ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 21ST OF 2023

 Morning all tis Friday time for

Well we have had a mighty busy week with an eclectic mix of things we've done as well as busy days at home and at work. 

Last Friday we travelled down to Stratford upon Avon as we had booked to see the Shakespeare play at the RSC known as Cymbelline.  It isn't a play I knew at all and I know it was one of his latter plays.  It was described as a dark fairytale but usually before a Shakespeare we've at least got our heads around the synopsis of the play, alas we simply hadn't had time. 

We set off early so we could make full use of the time we had down there, so set off around 9ish, we don't do motorways down, they are boring and if you get stuck in traffic you are stuck whereas side roads you still have options, this means a fight around Leicester but we've done it a few times.  Thankfully this time it wasn't too bad due to a reduction in the amount of traffic and around 12 ish we landed in Stratford. 

We got parked up and as the sun was shining and hubby wasn't driving until the following day so we headed down to the waterside to enjoy a drink as we were both parched.  Hubby enjoyed a cider 

and I had a Beck's Blue which is 0% and we shared a little bit of food. 

After we headed over to the RSC to have a look around the shop (and see if I could find a quick abridged version of the play).  When we wandered to the back of the shop, we realised that the panel had been moved and that you could access the space which is the Swan theatre at the back.  We enquired and they confirmed that there was a new exhibition to check out so we headed down the corridor and up the stairs to have a look around. 

This was at the top of the stairs

The exhibition had lots of costumes from previous shows

and there was an original first folio of Shakespeare's plays in a cabinet at the back of the room, a rarity as only 250 survive of the original 750 copies.

I loved this lion's head for snug the joiner, aptly made out of chunky wood.

The detail and work that went into the costumes was amazing. 

and outside over the open space was a head inspired by Romeo and Juliet made up of hundreds of stars for the star-crossed lovers. 

When we headed back I noticed some more costumes on the landing, so I headed up there and hubby headed up the great tower to have a good view of Stratford (I'm not a lift fan, so it was a non starter for me if I'm honest). 

These costumes come from a version of Hamlet from a few year's ago

I loved the crown

there were other's from Shakespeare plays and other productions. 

By then the heavens had opened, but it was dry when we headed outside and we got our items from the car and checked into the local Premier Inn.

Hubby then promptly had a snooze whilst I did a bit of browsing and reading, then we got ready and headed out, we had pre-booked to go to Zizzi's for tea, the food was lovely

As you can see hubby was happy with his (in his words) Italian pasty, also known as a calzone to other people

We also tried the purple gnocchi as we've never tried them, they were fried which I don't think is always the way they are eaten and had been mixed with rosemary, but they were very tasty. 

We were both very naughty and had a berry sundae for dessert

there's mischief in that face. 

and then off to the play

the set was sparce, but the seats were great and despite the length (3 hours and 15 minutes) with 2 intervals (I kid you not).  It flew by and I can only describe it as Shakespeare's greatest hits, we noted afterwards how many of his previous plays featured in some way shape or form, not the characters but similar plot lines, elements of Lady Macbeth, Othello, Much ado to name but a few

and afterwards despite the lateness of the hour we got a post-show talk, which was absolutely amazing and apparently we learnt that the show we had seen (remember the length) was a shortened version and that "hundreds of lines" had been cut, goodness knows how long it would have been originally. 

We sauntered back to the hotel gone 11pm, hubby had a glass of wine and we dissected the play before shutting our eyes heading up 1am.  Thankfully we'd booked a later breakfast, so headed down around 9.30am after having showered and then setting back off up the country home. 

We chilled for the remainder of Saturday but then set to on the stairs decorating once again on Sunday.  It has been an epic task and we have insisted on doing everything ourselves which has meant fitting it in between work.  

Monday arrived and we were both off, we did a food shop first thing and then had a lazy few hours at home before getting ready and setting off for Sheffield, we abandoned the car at Park Hill flats, something you wouldn't have done years ago and walked the half hour to Bramall lane, the home of Sheffield United, but more importantly for us (because we don't do football) it was time for the Motley Crue and Def Leppard concert. 

We got into the stadium with relative ease, grabbed a drink and a comfort break before heading to our seats.  The support act called the Vivas was Ok, not really our taste in music but it was a good start.  The day was overcast but dry and warm.  We had aisle seats which meant a fair bit of jumping up and down for people, but we didn't mind. 

