I survived (the snow this time)

So managed to make it all the way to Swansea. To be fair the roads were clear and the traffic seemed lighter than normal (usual delays at M5/M6 interchange of course). Good job I decided to stick to M5/M4 (and pay to get into Wales) though as there was an accident on the M50...

Aged Ps are well and there is an obscene amount of stuff under the Xmas Tree. That's all. J x

Film Night

A very enjoyable evening watching 12 Angry Men in the company of DD, Bryn & Michelle. Michelle had excelled herself with a vast array of canapes, Bryn gave us an expert's opinion on the film before we watched it and we had fun using up some of the left over alcohol from the party. A great night. Must do it again. Perhaps taking turns to choose and talk about a film?

Shutters were fitted on Tuesday and I'm really happy with them - one of those rare occasions where building (?) work has had an entirely satisfactory outcome. Suppose I shouldn't talk too soon of course as they could fall off the wall tomorrow!

3 days left in work before heading off to Swansea (weather permitting) and, as usual, I have a million things to do... So can't stay here chatting so, that's all. J x

The Return

Well she's in the air and on her way. DD lands at about 1145 and the plan is to be in The Midland for cocktails by 1400. I think she will be hideously jet lagged but she thinks not. Let's see shall we... Even if she is jet lagged I'm sure the lure of a cocktail will be enough to get her out!

Other than that things have been fairly quiet. Getting my shutters fitted Tuesday - they should have been delivering them Monday but they turned up yesterday - but I've taken Monday & Tuesday off work anyway. Will now spend Monday finishing off all my Xmas stuff.

Aged Ps are currently in London visiting my Mum's sister (the one who had the stroke) and will be back Monday. Hopefully the weather will stay good. That's all. J x

Damn Snow

So managed to make it into Warrington with minimum of fuss. Cecilia last night was fabulous (and running into Batey was just icing on the cake). Met some nice people sat next to me who regaled me with tales of Jessye Norman and other divas. They've recommended that I go and see Andreas Scholl in January so I've roped Michelle into that.

Nothing else planned for the weekend (this is me taking it easy Mum!) apart from some Xmas shopping. Looking forward to it immensely. Will spend the rest of my time watching and re-watching The Corpse Bride which I'm currently obsessing over. That's all. J x

Sick as a Dog

Well, I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening throwing up and running a temperature of 38.5 and generally feeling rotten. However managed to sleep for 10 hours last night and have woken up feeling like a new man. Have stayed off work today just to be sure (and its snowed too) but will go back in tomorrow if there's no change. Mother says its because I overdid things last week. She may have a point as I do seem to have been quite busy lately. Perhaps I should be slowing down now I'm nearly 50? But DD seems to manage it. We'll see...

In other news, the evening of Baroque music at RNCM was really good and me and Michelle went to Felicinis for soup afterwards which was really good too. Am off to Lincoln with work on Thursday & Friday and upon my return to Manchester to the Bridgewater Hall on Friday evening to watch Cecilia Bartoli. But nothing else planned at the moment. That's all. J x

This post was typed on Tuesday but posted to the wrong blog! Have stayed off work today again in order to rally my strength for trip to Lincoln tomorrow and Friday but that's now been cancelled on account of the weather. It even looks doubtful as to whether I'll be able to make it into Warrington tomorrow and so may have to work out of Manchester. No worries, I'm sure there'll be plenty of e-mails to catch up on and there's always networking to do...! J x

Been Doing Stuff

So, the Aged Ps have come and gone. We had a good time that encompassed shopping (my Mum got a new winter coat), a new favourite best restaurant (out goes Felicinis and in comes Ego), a trip to the Imperial War Museum (Dad really likes it - and so do I), a trip to the Lowry galleries (I really liked the 60s photo exhibition) and just generally spending time together. Low points were my Dad's cough, him falling over (no permanent damage) and my Mum offering to dust for me half an hour after arriving!

Otherwise I've been to my Book Group (virtually no-one had read the book - some Margaret Attwood thing and I won't read her after being scarred - as opposed to scared - by The Handmaid's Tale), seen the new Harry Potter (really liked it, the best so far) and am off to the union dinner tonight (Felicinis again). Tomorrow is the Lowry for Slave (apparently not a story of some bronzed demi-god, oiled and in chains) and a Baroque music evening at the RNCM on Saturday. Busy, busy, busy. That's all. J x

Update

So last weekend was London. Rigoletto was superb. And the Royal Opera House has to be experienced. It is fabulous and sumptuous and just all around amazing. The audience is dead posh (natch) but at least they don't eat popcorn, check their mobile phones during the performance and know when to clap (it is all terribly complicated). Loved it. I was somewhat less successful in my quest for a pair of navy blue leather men's gloves. How hard can it be? Well, let me tell you, its very hard. Not even Harrods... Harrods I tell you... stocks navy blue leather men's gloves. However, I did buy a tie and 2 pairs of socks so it wasn't a complete loss.

