ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY (AHEM SATURDAY) - 8TH OF THE YEAR

 Good morning and apologies for my tardiness, yesterday was an exceptionally busy day and I simply didn't get chance to sort my post, but nevertheless let's see what the last seven days brought in the way of positive moments and silver linings. 

Well after a busy half term week including a jaunt to the RSC we had a planned trip out last Friday night for my Mum's birthday at a Turkish restaurant. 

Said niece and her other half

Said 22 year old and fiancee

Lil bro and Mammy

Sister and Lil bro's fiancee

Whole group shot including my Mum's hubby, me and hubby. 

 We had a lovely evening and the food was nice, but the restaurant was soooooooo loud, we literally couldn't hear each other think, so I invited everyone to come over on Saturday for pancakes and a proper catch up.

So my niece, said 22 year old, his fianceee, my sister and my Mum as well as me and hubby and had several hours catching up and having a good old natter which was wonderful. 

Sunday we had a kick back day as I was due back to work on Monday, there was no rugby on but we enjoyed watching SAS Rogue Heroes which we had recorded pre-Christmas and I managed some scrapbook layouts. 

The working week was busy as always and I was on mass catch up after my week off, however, we did unusually for us manage not one or two but three evenings out. 

Tuesday night we were at the Cast theatre in Doncaster watching the Imitating Dog company and their re-telling of Macbeth, it was jaw-droppingly amazing, still using some of the original Shakespearean language, they incorporated music and digital imagery to bring the bard up to date, set in a Blade runner come Manga type setting with guns, blades, drugs etc.  It was a perfect showcase for the fact that Shakespeare's plays are still as relevant today as ever. 

Wednesday night and we saw the 'comedy' A perfect likeness, now I've put comedy in quotes because I genuinely didn't laugh at all throughout the play, it is a fictional piece of writing about a meeting between Charles Dickens and CS Lewis and to be honest I found it incredibly disappointing, not the actors they were great but I found the storyline difficult.  Charles Dickens was made out to be a philandering individual who had affairs with actresses despite having a wife he didn't love irrelevant of a large number of children and I know there is some truths in this.  CS Lewis was apparently besotted by an 11 year old Alice Liddell in an uncomfortable way and talked about taking nude photos of girls which I found most odd and perhaps marrying Alice at some point despite the fact she was still a child and a huge age difference, I found the whole discussion uncomfortable and unethical and definitely not humourous.  My Mum also came with us and totalling agreed that it was rather an odd play, rather than describing it as enjoyable.  

Thursday and we were at NT Live to see Othello, the first half was tedious, the stage set was poor, the costumes non-descript and the whole cast played out their characters in mean ill feeling ways, I know it is Othello and a tragedy but there is usually a degree of humour. 

Then the interval with an interval film with the Director and it all made sense, he took the tragedy element seriously, kept everything serious, played out the racial inequalities and misogynistic attitudes including domestic violence to be the back drop to this the saddest of tails, the second half was as you can imagine compelling, engaging and nothing like the first half because the context in which the play had been produced made so much more sense, the moral being the interval film should have been at the beginning, nevertheless another fix of Shakespeare is never something to grumble over. 

Wednesday said 22 year old and his fiancee finally got something that he has been waiting for for what felt like forever, a set of keys to their own place.  They've entered the property ladder and bought themselves a 2 bedroomed flat, although I think it is referred to as a maisonette, I always thought maisonette's were on two storey, however this is on one level having said that it does have an outdoor space and garden.  Nevertheless they finally got the keys and despite a lack of furniture they insisted on staying there on Wednesday night sleeping on a blow up mattress. 

Yesterday was moving day, so we had a rather busy one hence the lack of post, but I will fill you in on that next week. 

Have a great weekend and week ahead. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 27TH OF 2016

Good Morning tis Friday - what positive silver linings moments have graced your week this week, I hope it has been a good one 

Well Mischief 2 - aka said 15 year old is currently away, he went on thursday last week (and it has to be said that the house has been mighty quiet since he left, nothing has been obliterated, shot or evenly slightly maimed on Xbox since he left - like I said - mighty quiet!).  As me and hubby very rarely get chance to escape on our own, I decided to book us some time reminiscing about the 'good old days' - you have to bear in mind that I'm only actually 44 years of age!  

However, we decided to book a hotel for a couple of nights, grab a couple of tickets and explore some old haunts in Stafford for a couple of days.  We were all for dropping in and catching up with people but I don't think said 15 would have been happy so we didn't - we just enjoyed our own company and reminisced.

On our way down we visited Amerton farm, somewhere we took little man to when he was - well a little man - rather than the strapping 6 foot young man that presents himself these days! 

