It was the Best of Times

Well, (not that) young Figgy has been and gone. The festival has been well and truly "done" with just a final Bach recital remaining for Saturday.

The weekend kicked off on the Friday night (without Fig) when DD, Bryn, Michelle and I went to "It Felt Like a Kiss" on Quay Street. It was quite literally a completely unique experience. I won't go into too many details here because Jane and Bill are going tomorrow and I don't want to spoil it for them. but it was interesting, exhilarating and very very terrifying. They'll have the time of their lives I'm sure.

Fig arrived via a delayed plane on Saturday night and on Sunday we had a walk round the shops and then off to the Bach at the Manchester Art Gallery - a cello recital. And very good it was too with no fire alarm this time. Off down Canal Street afterwards for one or two vodkas... Some time the following day we emerged, blinking into the sun! Monday night was the Royal Exchange for Everybody Loves a Winner - a combination of theatre and bingo. A combination which, it has to be said, didn't really work for me although everyone else seemed to enjoy it. And my opinion has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I was waiting on one number for the £200 jackpot. Off to The Midland for one or two vodkas afterwards... Some time the following day... (well, you're starting to get the picture here). Tuesday night was Prima Donna the Rufus Wainwright opera. A really fabulous evening hob-nobbing with the celebs (Rufus himself, Neil Tennant and Alan Yentob to name but three - in fact the only three we saw but I'm sure there were others there too - anyway, we all looked so good we were almost like celebs ourselves!). I loved the opera although they need to sort the surtitles out. Afterwards to The Midland for... (again, I'm just repeating myself here).

Back to work Wednesday and then Liverpool this morning for the Leadership Team Meeting (always fun!). And that's us up to date. Awaiting the builder (again) but no news to report on that front at the moment. Hope you are all well dear readers. That's all. J x

Scary Stuff

Have had my first case of suspected swine flu on the Team. Hopefully it won't have spread to the rest of the Team (will interfere with their studies) or, indeed, me (will interfere with my Festivaliscious weekend with Figola). That's all. J x

Festival Stuff 1

So. Went to The Procession today. Weather held good. The Procession itself was very good. Different and fun and quite exciting. To White Lion to sit in the beer garden afterwards.

Tonight went to the Manchester Art Gallery to listen to Bach on the piano in a Zaha Hadid pavilion. The music was superb. The pavilion worked really well. The only thing that spoilt it was the fire alarm that meant we had to evacuate the building just after the second half started. We hung around for a bit and then decided that it was going to take a very long time before they checked the building and allowed us all back in. So we went to The Midland. No Martin but Paulina was there as was some new chap called Chris. We might like him as time goes on. At least he wasn't from Eastern Europe (unlike everyone else including Martin). Thats all. J x

Flash Mob

Well I went and flash mobbed Shakespeare today. Unfortunately it was more of a damp squib mob than anything else. I suppose there were about 20-25 people there and we all duly declaimed Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18 at the top of our voices but it wasn't quite as impressive as it might have been had there been hundreds there. I await its appearance on You Tube (if indeed it does ever appear on You Tube) with interest - I'm the one with the Hermes carrier, natch. That's all. J x

Prof Dram

So The Festival started on Thursday (that's the Manchester International Festival - see blogs from 2 years ago to see what we all got up to then). A similarly eclectic programme awaits this year. We have Bingo as Theatre courtesy of Neil Bartlett (I love that man ever since his Oliver and that gay thing he did on BBC2 forever ago that I used to make Fig watch every Pride eve - "And then my second friend said...."). Prima Donna from Rufus Wainwright - an opera in French. Originally commissioned by the New York Met who asked him to translate it into English (the heathens) and he refused (the rebel) and so it is premiering in Manchester in your actual French (lucky us). Then there are the three Bachs. In a Zaha Hadid concert hall. In an art gallery. It don't get any more cutting edge than that. On top of this there is The Procession, The Haunted House, The Shakespeare flash mob and, I'm only guessing here, oodles and oodles of martinis. And as a cherry on top (not that he can remember his cherry) The Very Young Fig is coming to stay too. I might explode with excitement at any moment. Before all that I have the Help Line tomorrow night and after the last session where I had a really disturbing call (I actually broke down) I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to it.

On the bright side as well, work is just going so well and I am enjoying it so much despite the long hours and all the pressure. Clearly I was born to be a God worshipped by my subjects, sorry, a manager I mean. Anyway that's all for now - oh no, just remembered , has everyone heard the new Sophie Ellis Bexter single? Its fabulous. That really is all. J x