LinMM

I would ban all food and drink in the auditorium if I could

I didn't realise that not all theatres do returns. This seems a shame with a bigger theatre like the one in Leeds Looks like a great gala guess will have to wait for the 50th now!

I didn't have any problem getting the seat I wanted but bought a couple of months ago now. It was the multi buy thing as I bought for three different company performances ( not three for the same ballet) are you buying for the same ballet? Not that I think this should make any difference. I can't remember where I'm sitting at the Coli.......not the Stalls at least but I know I was happy with it. I think it's the level above the Circle.

Yes me too hfbrew. I'm sure she will love the Aladdin though ....it looks so colourful from the piccies on Facebook! I think it is also very kind of you to visit your neighbour Sarahw. Sometimes even if someone doesn't quite recognise you they sense you are someone familiar and this must be reassuring for them to some degree. My dad only got that bad (not always recognising me) in the last three months of his life. One weekend we were having tea on the Sunday afternoon and my dad said" that's my daughters cup you're using" I said "dad I am your daughter.....who did you think has been here all weekend then?" You're Joan aren't you(his sister) So he knew I was someone familiar.....just not quite sure who! Half an hour later or the next time I'd go he'd know who I was.

There's another Terry Pratchett thread here.....more about the disease he had ......but he did a lot to raise awareness about this disease so sad that he has died ....though hopefully before things got too bad for him. I didn't realise he had written a book about cats......I will seek it out! And what a lovely word embuggerance is. This disease is truly that!

Yes often people (including my father) just don't want to take any advice or help no matter how carefully considered before giving!! Years of smoking probably helped to contribute towards getting it and the grief from losing my mum probably left him mildly depressed but once things progressed a bit I thought malnutrition was not helping......I'm sure my father was living on bread and cheese for days at a time ..........even if meals were left cooked for him to heat up. Because he wouldn't accept meals on wheels (considering this to be for disadvantaged old people!) I was hoping to set up someone coming in for just two half hours a day to organise him to eat as he was getting very anorexic looking. I know old people don't always have the same appetite etc but I think sometimes he just forgot to eat......or had the same meal several times over eg : breakfast which didn't help! It was weird though because when I phoned him in the evening and asked what he had eaten he would tell me about some meal he'd had that he may have been semi aware was in the fridge but at the weekends I'd find them all there..........but about 20 loaves of bread in the fridge(I can laugh about this now) In the end some of the neighbours where he lived were terrific and knowing how difficult it was to get Social Services involved(they seem to run off at the slightest setback) helped a great deal in the last few months. The problem is once Social Services know a close relative is involved in caring they don't really want to know quite frankly. But to anyone who is dealing with this do contact the local society. They can be a lifeline for carers and remind you that you are only human and help you to deal with the guilt if you lose it occasionally. The one in Woking as I said was great.......?And sometimes a good laugh leads to a great cry and release and the reverse ....as it is a sort of bereavement before the person has died. I believe there's a good one near Cambridge as well and they organise all sorts of activities for sufferers .......one of my friends helps to organise a choir there which is very popular. Lots of local organisations do similar things ........but people can't be forced to go along and especially if they didn't have this in their life previously. Sorry I'm going on a bit but I'm sure I still have some unresolved issues from the whole of this experience.

So sorry you are going through this now Fiz I was very stressed out throughout the last two years of my fathers life.......and am terrified of getting the same thing......no children to look after me!! Looking at both sides of the family it's very much 50-50 with two grandparents getting something similar...my dads dad but not his mum) And my mums mum but not her dad! The two who didn't get it lived to 87 and 88 respectively with no signs of any major decline and in fact two weeks before one of my grandfathers died he cycled to the Library to get some books out......his only real old age sign was a bit of deafness! I'm very much hoping I take after him!! But you never know what's in store do you? Meanwhile I do all the things that are supposed to keep these diseases at bay and keep on with the good multi and Omega 3 etc and hope for the best!

Sorry gone off topic a bit .....just one thing It does vary I admit ......but Ive found that on the whole the audience at Sadlers is slightly less well behaved than at the ROH. Not sure why that is though.

It's the one in North street in Brighton. It's very convenient as it's in the main shopping road(save having to go up to the station) but sometimes if you hit a busy period it can take ages. You punch in whether you want train bus coach etc and then it gives you a number. Ive learned by experience that if there are more than six people ahead of you ...you can expect to be about 20-30 mins waiting. Sometimes Ive walked in and see I'm the next person...rarer .....but great when it happens.