It was a beautiful sunny day, the chickens were still wandering around, the bakery smelt beautiful and all seemed as if we hadn't been away, the craft barn - lacked well crafting which is a great shame - they obviously make far more money from the deli and the play barn than actually having any decent craft items to buy.  But we enjoyed the nostalgia nonethless. 

We booked for a Premier Inn (nothing fancy but you can guarantee a good nights sleep), there was a fab pub next door that sold lovely food and nice beer - so win win!  

We enjoyed a slap up meal and then sat outside to enjoy the rather warm barmy summers evening!  I loved the chicken wallpaper on the walls inside and how pretty it looked from the outside, despite the pub only being built a few years ago! 

We enjoyed a trip into town but were disappointed to find most of the car parks have been built on, making parking a nightmare.  Lots of the shops had changed hands, the angel house that sold beautiful statues is long gone, sigh.  But we did giggle at us reminiscing. "That's where Our Price was - I remember buying an album from there.   This sweet shop was where we bought our first Myth and Magic dragons all those years ago" - you know the one! 

We found the 'quaint' country lane with the Stafford soup kitchen on, always a beautiful walk.  

We got caught in the rain, but found the Picture House and enjoyed a half whilst chatting about where we had been and what we had seen.  We also remembered taking my brother and sister to the Picture House to see Jurassic Park when they were younger and them hiding behind their coats as they were so scared!  The picture house is amazing as a pub and they have retained some of the seats at the back where we sat (I don't think they retained them because we sat there, but you get the meaning).  

We got changed for tea having booked a table and grabbed a selfie. 

We discovered they had a deal on a bottle of prosecco on a Friday night so - well we enjoyed a bottle (or two) - it would have been rude not to! 

On the Saturday we had a brilliant walk around Cannock Chase, people were out in their droves enjoying the mountain bike trails.  We came across people on horseback and segways of all ages! 

The sky remained blue whilst we had our walk - which I was grateful for! 

The lake was lovely! 

And we spotted these baby geese as we wandered!

 Then we headed off to Shugborough Hall, owned by the National Trust but leased to Staffordshire County council.  It was the home of Lord Lichfield and really is a delight to walk around.  

However, being Chatsworth members it really doesn't compare but we enjoyed the trip nonetheless.

The gardens are still pretty, although the oriental bridge in the background could do with a coat of paint.

We found this amazing 'shrub' (I use the term loosely given the size of it), it was covered and I mean covered in a gorgeous white flower! 

As we weren't sure on what we were going to have for tea and hadn't booked a table and were due at the Castle for the play we decided to have a bar meal at one of our old haunts.  Now this place really hasn't changed, the Holly Bush Inn at Salt, still delivers a fabulous bar meal at a fabulous price in a gorgeous environment! 

After we headed back to the hotel, the staff were great and booked us a taxi in advance so we 

weren't stressing!

So we headed to the pub for a quick drink - here is Mischief 1 - being well mischievous!

The play was fantastic, we were technically under cover (we were front row - so when the rain arrived we knew about it)! 

The actors were fab and the play was great, the fact that Emilia and Desdemona managed to pretend to be sunbathing on the sand in part of the play as the rain absolutely bounced down is beyond me! 

The set was great and blended beautifully with Stafford Castle in the background!

Afterwards we had been told to just call the taxi firm that dropped us off, you can imagine our faces when they told us a 75 minute wait - can't you!  We tried pleading with the taxi drivers in the car park and tried another firm to no avail, in the end we rang back the original firm and explained our predicament and that they had promised that we could get a taxi easily if we phoned when it finished!  They came to our rescue in minutes so a big no a MAHOOSIVE thank you to Aerobright taxis of Stafford you were awesome! 

Sunday arrived and we had decided to enjoy a trip to Chatsworth on our way home, firstly to break the journey and secondly to enjoy Florabundance a floral spectacular in the house - we were not disappointed! 

This was my favourite! 

 Up close the flowers were beautiful!

and it looked totally different from the other side!

We left via my favourite sculpture next to the doors at the exit, the sleeping lion! 

We got home and enjoyed a quiet evening before the working week began.  The week has been crazy busy but fun, even though I'm officially shattered and not a hundred percent! 

Thursday has arrived and after a busy day I'm thinking about said 15 year old who is on his return journey back to us, he's been in Lourdes for just over a week, I was thankful to receive a couple of photos of his journey over there.  Here he is with his pilgrim whom he has been helping this week - the word proud doesn't come close as you can imagine!

And to finish this post off, I've received a letter from school indicating that he's been put forward for an award!  Awards evening Tuesday - very very proud Mum! 

I hope you've had an awesome week, well done if you are still with me on this post, sorry it is so long!  If you fancy joining in then pop a post together, pop back and link up so we can come and visit!