CAT IN A BASKET

This is Lily in the cat basket which she wouldn't go into yesterday.  I left it in the bathroom and when I got up in the night there she was asleep inside it.  And she has slept in it all day. She is still there this evening.  Silly cat. Hopefully it will be easier to get her into next week for her vets appointment - but I'm not counting my chickens.

Today was Panto day.  I went to The Theatre Royal in Newcastle to see Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Usual cast - Clive Webb, Danny Adams and Chris Hayward.  Heard of them?  I doubt it.  They aren't celebrities or soap stars but they are panto experts.  They have been putting on the panto at the Theatre Royal for the past 14 years.

I had booked a seat in the front row of The Grand Circle - my usual seat at the ailse end of the row.  When I got there the Grand Circle was empty - except for one man who was sitting in the seat next to mine.  The steward warned us he was expecting 200 children to descend very soon.  Of course this was no surprise to me - its the same every year.  Its usually 99% schoolchildren with their teachers.   So the children arrived - noisy and excited trying to find the correct seats.  The steward came down and asked me and the chap next to me if we wanted to move to a box as it was empty.  So we both went into this box.  It was a bit further away from the stage and the view wasn't so good - so the chap said he was going to move back to his proper seat.  I stayed in the box as the leg room there was better. ( Its very tight in the front row of the Grand Circle - knees touching the wall in front of you.)  There were 6 seats in the box and none of them were fixed to the floor so I just chose one seat and moved it till I had the best view - and lots of leg room.  Settled down to watch the show - feeling rather like The Queen.

The panto was excellent - lots of familiar antics and jokes but this year there was a circus theme so we had a juggler, two roller skaters and people in animal costumes.  Also 4 motorcyclists riding around very fast inside a metal ball shaped cage - quite dramatic.    I have made a small collage of shots for my Extras - the poster from outside the theatre, the stage and a statue of Mercurio which is near the entrance to the Grand Circle.

The panto lasted around 2½ hours so I came out around 4.30pm.  Popped to Tesco for some fruit before getting the bus home.  Traffic was bad this evening and the journey was slow.  The bus was packed too - people standing the whole time.

The weather was sunny for most of the day but with a bitter wind.  However the rain is back this evening.

Steps today - 6,159