alison

I'm told the best thing to do is ask if they'd like to come inside and pray about it with you . Never dared try it, myself. The Jehovah's Witnesses are clearly having some sort of campaign at the moment: you see their stands everywhere these days, trying to hand out copies of a book which claims to tell you what the Bible really says. I'm not sure what Bible version it's based on, but I suspect it's not one of the more mainstream ones.

As this problem looks likely to continue, it's occurred to me that, if this is a viable proposition from where you are, it might be easier to try and come into a railway station closer to your final destination, even if that means making a journey to a different starting station, rather than running the gauntlet of trying to get across central London by bus. It was really depressing on Thursday, even coming away from the Coliseum at 9.30, to see the No. 11 bus (which links Victoria and Charing Cross) still full to bursting. I managed to get home from Charing Cross rather more easily than I would have from Victoria, and made adjustments in the suburbs. Admittedly, this probably works better on Southern Region, where lines intersect more, rather than in northern London, where they all extend outwards like tree branches, but with the Overground increasingly forming quite a good rail "North Circular" it may be feasible there, too.

Out of interest, *was* Jon Ollivier back dancing?

You never were, were you?

Well, I really enjoyed tonight's performance. I'm not sure what it was in particular: watching it from higher up (that was certainly an advantage for seeing patterning better, as usual)? the change of cast? the company having settled in better? It was certainly a particular pleasure watching a Bournonville-trained dancer as James, and I certainly felt the story flowed better tonight. I'm wondering if I can squeeze in another trip before it ends. (BTW, if you *are* buying tickets, note that if you sit on the left-hand side of the auditorium you're likely to miss a few of the effects)

So, what time did it actually finish? I can't decide whether the Red Button coverage was on a loop or not.

Or at least, you could have had better seats for the money you'd paid I was quite bemused at Cinderella, too. StPB has been selling well, at least as far as Swan Lake is concerned: Bayadere is still struggling, even with only 2 performances.

I've just noticed there are what I think are top-price tickets for £30 at tkts in Leicester Square for tonight's performance.

Oh, right, thanks John. I forgot all about it until past midnight (when it still seemed to be going on, half an hour or more after its scheduled finishing time )

(BTW, when I looked on TFL's rubbish site a couple of days ago for information about the Tube strike, could I find it? I ran a search on "strike" and got hits dating back to 2006, but with no way of ordering them according to most recent!)

Who wasn't where he should have been because he couldn't get there because of the Tube strike? (And just to add insult to injury, I gather there have been significant problems on Southern this morning). A friend and I are going to La Sylphide tonight, regardless: but because she's got to come in from Victoria we're going to meet at the theatre rather than meet up for a meal first, so that's one eatery that will suffer as a result of the strike. Multiply that thousands of times ...

Well, I might have written something, but I was in the middle of what appeared to be a particularly nasty virus/trojan infestation on both computers at the time

Well, I finally caught up with this tonight, and I have to say, what an excellent match! It would have been well worthy of the final.

Interesting: can you fill us in a bit more, Floss? It was, I think, the first performance of La Sylphide I'd ever seen (although I saw London City Ballet do it, I think shortly afterwards - any idea whose production that would have been?), so I *was* indeed a beginner! What did puzzle me last night, though, was: where were all the Aussies? I don't remember hearing any antipodean accents anywhere, yet I'd have thought some of the Aussie community might have turned out. Perhaps they're going tonight, which I believe is the press night.

Oops, sorry, hadn't spotted you were in Cambridgeshire!

Half-price tickets, courtesy of Travelzoo: http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/entertainment/-7-50-up-Brazilian-Dance-Show-in-London-50-Off-2080169/?utm_source=top20_uk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2080169&utm_campaign=uk_top20_2015_31_deal%3a2080169 I must admit that I didn't even know this was on.

It's going to make getting to the Coliseum a little tricky for some, I fear. I think I've found a way round it for myself, but life would certainly be easier for a lot of people on Southern Region if there wasn't all the hassle involved with the works at London Bridge as well. You could still manage today? The strike won't be starting until the end of rush hour.

Isn't it amazing what social media can accomplish when it tries?

No excuse of not having enough advance warning there, then! Thanks, Bruce.

Unfortunately, it seems to be something of a fact of life at the Coliseum for dance productions these days. But I suppose that on the first night it's rather obvious that you can't have bought a programme previously.

That would be good. I did wonder why ENB's season was starting so late.

And pangolins: they are particularly endangered, I gather. Another case of Oriental medicine being to blame?

I'm very much looking forward to this, not only because it's 30 years since I last saw the production live, but also because after 2 months without any ballet I'm suffering severe withdrawal symptoms! Edit: Correction: almost no ballet. I forgot the Ardani gala.

I noticed when looking through my mini Proms guide at the weekend that CWM seem to be appearing at the late-night BBC Radio 6 Prom on 5th August at 10.15 pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/empxj5, although I can't find any information about this. Anyway, the performance, whatever it may be, is viewable via the Radio 6 website and the Red Button, for those readers in the UK, at least.

Thanks, Bruce. I can't see any indication that anyone else RB apart from McRae will be dancing, though.