Busy, Busy

I haven't blogged for the last few weeks a I haven't had time - I've been too busy having guests, and being a guest!

First up was a visit from my parents, who were attending an event near me, which led to a slightly unsettling role reversal where I drove them to their 'do' then spent the evening at home waiting for them to phone for me to pick them up!  

The following day, my dad's cousin came over for Sunday lunch, which was nice.

The the following weekend by friends J and J came down for the weekend, and we spent a restful Saturday mostly eating and chatting, before heading into Bath in the evening for a rather nice meal, and to see 'Exit the King' at the Ustinov Studio. It was very suberb (if a little odd, which, given that it is by Ionesco and is 'theatre of the absurd', is not surprising!


The play featured Alun Armstrong as the King, Siobhan Redmond  as his first wife, who guides him in accepting his impending death, and William Gaunt as the Doctor.

The play is all about the King's death, and his difficulty in letting go, and is strange, but very good, and it benefited from the excellent cast!

I am not sure whether I would have booked had I not had guests coming, but am very glad that I did! 

And I loved having J and J here, and being able to spend a relaxing couple of days catching u, and playing with the kittens.

Henry IV (Part II)

A couple of months ago,  I went to see the RSC's production of  Henry IV, Part I,  which was broadcast to cinemas. I enjoyed it - particularly Trevor White's performance as Harry Hotspur!

The production is now on tour and came to Bath last week, so I went to see Part II.  I rather regret the fact that Hotspur, having died in Part I, does not appear in Part II! (Trevor White did appear in part II, as Lord Mowbray, but that is a less showy role)

Jasper Britton as King Henry IV and Alex Hassell as Prince Hal
Photo by Kwame Lestrade.

This production features Sir Anthony Sher as Sir John Falstaff, and he is very, very good in the role. Even though I' not a big Falstaff fan, I did enjoy his performance.

And Alex Hassell (Prince Hal) was excellent - particularly in the scene where he tries on his father's crown.

All in all a fun evening out.

In Which There are Kittens (Again)

The past couple of weens have been quite exciting, and a bit stressful, for the kittens (and me)

They have a cat flap, and have been going out - it took them a couple of weeks to work out how to get out of the back garden, and they seem to have been cautiously exploring, but popping back regularly to reassure me, and to get snacks and snuggles.

Last Sunday, they went out, and did not come back. It started to rain. No kittens. I started to fret. No kittens. It stopped raining. No Kittens.

Loki, not looking his best

I went out, looking for them, in case they had gone a little further than usual and forgotten their way home. No Kittens.

Mid afternoon, Loki came home, looking *very* bedraggled (the photos is *after*  I sponged the worst of the mud off him) 

There was still no sign of Coraline, which left me even more worried,as of the pair of them, she is generally less adventurous, and the first to come back in.

Finally, at about 7.30, (having been out since around mid-day) Coraline came in - she was even wetter and muddier than Loki, and had lost her collar (it was the kind with a safety release, designed to break if she got caught on anything, so I guess that worked...)

She was so caked in mud that I wound up giving her a quick shower, to get rid of the worst of the mud, and even after that, there was still enough mud on her to coat most of a bath towel.

I suspect that they may perhaps have been into one of the fields, and perhaps met something, whether another cat, or a dog or fox which was bigger and scarier than them.

Then after all that excitement on Sunday, they both went to the vet on Tuesday,for their spay/neuter operations. 

Cone-Head Coraline

And came home, that evening, wearing matching cone-collars and disgruntled expressions!

I learned that having 2 cats, simultaneously wearing these collars is more than twice as funny to watch as one cat in such a collar. 

I also learned that, as I have suspected for some time, Coraline is brighter than Loki.  She worked out much more quickly how to mange her collar and still get her food, and stopped bumping into things much more quickly. 

Luckily for Loki, he doesn't need to keep his collar on for anything like as long as her, having had a less major op.  Both seem to be doing well.