Shakespeare and ashes...

No one has dates like I do! Sunday evening finds me sitting on a bench beside the river sharing a bottle of wine. No real surprises there I hear you say. Except for the fact that I'm squigged up on the bench between Bod on one end and dead persons flowers on the other end...! Perhaps not the most tactful way to describe them, but true all the same. As I walked over to the bench by the side of the river i could see what appeared to be bunches of flowers in buckets and a large arrangement sitting on the bench. It was only when I got closer that I realised they were a couple of weeks old. I even had to go and look in the river to see if there was a body... no, phew! It's not the kinda subject to be discussing on a first date and anyone who knows me would have whisked me away from there in a flash... but I knew that that wasn't going to happen. And if you think that's surreal, read on because that was only the beginning.

As the clouds gathered above us big rain drops started to fall so we hurried our wine and dashed back to the car park. We were in separate cars so having made the decision to leave mine closer to the venue, we both left to drive the few miles to Slimbridge for the outdoor performance of A Winter's Tale. This is when the heavens opened!. The rain poured and for one fleeting moment I thought I would just keep driving as far away from that place as I could. But I'm much to well mannered for that. I just thought I must be totally, stark staring bonkers to go and sit in a field to watch Shakespeare in such atrocious weather. Sometimes life throws us a challenge and tonight was such a night! Within the hour I was sitting in a field in the pouring rain with a bunch of other people who were obviously totally bonkers. Kindred spirits you could call them ;-)

With my jumper, my coat, my hat, my scarf and umbrella and a bar of Green & Blacks... and Bod, for that's what I'll call him. Just Bod, nice but undeniably doomed from the start... The performance continued through the wind and the rain and although I was seriously questioning my sanity at this point, in a crazy way, you know what, I was really enjoying the play. The cast were amazing and delivered every line as if it were a summer's day. I admired their fortitude, their great spirit and sense of adventure and as the play had to go on, so I decided I was going to sit there right up until the bitter end. 3 hours later.. the sense of relief as I got back into my own car to drive home was without doubt, enormous. I know stuff happens to me and life can seem pretty odd at times, but tonight could only be described as... a real CRACKER!