Tom Kerridge @ Coach in Marlow

Tiny but very busy, busy. Offshoot from Tom Kerridge@s Hand and Flowers further up the road. Run by Nick Bradshaw.
Not really a "pub" set up, more like tapas. Therefore, unlikely that your table's order will all come together. Food will arrive as and when ready. Great if you're happy to drink and wait for what comes  Less so if you're expecting a traditional a 3 course.
 Small portions of surprisingly filling and beautifully presented portions. Total star dishes were the Boulangere potatoes and the banana and date custard .
Be warned, there are actual foodie groupies here, photographing every dish that arrived with their mobile phones. Some were happy just to drink and   stand and watch the open kitchen activity, getting more than they bargained for on the Saturday that I was there, when clearly something exploded in the kitchen and required a halt to service and a full clean down of all surfaces! How thrilling!
By the way, non bookable.
www.thecoachmarlow.co.uk

Man and Superman, Ralph Fiennes at The National

 

Ralph Fiennes in Shaw's Man and Superman at The National . An extreme feat of memory recall from Ralph Fiennes. Sounds crazy, but the serious amount of actual words in this play, for mere mortals, the man deserves an award.

Now to the actual play.  Mr. Whitefield has recently died, and his will indicates that his daughter, Ann(Indira Varma), should be left in the care of two men, Roebuck Ramsden and Jack Tanner (Ralph Fiennes). Ramsden, a venerable old man, distrusts Jack Tanner, an eloquent man with revolutionary ideas.  In spite of what Ramsden says, Ann accepts Tanner as a guardian, and she defies Tanner's revolutionary beliefs with her own beliefs. Tanner's dedication to anarchy is unable to disarm Ann's charm, and she ultimately persuades him to marry her. Eventually, Ann chooses Tanner over her more persistent suitor, a young man named Octavius Robinson.

The philosophical monologues from Tanner come thick and fast and honestly, I felt like a pause button would have been helpful, just to process some of the ideas being touted.

Additionally, this production has included the controversial dream sequence. I discover, after some research that this section involves characters from the story of Don Juan (apparently an ancestor of Tanner), doubled up by the actors in the main play. And so begins a LENGTHY philosophical debate about the "rudderless" existence in Hell versus the "someone at the helm" experience in Heaven. I would say that this whole section should not be included in the production as it's irrelevant to the plot. However, this would be to miss out on the glorious experience of watching Tim McMullen having the most fun playing The Devil.  Also, the performance I saw had the added bonus of a technical hitch, whereupon the character of the angel who was supposed to appear from above the stage had to  walk on stage instead. This gave Tim McMullan the opportunity to adlib fabulously as he emerged on stage from a hole opened up from the stage floor, commenting  that there were "no such problems coming from down below!"

Indira Varma as Ann, was a subtle performance but could have been minxier I felt.
So at a performance time of 3hours 40 minutes (with interval), as a member of the audience, it would have benefitted from being at least 40 minutes shorter. Lastly, I loved the stage setting and design, finding it very  imaginative.

So, I know I said I'm looking for the positive, but sometimes it's impossible to avoid cliché and to find the truth of something. Who cares anyway?
As Debi says in the movie "Grosse Point Blank" , " people are coming back to take stock of their lives, I say leave the livestock alone ". The more you dig around the more likely
you are to end up creating something for the "tragic life story" section in WH Smith. I kid you not.
Who'd have thought there were so many a) tragic life stories out there and b) people want to spend good money to buy them.
Not me, can't stand a "kitchen sink drama" . Much too close to home. Or it was. When do you stop hanging on to all that though? 
Its curious, you always thought you were alone before but when both parents have now died you    discover that you weren't at all. Whatever went before gave you a connection and a shared history. You may have dragged yourself out of it by yourself but you can't shed the DNA. Then, they're gone and that finally makes you a "grown up". No more trying to please them, make them proud of you, forgive you for being born. It's never going to happen now and the truth is, it never was.
I should feel a sense of freedom and relief but I don't. I feel a space inside that I was always hoping would be filled. A sense of something missing.

Road trip to visit University with teenage daughter

So, the past few days I have visited many service stations on the M1. Not sure how, but it took 9 hours to get back to Surrey from York. Apparently there was a lot of rain.....Oh and I needed lots of coffee. I would recommend the train.

Top 5 treats to survive February!

1. Small vial of "Inner Strength" from Aromatherapy Associates. Gift from darling daughter when my mother passed away a few months ago. Stiff upper lip in a bottle.

 2. Lipstick from Tom Ford, seriously anything from Tom Ford. He just understands the details, even when its only a lipstick. Sorry, did I just say ONLY a lipstick?

 3. This Works candle. Total bargain  I ferreted it out in TkMaxx, totally swiped by my daughter, Oh well................

 4. Heyland and Whittle "Sandlewood and Oud", Christmas present from Jane, my sister in law. Did think mmmm, bit  "old lady" ,  but it smells so cool.  A class act , as is Jane. Unable to find a publisher for her books she set about publishing herself, power to her elbow....... www.blowfishbooks.com

 

5. The SURPRISE hug, which has become quite a thing in our house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spontaneous Random Act of Love

Gave daughter a lift into school today as a SRAOL. Why? Because there was SNOW. I know she's practically a grown up but there's plenty of days when I look at her youthful fabulousness, vim and vigour  and decide, " I think you can walk to school today".
Can't now show picture of said snow as has now virtually disappeared. Daughter would call this "waste of time " snow.
Time for my favourite thing;

Dammit Doll arrived by jet!

Sent from the USA by the rascally Rachel, even though she is up to her eyes in SNOW!!
This is going to come in very handy for those moments that make my head hurt, like Missold PPI recorded messages............

 

 

 

Is it available in the U.K? Apparently so, but not without controversy. See the furory caused at a Fenwicks store in Kent.

 

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/dammit-doll-7331/

 

 

 

Do we agree, it will result in an increase in childhood aggression? Personally, I hadn't factored children into the equation and am saving it for my own adult anger management. We can all do with a little of that, right?