out about his new girlfriend from reading his blog.