under another sun

First night Lorraine and I drove the props and costumes to the Marlborough, while the others taxied over. Once in I left Beth, Mark and Callum to cover boxes in foil, organise the lights and get themselves ready. Lorraine and I off to collect Mum and Mas from the train station, and taken home, before I left again for the theatre. The afternoon spent on rehearsals. A dire dress rehearsal ramped up the tension even more, with me rather tetchy. Not my finest hour. Ate some surprisingly great chicken burgers and then it was time to roll. Our sound and lighting person Becky arrived with an hour or so to spare. I sat nervously downstairs with Mum and Mase, Paul arrived with a lady friend Channa and then between about 7:15 and 7:45 not one person arrived. Then, thank goodness, several groups of people turned up at the last moment and suddenly there was an audience. I lurched upstairs with Tarik, and introduced Pack of Three show and off they went. First was Wrong , which had been perf...

Yaar! Toby's last morning in Brighton. A large breakfast to send him on his way. Toby, Lorraine and I went for a walkabout through Brighton before seeing him off at the station. It had been great to see him, and I was pleased at least we found some time to talk here and there. Sad as ever to see my brother leaving, and wished we could live in the same town. But at least I get to travel to Toronto to see him and Romy, which is a bonus. Home to a phone call from Mum wondering what day Toby was returning, and the manly business of screwing newly-waxed bookcases to the walls with L-shaped brackets to prevent one of those ghastly book crushing accidents you are always reading about. Then emptying boxes of books and placing them on the shelves: naturally my books filled these up in a trice and there are still several unopened boxes. Sam here too, helping Lorraine sort out an old computer. I gave him a thick philosophy encyclopedia, as he will probably get way more use from it, goi...

Fish business and rehearsals Calliope tearing around the room like a mad thing in the night with her claws out. In the morning at last being able to get down to moving boxes around like fury. Lorraine and I dervishing about in the morning, as Betty and Mark sat quietly on the gold sofa. Then off to the Twitten to rescue the fishes. Lengthy business of draining the tank and bagging up all of the fish, pausing only to cope with a leaking bag, emptying gravel and stones into buckets. Then to transport cabinet and tank and fishes to the Old Church Hall. Everyone arrived safely, and we set up the tank and the fish all alive and accounted for a few hours later when released back into the water. Callum arrived and Beth Mark and Callum began a very noisy rehearsal upstairs. So Lorraine drove us up to the fish shop where I bought some new plants, and the tank looks well in its new environment. Fatty Basil one of the tabby cats, is a great fish fancier and is well pleased. Home and...