AnneMarriott

Agreed about the off-puttingly gritty texture of the chocolate ice cream.  Bruce staggered that RAH ice creams cost more than ROH ones.  Nice flavour, though.

If anyone fancies rocket and parmesan sorbet I'm sure they can get it, or something like it, at the Fat Duck at Bray. Probably cost a bit more, though.  And I think I'll stick with the chocolate, gritty or otherwise. 

In response to BristolBillyBob's rant (post No. 74 above), we felt very sorry for the people in the front few rows of the stalls on Sunday afternoon.  It wasn't just the cast members standing around that were blocking the view, it was the rather tall market stalls around the perimeter of the arena.  Admittedly they were moved from time to time by "stall holders", but in a couple of instances the audience members who seemed delighted when a stall was moved out of their sight-line looked very gloomy when an even taller one replaced it seconds later!  But even from the rarified heights of Row 9 I found the general hustle and bustle on stage made it difficult to spot significant moments during Act 1.  Otherwise a highly recommended place to choose especially for such a significant performance.

No problems with the system, only the lack of stalls circle standing!  Also too many programmes crammed into one period - nice for the RB to get the money in, but very hard on one's finances.

It could well be a queen of one of the larger native bumblebees.  If so well done for letting it go!

Edited for typo

Wayne Eagling created Men Y Men to precede Act 1 of ENB's Giselle - to 'give the men something to do'.

 

They did it very well!

 

- There was no interval between Men Y Men and Act 1.

No wonder I was confused!

I remember attending a performance of Giselle by the ENB a while ago.  I didn't read the programme beforehand.  When the curtain rose I was startled to see several young men on stage (possibly bare-chested?) who went through a vigorous routine of contemporary-style dance to music far removed from the Adam score.  I thought "good grief, this is a modern take on Giselle - which one is Hilarion?" and then the penny dropped ...  It was in fact Men Y Men as a sort of stocking filler.  I'm not sure it was a perfect way to precede Giselle.

Sadly we were only able to see Serenade last night and then had to go (don't ask).

 

Traitor!

Nice to see Northern Ballet in London.  Even nicer to see them in a mixed bill of non-narrative works.  Nicest of all - they looked wonderful!  Good programming - lovely mix of styles and moods.  Most enjoyable.  More please ...

Fiz - did you also then get a never-ending stream of fundraising telephone calls?!!!

I've been a victim of this - it stopped when I threatened to cancel my regular direct debit donation if they persisted.

I can't remember if this has come up before in this thread and am too lazy to check, but I do remember being irritated by the over-enthusiastic and pretty well continuous whooping and yelling from a group of secondary school students standing in the Yard during  the Winter's Tale at the Globe one sunny afternoon.  It seemed out of all proportion to the action or the dialogue.  In the interval the girls from the group were all gathered in the ladies' loo.  One asked her friend what she thought of it so far.  "Bit boring" was the reply.  What the hell was all the whooping and yelling about then?  They were also extremely fidgety, as I recall, constantly checking mobile phones, fiddling with hairstyles and generally being a right pain.  There were teachers present but they were all seated in the Lower Gallery.  Odd arrangement. 

In response to posts 582 & 583:  I remember Poison all too well.  I remember an over-enthusiastic saleslady spraying me with it in a department store and I had to dash to the loos to throw up.  Sadly my jumper still smelled of it when I got home and I finished up throwing it away.  It's the only perfume I have ever found literally sickening.

Thanks. Jane!  Thank goodness we can all remember her fondly in other roles.

Aileen, in reply to your post no. 28, it would be hard to find anything other than unenthusiastic reviews.  This was eagerly anticipated - one of those rare full-evening pieces made for the Royal Ballet by a noted modern choreographer.  It pretty well bombed, as I recall.  A waste of the talents of such wonderful dancers as Teddy Kumakawa ("Bring-the-bag") and Irek Mukhamedov ("Mr. Worldly Wise"), not to mention Darcey Bussell as "Mistress Truth-on-Toe".  I do remember Sarah Wildor as a dancing vegetable (pea?  carrot?) but cannot for the life of me remember much about the plot, the choreography or the music. But it certainly qualified as bonkers.

Well it is  rather unforgettable, apart from the vegetables.

Most bonkers ballets?  Mr. Worldly Wise has to be on the list.  Dancing vegetables, anyone?

Or Ashley Page?

I've had the same problems as everyone else - the most frustrating aspect being lack of access to shopping basket with eagerly seized stalls circle standing tickets for Sleeping Beauty.  Got there in the end (two separate transactions) but VERY disappointing. 

No wonder the poor thing barks!  Perhaps the owners think that a husky is fine outdoors all the time and it probably is, if it has a kennel.  I'm not an expert but I think huskies may be more pack-orientated than your average dog so it's not nice to leave it on its own. 

Well I'm sorry to hear that- what a pain!  Perhaps you could get other neighbours to complain as well because persistent barking must annoy them even if they're not concerned about the dogs being left outside.  Or persistence with complaints to the RSPCA and local council can work sometimes, I believe., especially if you complain to a named individual such as the councillor for your local ward or the manager of the local RSPCA branch.  Sympathies, though - a terrible nuisance.

Fiz, if the dogs don't have adequate shelter the RSPCA will intervene if they are notified, and if the barking is really annoying, the local council will intervene if they are notified.  Keep note of examples to add weight to complaints.

Same frustrating experience online as last time - tickets apparently available but when clicking on "add to basket" up comes "submission error - these tickets not available", time after time after time.  Usual dearth of SCS too...

I believe estate agents are required to pass on to the vendor every offer made, even if they suspect (or know) that the offer is from a time-waster.  Sadly there are some strange people whose hobby it is to view houses for sale and make an offer, without any intention of actually buying the property.  I've been the victim of this in the past and it's truly annoying.

One such incident that sticks most clearly in my mind is when I was selling a house while working night duty - one week on and one week off.  During the weeks off I was away house-hunting and I gave the estate agents a diary of my shifts and a key so they could show potential buyers round in my absence.  One morning I was fast asleep at about midday when the bedroom door opened and in came the estate agent and a couple of viewers.  Apologies and explanations - I got up to make tea and the viewing went ahead.  Back to bed, only to be awoken an hour later by the couple who offered the asking price for the house.  Pleased and relieved I gave up on sleep and got ready for work.  Two weeks went by and nothing more was heard.  Rang the estate agents who said, "Oh, they were never serious;  they're a couple of our regular time-wasters".  Well, thanks for telling me!

Apologies - post no. 433 was supposed to be in reply to post no. 425!

I'm not sure the main motive is to save time - I'm pretty sure it's to cut staffing costs by eliminating the need for check-out personnel.  I've also been the victim of self-service checkouts a couple of times and am surprised the experience hasn't caused a stroke.

In fact I wouldn't actually mind having to stock the shelves - I like to think, with all due modesty - that at least they would be stocked with some degree of logic.  Mushrooms lurking furtively between the grapes and the apples - why?????

Well, I find myself getting just as irate as the somewhat "gynaecological" poses now found in classical (usually "tutu") ballets due to inappropriate overextensions, but that's not quite the same thing.

Agreed, Alison - and I find myself longing for the return of the traditional frilled tutu knickers in classical ballets, otherwise they can become as much of a crotchfest as the modern works.