AnneMarriott

You are right, of course, Anjuli. But I maintain that some other customs, traditions and even religions are neither enriching or worthwhile. I'm thinking of the Indian caste system with the Untouchables at the bottom of the pile, the demands for dowry and the awful fate of some brides whose families are unable to meet the demands, female genital mutilation, the denial of education to girls, some aspects of Sharia Law ... Of course fast food, coffee shops, proms and the rest of it are small beer by comparison, but they are really not enriching as far as I am concerned.

Well no seafood as far as I know, but a spider, certainly. But that is pretty harmless - I'm sure there must have been spiders in the stables! It's the introduction of characters like Wayne Rooney (footballer), and having the angels and shepherds doing Bollywood-style song and dance routines that I find inappropriate. I wouldn't expect to see a small Imran Khan singing Away in a Manger in a Pakistani children's play, either. On the politically correct side, the headmistress of an infant school appeared on one of those early morning news shows informing us that 'last year our Nativity play was "Midwife Crisis" in which the midwife who delivered the baby (Jesus) was the star of the show'. It seemed wrong on so many fronts!

Absolutely! It is one thing to enjoy the philosophies, food and festivals of other cultures but quite another to be swamped by things like fast food joints, coffee shops selling hot drinks that taste of anything but coffee, school proms, trick or treating and the like. And one aspect of "cultural diversity" that has had me reeling this week is the effect on innocent little nativity plays.

And just when I thought we had survived Black Friday, my email inbox is full of "Cyber-Monday-25% off"-type messages.

Oh dear!

Thanks for the information everyone. Not sure Black Friday is really useful in view of what seems like back-to-back sales throughout the year. And I certainly hope we don't import Thanksgiving too! On a personal note of thriftiness, I always buy Christmas wrapping, crackers, tree decorations etc. immediately after Christmas - W.H. Smith amongst others sells off this year's stock at half price and they're just as good next year! And stocking fillers, too ...

Sorry to be an ignoramus but what is Black Friday?

An odd evening, yesterday - well part-evening if I'm gong to be accurate. Didn't read the programme notes before the performance so only got some of the allusions in the Brandstrup. But I found it intriguing enough to want to see it again. I enjoyed it rather a lot, although felt sorry that Watson had rather a background role. Lovely designs, very evocative of the North Sea - which is grey, as I knew only too well in childhood. And I enjoyed the choreography. Sorry to say Age of Anxiety, for which I had high expectations, left me cold. Splendid set designs and some brilliant performances by the excellent cast, but I didn't "get" any of it, including the score - forgive me Bernstein! - especially the end which seemed redolent of the Born Free big tune, and not in a good way. Quite what we were supposed to take away from the narrative, or theme, I still do not understand, even though I have now read the programme notes. Left before Aeternum. Wasn't looking forward to it, having not remembered anything about it from last time round - In fact the only thing I thought I did remember, the designs, turned out not to be from Aeternum at all, judging from the photo in the programme. But after the disappointment of Age of Anxiety my other half and I called it a day. Next week we'll be seeing the programme again with different casts. Perhaps it will be an opportunity to reconsider ...

I'm with Aileen about Aeternum on this (sorry Dave and everyone else who loves it). I saw it twice last time round and simply can't remember a thing about it except possibly the backdrop. So it obviously didn't do it for me.

There's this weird concept called "rent of ability". It explains, or rationalises, the uncomfortable fact that a footballer or singer earns far more than, say, a nurse or fire fighter, despite the latter being arguably far more valuable to society. And the footballer or singer doesn't even have to be particularly good, either - they just have to have some indefinable quality that makes them attractive to the public. Bur David Beckham is or was a good footballer, and Victoria Beckham is not the only singer of average talent who married a footballer and took his name. Heaven knows there are examples of celebrities who get a lot of money for being (to my eyes) unprepossessing, crass, foul-mouthed ignoramuses (ignorami?). Whatever the injustices of the Beckhams' success and wealth, they don't appear to represent any negative characteristics.

Hurrah! Thanks for the update. In fairness I should point out that there were some freestanding soap dispensers some time ago - but they soon disappeared. Could they have been filched, I ask myself. Anyhow, I hope to enjoy the improved facilities on Friday ...

Well of course that would be a spectacular case of putting the cart before the horse. What a shame the people responsible couldn't foresee that the horse would shy and back away in a panic, trampling over everything in its path, because of course the poor thing couldn't see where it was going. As for the Americanisation of the U.K., I'm agin it too. But just because I don't want to be forced into an American box it doesn't mean I want to be forced into a pan-European one, especially one with such dubious claims to democracy and transparency.

