Signs of Spring

When do you know that spring is on the way?  Not, for me, a specific calendar date but a subtly transformative sensation in the air  - alerting and enlivening all the senses.  Gradually lengthening days with (hooray!) brighter skies; happy bursts of colour burgeoning all around; blossom precociously composing itself for star status, smiles more prevalent on friendly faces.

Yesterday afternoon, in royal Richmond Park, the temperature remained chilly but the sun shone abundantly - encouraging spring shoots to nudge their way above ground.  I was captivated by the open-faced charm of the early-flowering white clematis, strewn beguilingly with deep-pink freckles.

Strange the contrast  - a mere few yards up the hill - where a faintly forlorn coterie of snowdrops are close to their annual curtain call, making way for new life.

Feel-good Friday

There's some brightness on the horizon, today.  It may be close to freezing-point but the sunshine has helped to make my heart sing (a little)... along with the deliciously scented panoply of pink roses, enjoying pride-of-place in my living room.  What has made you smile this Friday?

A Flea in Her Ear at the Old Vic

It's several decades since Feydeau's 1907 Belle Epoque farce last featured on the London stage; the current Old Vic revival is a triumph.  Laughs ensue from the outset, when Victor's butler takes the opportunity of a missed appointment, to share his concerns with his master's doctor - proceeding to complain, at length - about his painful ovaries...  

Unsurprisingly, the Coq d'Or hotel, frequented by ladies of the night and their clients, is a natural setting for farcical romps, frolics and faux-pas...including a rollicking series of interludes, when the (ahem) bit-part, rampant, sex-starved German officer becomes known as Herr Shut Yer 'Ole.

Hilarious Rev star, Tom Hollander, is feverishly funny in his dual-roles: as upper-crust Victor and contrastingly lowly, bell-hop, Posh. The entire ensemble are uproariously impressive; Emma Campbell-Jones - standing-in for ailing Lisa Dillon - as Victor's distraught wife, Raymonde, was a seamless success, on the night I was in the audience.  The much-missed John Mortimer's wonderful translation only enhances the glee - along with Richard Eyre's superb direction.

If you're in need of an injection of fun and laughter in your life, to counteract London's grey days, there's no better place than the glamorous Old Vic Theatre - a stone's throw from Waterloo station.  The run concludes on March 5th - enjoy it, while you can!

Production flyer courtesy of The Old Vic

Normal Service...

Pardon the blog-hiatus - 'normal' service will be resumed soon(ish)...

Walk this Way

Ah! yes, the snow continues to fall - on top of the snow that has already fallen - in the deep, frozen south of London town.  Not the most sensible thing to attempt to walk my normal quota of 30+ miles per week - I'm *really* missing it, btw... So, today - experiencing extreme exercise deprivation - I uncovered an alternative route to maintain some semblance of fitness.

Leslie Sansone's enthusiastic and creative walk-at-home routine (below, from RealAge.com) had me feeling sceptical, before I tried it, but I soon realised that it's fun and gets the energy circulating...  It may not be the same as my brisk, scenic Richmond Park or riverside wanderings but it is warming and energising, on a cold day; a good way to counter couch-potato-syndrome and to detract from cabin fever.