Friday and Saturday evening, 09-03-24

Good evening, one and all.  How has your Saturday been?  
I've said this before but it sometimes strikes me pretty strongly how, despite being retired for nearly eight years now, weekends still feel 'different' somehow.  I no longer have to rush around catching up with homey things - quite the opposite, in fact - but even so . . .
A really nice feeling.

Let's go back to Friday.

I went to Slimming World as usual before driving over to The Broomfield car park.  An unexpected and disappointing one pound gain but that's the way things sometimes go so I'm not fussing about it.
I was rather early to park (so plenty of room) in the village hall car park so there was plenty of room.  We all boarded the coach and I found myself sitting next to a lady called Helen while the other side were Trudy and Lyn, all of us 'singles' on the trip so we decided to gang up and stick together.  A nice coincidence was that three of us had theatre seat tickets together as well. 

Once we were there, being ladies with aging bladders, we located the theatre (just down the road) and then went into the Cambridge, a pub/eating place next to the theatre to use their loo and have a coffee before going into the theatre.

We'd all eaten our packed lunches in the coach but it looked so very nice inside that we booked a table to dinner between the shows and it's just as well we did as it was packed later.

Outside the theatre.

Before you could go in, there were security checks.  I felt so sorry for the chap doing mine as my bag was pretty full with just about everything one could possibly need - I will know better next time!

I wasn't allowed to take my second healthy wholemeal roll into the theatre but the fruit, the crisps and the boiled sweets were OK, as were the drinks (water and a sugar free thingy) - go figure!

A close up of the nest thingy!  It looked dramatic, even more so later on when it was lit up.

The palace theatre is really quite splendid inside.  It has a really interesting history - I think it's really interesting anyway - but rather than just regurgitating it, here's a link to the Wiki page if you're interesting.
I love that the D'Oyly Carte productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan light operas started here.  Just the first one but even so . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Theatre,_London

Awful lighting and this doesn't show the impact of the four tiers of balconies.

Obviously, we couldn't take photos during the show (although some did) but this was what greeted us when we took our seats . . .

. . . this was after the interval in the second part in the evening.

The whole production was simply amazing - stunning special effects, people disappearing, magical charms, curses, etc, going back and forth through time, scenery changes and the dementors were absolutely fantastic and genuinely scary . . . 

I could go on for ages but suffice it to say, if you get the chance to see these two plays, grab it with both hands.  It was worth every last penny.

Between the shows, we trundled back to the Cambridge for our early dinner.  They were, of course, all geared up to between shows diners so service was very pleasant, quick and slick but not feeling rushed in the slightest.

I loved this on the wall . . .

The food looked great.  Two of us had fish and chips, one had the biggest pie I have seen in a long while - it would have done me three meals - and I had a chicken, bacon and avocado salad which was a proper salad with loads of different salad ingredients - leaves, cucumber, edamame beans, pumpkin seeds, carrot . .  loads of different stuff - and a dressing that wasn't too oily and 'sticky'.

We shared a bottle of white and, fair enough, the whole meal wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outrageous either, good for London prices, we thought.

Just one more photo - the front all lit up before the second show.  Very dramatic.

Afterwards, it was a quick and short walk back to the coach and we were on our way home.  This was the only hiccup; the traffic was heavy and there was a serious hold up at one point caused, we discovered, by a bad crash and a resulting short diversion.
Couldn't be helped and at least we were comfortable and relaxed and not driving!!

The four of us - me, Helen, Trudy and Lyn - seemed to get on really well and have started a What's App group.  If trips coincide again, it will be nice to have someone to go round with.

Sitting on the doorstep when I got home was the Council Tax letter regarding the  new payments.  To my relief, it really isn't that much more.  I get a discount anyway, being  a sole adult occupier, and now I can update my accounts going forward.  Seeing as they don't add anything for paying over ten months, I am spreading the load and keeping it the same.

So that was Friday.

This morning, I woke feeling very achey, especially around the shoulders - tension, I expect - so decided to have a really nice, easy day.

It's Mothering Sunday tomorrow, of course.  Beth, Alex and I are going out for a meal but not tomorrow; it will be too crowded everywhere, we've arranged to go out next Saturday instead.   
Now, as my lovely Mum passed away on Mothering Sunday, I have two days to remember her specially.  I do all the time, of course, but this is a bit more that usual.  Coincidentally, both my vase of alstroemerias and the daffodils Julia gave me just looked a bit too bedraggled so they saw the inside of the compost bin and this afternoon I went out on a gentle stroll around the neighbourhood to tab a few boxes and to stop off at Morrisons to treat myself to some nice flowers in memory.
Any excuse, eh???
It made me smile, how many people were out clutching bouquets, bottles and boxes of choccies.  Hopefully, there will be plenty of happy mums tomorrow.

Lindsey had organised a walk through South Woodham Ferrers to find and tap boxes (SWF is also doing Beat the Street) but I pulled out because I know she would set a fair old pace and I was feeling the effects of yesterday in aching shoulders and a general weariness.  Perhaps that was wrong but . . .

And I did do a bit locally, didn't I?  :-)

It' nearly bedtime and I'm slowly relaxing and getting tired.  The aches have pretty much gone and I'm hopeful of a really good night's sleep.  Or is that Famous Last Words?  

Good night, everyone - sleep well.  xx