At 6.15pm Motley Crue ventured onto the stage, I've never seen them as a band but hubby has seen them a couple of times and they did not disappoint.  Stunning vocals, great guitars, backing singers the works and a good mix of newer tracks and their older stuff. The set was fantastic too and the star screens helped given how far back we were. 

Both me and hubby were a little bit of apprehensive about the gig, I think the location, the size of the crowd etc and it has been a while since we did a gig. 

Motley finished at 8.15pm and a half hour set change before Def Leppard headed out onto the stage and to a home crowd. 

Mr Elliott was at his finest vocal wise and it was a stunning show

and hopefully a great way for the band to kick off their world tour. 

We headed back to the car, buzzing from the gig and definitely shouting a little louder than we were when we went in.  We got home starving so grabbed some food, put the world to rights and collapsed into bed.  

Thankfully I'd had for the foresight to book us off from work on Tuesday and the plan was another stairs day.  However, mid-morning I got an emergency call from work from my boss with a hundred apologies but asking for me to provide some detail needed for a funding panel.  Fingers crossed the hours of work was worth it, but time will tell. 

Then we got on with the stairs and finished later than we had anticipated but having achieved a fair amount.  

Wednesday was our only day in work this week and it was a stupidly busy crazy day it has to be said.  I had a proper catch up with my boss but the day exceeded 12 hours which meant a very very late tea. 

Thankfully today and we've got another day at home, the music is blasting, the sky is blue and the sun is shining, I have a line of washing drying and we are working on the stairs together and it is proving just a beautiful day. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week too. 

Hugs

PS I will try harder to visit earlier this week.  

PPS Gina since I made the blog private I don't think it appears on people's reading lists - apologies - I keep thinking am I brave enough to convert it back to public. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 2OTH OF 2023

 Morning lovely people can you believe we are 20 Fridays into 2023 already, time really does fly, tis Friday time for 

Well last Friday we carried on decorating the stairs, we are in no rush to finish the job, we just want it done well, so it was a busy day all day cracking on with that. 

Saturday and we headed off to Chatsworth for the international horse trials, the weather was good so we ventured down, the tickets are part of our membership.  We enjoyed wandering the stalls seeing the amazing horses, hubby treated himself to a new leather belt and I managed to get my sister a birthday present so it was  worthwhile trip out. 

We enjoyed a lovely homemade picnic with fresh quiche whilst watching the cross country horse trails which was great. 

We enjoyed a leisurely evening once we got home. 

Sunday and we had a couple of hours working on the stairs and then we popped to Specsavers because I'm really struggling with my new varifocals, I thought they had been resolved, but alas I've still struggled this week so I'm back again on Sunday.  

We then had a couple of hours over at my Mum's again, trimming the hedge and cutting and strimming the garden, said 22 year old came to help as did my sister so that was a real help.  Then home tea and chill before starting the week again. 

The week has just been one of those where things went a bit pear shaped and continued that way so I had a couple of rough days at work, but I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth so we will just accept that and move on.

Today (Thursday) we had a day off in TOIL and spent the morning painting the stairs and then headed to Sheffield to see the play adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book the Ocean at the end of the Lane.  It was quite spectacular and fantastic to see something like this being toured. 

And that my lovely people is about all for this week, my Mum is still finding the treatment gruelling at the moment and said 22 year old's fiancee is still waiting on the neurology appointment. 

I hope you've had a lovely week.

Hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 19TH OF 2023

Afternoon all tis Friday time for

Well last Friday should have been our day off but after collecting my (now problematic) new varifocal glasses (that I'll be returning with on Sunday to get them sorted) we headed to work as we had a Coronation Open Day event on Saturday 6 May 2023 and there were marquees that needed to be set up, there was also lots of other things that needed sorting and despite us planning only a couple of hours we were there from 11am through until around 5pm.  

We were up bright and early on Saturday as we were live streaming the event and had a number of stall holders attending, we had facepainting, a free sunflower activity for families and children's activities. 

We also had pre-bookable boat trips and the gallery space open for refreshments and hot food.  Despite the inclement weather in London we just about got away with it until mid-afternoon when the heavens started to open.  Thankfully we were able to swap the final boat trip of the day to the trip before and got started and sorting things and putting things back in readiness for the week.  We had a large number of staff missing which was a shame, but we did have a lovely day and it ticked along at a fair pace. 

Whilst we were at the Coronation event on Saturday my sister, my niece, her other half and his sister as well as a friend (not on the photo), went to help my Mum in her garden making further headway which is brilliant

they worked on the first tier and the photo really doesn't do it justice if I'm honest. 

