Butterfly Diaries

This little social butterfly has had a very busy couple of weeks. Starting with a visit from the Mother in Law (MIL) last weekend, when we took her to see Billy Elliot as her Christmas present.

She was stopping into London on her way through to Australia for a month so we figured a night out with us would be a better present than something she had to carry. It was great to see her and the show was really good. MIL thoroughly enjoyed herself, which is the main thing.

Billy Elliot is one of very few musicals that I haven’t yet seen over here so it was nice to experience something new as well. It was very well done and I refer to an earlier statement about the seeming absence of tap dance from modern society. It was nice to see some more dance, and especially that of the tap variety despite the storyline being largely about joining the ballet. The dream scene was expertly done and I would commend the dancers if only I knew their names.

Dance was the theme of my week, with a little trip to see the Sadler’s Wells version of The Snowman on Tuesday. I have experienced many looks of shock when I’ve told people who live in the UK that I’ve never seen the movie but there you have it. So, unlike my friend who went along with me, I had no idea what was going to happen at the end. Well, I had an idea, but it still made me a little sad. I think the production was largely aimed at children (the many, many children in the audience sort of gave that away) and I probably expected to see a little more dancing, being a dance production, but none-the-less I still enjoyed it. It’s all part of me making the most of what is likely to be our last UK Christmas for a while so I was happy to get into the Christmas mood.

No rest for the wicked of course, so the next day I was up at 5 to continue my manic week at work and then went to our staff Christmas party in the evening. It’s fair to say by this point I was already knackered and ready for a night off and it was only Wednesday! Why oh why does a busy work week always manage to rear its ugly head when I have a busy social calendar?!

The highlight came the following night when C and I went to see The Nutcracker! Ballet is one of the hardest things to go to when you’re really tired because the music and the darkness (and that glass of wine I had beforehand) all contribute to making you feel incredibly relaxed and sleepy. But, the music in The Nutcracker is lively and magical enough that I was captivated. It was C’s first experience of the ballet in any form and the reviews are in – he enjoyed it. I bet he’s wishing he didn’t say that though because now I have plans to drag him along to a few more before our time here is done. The mice costumes were brilliant and the characters played beautifully. There were, unfortunately, a couple of minor timing slips but overall the dancers did a wonderful job at bringing the magic of this beautiful ballet to life.

The weekend was filled with catching up with friends and then realising today that I have developed a bad cold. I guess when you do a 60 hour week and then have something on every night on top of it, it’s bound to happen and despite feeling a little under the weather now, I can’t help but be really glad that I’ve gotten to a point when I’m capable of having a week like that again. Two months ago / six months ago / twelve months ago, I would have been sick by Wednesday or wouldn’t have even planned so many things so I’m pretty pleased.

I have spent most of the day in bed watching old movies and recuperating (Meet Me In St. Louis, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins) and am now sitting here, roast in the oven, Vicks on my chest, a cup of tea by my side, my keyboard in front of me and The Nutcracker playing in the background reliving the week for you, my lovely audience. It’s quite nice really.

Less than 2 weeks to go before Christmas Day and still so many things to do and see to continue making the most of our lovely cold Christmas! Fingers crossed for snow!