We love Swan!

Back in Fife after a whirl-wind visit to Newcastle, Austwick and then back to Newcastle! So many highlights, seeing our friends and their family, neighbours and of course eating and drinking! However a major highlight has to be last Saturday evening at the Theatre Royal with Alan's brave stage door antics resulting in our programme from Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake being signed by the lead dancers!
So what of the event? Here is a totally bias review!
It’s hard to believe that it is 15 years since Matthew Bourne’s imaginative reworking of Swan Lake was first performed. Rightly hailed as a modern dance classic it has the rare combination of both longevity and freshness that keeps audiences coming back time and again. Our first viewing of the performance at Newcastle still has packed houses standing in appreciation and awe at the end a great welcome as mentioned to me by the cast socialising in the Adephi Bar after the show!

Even if you’ve never seen the show, you’ve probably seen the iconic male swans, with their muscular bare chests and rough feathered breeches. It’s the role you see the grown up Billy Elliot performing on stage at the end of the film. The flock of domineering male swans rather than the traditional female swan maidens is the twist for which it is most famous. But it is by no means the only quirk to this inventive show, which moves effortlessly from laugh out loud funny to heart-breaking tenderness.Keeping to Tchaikovsky's score, it opens with a sleeping prince, dwarfed in his super-king sized bed within the dramatic castle walls of Lez Brotherston’s surreal fairytale-like set. As he dreams we catch a glimpse of Jonathan Ollivier's powerful swan beyond the window – an image which is instantly striking and mysterious. Back in the waking world, the Prince (a passionate Dominic North), is stifled in tradition and repetition. He accompanies his mother (played with elegant coldness by Nina Goldman), on royal visits, waves dutifully to the crowds, while longing for affection that never comes. Much to the Queen’s distaste he is snared by a social climbing girlfriend, Madelaine Brennan, whose comic timing makes the character’s lack of etiquette a delight to watch. The result is both irreverent and hilarious, with the scene in the royal box at the ballet worth the ticket price alone. Rapped in such a world it is no wonder the Prince is despairing, but just as he can take no more the swans appear, their wild gracefulness offering a taste of freedom. It’s dramatic, funny, sexy, irreverent and, after 15 years, still bursting with energy. Also have to say the experience makes the DVD pale!
Then off to Austwick with Bill and Barrie enthused with the night before and into the Game Cock for Sunday Lunch. Monday in recovery and at Skipton Market with Tuesday a visit to Yew Tree Barn and Windermere for more shopping! Back on Wednesday to Newcastle so Barrie could have a good hair day on Thursday! Excellent Indian meal again and then back to Fife yesterday! But loving the Swan was a real memory of a genuine gay love story - shame they died but wow how they went!

Dear Departed

Such a sad week with Alan's funeral on Wednesday, son of a neighbour, also of our neighbour in Austwick Olive who died on Friday. I am waiting to hear about the funeral arrangements and hope to be able to get down, car repairs allowing. So in the meantime some thoughts:

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to
someone else.
Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally
disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you
lived, at the end.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you
got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice
that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a
lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those
who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of
circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

Family Visit

So talking of family visits Lillian was down in Austwick with us and my she can talk for Scotland! Did the usual rounds but got to Yew Tree Barn at Low Newton in the Lakes to have my family wedding rings made into something I can wear at Silver Forge! Also a visit to the Bingo! Twice - Morecambe and Keighley then of course Harry Ramsdens at Guisely! Thursday we went for the steak meal at - you guessed it - Game Cock Inn! Here's Lillian looking a little shocked in the cafe at the Yew Tree Barn!
So on Sunday arrived back safe but as the radiator on the car had gone we were lucky to make the journey!

New Erection

With a the family visit over, Frank, his sister Lillian we are back in Fife and may be putting back the move until September because of discussions with Fife NHS and the project! However we has a great dew days and although out and about were there when the new chimney had to be erected! Initial thoughts of "pointing" needing done but not to be!