Phew… thank goodness the Easter weekend is over. I am so tired. It seems all I have done the past few days is get to know my cooker intimately. Obviously there are many others things in the world I’d like to know intimately and I’m not sure my cooker is it!

Good Friday was a day off from work, so no attendance at the office however this did not mean I could be a slacker. No, I was very busy preparing the evening meal for Saturday night a task I couldn’t do on the very day as we were off to the Theatre.

Saturday was a last minute manic make sure the house is clean enough for guests, I’m sure my buddy Cher appreciates this particular need as she too does this, before heading off to the train station to get the train up to London.

Whenever I had up to the Capital I am taken over by a bud of excitement as it is no longer associated with work but solely pleasure. A quick cab journey from Victoria brought us to the Lyric Theatre where we watched the play ‘Smaller’. Fantabulous! What a superb play, Dawn French and Alison Moyet were wonderful and it was an extremely moving and funny play.

They synopsis of the show is as follows:

The life and soul of the staff room, Bernice Clulow's selfless devotion to her disabled mother, Maureen, is legend. Yet every evening as she heads home, the smile becomes fixed: Mum will want to talk. She demands dispatches from the human race, but Bernice just wants to kick her shoes off. (And her Mum's head in).

Missing out on these precious mother-daughter moments, Cath Clulow wisely flew the nest straight from school. Now belting out Karaoke classics to vomiting, rollicking hen parties in Puerto Banus, she wonders how a promising career in musical theatre has gone so horribly off key. House bound, honor bound and homeward bound, the Allows pick their way through a minefield of guilt, resentment and fear.

The play has little props and holds a focus upon the relationship between Bernice (Dawn French) and her mother who is disabled. From its very nature it ends up becoming quite a black comedy, sometimes cringe worthy yet it is an honest reflection of some a situation. Alison Moyet playing Cath sung new songs written for the play some of which I found haunting. I laughed loads, gasped in shock at some events and had my heart strings pulled all in the same performance. If any in the UK get a chance to see it you really should!

Having got back from the Theatre I set about putting on dinner for my family guests who arrived early evening.

Easter Sunday was started by our traditional Easter Egg hunt, my partner set it up and I was able to compete well with her son as I got up earlier so could undertake some sly investigations before his appearance. I have no qualms in beating the child at some things! Especially as I can no longer match him at things requiring more co-ordination so it’s good for him to lose occasionally! However I am not truly harsh as at the end of the hunt we pooled our finds together and divvied them out equally!

Then began the prep for Sunday lunch, after which a stroll around the local area was followed by table tennis tournament and later eye toy games (see earlier post on this item).

Monday was much the same, though we did embark upon a more energetic walk along the South Downs Way, beautiful views, where we got to see Swifts and Skylarks amongst over birdlife. Then back home before yet again more cooking etc.

My guests were meant to leave on Monday but were enjoying themselves so much they invited themselves for another night!

This morning (Tuesday) I’ve waved goodbye to the guests, pulled out of the planned golf game (the thought of 18 holes was the last straw on camels back) so I thought I’d stay home and recover. However I ended up scrubbing the oven and given the house the once over as it were, until finally collapsing in reach of my laptop! Hence here I am!