Twilight Delight

Last week on our way home after work, we were lucky to discover that the London Symphony Orchestra was playing at Canada Square Park, right outside my office. The open air concert was free, and was scheduled to start at 7.30pm we were told as they handed out free mats to the crowd.

Some daylight still

IK found a good spot at the park and was assigned to wait there as the crowd was already gathering fast and we did not want to end up too far back had both of us gone home and come back later. I, on the other hand, went home to change to something more comfy and warm. I also made the effort to pack some sandwiches, crisps, chocklits and a flask of hot milo to keep us snug while watching the orchestra play throughout the 2 hour concert.

The theme for the night was space and the music performed were from the motion picture Star Wars (Imperial March, Princess Leia's theme,Main Theme), Superman, E.T., Aliens, X-Files, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a few more which I was not too familiar with.

It was really a good concert, LSO was fab and everyone enjoyed it tremendously plus having a little picnic outdoors was great fun too.

As night time beckons

(Loud) Music To The Ears

Seeing that my life will change drastically (in a good way no doubt) very soon and time will no longer be on my side, no more idle moments on how to spend my days and nights, I had a host of list of musicals I wanted to see at the West End. Mary Poppins, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Chicago were tops. I thought I could go see at least one each month this year.

January we were away, end of February - early April I was suffering morning sickness, May we were back in Msia, and at end June we finally booked We Will Rock You. Yay Queen!

All excited we headed to Tottenham Ct Road on Wednesday evening, had dinner at Burger King across the theatre and we were settled in nicely in our seats by 7.15pm.

Then we realised something.

We had the speakers right in front of our faces. Literally. There we were, seated a few rows from the stage on the far left hand corner, with mega huge mean looking noise-generating machine staring back at us. Oh-oh.

When I was un-preggers, I never realised that the music can get a notch too loud in there. 10 minutes into the show I was wondering if bubba was okay to be exposed to such thunderous noise. I mean it was REALLY deafening. I covered bump with handbag (yeah like duh) as my oversimplistic solution and realised I still was not feeling comfortable with situation.

We decided to move to the back of the theatre and I kept my fingers crossed there would be some empty seats for us to switch to.

We managed to secure some seats about 7-8 rows from behind but I still found it way too loud. I was worried I would damage her ear drums, harm the development of her hearing or even scare her. After all, I did read that bubbas can already hear your voice, the surrounding and the rumbling tummy above her. I can't imagine what she must have thought had happened when Radio Ga Ga came on. Por little thing.

Despite being away from the speakers, it did not alleviate my worries over how bubba was reacting to the noise. In the end, my instincts kicked in and we decided to leave halfway through. After all I was not enjoying the musical completely what with the nagging fear I had.

I am abit shattered I did not get to stay till the end, I really wanted to hear my fave - Don't Stop Me Now and the other hits - but I guess tak ada rezeki.

I am also gutted that I won't be seeing another musical for a long long time.

Any mommy or pregnant women out there who has had similar experience on this maybe, since I googled the net and the reviews were mixed. Being risk-averse, I guess my approach was better to be safe than sorry.

Beijing 2008

Quite an eventful Sunday.

Apart from the snow, I was lucky to witness the Olympic Torch run en route to the Millenium Dome, scheduled to pass by the wharf at 5 p.m.

There were pro-Tibet protestors (shouting 'shame on China') and pro-China supporters around bearing China/Olympics flags, hence the heightened security observed. Apparently there were protestors trying to make a grab at the torch and attempts made at extinguishing the fire! Thankfully nothing unexpected happened on our route.

These photos were taken right outside my office, see if you can soak in the atmosphere.

London By Night

Sound of Music

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things"

We were at the Palladium Theatre on Monday night with the Von Trapp family; Liesl, Frederick, Louisa, Curt, Brigitta, Martha and little Gretl.

Watching the Sound of Music musical that is.

It was wonderful. I loved loved loved it. But my reviews have always been positive for all the musicals I have been to, haven't they? I am not biased, I *simply* enjoy musicals; the magical feeling I get from watching live performances, especially of songs and movies I am familiar with.

Your sights and sounds are enhanced while your senses are heightened and everything just sounds a hundred times better compared to what you've watched/heard on telly/CD/DVD etc. The live music performed by the orchestra, the talented casts, the magnificent stage set up and fantastic lighting, adds to the unforgettable experience from watching a musical. The experience is truly one of a kind and is something not to be missed if ever you're in London West End or New York Broadway vicinity.

Everyone enjoyed the night enormously including Dadster, being a big Sound of Music and Christopher Plummer fan himself.

I leave you with verses from some of my favourite songs from the movie. I'm sure it'll bring back fond memories from your childhood/the past, as it did me.

“For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good”

***

“I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I've heard before
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more”

***

“Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever”

The Lion King

I’m sure everyone has watched the Disney movie and knows what it is all about; a lion cub named Simba, the rightful heir to the throne of Pride Land and how he was banished from his land by his Uncle Scar who wanted to be King.

We were at the Lyceum Theatre in Covent Garden last Thursday evening catching this famed musical.

The musical was absolutely wonderful; from the beautifully choreographed dances to the extensive and elaborate costumes.

Lions being the main characters (Mufasa, Scar and Simba), had costumes that featured mechanical headpieces that can be raised and lowered, there were giraffes - actors on stilts, the famous happy-go-lucky meerkat and warthog duo i.e. Timon and Pumbaa, Scar’s sidekicks – the three hyenas, antelopes, cheetahs, wildebeests, wild buzzards and much much more.

