In response to Suburban Mum’s heartfelt plea for my return (oh, let me have my dreams!) I felt I should probably post and catch you all up on what I have been up to.
This evening I had dinner with Michael Portillo. Well, not exactly with him. Not actually even in the same room as him. But definitely in the same building and as part of the same event. I rub shoulders with all the stars, me. Actually, I did quite literally rub shoulders with him. Or I would have done were he not two inches shorter than me. Call it a shoulder to elbow brush, if you will.
The other weekend I went to a marvellous party with a traditional seaside theme, hosted by a famous novelist of Mr Katja’s acquaintance. The sun shone, we ate fish and chips, drank pink champagne, rode donkeys, and shouted at the Punch and Judy show, coming home pinkly sun-scorched and very happy at the end of the day. Ah, the halcyon days of summer. Long may they last.
This weekend I shall be riding 50 miles on my bike in aid of the Nehemiah Project. I am somewhat nervous and fear that my behind will not last the distance. I am loath to publish the link to my justgiving page here as it shows my real name, which I would rather the googlebots did not link with my blog. However, if you would like to sponsor me, there is a link on my facebook profile. Every little counts (and thank you to those that have already so generously donated).
I went off on tour recently. Just a little mini tour, taking in Newcastle and Harrogate, but it went terribly well and a good time was had by all, not least the children being entertained. Continuing the animal theme which has characterised my acting roles over the past couple of years, I played a Mexican bird (most entertaining when we had a Spanish woman in the front row for one of the shows …), a very posh hare, a westcountry cow and a cock-er-nee fly.
The cow was a very loud, panto dame-type character, and I used to run in and out of the audience, talking to the children and generally camping it up. One day we had a boy of about 8 or 9 years old in the audience, who was too old and cool for the show (it’s aimed at 3-4 year olds), but too young to get the jokes aimed at the adults, and therefore seemed pretty bored.
In the cow scene, there is the classic panto device of shouting for a character who has disappeared off stage, shouting louder and louder until they come back. I picked on Bored Boy, who very obligingly yelled his little heart out. I then exited at the end of the scene, and Sally, one of the other actors, did a little adlib about me being a mad cow. Bored boy then told her in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t MAD, I was COOL.
Oh yes, I’ve still got it …
Every time you tour, you come back with a young boys heart! Why am I not surprised?
I always thought Portillo would be tall, I’m quite surprised that he isn’t, although I guess it’s all relative, right? I bet he is blogging now under his secret blog (t0ryB0y64) “I rubbed shoulders with floaty katja to night – she is so tall”
I wondered why you dont blog anymore. But then reading this I can understand why. Too many interesting things happenning around.
But do remember to write in once a while letting us know of your tours and plays and parties
It *was* heartfelt!
I would like to know your tours, especially when they are things for 3 year olds. I have one who needs to be singled out in the audience.
Michael Portillo sounds like a very small man. I’m actually glad to hear this because I always thought he was tall but that would have made his head enormous. Now that I know he has a human sized head rather than a giant head mask I will be able to look at him without running away in terror.
When are you going to tour the south? II think it terribly unfair that you attract all these northern chaps and don’t give us Southrons a look in.
Welcome back! Glad all is good and life is busy and cool.
Was Portillo listening to Wagner? He’s terribly fond of Wagner don’t you know…
Portillo wasn’t a midget or anything, by the way. He just wasn’t tall compared to me, and given that I am an amazonionian and was wearing two-inch heels, it may be a little unfair to judge him by my standards. However, since when have I ever been fair?
Jeni: I shall certainly let you know next time I’m in your neck of the woods. I was a bit lax about publicising this one – despite the fact that I knew about it months in advance, it somehow seemed to creep up on me and take me by surprise. I’m not sure I even told Pete and I was due to be in his town!
Herr Frosch: likewise, you will be the first to know when I’m next on the south coast. Your tadpoles may be a little old for our shows, but I think you would probably enjoy them mightily – make of that what you will
Poor Pete – ignored he was, veritably ignored!
As was Huwey… (although he probably deserved it given that terribly anaemic Wagner comment he made…)
Pete was ignored because he never comes out to play even when I DO tell him about my shows and Huwey failed to make me a cup of tea when I last came to Wales so I’m sulking
xxx
Well at least Pete gets TOLD when you are doing shows near him…
Haha! OK, fair point
Hehe, well, what can I say. I’m special.
Yes please keep blogging particularly since you are one of the few bloggers I read into whose life the tiniest shaft of old fashioned honest-to-goodness glamour occasionally shines.
Good luck with the cycle-athon Kajta, Its going to be hard slog but stick with it, I once did a triathlon and the cylce ride was hard. But you cant beat the sense of accomplishment you get when you finish, or the pain the next day. (Hmmm on reflection this may of been a lot less helpful then i thought is would be)
Oh darn i just worked out how old this post is (goes red and looks embarrassed)