Just Another Day

The lockdown continues. It looks as if it's likely to continue, at least until they have the infection under control, but as I write this on Wednesday, it doesn't seem likely. The three weeks of lockdown expires tomorrow (Thursday), so by the time I have finished writing this post, we might hear something to the contrary, but it seems unlikely. At what point does the number of people who have contracted the coronavirus peak, and the  daily number of deaths begin to fall?

It is sunny as I write. It's actually quite bright as I write this at 1.07p.m. on Wednesday April 15th. I have done more work on my writing project, but somehow I have made a bit of a mess of the pasting of a new sequence and now I can't print out the entire document, which runs to over 30 pages. I had begun to print it off, but part way through the ink showed signs of fading and it was clear it was actually running out, so I will just have to abandon that idea until I can order new ink cartridges, probably on line as I can't get to a shop because of social distancing and anyway it can wait as it's not all that important.

I've continued to transcribe more of my written material onto my computers. I have been using the dictation mode on the iPad which I have mentioned in an earlier post on here. It is definitely a good deal quicker than using the keyboard, but there are some problems, as some words don't come up as they should, at times with quite comical results. I wanted to write a line which said 'he had pustules all over his face,' but the iPad wrote 'pastles,' which definitely changes the meaning of the sentence. Another, referring to chickens roosting in trees, misunderstood (if a computer system can misunderstand.) and wrote 'roasted.' It's the idea of having chickens roasting in the trees which made it hilarious. Never mind. I can easily go through the piece of writing and correct it, one of the major advantages of word processing.

(Friday) Alfie has been whittling all day to go for a walk. I think he's probably as fed up with being stuck in the flat because of lockdown as much as I am. We were out by 6.45 this morning and then about 9.15. I was determined to watch the National Theatre's production of 'Treasure Island' which is currently being streamed free on YouTube, following the production of 'One Man Two Guvnors.' It was good up to a point, they managed to avoid the usual clichés that usually go with anything related, such as a corny 'yo-ho-ho' accent and the Robert Newton voice, sort of 'aye! Jim Lad!' etc etc. Jim was a girl (from Jemima. I did wonder about how they would deal with that.) No problem with that. But the best part of the show was the set, which fills the Olivier Theatre stage (which is vast) and utilises the amazing drum revolves (a bit difficult to describe here, but it allows for very quick scene changes, not only revolving, but the centre can disappear down five stories and allow scene changes to be done. Quite spectacular and it gets a round of applause, allowing us to see a sort of cut-throughs section of the Hispaniola, the sailing ship which takes the crew along with Jim, Squire Tralawney and Doctor Livesey (also played by a woman) to Treasure Island. But the show doesn't come off entirely convincingly. Long John Silver isn't scary or villainous enough. And there isn't much of a feeling of conflict after the pirates mutiny on the way to the island. The pirates are given plenty to do and are differentiated nicely but the ending is a bit vague. When the treasure is eventually discovered, it just fizzles out and doesn't have a very conclusive ending but it's a good entertaining piece, but would be quite scary for some children, as it was intended as a children's play, done as a Christmas production in a similar way 'War Horse' was in a few years ago.

Booking Theatre Tickets

On the 26th of May Carol and I will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We've been searching for a theatre production to see near enough to the actual day and have chosen to go and see a show at the Derngate Centre in Northampton, called "Running Wld." It's based on a Michael Morpurgo book, the same author who wrote the book "War Horse," which was adapted for a production at the National Theatre with great critical acclaim and which is still touring. We've yet to see that. With my background in theatre, and, in particular, puppetry, these shows seem very appropriate.

We thought it would be easier to book on line, so we went on the Royal and Derngate website. It should be a relatively easy process to find the relevant day we wanted to go, a Saturday, so a matinee performance. Easy enough to find. Then we had to register to use the website. It was simple enough and then we found for some reason it wouldn't accept our address. Several more attempts, changing the password needed to book tickets. It just would not work and I tried on Tuesday morning again (yesterday) with no success. By now it was getting annoying and frustrating.  On Monday we'd even attempted to ring their box office telephone number but it was closed (odd, considering it was a performance day and you would imagine it would be open up until 'curtain-up' time for whatever shows were on that day. As there are two auditoria at the Royal/Derngate there would be two shows running together with a small cinema which is within the centre. But it was not operating, so further annoyance.

So yesterday evening, when Carol got home, we rang the box office again. This time, after a bit of a wait, I managed to get through and booked two tickets as planned.

I have a particularly special love of the Royal in Northampton,  there long before the Derngate was opened, which is next door and now part of the same complex. I think it was here I got my interest and love for theatre. In 1968 I had been on an A Level course at Mander College in Bedford and was supposed to go to Bristol University to do a drama course. I had originally intended getting into television to do Floor Management, but my results on the two A Level courses (or, at least, the 'mocks'.) were not very good so I changed my direction by approaching regional theatres (or 'repertory' or 'reps.') to start off as a Student A.S.M. I wrote to as many theatres as I could (using 'Contacts,' the directory of theatre and associated industries in the theatre, television and film world.) and got interviews at, amongst others, Northampton Royal Theatre and Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. I had an interview at Northampton but the Everyman post I was offered began well before that at Northampton, so I began off working at Cheltenham on the 16th February, 1969, thrown in at the deep-end on the technical rehearsal of a production of 'Jane Eyre.'

Yesterday I just had to get out of the house. The constant 'tap-tap-tap' and 'bang-bang-bang!' coming from next door's garden was beginning to really get on my nerves. They've been doing more work on their tiling since Saturday. I couldn't believe this was going to continue into the week. So I went into the centre of Milton Keynes and spent a good hour in the main shopping centre. Having parked where i usually park, near The Point (it's beginning to get really dilapidated and tatty. It might be closed, but the site is a real eye-sore.) I couldn't walk straight into the shopping centre because the road and paved area around that side of the shopping centre was blocked off with temporary fencing, because workmen were ripping up the old pavings and re-paving this area. I have to say it was beginning to look really shabby so it's a good thing they've decided to redevelop all this. I don't think it's been renovated since this area was built in the late 1970's. Several shops within the shopping centre have re-located. W.H.Smith have moved into a smaller unit and H.M.V. has now done the same. They probably realise that they don't need such big units. Neither now don't have a second floor. I suppose Smith's would not need so much space because they don't have a record department. Likewise, H.M.V. just don't have the selection that they once had. It's mainly D.V.D's. I imagine all this is down to being able to download music from sites such as iTunes. With Sky you can download films onto your Sky + or Sky Q box and therefore don't require a disc although you can buy and keep both downloads and then be sent a D.V.D. copy of the latest film releases.