trog

Last night I watched a newly aquired recording from 1982, of De Valois The Rake's Progress, so old Davids Morse and Bintley were in it. Does anyone know why this lovely small ballet seems to have fallen by the wayside?

Back in 2002, The Royal Ballet Of Flanders did Swan Lake without an interval. It was a long haul, and to make matters worse, I didn't like the production much.

I have an theory about this, based on incidents while going to the Sainsbury's. The queue moves slowly but surely, and then suddenly stops for twenty minutes. The marshall spouts some nonsense that there are too many people in the shop. We watch people coming out, but nobody going in. When we eventually get in, the shelves are bare and the last few of the big trolleys that they use to pick internet orders are being wheeled off the floor. That's right! They are giving priority to lazy people who can't be bothered to go to the supermarket themselves.

A bit of opera for you to enjoy

I work in a college and the general feeling is that it will be business as usual in September. Of course, what happens before that is unknown. There is a rumour that support staff will be back in early June, although who and what we are going to support is a good question. Our job basically requires the students and staff to be there. Late June is when we think students will be back. The year 13s would normally be on exam study leave, but with no exams, they will just be on leave. The year 12s will be in and as they represent half of the college, we can spread them out more. Of course, this is all complete speculation. The students who have contacted me have all said they want to be back; distance learning is difficult. One problem will be getting to college. Most students travel on the bus and trains. With the trains running on a 1/2 timetable, I and those who catch the train at my local station, cannot get there on time. My mother is a teacher in Australia. Schools reopened two weeks ago, with the option of parents not sending their "little angels" to school. Her school had a 90% attendance rate on the first day, and now it is at largely full strength. Clearly most parents are glad to see the back end of their brats, after 4 weeks of having them at home, and fob them off on the long suffering teachers. It might be the same here. Her school is a suburban primary; 80% of Australians live in the cities. At 86, mother is probably one of the oldest working teachers anywhere. PS. Enjoy a bit of fun Penguin Classics Cover Generator

People of a certain age will remember her https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/06/boy-lollipop-singer-millie-small-dies-aged-73-12660582/

Here is a bit of an email I received: We hope that you are still keeping safe and well during this challenging period of time. We continue to create new content through our Home From Home initiative and re-share some of our favourites from past years to help keep you entertained in these difficult months. The latest piece we would like to share premieres tomorrow (29 April) at 11am to mark International Dance Day. Company dancers Kit Holder and Tom Rogers have created Alone|Together, a beautiful piece of isolation dance and music, featuring five members of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, six of their fellow dancers, Assistant Director Marion Tait and Artistic Director Carlos Acosta. You can watch this and all our other Home From Home creations on our website or you can keep up to date by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported our #BeRightBack fundraising appeal. Over £19,000 has been donated to help continue our work during these unprecedented times. For more details of this appeal please see below. Stay safe and look out for one another. The link to the performance, which starts shortly https://www.brb.org.uk/home-from-home

Good idea. I do International Talk Like A Pirate Day - I answer the phone in my best Robert Newton voice "Arrgghhh Jim Lad!"

I found this old road safety advert the other day. There is another one too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBXr2DA276k

You would hate to visit my place Lisa - loads of spiders. I leave them alone - they don't interfer with me and I don't interfer with them, and they don't eat much. UK spiders are mostly harmless. I grew up in Australia, where we have spiders that can kill you. I used to leave them alone too.

Artrix Arts Centre is a small venue in Bromsgrove, and it has sadly ceased trading due to the coronavirus. I suspect there will be more small venues going out of business. https://www.artrix.co.uk/?utm_source=Artrix+Newsletter&utm_campaign=cd716048f1-4+July+2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_31cd750040-cd716048f1-302392337&mc_cid=cd716048f1&mc_eid=7abd75969a

One of these on its side? https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/wooden-crate-40cm-x-30cm-x-18cm/636897-1000

Nice class to do in limited space. Did you see Mathias Dingman's children running around the garden? Miki Mizutani's little dog is cute too!

What about a sheet of plywood? Bunnings have 2400 x 1200 x 21mm for $128. I use a sheet of plywood as a tap floor.

That's what I use.