I could write a book!

Oh the joys of sitting tucked away on the edge of the stage (and my thermals) hour after hour..... I have to say I have never laughed as much at the unintended fun of H1's drama group as they rehearse their panto/play; H1, as director, is tearing his hair out while I sit in the freezing, cold wings watching the 'behind the scenes' dramas...... The curtains that close when they shouldn't... the parents who ring up asking why their beloved offspring have been told to be quiet when others are onstage..... the thespians who are not in the wings ready to strut the boards as everyone hisses 'Where is so and so? and gazes at an empty stage... I could tell you more but I might spoil the plot for you. 'Park the Ark' is such a lark.

I do wonder how much fun they must have filming things like 'LarkRise to Candleford' ('my one weakness') and 'Mamma Mia'.

All this drama doesn't leave much time for other things- but the Ladies (yes that includes me!) went for afternoon tea at Jesmond Dene House on Monday for our annual 'Cheer up January doldrums' (but this year it was just into February) event; we have been before for Christmas lunches and January teas but I had had a couple of poor meals there with H1 so wasn't too keen- and others had heard mixed reports.... but Eslington Villas (of this year's Christmas meal) didn't do teas and Horton Grange's tea last year was poor so back to Jesmond; I dislike going because they automatically put a 10% or was it 15%? on the bill- so much for a discretionary charge so I had complained- and they remembered that and did not charge it to our bill when we paid this week. Actually the meal and whole event was very nice (though don't sit next to the windows in the lounge as they are draughty- why did we not remember that from last time?!) We did pay a tip as we decided the experience and service was well worth it.

H1 and I went to see Mel Gibson in 'Edge of Darkness'; an exciting film though a familiar plot; what was good was to know it was a BBC film.

H1 decided to listen to my pleas that if ever he was to buy me a Valentine gift- not to be fleeced by buying roses on the day- and he listened! What date is it?!!! He bought me beautiful red roses this week- I think I might marry the man!

I broke out of my WeightWatchers mould last night when out with friends for an Indian meal after 7 hours of rehearsals; today the diet starts yet again..

The Pudding Club

Yes Ciao, I agree -eating American chocolate is like eating candle wax.

I have just finished reading Julie Walters's 'That's another Story' which D2 bought me for Christmas- quite interesting because I reckon she is the same era as me so there are lots of childhood memories Julie recorded which are familiar to me; she is very honest and open about things though!!!

Last weekend we had a lovely few days away with the Pudding Club- it was an absolute delight to catch up with this group of friends; the North York Moors were still surprisingly deep in snow and we travelled there in brown-stained, icy fog; the hotel was lovely and we all thought the food was delicious- I particularly liked the small ,modern, well lit chapel which is used for short services three times a week; it is unusual (but appreciated) for a hotel to put a room aside for a chapel. Four brave souls walked in sleet,driving snow and fog to Robin Hood's Bay (the village in which Robin may have had an 'escape' boat ready) on Saturday morning but 4 of us chose the hardship of sitting beside the fire, reading papers and books, before going to meet the others in the pub. Sunday saw us wake to sun and glorious views so we walked all over Whitby on M's memory trail which was really interesting.If I could import photos to this blog (I will learn soon) I would put on S's beautiful picture of the view on Sunday morning right across Robin Hood's Bay from the dining room.

I walked with friends on Wednesday in the shire; over lunch in the woods we talked about a bad accident on the dreaded A69 and the black ice on the Military Road the day before; it was only on Thursday that I discovered that one of my very good friends had been involved in the crash; methinks someone was looking after L.

We have gone through boxes, box by box, all week; it has taken ages because there are so many memories attached to each photo,newspaper cutting etc. but gradually boxes are going back into the wardrobe.

Today a group of us painted backdrops and props for the next drama production; how do I manage to get wet and paint splattered yet I was wearing a white kind of boiler suit over my clothes?

Question- re punctuation and computers- when I type something like a semicolon at the end of a sentence -or a full stop- do I leave a space before the symbol or the space after? (I bet F1,000,000,000 will know.) I have illustrated both in that sentence and the layout after 'stop' looks better but is it? Also do I put the full stop inside or outside the bracket?