From the point of view of a confirmed Eurosceptic, the EU was sold to the U.K. as a sort of grand free trade agreement. It has since morphed into a far more complex arrangement and I wonder whether the vote to join, or in the subsequent referendum to remain a member, would have carried if we had known how it would evolve. I even remember Edward Heath saying, after he had retired from active politics, that "it was always intended that the European Common Market would become an all-encompassing federation". A pity he didn't point that out at the time. I suppose one is either in favour of being part of a federal system, or one is not, but regardless of the principle of the thing I doubt if anyone can be really happy with the present situation. The accounts are a disgrace. So is the waste of money involved in the lumbering bureaucracy and the remuneration and expenses for MEPs. A shameful few of the British population vote in the European elections and even fewer, I suspect, can name their MEP or state the party to which they belong. How many of us know the European parties with which our national parties are aligned? For most of us it would seem that dissatisfaction or anger over rules about employment, immigration, deportation of convicted EU criminals, the size and shape of fruit and vegetables and now it seems the strength of our vacuum cleaner motors is the main effect of membership. Meanwhile we have alienated some of the Commonwealth countries because of EU trade restrictions. The general view seems to be that we can't go it alone. And certainly the overseas global conglomerates (Japanese car industry, U.S. financial sector to name but two) seem to want us to stay as a sort of "all areas pass" into European markets. But we're paying a terribly heavy price - and I don't just mean the £1.7 billion additional charges. Sometimes I wish I were Swiss or Norwegian ... And to add, as a final point - whoever dreamed up the idea of the Euro and thought that a single currency would work for economies as diverse as Germany and Greece must have been mad. Edited to add final point.

Well it certainly applies to me, Alison - and thank you for letting me know that I'm not alone. I've never thought to glance at a younger woman's hands - perhaps next time...

On the question of paper towels versus hot air hand dryers, I prefer paper towels. I don't care for the noise or the sensation of the hot air kind, not the queues mentioned by MAB. I remember my father once suggesting that an addition be made to the instructions for use of hot air dryers: 1. Shake excess moisture from hands 2. Rub hands gently in hot air stream. His addition was: 3. Wipe hands on trousers or tie.

On Tuesday I was dismayed to find the main ground floor ladies' lavatories in a worse state than usual. One door had a broken lock (not at all unusual), two taps had no handles, there was no liquid soap in any of the dispensers and there were no paper towels in any dispensers either except for the two where there is a large wall mirror but no handbasin.. So having attempted to pee with my foot against the door to stop any unwanted incursions, I then had to find a basin at which to wash my hands (without soap) and walk around until I could locate a paper towel, disturbing the women doing their hair and makeup. I caught the eye of another woman who shrugged and we shared a "Can this be the Royal Opera House?" moment. I suppose I should be grateful that there was at least paper in the unlockable cubicle. But goodness knows what any foreign visitors make of it all.

Well that's what they always say, of course. But I seriously doubt if most Friends of all levels would sign up without the incentive of advance booking.

I know, Bill - which is the reason I decided not to upgrade when I renewed this year. However the introduction of Friends+ has made me regret this decision!

Any unoccupied SCS places are just salt in the wound!

I agree about the strange decision, which is why I said perhaps this new limit was an attempt to redress the balance. And I did mention the student allocation which has undoubtedly made things worse for us ordinary Friends. It does seem that the restrictions or otherwise on tickets have varied wildly over the years. I just hope the powers that be don't introduce yet more levels of Friendship - I dread being reduced to Pauper Level (one below ordinary) which would perhaps entitle me to view the availability of tickets but not actually make any bookings until two days after all other levels of Friends have been served (a joke, I hasten to add, or at least I hope so).

On the subject of bananas, I see Waitrose delivered a 6" spider in a bunch of bananas to an online customer. Perhaps all those people who split bunches in the greengrocery section are trying to avoid just such a catastrophe.

Of course that's true, but it only takes one or two who do to take all the stalls circle standing tickets (my particular problem) - and let us not forget that there are more levels than Patrons and Premium Friends who also have an advantage over ordinary Friends. For the whole of Periods 1 and 2 this season I managed to get SCS for only three performances. If I log on ready to start selecting tickets at 10.00 on the dot when Friends booking opens and find no SCS for most or indeed all the performances I would like I can't see any other logical or consistent explanation. I know that some of these tickets have been set aside for student standby, but still ... And to reply to aileen at No. 17 above, in the past there have been restrictions to 4 tickets per production (from memory, although I stand ready to be corrected) but it only applied to Friends booking, during their advance booking period, not when they used public booking. Otherwise, as has been said, Friends would be a disadvantage.

It may be an attempt to redress the balance a bit. Ordinary Friends find it almost impossible to get cheaper tickets because they've all been hoovered up by higher-level Friends. Just a thought.

I too read the links section every day and would be lost without it. Not only that, I print out some of the reviews to send to a friend who has no Internet access. Not sure if this is actually legal, but it's no different from sending a newsprint cutting, is it? As others have said, it is frustrating to find some of the reviews tucked away behind a subscription wall - and in some cases I know that I have not exceeded any limit imposed on the few free articles allowed per month.

P.S. Alex Salmond this morning uttered the ominous words "at this stage" when regretting the vote against independence by the people of Scotland. Any bets on how long it will be before the next referendum?