Needless to say Sunday really should have been a day of rest, however me and my Mum had a card class booked. 

These were the cards in question, they were an absolute joy to make, Karen always prepares things so well so we get to really enjoy the making process.  

This is the back of a magic card, the inside working similar to a Jacob's ladder

This was my favourite make from the day

My Mum really enjoyed it and we had such a wonderful day together, precious memories. 

Whilst we were at card class said 22 year old and fiancee were at the christening of fiancee's nieces and they sent us this lovely photo. 

Monday therefore was my day to kick bank and relax - which really didn't happen we were catching up on jobs, pencilling on the panelling for the stairs (which took forever) and generally being very busy.  I clocked the time heading up 6pm,  we'd had no tea and I had family chat at 7 so the evening disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Tuesday and back to work, the day was busy as was Wednesday but Thursday was genuinely off the chart stupid if I'm brutally honest and we both left work feeling very mentally fried last night.  However I did for the first time see one of these through the petty cash tin, a new King Charles III 50p piece

Thankfully Thursday night we had a meal and pre-theatre booked so we dashed home got changed and headed straight out. 

The show was called the Bow and the Fiddle and was a homage to Laurel and Hardy - a one man show nonetheless, he must have been exhausted playing all the characters that he was playing during the show.

We grabbed an Oscar photo before the show

and me and the hubster playing Laurel and Hardy

The stage

Me and my Mum waiting for the show

It was a great show and we all really enjoyed it, my Mum has had a call this week and they have confirmed the chemo is making a difference so scheduled her another 3 which means she is going to have 6 in total, she was disappointed that she has to have 3 more but glad it is making a difference, she had her 4th chemo yesterday so already over the half way mark and was quite buoyed up and spritely last night, she'll struggle for a week or so now before she starts to improve. 

I hope you've had a lovely week too, apologies for the timing of my posts over recent weeks I'm blaming the decorating if I'm honest. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 18TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday and I'm determined to post earlier this week. 

Friday was our first day off over the weekend, so I got the books straight (that was fun and games) and then we cleaned through the entire house including the bathroom.  So it was all spic and span. 

Then we showered and then headed out to sort a few errands.  We went to the Post Office and I sorted a return and bought some stamps and posted lots of belated cards (whoops).  Then I headed to the Craft Box, paid my dues for a card class coming up and bought some ribbon for my very poorly recovered bedside lampshades. 

Then we headed to Meadowhall where I finally managed to get some Bare Minerals make up which I've been desperate for for ages, hubby got a couple of DVDs and then we had a wander. 

Then we headed to see my Mum, she isn't feeling brilliant at the moment, so she was pleased to have a visit from us, it was a lovely catch up and my sister came around too.  

The weekend was busy overall and longer than normal with a bank holiday, however we are on with our stairs so we were busy all weekend on that.  However it also came to light that my Mum is really struggling with her garden at the moment, so on bank holiday our 'kick back' day we headed over to see if we could make a difference in some small way.

I was planning on attacking the hedge, but she was also knee deep in long grass

So me, hubby and my sister made some headway on that instead so it is at least more manageable.

the rest of the week has been busy busy, but we went out for pre-theatre dining on Thursday and had a lovely meal including these lovely desserts.  Mine was a black forest roulade, with pistachio ice cream and chocolate sauce

Hubby had treacle tart, rhubarb sorbet and creme anglais

Then we headed over the road for this touring show, a one man show of a coming of age story.  Whilst there were moments of dark humour, it was overall a poignant tale of adolescence and growing up in a household where mental health issues, drugs and overall lack of parental compassion were prevalent, it was a brutal watch, but it reminds us of how life sometimes can be. 

The stage set was very good

It was strange to come out to Whatspp messages from work saying we had 47 children attend our 'good old fashioned' youth club and the majority of them were hungry, having had no tea and looking to be fed.  It is really hard to think of young people and families struggling to make ends meet and children going hungry this is 2023 how on earth is that still a problem in the UK.  So how does this appear here, well needless to say we are gearing up to get some funding bids in to sort things out at least in the short term. 

I hope you've had a good week, said 22 year old fiancee has been referred to neurology so we are still in the dark so to speak but I know I've mentioned it before so thought I'd update you lovely people. 

My Mum is also a little on the melancholy side at the moment, I've drummed up some support so I'm hoping people step up a little to give her some support and I still find our time incredibly precious, I even cajoled her to sit in the garden whilst we were sorting it the other day, so she got a little bit of fresh air which was good. 

Hugs lovely people have a great weekend.