Sunday, July 28, 2013

In Buxton: July 27, where it all begins

Regular listeners will recall that we spent a night at the station like hobos, before heading home for a good day's sleep. Jetlag, what jetlag, we just operate on weird hours!

So I woke at about 4pm and started to think about what to do. The festival's official opening is tonight - let's get there early-ish so we can pick up our tickets from the box office. And of course lots of people we know will be there, so leave time for casual conversation-o.

As we were sitting in the kitchen with hot chocolate John Wellington came in to say hi. He had apparently seen the sausages in the fridge and Chris's handwriting on the shopping list and deduced that we must be in the vicinity. What can we say, guilty as charged!

We headed for the opera house just before seven. Various Smiths were around outside and welcomed us heartily. Several Savoynetters were around too.

The show itself was great. I didn't know it was even possible to put so much funny stuff into Pirates and remain faithful to the character of the show! Definitely one to get the DVD of. And Amy Spruce was in it, as Isabel! I don't know if she was aware we were heading to Buxton but she recognized us in the Festival Club and we had a chance to catch up. She'll be rehearsing flat out for the rest of the festival so we might not see much of her.

Stuart and Sarah (the second Savoynet couple, married at the festival three years ago) had grabbed a good table and invited us to share it. Not that they sat at it much - they were both in the pot-luck Patience so we looked after their bags for them.

Pot-luck shows are the best fun (stop me if you've heard this one before) anyone can have without being strapped into the cockpit of a jet fighter. Patience isn't well known, but in Buxton that doesn't matter. Have you ever heard a whole room full of dragoons (male and female) linking in friendly tether? Awesome!

I surprised myself slightly by remembering every note of the second tenor part as it came up. Even the Off Note. I even hit most of them!

By about half past midnight it was time to be heading home, but the English weather had closed in and I hadn't brought my coat. Oh well - this is why I always know where my towel is.

Goodnight all, tomorrow's going to be pretty busy so I'm heading for bed.

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