As the world turns

August 17 2006 
I’d forgotten I had tickets to see Bell Shakespeare’s production of The Tempest this week.
Given that it was only 3 weeks ago that we saw the Patrick Stewart version at Stratford I thought it would be interesting to compare the two productions…
Prospero: John Bell vs. Patrick Stewart.
I think I preferred John Bell’s interpretation [...]

One more day

Well things are a lot clearer today.
British Airways are fairly confident that all their short haul flights will operate today and that most will leave on time (or pretty close to on time)
Spent the morning in Edinburgh before racing out to Leith to see John and Margaret.
Picked up our suitcases and headed to the airport [...]

Flower of Scotland

Aberdeen today.
Caught the train up north to Aberdeen the heart of the Scottish fishing industry (so Aberdeenians say).
It was cold and overcast and often rainy but TappingBetty and I, with the stubbornness of the tourist, persisted in our shorts and t shirts (although we did bend the summer to include jacket and waterproof.
We had intended [...]

Loch Lomond (the Runrig version)

Today we headed to Glasgow and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Kelvingrove has only just reopened after being closed for a few years for renovations.Like most Scottish Museums it is free and you could easily spend a day there checking out the 22 different exhibition spaces.
Glasgow and Edinburgh have the same sort of rivalry [...]

Scotland the brave

 Today was theatre day extraordinaire.
First off was Caroline O’Connor’s performance as Judy Garland in ‘End of the rainbow’.
We’d seen it last year in Melbourne and thought it absolutely brilliant but this year it is even better. Myles Pollard (the guy from McLeod’s Daughters) has been replaced my Michael Cormick (Though Cormick doesn’t get to sing [...]

Donald, where’s your trousers

Today was rediscover Edinburgh day.
This meant we hit a range of tourist stuff in and around Edinburgh; the Royal Mile, the Castle, Ocean terminal (home of the former Royal Yacht Britannia).
It also involved a visit to the fringe festival offices to decide what to try and go to see.
There is just so much to choose [...]

Highland lassie

Arrived in Scotland safely – suitcase pretty much intact.
Given British Airways penchant for trashing my suitcases (prior to this trip I had flown with them twice and they had had to replace my suitcase twice) my luggage arrived with only a small tear in it.
Also discovered that B.A’s 23 kilo luggage weight limit is one [...]

Sit down, you’re rocking the boat

Succeeded in seeing the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace today (along with many thousands of other tourists who also had the same idea!)
This was after a visit to the staterooms at Buck Pal. Very impressive along with a viewing of some of ER II’s evening gowns.
Unfortunately the corgis are in Scotland and a [...]

Born to boogie

Well tonight’s theatre was the best of the lot. Billy Elliott: the musical. Absolutely fantastic.
The kid who played the lead was just so talented – he’s on stage almost the whole show – he also has to be able to dance (classical ballet, jazz and tap), do gymnastics, and sing – and he’s 12 years [...]

Dancing Queen

Caught the train back to London today. Arrived back just after lunch and did some more touristing on the way back to our hotel.
Tonight’s theatre is Mamma Mia – yes we’ve seen it before, but this London cast has been getting excellent reviews (and we got cheap (ish) tickets) so we thought we’d give it [...]