Again, it's been a long time since my last post; but that does mean I've had lots of time to do things. Some of them were on my list, others weren't, as usual.
On 28th of March, I went to the Sage Gateshead for a concert for the first time. I've been there before, for the Antiques Roadshow a few years ago, but I'd never seen a performance there.
I saw Morris Offspring & Faustus. They were fabulous! I'm sad that it was Morris Offspring's final show, but I'm so glad that I did get to see them.
On the way to the Sage, I'm fairly sure I saw a fairly rare cloud phenomenon: Noctilucent Clouds. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a photograph of it, but it was a really magical sight.
I'd ordered a coupon for a Scuba Diving session, to try to get me over my slight fear of being underwater for any length of time... whenever I'm watching someone do a deep dive, or even playing a computer game which involves swimming underwater I tend to hold my breath! I was hoping that this would help.
On the 3rd of April, I tried it.
There were a few technical issues (the jacket was too big for me, the mouthpiece was broken, I got water in my mask; that kind of thing). I gave up after about half the time, as I couldn't suppress my Lizard-Brain which kept thinking it was drowning :( I tried using the snorkel instead & could just about cope with that.
However, I can't see me doing it again, and I think I'll still be holding my breath when I dive in a computer game!
That was a busy week, as two days later I went on a Guided Tour of the Theatre Royal. A guided tour with a difference. Dr Mullins Anatomy of the Theatre Royal. Splendid! Jo & I got into the mood of the thing, engaging in in-character conversation with the actors doing the guiding (the actors were wonderful, by the way - really bringing to life the Victorian Theatre!) I think the highlight for me was sitting in one of the boxes - I've never done that before, and given the prices, probably never will again! so this was rather special!
(I did get 'trolled' by one of the special effects... there was a door in one of the rooms, behind which was supposedly the 'theatre's cat', as one of the actresses said when she opened it. I opened the door "to let the cat out", and a tiger roared! I shut the door and fled, giggling with Jo! Later on, someone else opened a similar door to the tiger's roar, so I figured that the first one just hadn't worked properly for the actress but that didn't make it any less scary at the time ;) )
Last week I was in Colchester with my German friends Karin & Karen (K1 & K2!) and their school group, but I think that's a job for another post!