With hindsight some events were comical though. Once when I went to visit he had a dent in the back bumper on the car......Just before we had to tell a white lie to get him to stop driving........ I asked him how it had happened. He said well do you know that was funny I was in the Tescoes car park and this lady went into the back of me.....I couldn't understand why she was so cross and going on a bit after all it was her fault. Well it didn't take me long to realise that it was he who had reversed into her ...... which was why she was so mad of course. It's not easy to tell your own father who thinks he's okay to stop driving. The family GP just said "well just take the keys off him " Hmmm. In the end I discovered some rust on the car......which I said would definitely fail the next MOT ....just coming up at the time...and I'd sort out someone to repare it. I put the car in the garage and he never drove it again. The last year of his life I did all his shopping etc as just as Aileen said the most simple tasks seem difficult to them. I bought him a new electric toaster for example .......in the hope he would use the gas oven toaster less often......but no matter how many times I went through it with him he just couldn't remember how to use it!!! There are many more amusing moments which at the time were very exasperating but you have to see the funny side too!!

By the way Vonrothbart was fascinated to read your post in which you said there can be a problem with the Eustacean tube and this sending signals to the brain. I feel that's what mine sounds like some weird radio signals .......you know how annoying it is when tuning a radio and you get these horrible ringing and whining out of tune sounds ......I can identify with this!

Yes I too suffer from tinnitus. It started in my late thirties and got progressively worse for about 20 years but now seems to have stayed about the same. Because I also get blocked ears.......I have a VERY small passage way apparently ......it can get worse when any wax is building up.....so have to sort this out as Ive had my ears syringed many times but they don't like doing it these days and it takes AGES to clear via wax softening/dissolving etc. Ive been told that in my case it was either swimming a lot (more when I was younger) or having my ears syringed which has caused the problem. I don't get hissing but a constant ringing and whining sound. Apparently there are tapes you can get which play certain frequencies into the ear which can relieve the sounds a bit but to be honest Ive sort of got used to it over the years and it most bothers me know at night if I can't sleep for some reason.......or like now if I concentrate on my ears writing about tinnitus. If I thought there was an actual cure I would be interested but Ive been told there isn't at the moment. I'm very worried about going deaf( I do have age related hearing lost in the left ear in particular but not enough to interfere with everyday living) as I imagine if I ever had to wear a hearing aid it would just amplify this background noise which would be awful. As you are so young you definitely must get it investigated as you never know in your case there could be something they could do about it.

My father had vascular dementia which he didn't show any really bad signs of until he was 79!! He died eventually at the age of 83 of a type of heart failure or could have been a small attack ......a blockage in one of the arteries .....which they couldn't do anything about because of his poor health at the time (he had smoking related emphysema at the time). He died one morning luckily while I was there. The reason I know he had vascular dementia and not Alzheimer's is because when he started these signs they were at first not too bad but getting worse than the usual forgetfulness .......eg a fridge full of bread because he kept forgetting he had bought it already......but a couple of years down the line when he was 81 and forgot to write cheques for bills .......something he was a real stickler for.....and couldn't remember we had just eaten breakfast etc I brought it up with some nurses who were coming in to dress an ulcer on his ankle. Because he was friendly and pleasant to talk to and they only saw him for five mins a week they didn't really believe me at first. I wanted to get some care for my father in place .........which I'm sure if he had had cancer lots of things would have happened more quickly. It was only when a neighbour backed me up saying he was letting some local kids in "who were desperate to go to the loo apparently" and then were stealing any money he had lying around that they agreed I should get him tested.........though I knew it was probably a bit too late for medication by then..... He eventually had a brain scan which confirmed the vascular dementia. In the next two years he was going downhill fast and doing quite dangerous things like leaving the gas on or oven on etc and absolutely refused to have meals on wheels as he didn't have insight into his own condition in the end and this is a real problem. I will forever be grateful to the Alzheimer's Association in Woking who were wonderful and helpful to me.........even though dad didn't have Alzheimer's. I don't honestly think there's any hard and fast rule about exactly which age either vascular dementia or Alzheimer's strikes......early signs can be missed because we all get mildly forgetful well before old age!! However it is extremely distressing for carers who see the people they love deteriorating in this way......and early onset Alzheimer's particularly distressing because it advances so quickly and best wishes to Terry Pratchetts family in their bereavement especially as I think he did a lot for the awareness of this awful disease.

