At 4:13 this morning I was rudely wrenched from glorious sleep by a Yowie. Of course I know it wasn’t really a Yowie because they only live in Australia but whatever it was did a bloody good impression of one. And it was right outside the bedroom window.
It didn’t last too long and the hell beast soon went about its accursed business elsewhere. I rolled over to return to the land from which I’d been prematurely plucked.
A faint sound reached me, keeping me from sleep. It played at the edge of my consciousness, reminding me of something. Through my half sleep I recognised it. It was a bark. From a small dog. It was far away.
My first thought, eventually, was that Emma was standing at the back fence calling back to the Yowie in the completely wrong direction. My first thought, however, was incorrect.
After a while of it not stopping, I went downstairs to investigate. It was Freya. In the laundry.
I let them out to go to the loo then let them sleep with me for the final couple of hours left of the night.
Bloody Yowie. The rest of the day was, thankfully Yowie free.
Mum and I headed into town for a brief visit to the British Museum where I introduced her to the Elgin Marbles and my favourite statue (Lely’s Venus). We also wandered around the Americas before the inevitable shop visit.
I then thought it would be a lovely walk down to Salieri’s where we were meeting Mirinda for dinner ahead of the theatre. Silly Gary. I somehow and inexplicably forgot about the almost constant rain which is a delightful reminder of climate change.
I was very wet by the time we sat for dinner. Our Italian waiter was very understanding and supplied me with beer almost immediately.
Dinner was lovely but then the highlight of the day was before us. Having been escorted to our seats by a chipper young man, we settled into row O of the Savoy for the Chichester theatre production of Guys and Dolls.
I’m going to ignore the rather boisterous couple in front of us. I’m also going to ignore the almost constantly kissing couple who were irritating mum. No, I can ignore all of that because the show was fabulous.
This production is exactly what musical theatre should be. Fun, colour, memorable songs, great cast. It was superb.
Everyone was fantastic in an ensemble production of great energy and pizzazz. The four leads, in particular, worked very hard and effectively, playing off each other perfectly.
In particular the relationship between Miss Adelaide (the brilliant Sophie Thompson) and Nathan Detroit (the always delightful David Haig) shone out.
By the curtain calls, Mirinda had to hang on to mum who was threatening to leap up onto the stage for the final rendition of Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.
We didn’t get home until after midnight but it was well worth it.
