Swan Lake

Theate Notes: Every child’s favourite fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty (!?!) is the classic story of love and magic set to Tchaikovsky’s sublime score featuring stunning choreography, sumptuous costumes and wonderful sets.

Formed in 1981, The Russian State Ballet of Siberia has quickly established itself as one of Russia's leading ballet companies and has built an international reputation for delivering performances of outstanding quality and unusual depth.

The soloists and corps de ballet are superb and never fail to delight audiences with their breathtaking physical ability and dazzling costumes.

Monday

10 stone 9 pound...get in!

Rudderless

Waiting for something to break
Left my heart out to bake
Nothing there in my glass
Wasn't never made to last
Hope in my past
All the way down to the lake
Found the lake was wet
How much more could I take?
Better yet
Walked back home to my place
Tired of getting high
Guess I don't wanna die
Hope in my past
Waiting for something to break
Left my heart out to bake
Slipped my mind that I could use my brain
I'll stay up all night and crash on the plane
A ship without a rudder is like a ship without a rudder is like a ship without a rudder
cf Evan Dando - The Lemonheads

Sunday

?

Die Fledermaus

Was very good. Very amusing and the vocals were superb. As a first foray into opera I am glad I went. Beware of pranks coming back to haunt you! The merry folk of Wimbledon did not fail to please either. They are a funny lot! Lucky for me I can scuttle off at the end and return to the wrong side of the SW19 tracks!


Theatre Notes: One of the world's most famous operettas, Die Fledermaus, now gets a glittering new look from the country's best small-scale opera and operetta company.

Opera della Luna have earned themselves a matchless reputation, this year celebrating 15 years of acclaimed productions of Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach. They now turn their hand to the waltz king Johann Strauss and this most sparkling of scores.

Dr Falke was once left to wander home, drunk and dressed as a bat, by his friend Gabriel von Eisenstein. To exact his revenge he arranges for Eisenstein to attend an extremely risqué party at the home of the outrageous Russian aristocrat, Pince Orlofsky. There, Eisenstein seduces a mysterious Hungarian countess, who is in fact his own wife in disguise.

This entirely new and saucy production is directed by Jeff Clarke (with his own new translation) and designed by Gabriella Csanyi-Wills - the team that created the company's wonderful recent production of The Mikado.

Week ahead

Capricorn 22 Dec-19 Jan You're over the first hump in 2010's road (a Saturn-Pluto square) and are promised an even stretch of life's highway for the next month or two. A flurry of instructions and paperwork are in order before Mercury leaves your skies mid-week; sign off January's unfinished business. The incoming phase is less about issuing orders and form-filling, however, than finding an authentic, individual voice with which to express yourself.
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Your week has only just begun. Are you ready for what it wants to bring you? Hopefully not - for if you are too eager to embrace your next opportunity, you won't apply enough discrimination. But if you think you have nothing to look forward to, think again. Think of how good things could be, how well they could turn out, how smoothly and swiftly some problems could be solved. Don't jump to pessimistic conclusions. Indeed, head away from all negative assumptions and critical judgements. Just keep an open mind and you'll soon see reason to open your heart. Something, somewhere up there, wants only the best for you. Week Ahead Part Two - Love Focus: We all know what to say when we're not standing in front of the person we need to say something to. We all know how we should have reacted once a moment has passed and we have had some time to think. We all have opinions about how others ought to handle their problems. Yet life has a way of putting us just where we're not sure we can cope with being. You're at the edge of your ability to understand a situation. How should you respond to a source of pressure? You are being stretched and you are learning a valuable lesson. From this you can (and will) only profit. Look for something good this week and you will find it.
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Capricorn, you tend to keep your thoughts and feelings hidden. This week you'll start to reveal yourself to others as Venus enters Pisces in your sector of communication and self-expression on Thursday. You'll feel comfortable stating your opinion in any situation you encounter. On Friday you'll discover how far outside your comfort zone you want to go. Mars retrograde in Leo is quincunx Pluto in Capricorn and you'll push the envelope and allow your new boldness to take center stage in your life. You'll reassess your priorities on Saturday based on what you really want out of life.

Friday

Wake up with Bobby Brown tune in my head. I think. Can't quite put finger on what it is.
Read 'Even the Dogs' en route to work. Ponder the lives of drug takers and the homeless this being central theme of said book. Listen to Depeche Mode. Work at 9am.
Red blouse and trousers from last week fit better.
Meetings; appraisal feedback telephone calls. Writing appraisals. Still. Fighting the paper and the words.
Complete Flora Heart Age Calculator I'm 57. Think about a deadline date to quite smoking. Again.
Try to work out who my doppelganger could be from the world of entertainment and culture.
Give up. Go to to a solitary lunch.

