Pouring Rain!

As I wake up this morning (Wednesday) I can hear the sound of rain on the bedroom window. I am attempting to get up a good deal later, regardless of what Alfie thinks. So, for the first time ever, we haven't been out for the routine early-morning jaunt around Eaglestone Park. Alfie is laying on the sofa as I'm sitting here in my armchair with the MacBook on my lap, writing this, and no doubt wondering if we will ever go outside and go for a walk! Some hope, because it's still raining and I don't want to get wet and, even worse, Alfie when wet is a sad little dog. He doesn't like water and doesn't like rain, so why does he expect to go out in pouring rain? I hope it stops before the day is much older. But it doesn't look as if it is going to stop any time soon.

I had an email from A.T.G., that's the Ambassadors Theatre Group, the company who manages Milton Keynes Theatre a few days ago. I have already booked my ticket for Les Miserables, which visits Milton Keynes later this month. I didn't have to think twice about booking a ticket, even though it cost considerably more than I would normally be prepared to pay. I'm going to a Thursday matinee on 30th May. I know the show well, having seen the West End production at the Palace Theatre, and enjoyed it thoroughly, have seen the film and have the 25th Anniversary DVD. I know most of the songs so the thought of missing it when it was on tour didn't come into it. I usually receive the Milton Keynes There brochure when it comes out twice a year, and it seems I haven't received the most current one which features Les Miserables on the cover. I was therefore somewhat surprised when I received an email from ATG two days ago and, glancing at it, I noticed that Bernadette Peters was going to be touring her one-woman concert to Great Britain and only five concerts where to be performed, one of them in Milton Keynes. I am something of a fan, as she's a definite legend, a Broadway superstar you might say, and I was determined to see if I could get a ticket, but I wasn't prepared to pay top prices for such a ticket. I want to bed thinking about it, but had to come downstairs to the lounge and have a look at the theatre website and see what availability there was. I did attempt to buy a ticket at the lower end of the price range but couldn't get the site to work, so this morning I decided to go into the centre of Milton Keynes and visit the theatre.

I knew the theatre wouldn't be open until quite late in the morning, so I went to Sainsbury's to pick up one or two items and to order a repeat prescription at Lloyd's pharmacy, which is within the store. Poor Alfie was expecting his usual walk and was looking at me as I put on my jacket and shoes in preparation to leave the house for Sainsbury's and must have been thinking 'I thought we were going for a walk. Why isn't he taking me?' Well, as it was still pouring with rain, it didn't seem such a good idea. I came back after the shopping trip and put the few items away and then got in the car to go into the shopping centre. I took some cash out of my Nationwide account to put into my recently-opened Metro savings account, which is there to eventually buy a new puppy when the time is right. Hopefully another Yorkshire Terrier similar to Alfie. Then I walked the length of the shopping centre and went across towards the theatre, only to discover that they weren't open until 12 midday. I was a bit annoyed, having walked all that way. The last time I went to book the Les Miserables ticket, they opened at 10a.m., so a good hour and a half later or thereabouts (probably near enough 2 hours. I had fortunately put 2 hours on the parking ticket when I had parked the car, so sufficient to not have to go back and put more on the car in the carpark. Not that difficult as I have a Ring-Go app on my iPhone so I don't need to use cash or put a paper ticket on the car.) So I returned to the shopping centre and walked through, stopping at several stores on the way, one being HMV, as I wanted to find the DVD of the first series of Game of Thrones as I haven't seen any of this television series. No luck, so I walked on. I went into W.H.Smith and then on towards Pret A Manger where I had something to eat and drink, which meant I could waste the time before heading back along the shopping centre to arrive at the theatre again where I had to wait outside until they were open. I was surprised to see a notice on the door telling customers for the need to not abuse staff and other paying customers. What is it with people these days? Why is there so much abuse of other people? Can't you even go to the theatre these days without someone being abusive or aggressive to other people? I hope if that happens, the theatre staff have those awful people thrown out. It really isn't acceptable behaviour. I managed to get a seat for the Bernadette Peters concert, but it was way up in the top tier of the circle, although I'm not really bothered where it is because I just want to see her concert.

I finished in the shopping centre and returned to the car. I seemed to have walked miles today. I checked my step counter and found it was near enough 4,000 steps. About double, or even treble, the number I walk on a normal day.

It was threatening further rain and I thought, as I drew into the drive at home, that a small Yorkshire Terrier would love to have a stroll across the park. So that is what I did and he seemed to enjoy the walk. Though, I say 'walk,' it was more of a 'trot,' and as we walked along a large rottweiler was being exercised and Alfie just HAD to rush up and say 'hello!' I was eager to retrieve Alfie, even though he is always keen to make friends with the dogs he meets, it's perhaps best to be a bit cautious, because, who knows? The other dog might not appreciate a smaller dog like Alfie, sniffling and wanting to make friends. After all, this dog was considerably larger than Alfie, so one snap and Alfie could be dinner. So, I swept up Alfie, not an easy matter, as he wasn't in the mood for being caught and held. And he was somewhat damp, having run about in long, wet grass. The wriggled, and once the other dog was out of the way, I was able to put him back on the ground.