This weekend its all about cleaning products. The Aged Ps are arriving on Thursday for a weekend of Xmas shopping and the flat is currently a state. I expect dishpan hands by this evening... but then its off to B&M's for a soiree. Looking forward to it immensely. Will be calling into Kris's (my mixologist) new bar on Deansgate Locks first for a snifter. I'll let you know how it all goes. That's all. J x

Its All Greek

So off to London for Onassis. To One Aldwych for cocktails and lunch first. It was fabulous as ever. Onassis was a little less fabulous. Robert Lindsey was, of course, brilliant. And the play could have been brilliant but needed to have been written more as a play and less as a documentary. The supporting cast were not great - even though the guy playing Aristotle's son looked great in his pants. To the Waldorf afterwards for more cocktails where I had a Waldorf-tini. Same as a vodka martini except that its mixed in a gold cocktail shaker and has edible gold and silver flakes added. Rather extravagant but fun. Left DD in London as she was off to a friends in Guildford for the weekend so me and B &M caught the train home. Extra hour in bed this morning which was nice. That's all. J x

Been a While Again

Sorry about that. So what's been happening? Have been to the Bridgewater Hall for The Planets Suite by the Houston Symphony Orchestra (could have been done better I thought although the music is good). Saw WNO's production of Fidelio at The Grand in Swansea (superb apart from size and shape of principals - I'm a fan of appropriate casting (there's a technical name for this that escapes me for the moment) but to see a starving prisoner played by someone who is wider than he's tall (to be fair he's quite short) is not good). We've had the Spending Review announcements - not too bad for HMRC and my job on the face of it but we won't know quite how it will all play out until April. And then yesterday I went to an all day film workshop-thing on The Manchurian Candidate (hence Jane's link in the comments of the previous post). Had a great day with Jane (she's always good company even though we will never agree on a single thing that's work related), met some really interesting people and got to see a great film in a really cute old theatre in the middle of Glossop (who knew Glossop had such treasures?). And I'm off to some arts and crafts thing with DD and friends in Spinningfields this afternoon. Need to buy some gloves first though. Busy as ever.... That's all. J x

The Good and the Bad

The good news is that I had my check up at The Christie on Thursday and everything was fine (apart from not seeing the lovely Debbie of course - Sean reckons she was having a "cheeky lie-in"). But my next appointment is not until July next year and it will be my final appointment. My last ever (hopefully). How fucking fantastic is that? I got quite choked up when Sean informed me. That means I will have been cancer-free for 5 years. I'm not sure what the recurrence statistics are after 5 years but I think they are virtually nil (apart from my mother who had it again after 8 years but I'm not sure she had the same cancer the second time round - she survived both obviously). So that's really good. Lots of good stuff happened at work too. And I'm off to Swansea on Thursday for a production of Fidelio by the Welsh National Opera at the Grand Theatre and so get to spend some more time with the Aged Ps who will be back from Portugal by then. I hope.

The not so good news is that I heard that a friend of mine, Sharon, is just starting out in her own cancer journey. I hope you'll all join me in wishing her the best of luck - I know she reads this blog from time to time and so will see any encouraging messages. Good luck honey, we'll all be thinking of you and rooting for you and - if you don't start up your own blog - drop us all a line on here to let us know how you're getting on. Much love. Jonathan x

Cornwall Round-Up

Well, I liked Cornwall although there's not a whole lot to do apart from beaches and gardens. The visit to St Ives was nice though and I can now say that I have done all four Tates. Any of my readers have this claim to fame too?

Was a bit disappointed in the Eden Project. My own fault really as I was hoping it was something it wasn't. Had I read up on it properly beforehand I would have known it was all the sustainable living and aren't we being cruel to our planet so we should all sit in the dark and eat hemp mumbo jumbo that I can't abide. The Biomes were cool though and some of the planting was nice. But I much preferred Heligan which was more garden-y and therefore more up my alley. Trouble with Heligan was that it rained on that day. Still it didn't spoil our walk through the woods and the Lost Valley nor the Jungle area. All of which were fantastic. It did mean we had the place to ourselves though which was nice - apart from the Gardeners World crew who were filming in the Melon House. The formal and kitchen gardens were also nice but not at their best at this time of year.

We also visited one other garden - Pine Lodge. Not a great name admittedly but they did have a Pinetum which was fantastic. They also had an extensive Winter Garden which was just starting to come into its own. Apart from all this we also visited Fowey which is just unnaturally picturesque.

The cottage we were staying in was nice although the beds weren't big enough so consequently no-one slept brilliantly.

