Amelia was a princess on Halloween. We went to a fireworks display last night (bonfire night). It was truly magnificent. Photos of some of the above to come soon, if you're lucky...

Oct. 20. (morning)

Last performance of this week tonight. Dress rehearsal went well - small audience of about 30 ‘Northcott people’. A lot of the others thought the night lacked energy. I thought it was OK. A pile of fancy drycleaner bags arrived - the posh blue kind - with our names on, for our costumes to go in. I guess this is what we get instead of a ‘trailer’!

First performance, Oct. 18, Stockland.

Up at 5 am with Amelia, then had to drive to Tiverton, work till 2, drive back, pick up Amelia from school, then rush around and get ready to go. It was too late to drive across to the Northcott and go on the bus, so I had to drive. Got lost - not my fault, there was signpost missing at a crucial crossroads. I was driving down a long straight road off the main road, and thought I saw a minibus turning up ahead, but it was coming from the wrong direction. When I got there, there was no signpost, so I kept going. Then I got to a sign that said Stockland was back in the other direction. Went back to the junction and called Rachel. She told me to go back through Monckton, which I did and came back to the exact same crossroads! Ah, my worst nightmare. Anyway, I got there at about 7, which was fine. Small but new community hall, with a temporary raised stage. Very busy, with a lively audience of about 100 people. I got distracted by Julia’s bag falling off the stage and missed my cue to bring on the coffee. The audience got so worked up by Up for Auction that they laughed in some weird places in Collisions - I think they weren’t sure at first if it was a comedy or not.

Second performance, Oct. 19, Hatherley

Nick said Hatherley was deepest darkest Devon. We certain drove (on the bus) a long way through narrow hedged roads. Beautiful sunset, spread out in orange along the horizon. Brand new hall, with ‘fold-away’ raised seating. Only about 50 people though, so not as raucous, which was better for Collisions I think. Simon missed a line in Time and Again, and Cec couldn’t say ‘diversify be buggered’, which was too bad as I was taping it. No dressing rooms, so we all had to dress in the men’s shower room.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/09/28/
pen_and_trough_tour_feature.shtml

Can't remember how to post a link, so you'll have to copy and paste. That's me, below on the left, hanging out of the tractor door.

Note the wrong names.

The 'lanterns' weren't really lanterns - they were almost life-size reproductions of scenes from Chinese history and culture, made of transparent fabric and lit from within when it got dark. Some of them moved and had fountains, etc. It was very impressive. They also had a show that included a lion dance, maritial arts and acrobatics. Unforuntately the 'lions' came down among the spectators and scared Amelia out of her wits and she started screaming.

Thursday we drove down to Queen St. West and Chinatown. The cluster of shiny condo buildings continues to grow along the lake, which I find quite sad. They cut the lake off from the city like a big glass wall. But Queen St. is much the same. I love it there - it's like my spiritual home. The fact that it's mostly quirky clothes shops probably says something about me. But I feel quite at home there. And it's one of the few places you can go to at 10:30 am and it feels early morning - everything is just waking up. Plus it's still quite gritty in parts - there's a Money Mart, a rundown neighbourhood laundry, and the former mental hospital that I think is still used as a day centre by people with mental illnesses. I like a bit of grit.

We walked down to Spadina/Chinatown, had a look around, and then took the streetcar back to where we'd parked. A strange thing happened. We got on and I told the driver we needed to go a few blocks west of Bathurst. He said, 'OK'. I said, 'So, how much is that?' He said, 'Oh, don't worry about it - it's only a few stops. Next time.' I was gobsmacked, as they say. That's never happened before. I'm used to cranky transit drivers.

More soon.

Mark's new car.

At the graveyard in Alma, NB, where some of our Shields ancestors are buried.

Fundy National Park, NB.

Since then it seems like we've been on the go all the time, though we probably haven't. Meelie has got in the habit of staying up late and sleeping late, and has had a couple of disturbed nights, which has left me pretty tired.

Fredericton is a strange place. (It's where I grew up from the age of nine to twenty, for those of you wh don't know.) Population about 40-50,000, which hasn't changed in 35 years. I think of it as a quiet, safe place, but then Dad warned Mark to move his car off the street because of joy riders, and they were talking about people being 'swarmed' by groups of young men on the walking paths at night.

Then on Saturday, when we went to the market, I saw a downtrodden looking women sitting on a folding chair near the street, holding a paper cup, with a stuffed toy dog on the ground beside her. I had to ask what she was doing, which was, as Dad explained, begging. It's been so long since I've seen it I didn't even recognize what it was! In Exeter the homeless people sell the Outreach newspaper, but I haven't seen anyone begging. I didn't really expect it in Fredericton.

