Long time no post - lets catch up!

Well hello! Its been a while hasn't it? Since March huh?....wow, that's pretty bad of me. Ah well, here I am, back again, with something to say at last!

So what has been happening in my life just recently? Well...

Holiday
We had another fantastic holiday in France this year. We were in a gite in the dordogne and it was simply wonderful. Quite quiet, out of the way and maybe a little too remote, but we had an amazing time. We went to Bergerac - didn't see John Nettles unfortunately, but DID see Cyrano. We visited La Dune du Pyla - the largest sand dune in europe...blimey it's big. About 120 meters I believe. And we had our first boring but quick journey on the EuroTunnel. It was so different to going on the ferry (obviously, being under the water not on it....). We normally spend a very long uncomfortable 5/6 hours on the ferry, but this was 40 minutes sat in the car as we were whizzed under the Channel and deposited right on the motorway in Calais. A far better solution we felt.

Music
On the musical front, there have been no more big shows for me...no time any more to do those things. BUT, I have been getting to the Grimsby Phil quite a lot. In a few weeks we have our latest concert in which we are performing "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff' and "Songs and Cries of London Town" by Bob Chilcott.
Carmina is a very famous work that has been used in many films and TV programs. The opening number "O Fortuna" is the most well known - back in the 70's it was the theme to the Old Spice advert...these days it's heard every Saturday night when we are introduced to the Judges on X-Factor. For me, Carmina is up there with Jesus Christ Superstar as something that I have dreamt of being part of one day and to have acheieved both of these goals within the last 2 years is pretty amazing.
Songs and Cries is a modern work which calls on traditional London cries, and poems by Dunbar and Wordsworth to create an exciting and beautiful work.

We recently went to see Starlight Express at the Grimsby Auditorium - what a great show that was. It's one that we had never seen before, and indeed never really knew the music either, so it made a really nice change seeing something totally new. The singing was superb, and of course the skating and dancing was really impressive.

Moving to France
Well, I don't want to say much on this subject, but I am very close to hopefully having some VERY positive news! I got a new boss at work a couple of months ago and he is really supportive...wheels are in motion that might just take us to France after all....watch this space!

Other stuff
Other things that have been happening....
Yesterday was my birthday! Yay! 35 at last...finally I am nearer 40 than 30, which is quite sad. And 35 is half-way to 70, which is really, really sad! But hey-ho, while there's wine theres still hope for me ;o)

Rosie started at Healing comprehensive school in September...she's doing really well and enjoying herself - lots of out-of-school clubs and things going on. We're really pleased with how she's getting on.

Molly and Joe are now officially Football mad. They both attend Healing Hotspurs football training, and Molly is even in the girls under 10s team. So far they have drawn 1-1 and last week they won 3-0! Molly is the star defender -following in her dad's footsteps in the back four :o)

As a final note, I heartily reccomend checking out Andrew Lloyd Webbers new site. Its a personal site with lots of news, photos and information about what ALW is currently up to, including all the news about Connie in The Sound of Music. I had a conversation with the webmaster who was good enough to look through my blog, so you never know, Lord Andrew might even get to read all about my expoits in JCS! (Just in case...it starts here in May 2004, and runs up to November 2004.....well, you never know!)