AnneMarriott

More tickets available for all dates!

Thanks, Minder - just got two tickets!

Staying away? Why should they?

Whether they should or not is clearly a matter of opinion.  But they might possibly feel that staying away is a more civilised, and even a more effective, way to demonstrate a degree of dismay at the parlous state of affairs at the Bolshoi than slashing tyres or countenancing acid attacks.  I'm with those who hesitated before booking for the London tour but decided in the end to do so.

I have had a reply to my query about Hansel and Gretal and the Friends allocation sold out within a very short time. I suppose that is the problem with a small venue like the Linbury. There is an allocation of seats for public booking, so I can try again. Best of luck to those who would also like to see this ballet. Margaret

At exactly 10.00 am everything was sold out online for Hansel and Gretel except for three tickets for one of the dates, but when I clicked on "Buy" they had already gone!  However I managed to get a couple of tickets by phone - it's always worth trying the phone if you can't get anything online (but you do have to keep redialling and then wait in a long queue!).  Good luck with public booking and if all else fails keep looking at the ticket trade forum nearer the time.

Including the General rehearsal I've seen this triple 3 times. I really enjoyed all the performances of Apollo (Pennefather, Acosta and Bonelli) and to choose between the casts would be nit picking for me because I thought they all performed well and each cast brought something slightly different which made them all worth watching.

Unlike other posters above I thought the Ratmansky was ravishing. At the rehearsal I might have agreed that it was everso slightly too long but not now. I think the dancing has improved with each performance, particularly so this afternoon, maybe with first night tension out of the way. It seemed the dancers relaxed so all the clever detail in the choreography had much more impact. I feel I could watch it all over again and find something new and different in it. I love the way the tempo changes suddenly and dramatically and how Ratmansky has used his dancers singly and together so effectively. I like the costumes especially now the men's tights which were black at the rehearsal and first night have been changed to pale grey this afternoon. It was beautifully lit too. Personally, I think it's a work of genius. Of specific dancers I only want to say that I have been astonished by Rupert Pennefather: both as Apollo and in the Ratmansky. I don't think I have ever seen him dance with such intensity and commitment. Ratmansky (and/or someone else) has coaxed out of him some beautiful footwork and a charismatic stage presence to add to his attractive physical one. The whole package - I hope we see more of it.

The Wheeldon has grown on me and I very much liked watching it this afternoon. It is clever and has been beautifully danced - of course by Marianela Nunez but equally by Clare Calvert who has a lovely lyrical quality to her dancing and seems to fill the stage. I don't love it yet and I wouldn't rush to see it again.

My thoughts exactly.  Saw the first night and yesterday's matinee and went from quite liking it but thinking it a little too long to loving it and not wanting it to end.  Not so sure about the Wheeldon - went from quite liking to not really liking it that much, but there were two casts so perhaps a third viewing will help.

I sympathise.  We have a similar, but less tricky cul-de-sac situation where we live - too many cars and not enough garages.  There's an unspoken understanding that we'll all park outside our own houses, but people with two cars and no garage obviously need more room than their own frontage allows.  Although it's irritating, your difficult neighbour is right - he can park where he likes, unless there's some obscure bylaw or covenant to the contrary.  Since his attitude has already made itself plain there's little you can do but grit your teeth and hope that he will become more neighbourly in time. 

Please don't be tempted into indulging in a tit-for-tat battle - you'll almost certainly come off worse.  Best to ignore it and try not to let it upset you - it's bad for the health - and he may get bored and stop being provocative.  Or you could try the neighbourly approach - perhaps he has a nice wife you could chat to?  or little acts of kindness like taking in parcels for him might make him see that consideration for others makes life more pleasant than selfishness.  If all else fails, just remember what a sad individual he must be!

The live streaming is not going well as far as I'm concerned - near continuous freezing, and I've now given up.  And by then, there were only 3 people viewing, according to a count shown from time to time.

Same here, Ian.  I tried several times, but gave up too.

The only gripe I have about ROH intervals is the often lengthy wait for the performance to get underway after the audience (or at least most of us) have been herded back by the fanfare/handbell system.  It prolongs the actual interval time quite a lot, even if one leaves it until the last minute before returning to the auditorium.  Perhaps the comment about curtain-up having to wait for the people still eating in the Crush Room is not too far off the mark.

Edited for typo

SYTYCD was a really good idea, can't put my finger on why it somehow didn't quite work... Really enjoyed some of the choreography on it too.

I watched a series of this but didn't particularly enjoy it.  I found the various categories of dance quite confusing (and indistinguishable in some cases e.g. what's the difference between contemporary, jazz, Broadway and was there modern or am I misremembering?).  And I couldn't really follow some of the comments from the judges - a lot of slang and hot air (or even sound and fury) signifying nothing, it seemed to me.  And as ever the public voted for the dancer who came across as most cute, or most charming or who had the most poignant back-story, which is a problem with all programmes of this type.  A real shame ...

You can park on single yellow lines on Sundays, but finding a space can be tricky. You can also park at meters without charge on Sundays, but again finding a space is difficult.

In case you ever want to park on other days, you can park on single yellows from 6.30 pm onwards or free at meters from 6.30 pm. A lot of the meters in the Covent Garden area are paybyphone and if there's any chance you might get there a little early I certainly second KathyG's recommendation to sign up for that ahead of time because doing it on the spot is an absolute nightmare!

