La Rondine

One thing after another for us just now.

Tommy and one of his men came and dug up the drive. They found a big stick had floated down from the woods and blocked the drain so were able to release that. Now we wait for them to return and fix up the hole and re-tar the drive.

Then Mr C found a leak in the conservatory roof. A bit of window or its frame had moved so water was getting in. He’s used tape which I hope works better than the tape on the van. I’m looking into proper repairs which could be thousands. It might be cheaper to have the whole thing knocked down as it was only guaranteed for 10 years and it’s been in almost 20.

Ailie came to the opera with me tonight. La Rondine got good reviews with even a photo in the Guardian last Saturday. We had a quick bite in Kaltur tapas as it was opposite the car park so quick (and tasty) then we went up the hill to the Theatre Royal for the free talk before the performance. The choreographer explained a lot about not only the story but also why they set it in 1930’s Paris.

Sadly Ailie was not impressed with the opera and fell asleep. I nudged her during the apache dance as it was so exciting and she loves dance. That was the best bit. We had fantastic seats right in the middle front of the Grand Circle so it felt like the whole performance was just for us as we could only see the orchestra and the stage. The music, singing, costumes and set were good so it’s hard to define why I wasn’t blown away. Maybe because it was quite light-hearted in places and funny. And nobody died.