Hello again my readers after a long absence. This week seems to have been fully occupied from beginning to end and I regret not taking just a few minutes each day to record a mini blog. That would have been easier than trying now to remember all the stuff I wanted to write about last week. Forgive me if this reads more like a list than a blog.
Let me start with my night away in the big city last weekend. Using my bus pass for the first time I set off early on Saturday morning for a day's shopping, a night at the theatre and Bed and Breakfast in a luxury hotel. I used the bus journey to do some long overdue reading, researching, thinking and note making about our novel of
21st century Peter Pan. It is amazing what you can do in two hours when you can't get up and wander around, make a cup of tea, check emails, or watch a programme on TV. I must take more bus journeys in future. But I digress. Immediately after stepping off the bus I was in Aberdeen's newest and grandest shopping mall.If we weren't being constantly told the country is in a recession I wouldn't be aware that it was happening. A very classy mall, with very classy shops full of ordinary people with bulging shopping bags. Recession? My friend Irene had travelled up from Arbroath by train and the fantastic thing about this mall is that the door from the railway station enters on one side and the door from the bus station on the other. So we met up in minutes without even having to brave the elements! Not only that but our brand new, only opened in September, classy Jurys Inn hotel was an escalator ride away. Check in wasn't until 2pm but the friendly staff were more than happy to take our bags and store them safely until then. A cup of coffee, then off to fetch the stuff on my to-buy-for-Panto list that I had to get from the 'Fancy Dress' shops a bit further into Aberdeen centre.
We had tickets for the professional Pantomime in Aberdeen, Cinderella, starring Elaine C Smith. It was very enjoyable, up to the minute jokes, excellent special effects, good singing and dancing....and it was full. Tickets at £18.00! Recession?
No sign of it there!
Monday saw me travelling back to Ballater for a day's teaching. The morning started out rather icy with a dusting of snow and I agreed to let Richard drive me. I am so glad I did as the roads had not been gritted and were quite treacherous in places. Several cars lost control and skidded off the road including our friend Doug in a four wheel drive. The forecast was for worse conditions on Tuesday, so I told Jenny in the office at Ballater that I would prefer not to come back the next day if she could get somebody local. Luckily they were able to do a swap with a teacher who was supposed to come from Lumphanan to Braemar, so I got a day in Braemar with the Primary 5 - 7s, while she taught the Ballater class. I had a lovely time, especially because I knew all the children very well, but also their topic is the Highland Clearances and the task for the morning was to write a story about it. They also had the art teacher and a rehearsal for the Christmas production that day so it was an easy one for me.
Wednesday - Friday were spent at home but with lots of admin. jobs for SWRI to do, as well as normal cooking and cleaning. I did manage I am happy to say, to spend quite a bit of time with PP and I think Sheila and I can both see where we are going now. But we still have to get there and there's still a lot of writing to be done, after which there will be editing and proofreading...and that will also take a fair bit of time. If we are going to be ready for the end of February we must push on. Actually Sheila is going off to India in early February and I have agreed to finish all the setting the print, typing, posting jobs etc but we must get the story finished by the end of January, about 7 weeks away, That sounds like a lot of time but when you put Christmas and New Year into the mix it won't be.
Last night, Saturday, we, the Dinner Theatre Group, presented the Murder Mystery of 'Who Sleighed Santa?' to an appreciative audience of 30. Despite all the personality clash hiccups we had during the run up to this performance, it went really well, and everybody got on famously together. Some acted like I had never seen before...amazing what a live audience can do. That is one more project we can tick off the list. However, it doesn't give us any more time in the week as Panto rehearsals are now about to be stepped up. Today's rehearsal started at 2pm but since they were to be practising songs, and Tinkerbell doesn't sing, I managed to wangle an afternoon off. But looking ahead to the week there is a rehearsal every night except Thursday, and Thursday is the WRI Christmas night out. The competitions this month are a table centre decoration and a tree decoration made from a cone. I shall let you know in due course if a get any points this month.
Looking forward to the week ahead...writing Christmas cards, buying pressies, planning meals, but more important than all of that, two very important events coming up both on the same day! December 8th is the birthday of Debbie, and I can remember the day she was born as if it were yesterday. (How come I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday?) Happy Birthday Debbie. Talk to you soon. And December 8th is the day that Claire (and her little lives) will begin her new life in Norway, after spending over 9 years in the Arabian Gulf. Safe journey and good luck Claire. See you soon.