Another Quiet Day!

Disappointingly it was raining when I finally found a parking space in Bath yesterday so I didn't get to take any photos. I couldn't get in the car park closest to the theatre so had to go to the next one, which involved a diversion as roads are closed for the works on the Bath Clean Air project. The benefit of this was the the walk from car to theatre took long enough to count as my daily walk and the bonus was that I had to do it again on the way back!

'Once' was absolutely brilliant. I loved it so much I will go to see it again later in the year, either in Oxford or Cardiff.

'Once' is a musical with a difference as all the actors play their own instruments on stage. There isn't a separate orchestra, the actors provide all the music accompaniments on violins, cello, guitars, drums, banjo, mandolin and piano. This photo (below, from the theatre's website) gives an idea of the 'feel' of the show ...

The actual start was different too as about 20 minutes before the show was due to start various actors drifted on to the stage and started singing and playing while the house lights were still on and the audience still finding their seats. More actors joined the others on stage and when all the supporting actors had arrived on stage we were treated to Irish ceilidh music and singing for about ten minutes. As the lead actor arrived on stage the house lights were dimmed and the show started. Did I mention that I loved it? ... worth every penny I paid for the ticket and the extortionate cost of parking in Bath.

I woke very early today so have used my time well and booked tickets for some talks at the Wiltshire Records Office. They're all very cheap (£4 per talk) and will be an interesting addition to my solo activities. The first one is next week and is about deciphering 16th century handwriting ... not every one's cup of tea but it's the sort of thing I find interesting. The others are on the stories behind Wiltshire place names (May), using prison records for family history (April), and tracing the history of houses (June).

As for the rest of the day, I don't know! I don't have anything arranged but will probably stay at home as it's been raining, so maybe another quiet day just doing whatever I fancy.