Summer-y

Well! Summer has been and gone without a single blog post, so here's a little review of the highlights (thanks to Chris for the titular pun!)...

After some of the hottest July days on record, it was a relief when the good weather stayed for Hannah and Jamie's wedding. A perfect day all round, and a great example of what can be done when you decide to do things yourselves and apply some lateral thinking to the whole day. After a beautiful Church service, the happy couple were whisked away to the reception in a converted VW camper van, welcomed by the sound of everyone singing "All You Need Is Love" to the delightful tones of David and his Ukulele band. Hay bales covered in colourful blankets abounded on the lawns surrounding the community centre, where we drank Pimms and enjoyed a barbecue, chatting with friends old and new. Dessert was, quite literally, delivered out of the back of a van - an ice cream van serving home-made delights. The traditional layered cake was replaced by layers of cheese wheels and a Commitments-style band had the happy crowd jiving into the night. Lanie gave me a guided tour of the decorated community centre - all home-made decorations, which looked superb.

Let's Twist Again? Soon, perhaps...

Then came the end of the school year. True to form, the blistering sunshine lasted until lunchtime and the well-deserved staff barbecue was a typically British rain-splattered affair. Two days left until the weekend? Time for some annual leave. Back down to Margate for a second visit to the newly-restored Dreamland, and it was looking lovely! The Scenic Railway was testing with a half-finished train; just two makeshift seats on the second carriage so that the on-train brakes could be put through the their paces and the sensor system could be tested. The trains are still being made, apparently. David Littleboy's restoration team have installed their Speedway ride - a true Rock 'n' Roll classic, which was being managed by a highly enthusiastic young team. It was great to see such a vintage ride  being so popular with the youngsters. A newly-restored Grasscutter Twist has now replaced the modern version that was present at the opening; it wasn't running as the safety bar system had to be replaced, but it looks the part...

On the Cliff Lift with Rosie and Pete!

Next stop was Hastings, or rather St Leonards on Sea, for a first visit to see the sis and bro-in-law in their new apartment. Well, I did see it on moving day, but to see it now, after a very determined Rosie sorted out carpets, soft furnishings, a new kitchen and pretty much everything else, was a delight! And that telly! Wow! Oh yes - there's a lovely view of the sea from the living room... We tried out one of the Curry Houses on the Friday night, while the heavens opened outside. Door to door taxi rides, even though it's only a ten minute walk? Well, we'd otherwise have either dissolved in the torrential rain, been zapped by lightning or been blown out to sea by the gusting wind. That's our excuse ;-)

Hastings - really rather lovely!

Saturday morning was the calm after the storm, and clear blue skies encouraged us to wander down into Hastings for breakfast, followed by a truly touristy walk around the old town. Rides on the cliff lifts, with a sneaky latte at the top. A tour of the fishing area and the RNLI lifeboat (and yes! I really did buy Christmas cards from their shop). A look at the miniature railway and small but welcoming funfair, the boating lake with the swan-shaped pedal boats. Finally, fish and chips for lunch, sitting outside (of course). I wish I had had my camera at the ready as we left our table; within seconds, five or six gulls had demolished everything on the table. Scraps of food snatched up in eager beaks, crockery smashed by wildly flapping wings - I'm surprised they waited until we had actually finished...

Prize-winning onions!!

The school holidays no longer mean the best part of six weeks marking books and planning for the
year ahead. Instead, I'm faffing about knee-deep in MySQL and PHP with 28 days of annual leave. Of course, I had to take a couple of days out to pop down to Devon. It's always a treat to see the Ians, the hounds, the cattle and sheep. In that order? Mostly... This visit coincided with the North Devon Show, and we had a great time wandering around and admiring everyone's livestock. This is a true community event - everyone seemed to know everyone else and we were stopping to chat with people every few minutes.

The other key Devon-based event was getting Ian F interested in (take a deep breath now...) Social Media! It was weaning time down on t'farm, and this meant taking the lambs and ewes down from the top fields to the main farm, sending them down the race and through the dreaded whittling gate, then taking the lambs (on their own) back up to their new field. So - I started broadcasting this momentous occasion on Periscope, with which you can broadcast whatever you are doing to the Internet, allowing anyone to watch, enter comments and (if they like what they see) tap their screens to send you a heart (Periscope's version of "Likes"). Before long, people from around the world were watching the sheep: "Hi from New Zealand", "Hello from Texas" - the messages and questions kept popping up on the screen. Sonny always got loads of heart-likes when was made the focus. Then one of my followers from Turkey popped up and said "Hello from Istanbul" - to which Ian F replied "Hello" - but in Turkish (well, he is learning the language at the moment). Then followed a conversation between Ian, in the wilds of North Devon, driving sheep along a narrow country lane, and a guy in Istanbul - in Turkish. I think it must have been the overall surrealist nature of the encounter, but when I got home - lo! - Ian F was on Twitter!

So - who is better-suited to Kinky Boots?

Back home and back to work, with just a few theatre trips to keep me sane! My theatre buddy
Charmain and I managed to get awesome seats for the first preview of Kinky Boots at The Adelphi in London. The show is a musical based on the film based on the true story of a men's shoe factory in Northampton that is saved from closure by a chance encounter between Charlie (the reluctant heir to the factory) and the drag queen Lola, whose heels keep breaking. Charlie realises that he can diversify into making high-heeled boots for men - and so the fun begins! The show exceeded all my expectations and is (Shock! Horror!) my new favourite West End musical (sorry Book of Mormon). The music, by Cyndi Lauper, covers a range of musical styles, with highly hummable tunes and witty lyrics. The choreography by Jerry Mitchell is superb - the Act I finale, with the conveyor belts (I'll say no more) is sheer genius! The show flows so smoothly, and the stage adaptation allows the subtler moments of the film to shine through. Kinky Boots is Killian Donnelly's third headline show - I was lucky to see him as Deco in The Commitments and Huey in Memphis, and he is perfectly suited to the role of Charlie. I don't think I have seen a musical actor with such stage presence before. Matt Henry plays Lola, and he is a revelation - so much sass, and he handles those high heels perfectly. Looking forward to seeing it a few more times ;-)

The other theatre outings were Book of Mormon (well, I did win the Mormon Lottery) and Briefs - the "Boy-lesque" show at London Wonderground. Six very, erm, talented gay guys who performed all sorts of circus/dance/comedy acts, mostly wearing very, very little. Let's just say I'll never look at a yo-yo quite the same way again. And as for the ending of the "Dog Show" act, well - I really hope it was some kind of optical illusion, but I haven't been able to work out how it could be, unfortunately. No spoilers - but it was a brilliant demonstration of how this sextet of performers were able whip up the audience into a frenzy, as that act got a huge round of applause and loads of cheers. It was quite something! I'd highly recommend this show - but don't sit too close to the stage. Oh yes - the raffle prize is well worth winning!

Finally - I did manage to squeeze into one of Jeremy Corbyn's rallys. Does that count as theatre? I get the feeling the coming weeks will be...