Well, since my last blog the temperature’s dropped and we’ve had the first snowfall of the winter here in the Leigh-end of Westcliff. But, oh boy! it was freezing before the snow fell. I had a day’s work as an extra and it was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life, without exception, and I’ve been inside the Arctic Circle and to Patagonia! I thought I’d never get warm again. Such a contrast to the previous week, filming in Antigua, where it was so hot the makeup was running. I won’t complain about that again! The drive home was almost two hours and the roadside was littered with brass monkeys clutching their crotches, and so having been frozen, I then became stiff and could barely walk up the stairs when I got home. Nothing that a hot shower and a glass of rum couldn’t sort out though! Still, it was fun and nobody twisted my arm to do it!!
I LOVE this time of year, the run-up to Christmas. I’ve already had three “Christmas” meals/get-togethers with dear, dear friends that I don’t see often enough and I’m still laughing from all three of them. Each group of friends was from a totally different era of my life – schoolfriends (and that is a long time!), Ibiza and Palmer’s College – and I hadn’t seen any of them for a while, yet every time we picked up as if it had only been a few days or weeks at most since we’d last been together and that’s a great sign of real friendship, I think, when you just hook up and carry on. And it’s still almost three weeks still to go to the big day so lots more celebrating to do!
But in amongst all the celebrating I heard the very sad news of the death of Roy Staite. Roy – or Mr Roy as we all called him – was the ballet master when I taught drama at Hewitt Performing Arts. Not only was he an extremely talented dancer and innovative choreographer, he was a sharp, intelligent man with a wicked sense of humour and acerbic wit who never failed to make me laugh and who I looked forward to seeing every Saturday morning. In one of those “small world” quirks of fate that get thrown up sometimes, he’d danced in the West End in several shows with the wonderful Sonia Petrie, who was also my daughter’s chaperone when she did Gogglewatch. Seeing them reunited at a panto Melanie was in was like something from a film: she ran towards him and he scooped her up in his arms and swang her round as if they were both twenty again. I loved and miss both of them. RIP Sonia and Mr Roy.
The big news, of course, has been THE PREGNANCY. Now don’t get me wrong, in spite of my republican leanings, William and Catherine seem like a pleasant enough young couple and I wouldn’t wish them anything other than well, but the press are enough to drive you to drink! Could Kate be carrying twins? Kate suffering from rare condition! Kate suffering from a condition that affects one in fifty pregnant women. Should Charles step aside? Will Pippa and Harry be godparents? etc etc etc.
My first reaction to some of the headlines was ‘Who Cares?’. I mean, I don’t think Charles should just step aside, rather that he should take the rest of them with him. All this baby will be is another one for us all to keep. It’s very easy to get overly sentimental about an elderly woman who’s still working hard – God knows, I wouldn’t have wished the Royal Variety Show on anyone. Still at least the Queen was smiling this time. She must have known Paul McCartney wasn’t on the bill. So I just hope Catherine disappears from view until after the birth. I can’t take another seven months of all this hype!!
And so, Grumpy Old Elaine, signs off another blogpost.
