MARY POPPINS

Went to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle this afternoon to see Mary Poppins.  It was wonderful.  Great songs and all the cast were excellent - and so energetic.  In fact it was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Some facts about the mammoth production:~

It takes around 22 hours to take the show out of a venue and three days to put it into the next, working 24-hour days.

One hundred production and local crew are involved in putting the show into a venue.

Wardrobe staff do 64 loads of washing per week. The costumes are washed regularly – then sprayed and painted to look dirty.

There is a cast of 45 - 35 Adult Cast and 10 children – 5 teams of 2 children, 2 children perform at each performance and 2 are in the building on standby. Each cast member has 19 sets of costumes, shoes and hats. All the shoes have a special rubber sole so nobody slips.  There are 90 wigs including those worn by understudies.

There are 97 moving lights and three spotlights used in every show.

There are 600 props used in the show and all have to be accounted for before each performance.
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The show finished around 5pm and I popped into Tesco before heading to Specsavers for my 5.30pm appointment to pick up my two new pairs of glasses. It took a bit of time to get them fitted and then I went to Primark.  Just to have a look - but in the end I bought five things - total cost £35.

Got the bus home and got in the house at 7.30pm.  Cats were glad to see me as they had been on their own since 1pm. Weather today was cold and windy so they haven't been outdoors much.

It was 15 years ago today that my husband Douglas passed away at the age of 73.  His death was a real shock.  Just a week before he had seemed Ok.  He took tablets for high blood pressure but apart from that he went about his life with no problems.  He ran marathons and half marathons around the UK and abroad.  He ate a healthy diet.  He didn't smoke and hardly touched alcohol.  Then on Friday 22nd September 2001 he had a stroke.  He was at home in bed at the time.  I phoned for an ambulance and he was taken to hospital.  Initially things didn't look too bad.  He was still able to speak a bit and could move one of his arms.  However in the week that followed he had two more strokes each one worse than the other,  After the last one we were told there was no hope and just to prepare for the worst.  All machines were turned off, tubes removed etc and Douglas passed away peacefully.

So only a week between seemingly being Ok and passing away.   Becky was 18 and Neil only 17.  Becky was at college and Neil was at school studying for his A levels. A big thing for them to cope with at the time.  But they did cope.  Becky did well at college, met her husband to be and had moved away to Hull within a year.  Neil passed his A levels with good grades and got a place at Newcastle University.  And I coped - slowly but surely learned to live my life without him.  Can't say it was easy and of course I still  miss him.  But you just have to get on with things don't you.  So today we have been remembering the happy times. 

I have put a photo of Douglas in my extras.  It was taken in 1999.  He had just returned from a Palestine Police Reunion trip --- to Palestine - wearing the T Shirt he bought as a souvenir.

Ps - The match last night ended wonderfully.  Newcastle were playing Norwich and at full time the score was Newcastle 2  Norwich 3.  Then we had 6 mins of extra time.  Newcastle didn't give up and managed to score 2 more goals.  Final score Newcastle 4 Norwich 3.  Another three points in the bag. 

Steps today - 7,038