Came back to Manchester yesterday (a day earlier than planned) as the forecast was dreadful for today - and looking out the window I'm not sure I'd have liked travelling today. Plus I'd have got caught up in all that Ryder Cup shenanigans... Unpacking, washing & cleaning today. What fun. Have some planting and terrace-tidying to do tomorrow when the weather is, apparently, going to be nicer. That's all. J x

Can You Smell Fish?

So here I am stuck in the middle of bloody nowhere and New Tricks is on the telly. How on earth anyone can watch that load of tripe is beyond me but I long ago gave up trying to understand the telly viewing habits of the Aged Ps. They're even getting excited about some new cricket stuff coming up soon. How is that possible now we know they're all corrupt? It really is beyond me.

Anyway, I've retreated to my bedroom with the computer and I've been reading some blogs and comments from way back when this all started. And at one point people started blogging jokes - I must have been depressed or something? Maybe I had cancer? Who can remember... but anywho there's a joke about budgies and smelling fish (thank you Newcastle Wench) and I've just realised that I don't understand it. Can anyone explain? Ta. That's all. J x

The South West

Arrived in Cornwall to spend a few days with the Aged Ps looking at gardens and St Ives. We're staying in a gorgeous cottage not far from the Eden Project and the weather, so far, has been lovely. And according to the BBC this morning we may well get away with relatively dry weather. Fingers crossed. The cottage also has free wi-fi - hurrah - and so I should be able to keep you updated with news. Only news at the moment is that DD has landed safely in Minorca and is about to enjoy a free holiday she managed to blag whereas my friend Karen (originally from Scotland, now in Brighton) has managed to gain a temporary promotion to Grade 7 so well done her. That's all. J x

Someone left my cake out in the rain...

Really? How likely is that? Have you baked a cake? And then have you left it outside and forgotten about it? And then its rained. I don't think so. It is a sublime song though. Been to some bars with DD tonight. Big mistake. As always. But I love it and I love her.... That's all. J x

The Day After

So the party was a huge success. Thousands of people. Hundreds of cocktails. Canapes to die for. And a barman who turned up at the door in a soaking wet shirt that clung rather alluringly to him and through which you could see his tattoos. My head hurts today though. Thank you to everyone who came. Hopefully I wasn't rude to anyone. I shall post some photos (if I can remember how to do it) once I get them from the official photographer. I believe there may even be a dvd...! Huge thanks to my party organiser for making it all run so smoothly. That's all. J x

Party Minus One

Well, the flat looks good. And all this rain is washing the terrace. Now all I have to sort is the music - and wouldn't you know it but my iPod chooses this moment to play up. Hey ho. These things are sent to try us... Bed time soon because Frau Party Organiser arrives dead early to make me do loads of last minute things. Oh and my bloody tuxedo doesn't fit because I'm a fat bastard! So its jeans albeit not George at Asda jeans... That's all. J x

Update

The little orange munchkin thinks my flat is the nicest one in City South (he cleans others apparently). I agree. But I bet he says that to all the boys! That's all. J x

Party Minus Two

So, 2 days to go. And my flat is being cleaned by the smallest, campest, orangest gay munchkin one has ever seen! He seems fairly efficient though. Apart from that there's still loads to do and yet my party organiser extraordinaire sails though it all serenely. We've had to change bar staff - the original mixologist has dislocated his shoulder. The replacement seems good though. He mixed me a martini last night that was very tasty indeed. Drinks have been ordered from Asda. Panacea are supplying the glasses (this will truly be a mixed bag party...). Its a shame I won't have my additional wardrobe installed by the time of the party (see below) but c'est la vie.

In other news, London was fab although I'm not a huge fan of Legally Blonde the Musical (despite the fact that I appear to have been ear-wormed by omigodyouguys, one of the songs). Great to see Fig though and we're still best friends which is fab. He did tell me that he'd bumped into an old friend of ours from University days who I haven't seen for ages but he didn't give him my telephone number, just told him to look me up on Facebook. Of course I'd discontinued my Facebook page (never used it really) so now I've had to reinvigorate it just in case he tries to look me up. I hope he does. Would be great to talk to him again.

The wardrobe was a laugh a minute. Went to Ikea ready to purchase (superb staff by the way) only to find they didn't have all the bits and even the bits they did have couldn't be sold because there was a quality stop on them. And even if they could be sold the builder hadn't brought his roof rack for the car anyway! Complete farce. And still loads of stuff lying around the flat that should be in a wardrobe.

Incidentally, the spell check on my computer doesn't recognise the word Asda. And that's why I use an Apple computer... That's all. J x

In London

Been shopping (hurrah), seen the 4th plinth exhibition (I like the enormous blue cock) and now taking a well earned rest before meeting up with young Figster for a night of jollity, musicals and... well, lets leave it there shall we? What else could one possibly want? J x

To London

Off to London. Legally Blonde, Fig, Dover Street... could it get any better? Will report back soon. J x