There seems to be a bit of a confusion between Alzheimer's and senile dementia.......although some symptoms are similar. Most people from late seventies and in their eighties etc suffer from senile dementia which is largely caused by diminishing blood supply to the brain.....cause by arterial decay etc. Most people with this also eventually die from other health causes..... which may or may not have been caused by having senile dementia......though often the two can be closely linked. Alzheimer's is altogether a different disease and the early onset kind is usually the most vicious. Often people with this form can get violent but not always. This can eventually destroy ones ability to breathe or swallow etc (as happens in MS and similar but from different processes.....so affects the body's physical processes more (eventually) whereas senile dementia affects more just the mental processes......but which can often lead to neglect of oneself physically which can result in malnutrition and pneumonia etc.

A word for pianists in ballet classes. In our Wednesday LAB group a pianist .....who has been absent for many months due to hand injury has at last returned. Just so wonderful to have such a brilliant pianist ( used to be a concert pianist) playing for class just gives such a lift and makes one try that bit harder......just to do the music justice..... I won't mention his name as haven't okayed it with him to do this but anyone at LAB will know who it is!! Just so grateful to him that he plays for us

Whoops didn't see your post SP! Thanks

http://www.opesballet.co.uk/#!course-info/cjg9 Hope this link works!

Ive heard of a summer school called OPES which may be less crowded...I need to check where it is but not as far north as York. This could be suitable for your DD This same friends daughter is doing Natalia Kremen's summer school as well this summer. This is in and around the London area....in fact I can't make out from the website EXACTLY where it is taking place!

Looks like Pisces is a good sign for dancers

I'd better be sparing with the Rose Eau de toilette I sometimes use then......don't want anyone passing out. Beryl Brighton Station is a NIGHTMARE at the moment. The Sam happened to me a couple of weeks back when coming back one Wednesday evening.....where the hell was bus stop D.....the only one the message said that buses were going from. Eventually found it halfway down Queens Road....slight exaggeration but it felt like it when I knew the last 27 would be round the corner any minute!! Actually you have to laugh ......that night I'd also had a problem in London .....the bus went sailing past the Highbury and Islington Station only to be told by the driver that the bus stop there was out of action .......they're doing something to the rail bridge there......so had to run back to the tube as again against the clock on getting to Victoria to get the train that links with the last 27 Phew I feel exhausted all over again just remembering it all!!

Sorry to hear about your brother in laws death. There are days when one is either just physically tired or mentally exhausted ......and sometimes both together. You work very hard so perhaps be a bit easier on yourself for a couple of days and I'm sure it will all come together again soon. I really never can tell with pirouettes .......what is going to happen .....but recently I have really been concentrating on putting less force into the turn (which is a sort of panic reaction) and this has been helping with control.

Sorry slightly off but connected.....what happens with young people in an apprentice scheme? Do they lose this benefit as well?

Well I think dancedancedance's story should give you every encouragement!! It is possible for some amateur dancers to get proficient on pointe given enough time and commitment!! Once you are ready I'm sure you will find the right teacher too. I don't know where you are based but if in UK then I'm sure many here could point you in the direction of such a teacher and I do know a couple myself in London and London area. Here in Brighton there is a BBO school for adults to learn ballet and the same rule applies here to adults as if to younger children. If absolute beginners adults want to progress through the grades (though not necessarily taking the exams) they can attempt pointework when they reach Grade 6.

It has just occurred to me of a confusion that may arise with beginners ballet and pointework etc If one sees a "beginners pointework" class advertised then one could assume this is aimed at "beginners ballet" The difference is that the pointework class will be aimed at people who have been doing ballet for quite a while ........some may think that pointework is introduced at the beginning of ballet learning not realising that some experience is required first! Just a thought as adults new to ballet and the ballet world may not realise this and then wonder why a teacher is reluctant to teach them pointework as a "beginner" if they think the two go together right at the beginning. Hope this clarifies......but on reading above hope it doesn't just add to the confusion! Must be a downward phase of the moon

Well I had no idea child benefit was dependent on doing A levels and the like! I thought it was just payable until the child reached the age of 19 no matter what they were doing studying or not.