Getting older gayer.

Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a smashing time. We just got back to London from Blackpool and I need to get the suitcase down from the top of the wardrobe.
Socks, a couple of shirts, some chocolates and a trip to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion on new Years eve (and that new Beatles/Cirque show too). Did I go over the top? Darren has always fancied seeing La Dion live but she has a habit of cancelling shows willy-nilly and it's a long way to go if the spiteful bitch decides she has a cold. I guessed that the only night of the year she wouldn't dare cancel would be New Years Eve so I bagged two tickets (DO NOT ask me how I did this). We'll be at the Paris hotel from tomorrow. I'll be in the bar after the show and Darren will be at the stage door with his Mickey Mouse autograph book wearing a plaid shirt, a thick tache and leather chaps.

Don’t mention 'Feed The Birds'.

We did love the show last night. Really loved it. God, who knew those songs had such an emotional resonance? I choked back tears on several occasions but when Mary Poppins departed at the end by flying over the audience and up into the gods I lost it completely. The set was amazing with the different rooms of 17 Cherry Tree Lane sliding backwards and forwards and up and over each other. Famous Walthamstow homo Mathew Bourne created some fantastic dancing for the chimney sweep rooftop scenes and the bit in the park where everyone sings “...oh it’s a jolly ‘olliday with Mary”. It’s a testament to the show that some scenes from the movie have now been erased in my memory and replaced with the stage version (especially the ‘supercalifragilistic’ scene). Two spellcnut thumbs up!

Hello! Just back from sunny and Christmassy Florida (much more Christmassy and classy than here). The house and tree decorations around here are grim compared with those we saw last week (but then again we do live in non-affluent East London). I had a birthday while on Holiday and was treated to a meal at Disney's Polynesian resort at a table with a view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks (best desert of the trip). My Mum and Dad were with us and they seemed to have a nice time despite being forced onto rollercoasters, horses (real horses), Segway machines, boats (my Mum hates boats), ride simulators and hundreds of other contraptions created to bring pleasure to theme park visitors. They saw their first Cirque du Soleil show and were practically weeping when we picked them up afterwards. We all put on at least a stone in weight but had fun doing it.
I'm still at work but have very nearly made my choice of future career but I'm not quite ready to go public. Last night my motorbike broke down on the way home from work and was transported back to the dealer in Watford (2 hours in freezing temperatures on Commercial Road waiting for the breakdown van). This will make my panic-Christmas-shopping much more difficult and stressful. We head to Blackpool on Thursday night for a Lancashire Yule and everything must be ready by then. We're off to see Mary Poppins on stage tonight, and usually we'd be excited about this, but the jet-lag and Christmas preparations have taken the shine off. All reports state that we will LOVE the show though.