Tuesday 27 May 2014

Les Mis

What a topsy-turvy weekend this has been.  On Saturday the weather was not too bad at all, especially during the afternoon when we were able to sit in the garden at my elder son's house after a family lunch.  Sunday was OK, but yesterday was a typical English bank holiday.  It rained.

Talking of topsy-turvy, two of my three grandchildren worry me.  My elder grandson, aged 11, is not especially fond of chocolate and if he is given chocolate at Christmas, the chances are there will still be some left at Easter.  My granddaughter, (soon to be) 7, actively dislikes chocolate.  What is wrong with them?  Fortunately, my younger grandson, 7, will happily stuff it into his mouth until he makes himself sick.  At least one out of three is normal!

I was a bit concerned this morning about the dog.  She hates foxes and at the slightest hint of one in a near-by garden (which happens frequently) she barks like fury.  Especially at three in the morning - which also happens frequently.  But this morning, as we were walking to the park, a fox cub was coming along the pavement towards us.  Fern was on a lead while in the street and I took a firmer grip.  The fox cub ducked underneath a car and Fern walked past as if nothing was there.  Very strange.

Anyway, to get back to Les Mis.  There has been nothing we wanted to watch on the box the last couple of evenings - in fact, more than the last couple - so on Sunday we decided to watch the DVD of Les Misérables the Old Bat had been given for her birthday.  Even before I retired 14 years ago, this had long been a fixture in London's West End but I could never claim to have heard a song from it.  Unlike those Rogers and Hammerstein musicals of my younger years, such as South Pacific, and all the others (The Student Prince, Gigi etc etc, culminating in the greatest of them all, West Side Story) or more modern ones such as Phantom of the Opera, where everybody would recognise something, the music from Les Mis remained unknown.

To say we were disappointed would be to put it mildly.  But at least I had never paid out London theatre ticket prices, plus train fares and a meal, to watch the show.

Last night's film - Quartet - was very much more entertaining, especially Dame Maggie Smith, who is, as always, superb.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Miss Mac isn't a huge chocolate fan either which totally mystifies me!

I heard barking outside my house last night and was amazed to see a badger running down the road. As we live in town it's not something we expect to see, I've no idea where it came from and can only assume it lives either in the park or by the river.