The stage was utterly amazing and the live ensemble was brilliant; there were musicians playing drums and percussions in the balcony and if you glanced at the bottom of the stage, you’d find the violin, flute, piano and basically the complete composition of the ever so talented orchestra performing the famous soundtracks - Circle of Life, Hakuna Matata and Can You Feel the Love, to name a few.

I have to make a special mention of the cute giraffes and baby elephant. And how I simply loved it when all the animals came on stage for the Circle of Life, it was very moving.

The musical was no doubt award winning material but we were both truly knackered due to the on goings in the day, our harried schedule attempting to get there in a timely manner, in addition to the lack of energy as we were fasting. At the risk of contradicting myself, I did enjoy the musical very much, exhaustion notwithstanding.

Avenue Q

We spent Saturday evening in bustling Leicester Square watching the 'laugh-out-loud' musical Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre.


This is a synopsis from its website:

"LIFE MAY SUCK ON AVENUE Q, but for a bright-eyed college graduate called Princeton, this is his new neighbourhood. A tiny bank balance and a variety of weird and wonderful friends and neighbours lead Princeton on a hilarious journey of self-discovery. Performed by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets (!)"

It was enjoyable; they had us in stitches, chuckling throughout the performance. There were many parts in this musical that struck a chord; the uncanny similarities in our (my) very own life, parts that all of us (I) could relate to, for example ‘everybody is a little bit racist’ (shock-horror), ‘schadenfreude’ and ‘but only for now’.

There were some naughty + cheeky parts too which made it largely unsuitable for children (in my opinion because I can *occasionally* be quite a prude), which is rather ironic considering the puppet-dominated cast not dissimilar to Sesame Street!

We ended our evening at Bella Italia for an al fresco dinner, thanks to temperate weather and for once I actually remembered to snap some photos of our food (go me!) instead of just gobbling it down and then go, oh fug, I forgot to get some food pix for my blog *burp*. I still have a long way to go prior to becoming the real McCoy (blogger that is!).


We had some delish linguine pollo e funghi + pizza. Food was good but the main show-stealer was the Godfather - chocolate fudge brownies, vanilla and toffee ice cream with some chocolate crunch, dribbled in chocolate sauce, topped off with loads of fresh cream, nuts and two wafer curls. Utterly sinful. We polished off the decadent Godfather in no time – it is to die for, believe you me.



We finished dinner at about half eight and jumped on the tube, in a mad rush to get home to feed a hungry cat!

Bargain-Hunters

So we did the car boot sale this morning, but not the Home.

I so love this new found Sunday morning past-time of ours. We always end up with something useful at a very cheap price.

Last week, we managed to find:

• Large sized pet carrier - £7
• Cute cat bed - £3
• Books - £1

This morning, I merely spent £3.80 on the following:

• W H Smith unused watercolour pencils - £1
• Long stand mirror - £1
• Rose decorated china container to store trinkets – 50p
• A brand new novelty 5-piece alphabet shaped dish - £1
• Medium sized white clay vase (to store IK’s loose change that he leaves lying around everywhere) – 30p

I’m well chuffed with my loot!

ABBA Fever

Mamma Mia was brilliant. Fab. Splenderful. Absolutely sensational. My only gripe (there is no pleasing me is there) is the tergedik gedik leading actress, Sophie. Aiyo. Someone kill her already.

Let's get the nitty gritty details out of the way. Venue of the musical: Prince of Wales Theatre in the heart of Picadilly Circus. We were running slightly late; we came in just about two minutes before it started, thankfully. We had great seats though, not the front rows but near enough. The whole show lasted a solid two and a quarter hours (we hadn't even noticed the time, it was that enjoyable) and was worth every cent spent.

Gist of the show: it's an enchanting tale of love, life and friendship set on a Greek island and features ABBA's greatest hits. The storyline revolves around this gedik girl who has three possible fathers. She cunningly invites all three, behind her mother's back, to her wedding to suss out the 'real' one to give her away at her nuptials. Then there was the comical duo, being Sophie's mom's gal-pals. They were the real superstars for me; tickled us to the bones. Not only were they hilarious, they performed incredibly well too. With such powerful voices, they belted out all the catchy tunes effortlessly - Dancing Queen, Chiquittita, Mamma Mia, Super Trouper, Waterloo etc. By the end of the show, all of us were swinging to the beat, mumsy included.

We left at about 10ish, all happy, contented, entertained and very satisfied. Occupied time on the way home in the tube by distinguishing everyone's favourite all time ABBA song.

Mum - Dancing Queen
IK - undecided

Yours truly - Thank You for the Music (shame that this performance was very brief)

Currently all we have blaring in the background is Abba, Abba and more Abba!

Sunday Morning

That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

***

Weather forecast: Lots of Sunshine

Headed into the embankment area as early as 8.30am this morning (to ensure best parking spaces, read: free!) for a spot of photography.

The aim was to capture some beautiful shots of sites/statues/buildings with the SLR by fully utilising its capabilities (not that we know how to anyway; yes yes read the darn manual).

Nevermind that, weather was exceptionaly fab. Two sunshiny days consecutively (I can smell spring in the air!). Such a glorious and an enjoyable morning. Must take full advantage of this good weather and do this again. SOON.

Snow

It was sub zero temperature this morning and we had a good snow fall from about 4am untill as late as noon. Very pretty but unfortunately I was deskbound wishing I was outside making a snowman and having snowball fights instead. Alas work beckoned and I am paid to do this however unfair it seemed. All I could afford were longing glances out the window appreciating the beautiful big and fluffy snowflakes falling to the ground turning into slush.

Although in the wee early morning, there was a nice fresh white sheet of snow enveloping our little back garden and other open areas; such a delightful sight!

London is rarely graced by visits from the snow-queen. Wonder when we will get the next significant snowfall. I'm guessing not very soon. Boo hoo.