Going, Going, Gone...

We are done!  No time to breathe.  Rehearsals for Holst's The Planets begins Wednesday.  The first few rehearsals are local so Cait is paddling along to those on her own.  August 23 is D~Day so not a lot of time to prepare for this one.

I am back preaching this week so will be preparing madly.

However, in the end, I saw 3 performances of Boadicea. Whew.  I think I deserve a medal.  I got a complimentary ticket on Friday, which was lovely as I'd been wandering round town all day while Cait did the matinee & was sooo tired.

I saw the 2nd performance which I thought was very lack lustre, though the music was lovely.  There were a few technical hiccups still to be worked out & nerves ~ all reasons why I generally prefer to attend a performance later in the season.  I had booked tickets for the island contingent for last Friday & it's hard to believe it was the same show.  It was a high energy very confident performance.  No technical mishaps beside the violin, which seemed to be having tuning issues every performance.   And the whistle.  Don't know what was up with the whistle but it was making a most dreadful sound.  Didn't sound in tune at all to me.

 Everyone really enjoyed the performance though the house was only about 1/3 full.  John was so stoked.  He rarely travels, hasn't had a night out in years, & was so delighted to have a comfortable seat to watch his youngest daughter strut her stuff.  Proud dad indeed.

And I saw the very last performance.  I think they peaked for that.  It was a very full house & the cast lifted [as a good cast should] drawing energy from the crowd & delivering a wonderful performance.  Then everyone but us shot down to West End to party into the wee hours.  Cait asked but I couldn't have to save my life & it is a huge incentive to actually get that elusive licence!  Remembering that I am not at all social & dealing with people I don't know who are slightly inebriated could have been disastrous in my sleep deprived state!

I regretted it before we got home.  If we had stayed we would not have got the distressing news that a young teenager had been killed on our roads while we were off island.  Both Cait & I taught this young man last year so that is 2 in under 6 months, on an island that had only seen one road death in 30 years ~ & that, I suspect, was more a suicide than anything else.  At nearly midnight we did not cope well with the news.

Today I catch up with my sons, the one who lives here & the one who is down for the fishing comp.  I have a marriage counselling session scheduled [ugh!] & a house that is out of control, having seen very little of me in a fortnight.  Meanwhile the cats are delirious with joy to have me home again!