AnneMarriott

A year ago I upgraded to Supporting Friend with a view to being 'in with a chance' of getting SC standing places. I got none for the Ashton Bill or for Osipova performances. - The jury is still out.

I know, Bill - which is the reason I decided not to upgrade when I renewed this year.  However the introduction of Friends+ has made me regret this decision!

And a number of SC Standing reserved for 'the company' - (often unused)

Any unoccupied SCS places are just salt in the wound! 

IMO the two reasons why there has been a problem for base level Friends getting SCS tickets are (i) the very strange decision a couple of years ago to allow all levels of Friends to buy 6 tickets per performance and (ii) a significant number of SCS tickets (10 IIRC) for each show being reserved for students.

I agree about the strange decision, which is why I said perhaps this new limit was an attempt to redress the balance.  And I did mention the student allocation which has undoubtedly made things worse for us ordinary Friends. It does seem that the restrictions or otherwise on tickets have varied wildly over the years.  I just hope the powers that be don't introduce yet more levels of Friendship - I dread being reduced to Pauper Level (one below ordinary) which would perhaps entitle me to view the availability of tickets but not actually make any bookings until two days after all other levels of Friends have been served (a joke, I hasten to add, or at least I hope so).

On the subject of bananas, I see Waitrose delivered a 6" spider in a bunch of bananas to an online customer. Perhaps all those people who split bunches in the greengrocery section are trying to avoid just such a catastrophe.

I think you'll find that most Patrons and Premium Friends are not 'hoovering up' the cheaper tickets, Anne!

 Of course that's true, but it only takes one or two who do to take all the stalls circle standing tickets (my particular problem) - and let us not forget that there are more levels than Patrons and Premium Friends who also have an advantage over ordinary Friends.  For the whole of Periods 1 and 2 this season I managed 

to get SCS for only three performances.  If I log on ready to start selecting tickets at 10.00 on the dot when Friends booking opens and find no SCS for most or indeed all the performances I would like I can't see any other logical or consistent explanation.  I know that some of these tickets have been set aside for student standby, but still ...

And to reply to aileen at No. 17 above, in the past there have been restrictions to 4 tickets per production (from memory, although I stand ready to be corrected) but it only applied to Friends booking, during their advance booking period, not when they used public booking.  Otherwise, as has been said, Friends would be a disadvantage.

^{It may be an attempt to redress the balance a bit.  Ordinary Friends find it almost impossible to get cheaper tickets because they've all been hoovered up by higher-level Friends.  Just a thought.}

I too read the links section every day and would be lost without it.  Not only that, I print out some of the reviews to send to a friend who has no Internet access.  Not sure if this is actually legal, but it's no different from sending a newsprint cutting, is it?  As others have said, it is frustrating to find some of the reviews tucked away behind a subscription wall - and in some cases I know that I have not exceeded any limit imposed on the few free articles allowed per month.

The trouble with a no vote is that we'll have to go through it all again.  I hope I'm long gone before that!

P.S.  Alex Salmond this morning uttered the ominous words "at this stage" when regretting the vote against independence by the people of Scotland.  Any bets on how long it will be before the next referendum?

The trouble with a no vote is that we'll have to go through it all again.  I hope I'm long gone before that!

Whenever I have expressed my reservations about Ashton's Cinderella to more knowledgeable ballet-going friends they always insisted that the original cast were wonderfully amusing and touching without being vulgar.  I have watched the video of the original cast and remain unconvinced. 

and mine!

Congratulations, Bruce W.  So that makes three characters so far, then.  Any more?

Hmmm - I wonder if they offer any other characters ...

Somewhat dismayed to find that I'm Lady Capulet.

In the news a couple of days ago: scientists have just discovered that horses can communicate with one another by using the position of their ears to indicate their feelings.

 

 

 

Well, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought horses could communicate their feelings to us humans from the position of their ears - pricked up, flattened etc.  This, together with a certain look in the eye can tell an awful lot about how a horse is feeling - and the same goes for dogs and cats!

Re:  Afternoon Tea

A couple of years ago I treated a friend visiting from Italy to Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason.  Wonderful atmosphere and impressively dainty presentation of the food but the proof of the pudding etc ...Dry flavourless sandwiches - if they had curled they would have been just like those old British Rail ones we all used to chuckle about.  Not what I expected for the £80.00 bill.  On the other hand I had tea at the Waldorf in Aldwych (is it still there?) many years ago and it was delicious.  I think it was about £10 per head - expensive then but worth it.

I'd certainly be willing to try the ROH offering.

The ROH is starting to feel like a restaurant with a theatre attached. Now that tables everywhere seem to laid ready for snacks or a full scale meal throughout the day and evening there are very few spaces remaining where non-eaters can sit and socialise.

There have been grumbles about this for some time now.  It continues to annoy and seems to become more marked each season.

Thanks for this, Angela.  I only skimmed the programme notes for this ballet so didn't understand why the choreographer had used the composer's initials as the title for his piece.  Now I know!

Sorry but DSCH?  Never was much good at FLAs (4 letter acronyms).

Linda, from the programme notes it seems that DSCH stands for D(mitri) SCH(ostakovich), the German spelling of the composer's name. Perhaps the significance will become apparent when we see the piece ...

Another reason for me to leave then!!

 

Ive decided to throw in being a friend when my membership is up for renewal in October as I never get any of the things I joined for because of this wretched hierarchy situation which I didn't realised existed for quite a while.

 

I'm defecting to ENB membership which I'm pretty sure will be better value for money unless you can afford to pay about £1000 a year for membership!!

I share your feelings on this.  And in my case salt has been added to the wound in that I've only recently renewed my Ordinary Friend membership and can't upgrade until renewal is due again.  I long for those happy days of yore when there was just one level of Friendship and we all took pot luck - now I'm so far down the pecking order that I haven't got anything to peck at!

Just back from Night 2 and I defer to The Bard's dying Mercutio: "A plague on both your houses" as portrayed in this dreadful production.  Other opinions are no doubt available.

Here, here!

Seen today outside the Post Office!

 

Perhaps the young man was trying to avoid all the litter ...

Read in the newspaper today that a British company "ShakeAway" will be opening two shops in San Diego and eventually across the USA.  Apparently San Diego is the test city.

 

So - why is this posted in Room 101?   That's all I needed was another wonderful ice cream/yogurt/shake shop.  Yes, indeedy.....thanks folks....

Think of it as a small offering in return for all the burger bars/coffee shops,/pizza parlours etc. that the U.S.A. has sent us ...  and don't despair, most of the British companies that try to crack the U.S. market are sent packing, tail between legs, in pretty short order.

 

, you now have pictures of the view from your seat for every single one of them, displayed automatically as you click on the seat.

 

 

True, but you get a view of the closed curtains and when the curtains open the view is far less panoramic than people may expect, at least from the sides of the auditorium. 

 

 

 

Shame there isn't another triple bill instead of all those Swan Lakes.

Here, here!