PANTO

I went to the panto at The Theatre Royal in Newcastle this afternoon. Took this photo before I went in. If you look LARGE you can see all the schoolchildren queuing up around the corner. The theatre was packed with schoolchildren and teachers.

The Panto was FANTASTIC. Great fun from start to finish. The costumes were wonderful and all the cast were excellent. However I didn't expect to be pelted with iceberg lettuce - that was just the tip of the iceberg (joke from Aladdin ), showered with shredded toilet roll and squirted with water.... actually quite a lot of water. That's the price you pay for sitting in the front stalls. The kids loved it and I didn't mind really --- all part of the experience.

One small child in the row behind me got frightened in the first 5 mins by a fierce giant cobra which came out from the stage right above the audience and from then on he/she cried most of the time after that. Not a happy bunny.

After the panto I did a bit of shopping in town - the shops seemed surprisingly quiet.

Sore throat is worse than ever today. Just have to put up with it and hope it eases soon.