It's wild ....

... and it's my birthday :) but I'm disgusted to find that I share it with that rogue Bertie Ahern!! The children were all waiting at the gate to sing happy birthday to me and I got chocolate cake at breaktime! Himself is now making curry, including homemade naan :)

Anyway, just returned from an action-packed weekend across the water. The main action was in the flights!!! We left in thick fog on Friday afternoon and all was fine until we soared above the coast of Wales where we could see the most humungous clouds lying in wait for us. It was horrible - sideways turbulence all the way to Birmingham. The sick bag was in hand but thankfully not needed - I am a very poor flier. Returning last night the pilot (rather unnecessarily in my view) told us about the galeforce winds awaiting us in Cork as we left Birmingham. I don't know which route we took but it wasn't the usual one - and the landing was dramatic to say the least. However, a very good weekend was had, the highlight of which was seeing Macbeth in the recently renovated Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The theatre itself is stunning, totally revamped and now connected to the Swan with a huge glass walkway. The new auditorium is a huge improvement on the old one and is in the round with three levels of seating. We were in the front row and son number 1 and my brother were splattered copiously with Banquo's blood!!! It was a fantastic performance - very imaginative and bold, and the director had managed to find new things to do with the play. I hope I wont be accused of spoiler-alert but the opening scene was amazing - literally. All the hubble bubble toil and trouble was cut out and there were no witches - instead they were played by three children. These three (small) children were lowered onto the stage from the rafters on ropes, as if hung. It was an incredibly powerful moment and so audacious of the director to get away with it!! The children were excellent and in a great leap of imagination and connection, were also cast as Macduff's children.

Not many blipping opportunities, far too busy eating and talking and walking along the river and being cultural, but I have backblipped something for saturdaywhich sort of sums things up.

The weather continues to be spectacularly wild. I have just been across to the north side to look at the waves. Exhilarating.