Thursday

Wake up at 6am. Dreaming that in office changing clothes. Power cut and get stuck in dark with top half covered, bottom half not.
Stay in bed til 6.30am. Shower.
Skirt day. Oh yes.
PM meeting goes well. Over by 10.30am.
Busy busy day dealing with all sorts of bitty things. Manage to deal with broken applications, post meeting blues, team morale.
Lunch. Canteen. Veggie Chili and rice. Extra Tabasco. stomach not happy early part of afternoon.
Appraisal writing. Problem solving. Made a round of tea for seniors. Try to listen to Archers Omnibus - too many interruptions. Susan and Neil talk about satsumas and not squirting each other with juice.
Walk to Waterloo. Overland train. Text Sparky. No reply.
Wimbledon walk to supermarket.
Home.
Shower. Soup. The Bill. Eastenders. Bed.

Wednesday

Alarm 07.30

Shower 08.00

Dementia. Should the state take more interest and fund it better.

Tube 09.36

Work 10.20

11.45 telephone call with boss. Snow in Washington DC. Pick at spot on neck and remove a hair nearly 2 inches long.

Respond to email from Camilla

Lunch 13.05 - Argos for new earphones.

Canteen on my own. Salad.

Afternoon running around for answers to Conflicts data issues.

Sort project summary sheet, monthly dev report, resources for week.

Check Tiscali to Talk Talk offers. Not an offer at all. Pay 3 quid extra per month plus one off 30 quid fee for exactly the same service.

Check out new laptops.

Write this.

18.29 time to walk.

Tuesday

Reset Pedometer
CW Tube Station 08.54
Work
Good lunch with Planetface
Work
CW Tube Station 22.36

Monday

CW tube station 07.48
WW - closed. Kelly's baby unwell.
Work.
Meetings all morning.
Lunchtime 12.30 WW. 11stone 2.5lbs.
Lunch. Salad.
Work.
No swimming.
Conference call 18.00-19.30
Home
Dinner
Sleep.

Month Ahead

Your February Forecast: Where do all life's questions come from? Is there a factory, in an industrial zone, somewhere in some secret part of the world, where doubts and queries are churned out on some giant production line? And if so, surely there must also be a place where answers are also made, to meet the demands of all those questions. Answers are coming to you this month, but - as each of these seems to raise at least two more questions - you don't feel as if you are getting anywhere. Ask fewer new questions. Seek fewer fresh answers. Take a closer look at an answer which you already have... but which you may yet see more within.

Lucky Days: 9, 10, 19, 20, 27
Yucky Days: 2, 3, 16, 17, 23
Fashion Icon: Zooey Deschanal
Colour: Oatmeal
The majority of the planets are corralling in your financial sector this February. This is one of your choice domains to begin with, so chances are you’ll be able to focus on little else this month. The New Moon on 13 February is the most perfect day of the year to set your intentions on what you’d like your money to do for you over the next six months. If you put your mind to it with absolute commitment, Jupiter will help you turn your dreams into gold by summer. Venus enters your sector of communication on 11 February, quickly followed by the Sun on 18 February, rendering your speech powerful to the point of magical. If you say, “I love you” on Valentine’s Day, you better mean it. Watch what you wish for, because if you speak or think it with emotion behind it, you’ll probably get it. The Full Moon on the last day of the month augurs in a time of renewed commitment to humility and service. Even your smallest actions can save the world right now.

Week ahead

Capricorn 22 Dec-19 Jan Self-promotion and spreading around your talents (more diverse than commonly acknowledged) are absolutely the order of the day. Lecture, show your skills. Where funds are concerned (yup, you're down to your last million), February offers an excellent stage for consolidation – by talking to the cash-swallowing "ex", for example, or by chivvying the cash-starved spouse. Whatever the issue, your current power tool is communication.

Your Week Ahead - Love Focus: Some weeks come storming towards us like a rampaging army. We either surrender to their power and accept their agenda or we experience tension in our attempt to resist. Such times are never easy to live through - but at least we know what we are up against. Other weeks saunter up to us casually, making no great threats or promises. We can drift through such times or seek to discover what they have to offer us. The question to ask of this particular week is not 'what do you want from me?' but 'what can I do for you?' You may yet be highly inspired and pleased with the answer that soon becomes clear to you.

Try not to tie yourself in knots if your best laid plans don't seem to be working out. You don't have to force anything. If you play your cards right you can work on projects that are already in progress, and finish these with a flourish. Mars is retrograde in your joint financial zone, so there may be delays there, especially if you are applying for a mortgage or some other loan associated with your home and property. It may be best to research your options in the meantime. Think long-term and plan accordingly.

Sunday

Up and out for walk by 7am. See the large moon disappearing and the orange sun low in the sky rising. Cold. Home with paper. TV/Radio Australian Open Final - Fed vs. Murray. Text Ma & Pa wishing them Happy Anniversary. 40 years. Stripe bedclothes and wash them.

Shower. Hang out washing. Ironing. Tennis. Tennis. Hoover flat. Remake bed. Cook veggie soup. Eat veggie soup. Watch 'Mad Men' Part 1 & 2 on iPlayer.

At 4pm go for a kip - 'listen' to Arsenal v Man Utd. Don't hear any goals. 6pm - Up. Get washing in and hang to air.

Tea. Cold Quorn sausages, cottage cheese and beetroot. Weetabix and fruit cocktail. Watch Silent Witness 'Shadows' Pt 1 & 2 on iPlayer. Reply to friend's text re tennis.

Considering bed now at 9.40pm.