Reading and Watching-1

As I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have an interest in history. Our lounge is full of books, infact, one of the two IKEA bookshelves, which we bought from the house in Crownhill when we had to move (see earlier blog post for more information on this.) is crammed full of books and magazines, one of which is in serious need of attention as it's not fixed to the wall, and leans at a slight angle. Many of these books and magazines are on history. I'm always looking for more history books to read and such shops as The Works are always good places to find a bargain, the last one being on The Norman Conquest' and another on 'The Battle of Waterloo'. We have now managed to order a new bookshelf unit on the IKEA website. Paid for and it will be delivered next Thursday. We decided to have it delivered as it would unlikely not fit in the car, so to have it delivered means someone else will have to lift it into the house. As we have a similar unit in our bedroom it shouldn't be too difficult to assemble and it's possible to buy baskets, drawers and boxes which can be slotted into the unit to make it even more flexible.

I've been reading 'Never Had It So Good,' by Dominic Sandbrook. It's 'A History of Britain From Suez to The Beatles.' Which is about all you need to know about the subject matter. I read a later volume of his set of history books called 'Seasons In The Sun,' which takes his series up until 1979. At the time I read it, I was unaware that it was the latest in a series of books (of which 'Never Had It So Good' is the first.) So I decided I wanted to read the series from the beginning and managed to buy all the books on Amazon. As I lived through the period covered, I thought it would we worth a read, although I wasn't old enough at the time the first book covers to be aware of the incidents recorded, such things as the Suez Crisis or the Profumo Affair or the 'Night of The Long Knives.' As with any account of history, it's interesting to see how we got to where we are today, what with Harold Macmillan's attempts at negotiating a possible membership of the Common Market or 'European Economic Community,' as it was called in the late 1950's and early 1960's (now the E.U.) and how the President of France, Charles De Gaulle kept blocking our entry. Interesting when you compare it with the Brexit negotiations following the Referendum vote to leave over the last few months.The rest of the Sandbrook series are 'White Heat,' and 'State of Emergency,' which I will read in the fullness of time. Each book is very thick; the first book is some 800-900 pages long.

I'm a real fan of Alan Bennett. I enjoyed the plays he wrote for the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s, in particular the very first one called 'A Day Out,' which was made in black and white and about a group of men who go on a bicycle ride in Yorkshire and set just before the First World War. Not a great deal happens, but his attention to detail, particularly his depiction of the individual characters is very detailed. It's directed by Stephen Frears who went on to make some large-scale cinema films such as 'Dangerous Liaisons' and 'The Queen.' Alan Bennett is interested in the small things in peoples' lives, the every-day, the mundane. He has also written for the stage, most notably for the National Theatre, with plays such as 'The Madness of King George III,' and 'The History Boys.' I have read most of his diaries which get published on a  regular basis, and was given the latest collection, covering the millennium, and called 'Getting On, Getting On,' and given to me as a Christmas present by Carol last year. I am about to read it.

I've watched the first episode of the new Sky drama series, "Britannia," which is on Sky Atlantic. It's set in a Celtic Britain at the time that the Roman invasion is about to take place. It's somewhat preposterous, so if you watch it don't expect an accurate history lesson. I had serious doubts about this when I first heard it was being planned, but it turned out to be a good deal better than I expected. It has David Morrissey as the Roman general (I assume he's a general) who leads his troops across the Channel and then pillages and burns the Celtic villages and murders a few in the process. It also stars Zoe Wanamaker as a sort of tribal leader. Another actor who is in it is Iain McDiarmid, who I have a connection with as he was in the company when I was working as an A.S.M. at Liverpool Playhouse in the early 1970s. I did the book for a production of Alan Ayckbourn's play 'Relatively Speaking,' which also had Thelma Barlow in the cast, who went on to play Mavis Wilton in 'Coronation Street.' It's good to see Sky producing stuff which at least has some sort of British connection, however accurate it is. I notice that all the episodes are available to view on catch-up, obviously in an attempt to follow the same principle as such on-line television services as Netflix and Amazon, where all the episodes of their shows, such as The Crown are available to view instantly. Apart from some strong language (which, frankly, adds absolutely nothing to the thing in my opinion.) it's a good rollocking yarn and will no doubt attract a young, male audience, who no doubt enjoy such shows as 'Game of Thrones,' and a good many video games. I shall watch the rest of the series with interest.

I'm glad all the episodes of 'Britannia' are available as a box-set, because you can watch all the episodes one after the other if you so wish. I've watched the second episode. I'm really hooked on this show and can't wait to see the next episode. It's got a real 'have to watch the next episode' something about it, rather like a good novel where you can't put it down. Generally I need to get through about 15-20 minutes of a new drama series to know whether I'm going to continue watching and this certainly has that 'something.' Unlike a lot of similar shows, the dialogue is convincing. They seem to have avoided the somewhat stilted dialogue that you tend to get in a lot of dramas set in a 'certain period,' and the whole thing is rather tongue-in-cheek, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It has a sense of humour as well. And they haven't made it pretentious in any way, unlike a lot of costume dramas that are precious and rather unrealistic, not that you can make a show set in 43 A.D. as nobody knows what they spoke like. It's not exactly historically accurate, but who cares? Definitely entertaining and that, in all honesty, is what one needs at the moment. The fights are convincing, too, and you get the feeling that the Romans have more than a hand-full of soldiers in their invading army, they've spent quite a lot on extras to fill out the scenery.