Day 97: The Weekend Report

[anarchist_nomad]

The countdown to Japan continues apace. In preparation, I had a phone meeting on Friday afternoon with my partner-in-crime colleague RT. On finishing that call, my weekend officially began!

The weekend fun started off with the arrival of my beautiful bunnypip. We shared some quality alone time in the Flat With No Name before heading out to meet the charming cheshcat at Gloucester Green; once united we hit Angry Thai[1] for a yummy dinner! I find their pad thai to be particularly delicious!

After our heroes were properly nourished, they made their way to the Oxford Playhouse for the evening's entertainment. This week's show -- my ninth of the year -- was Sweet Charity[2]. Alas, we forgot to bring the crackers... which was quite a shame because they would have gone so well with all the cheese! I liked the show and am glad that I saw it -- several of the songs were quite good, Bob Fosse's choreography is always enjoyable[3], the corny humour made for some wonderful laughs... and the costumes made for some very delicious eye-candy! Still, having seen it once, I don't think that it is a piece that I need to see again; it was cute, but not terribly compelling. As I mentioned to my lovely companions afterward: "The list of my top five favourite musicals..... is completely unchanged."

Heading home after the theatre, cheshcat and bunnypip and I read the final three acts of Kit Marlowe's Edward II[4], in preparation for seeing it at Oriel College on Thursday. I am still utterly amazed at how blatant the homosexuality[5] is in this piece! Quite different from Shakespeare, where characters like Antonio are probably gay[5]... but not explicitly so. Overall, the play shows off Marlowe's classical education quite extensively... though it is not as subtle as some of his other works. Nonetheless, I've not seen a Renaissance history play in some time, so I am quite looking forward to this production.

After finishing the play, it was after one o'clock in the morning. Thus, we all went off to bed and, eventually, sleep.


On Saturday morning, bunnypip and I woke at nine, then made our way to the Barton Pool. We hopped in and she swam the breast stroke for a new personal record whilst I front-crawled for my usual mile.

Back at home, we showered, ate breakfast, and packed. As we did so, we were joined by the marvelous miss_amaranth and the xtreme xmakina. Then off we went to the quaint little town of Hitchin, where miss_amaranth and xmakina went exploring whilst cheshcat, bunnypip,[6] and I attended a performance of Henry Purcell's British opera Dido & Aeneas. This was my tenth theatrical performance of 2010... and it made for a nice counterpart to seeing Sweet Charity the night before -- on Friday, we saw a 1960s musical; on Saturday, we saw a 1690s musical!

After the show, we all reconvened and made our way to Nottingham, to attend the birthday party of the fabulous fire_kitten![7] This was gangs of fun and involved good food, good company, good conversation, and many cuddles! I met many lovely new people, some of whom are newly added to my LJ f-list. Yes, I'm looking at you lost_house and dragonmamma. Of particular enjoyment was the musical theatre singalong that spontaneously erupted late Saturday night in the library![8] As we talked and sang, I watched the birth of a Totoro, crocheted by the talented lost_house! Hooray! It was well past three in the morning before we all finally passed out. There are far worse ways to end an evening than snuggled up between cheshcat and bunnypip in a king-sized bed!


On Sunday, I had a lie in until after ten o'clock. Then it was downstairs for breakfast and more fun! Some of that fun involved an Easter egg hunt in the backyard! Yay! Eventually, around half one, our tribe gathered into Peter II and we made our way back to Oxford, dropping miss_amaranth and xmakina off in Eynsham en route.

Back at the Flat With No Name, bunnypip and I snagged some quality alone time before we needed to leave -- her to London and me to St. Giles to ring bells for Sunday evening services. I managed to practice my Plain Bob Minor with a nice touch, as well as continue learning my Stedman Doubles.

Finally, I returned home once again and spent some lovely time reconnecting with my darling cheshcat. It was a wonderful way to end an excellent evening. After we finished, I curled up in bed with my current book -- Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair -- and read myself to sleep.

Overall, a most excellent few days -- a very nice mix of activities! Twas also a fantastic way to spend my last full weekend in Merry Olde England.[9]

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[1] Okay, to be quite honest, the restaurant is called "Angrid Thai". However, it has quickly become rechristened in our circles...

[2] Bom bom BOM!

[3] Particularly the tap dancing. For some reason I find myself especially fond of his tap dancing.

[4] Technically, it is Marlowe's The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer... but, between friends, we will call it Edward II, yes?

[5] Or bisexual.

[6] Note the Oxford comma, those of you who clicked "What is it??" in my previous poll.

[7] Thus making six consecutive weekends of parties! Whilst it has been great fun, the warm weather and sun is calling me to get out and explore more. Thus, I am quite excited that I will be breaking the streak of party weekends when I fly out to Japan this coming Sunday.

[8] With the lead pipe.

[9] Until I return from Japan in mid-May, that is!