A couple of photos for you:

Yes, I know - she's in a buggy. It was a special treat because it was hot, she was tired, and it was the only way we could get her to go to the Scottish Festival, which was an essential part (although they didn't know it) of keeping Mum and Dad away from Suzie's before the party...

It was good that it was sunny, because it was my friend Ruolan's graduation - she now has PhD in Education. She invited me to the party after the ceremony at St. Luke's campus, which is an off-shoot of the main campus within walking distance of here. It's built around a quad and has a lovely atmosphere. I arrived at 1 pm to find tables outside laden with wine and canapes, and hardly any graduates because the ceremony hadn't finished yet. Ruolan now has a job as a Research Fellow (even though she's not a fellow!) at the university here. which means she can continue to teach our Mandarin play group for a little longer.

After that, I dropped in at the flat of a young woman called Xing Xing, whom I had met a couple of weekends ago at the SWAN culture day. She lives close by with her English husband and 14-month-old son, and she also gives Chinese lessons to some families we know. She came round for green tea and to chat about Amelia having some extra Chinese lessons in the autumn. Play group is great, but Amelia will soon be five and is getting a little old for it. Xing Xing is a lovely person, and her son is a chubby-cheeked delight. I'd forgotten how much work they are at that age - he was crawling all over the place and into everything. Amelia was a bit scared of him I think.

Two weeks till we fly to Canada. By the way, Dale, I haven't asked you - but maybe we can meet up for a drink or something on your deck? Depending on your work schedule, of course.

She goes back to her school again tomorrow for another story session. Her nursery gave us a 'transition form' with information about her abilities, etc., to pass on to the school. One of the things it says is that she has a sense of fun. She certainly has a sense of humour. A little while ago she was given a small teddy bear that she, for reasons unknown to me, decided to name 'Willington'. A few days later she said that he was now called 'Spillington' because he was so messy. Which I thought was quite funny.

Funny the misunderstandings that can still happen. We were looking at a book that had a drawing of a raccoon in a tree. She's never seen a raccoon of course, and this drawing was not that detailed, so the body was more of a blob. She kept saying, 'What's in it? A pussy cat?' until I realised she thought I'd said a 'cocoon', and that the raccoon's head was a cat coming out of it.

Trip is coming up soon. Am not looking forward to packing.

Way too much rain here. And cold. Like frickin' winter. English winter anyway. Toronto 30 degrees and sunny? Lucky you.

I see the third series of Dr. Who is starting soon on CBC - or has just started. We have the last episode this Saturday. Pretty good series, some episodes better than others. The first one's a good one. And the one with the weeping angels. I wonder what they've cooked up for the big finale?

Here's one recent photo for you:

A strange thing happened during the performance - and it happened in the second tech rehearsal too - I looked at the guy playing my boyfriend, really looked him in the eyes, and suddenly I felt like I was my character and he was his character and we were actually having that conversation. Never happened to me before. Is that what's called acting, Dale?

Sad it's all over now though. It's been going on in one way or another since January, so leaves a bit of a hole.

Have the possibility of having another play workshopped through the theatre in Plymouth - Nick, the playwright who was involved in Pen and Trough (what the play project we've just finished was called) is having a play put on down there, and his director came to our plays and liked my writing. I have to send him something by the end of the week, though...

On another note, I went today to a parents' meeting at Amelia' s school-to-be. We had another tour and met some of the staff, and also got information about how things will work in September. They really are lovely people and very focussed on the children. I came away feeling we'd made the right choice.

Don't know what's happening with the comments. I made one, and it said it had been sent off for approval... Bob, does that mean it goes to you? Nothing appeared in my e-mail.

All for now...

In fact, all the plays have been good, and some of them have been really good. It's the last night tonight - the one I'm in is on.

I came back from the technical rehearsal for the one I'm in on Wed. night saying I would never ever do this again - or if I do, it will be a small part in a big production. I made the mistake of thinking that because the play is short, it's the equivalent of a small part but it's not. During that 10 or 12 minutes, the focus is squarely on the three of us, and often my character, being the strongest one, has to carry the scene. And I'm not really experienced enough as a performer for that. Plus the poor guy who's playing my boyfriend and who came into the project late because they had trouble casting the role, forgot some of his lines, which tends to throw me.

Still, as they say: It will be all right on the night! Wish me a fractured limb!

Oh yes - apparently there is a problem with the commenting function (thanks Dale for telling me). I'll try to get it fixed asap.

straight

curly