And the NCP carpark is indeed very expensive, with an off-putting barrier at the entrance that rises slowly enough to give you heart failure wondering if it's ever going to rise, which it always has - so far (if it didn't you'd have to do a steep reverse hill-start to get out!) , followed by tricky corners to navigate to find a space. Then, when you return to get your car, there's the temperamental door-entry system, the even more temperamental trio of pay machines, the tricky corners and finally the precipitous uphill slope at the exit barrier. In fact I think NCP should pay the public to use it.

My experience too. Couldn't believe it!

Fingers crossed for the future ...

Today was advance booking for standard Friends. I was in and out in record time and there were plenty of stalls circle standing for most dates. Wonderful! I hope everyone else was as successful and that the opera buffs have an equally satisfactory time tomorrow.

Anne, that sounds awful The poor patients!

The telephone cleaning wasn't too bad, except for the poor crash team who used to burst through the doors of the unit, panting and full of adrenaline. The contractors tried to solve the problem with a cylindrical weight shoved on the telephone as the receiver was removed - but it had to be done with lightening speed and there were occasional mishaps. The contract was eventually amended to exclude ICU.

The unplugged ventilator was a serious matter and took a while to fathom. It was always the same ventilator and I can't remember who first twigged what the problem was. I can't imagine anything like that happening these days when everything is electronically controlled.

A few years ago, we had almighty problems with a computer server that ran a pc network in one of the offices (you can probably tell how long ago this was!).

 

Every morning, we would come in and find that it had lost all its settings yet again, and would have to be re-configured.

 

One evening, a couple of us were working late, and we discovered the cause... our diligent cleaner was coming in to the office, switching the plug off at the wall, using the socket for her hoover and then plugging the server back in and switching the power on.

 

Needless to say, a hastily scribbled 'DO NOT TOUCH!!!' note was sellotaped over the switch after that!

I'm sorry to say that a similar situation led to a long-unexplained increase in the sudden deterioration of ventilated patients in an intensive care unit - some time ago before everything was fitted with automatic alarms. And in the same unit there was a red emegency telephone. In the event of a cardiac arrest we simply had to knock the phone off the hook - no need to ring switchboard to summon the crash team. The hospital management employed a firm of contract telephone cleaners. You can imagine the rest ...

Basically it was 7-7 with no core time so, as long as you did the hours required within the rules and had a minimum of one half hour break if you worked more than 6 hours and, of course, you did your work your time management was your own.

Wow - no core time. It sounds fantastic for those who are able to manage their time effectively, but how many hours were spent by members of staff trying to contact each other during "normal office hours", not to mention anyone from outside wishing to speak to staff by telephone.

to get rid of snails in your garden leave a saucer of coke out they will drink it and that should do the trick. Also to make your loo sparkle and clean pour a bottle of coke down leave overnight and flush in the morning result a nice clean sparkling loo .

Makes me wonder what it does to the stomach!

Actually, that's just hung from the ceiling like the wings or scenery - in the rehearsal we watched them set that up before the first piece started, so they just have to drop it into place and switch it on. And then reverse that ready for the next piece. I can't imagine it takes 30mins for either process - UNLESS it goes kaput!

Crumbs - that's technology for you. I imagined all sorts of complicated electronic wizardry having to be wired in and out before and after the performance. Somehow the fact that it's pre-prepared and then simply hung from the ceiling makes it seem rather humdrum!

It ran pretty much to time. I suppose it takes a while to set up and dismantle the Julian Opie installation for Infra so that could explain the two 30 minute intervals, but there was more interval than dancing, which can be a bit frustrating.

Ecover do both powder and liquid fragrance-free (non-bio) detergents. They also do a liquid detergent for wools and silks which I have found very good.

2 hours and 35 minutes (approx) including two intervals, according to the box office recorded information announcement.

For a first night I'm thinking two and three-quarter hours is probably nearer the mark.

I'm going to add two additional sources of irritation at supermarket shopping, both of which seem recent innovations:

taking up position in the checkout queue while various family members scuttle about doing the actual shopping

and

slamming a divider down on the checkout conveyor belt and unloading the trolley without letting the person in front finish unloading, being careful not to leave enough space or checking if it's OK.

I'm on my way Spanner

 

Avocado

 

Paying £150 for flea spot on treatment for 3 months for 3 cats & 3 dogs...18 TINY pipettes of liquid - wish I'd invented those!

 

Daily Mail

Keith Lemon

Greying ballet tights

Intolerance of others

Tax

PPI claim phone calls

Re flea treatment for cats and dogs - go online and save a fortune!

Agreed about misleading local council signs - and this also applies to national highway maintenance, too.

Hairdressers: too many sub-categories to list but sometimes culminating in the client slinking out, having cravenly left an unjustified tip, praying for rain so she can hide the unflattering result of her visit under an umbrella.

Doctors - or more specifically their appointment systems

So the cheapest ticket for Premier League footie is £23 whereas for premier league ballet (at least at the ROH) it's £4. But you can't buy pies at the Opera House.

Perhaps a petition to the caterers?

I really enjoy museums that are family homes "preserved in aspic" i.e. are kept decorated and furnished as they were when the owners lived there. Two which stand out in my memory are Castle Drogo in Cornwall amd The Frick Collection in New York, the latter more remarkable for a glimpse into a past luxurious lifestyle than for its impressive art collection. There's also one in Dunedin, New Zealand but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called.