Lowes Bridge 15

Limp Limp Limp. I’m fine, really, I’m fine. You have to let me out. No we don’t!

It was suggested to Tilly that she should take the weight off her paws today and put them up. Gentle feeling of both her front legs didn’t reveal anything, nor with her paws, hopefully it’s just a strain that is causing her limp, we’ll keep an eye on it. She headed back to bed after a bit of a grimace at me and stayed there for much of the morning.

I got in touch with Chippy to see if they could sort my access to the shared file for panto, this was passed onto their IT support, fingers crossed it’s sorted soon.

I got the paint colour charts out, time to see what colour to base the floor in. It being a sunny morning helped as I could compare my model pieces with the Dulux wadge of colours. Two came close, one a touch too green, the other not green enough. I opted for the one not green enough as once it has a coat of glaze on it it will go darker and slightly yellow making it hopefully nearer the right tint of green. This was followed by working through all the bits of scenery and deciding what colours I would need. I’ll see what there is at the theatre before compiling my final list to order.

No news regarding budgets or the props list today so I moved onto touching up the final piece of scenery for the printers. I only have a few days left of the free trial of Paintshop. Each time I log on I’m being offered a new reduced price to buy the programme, I’m still thinking about it.

This morning had been very chilly, Mick lit the stove, it did the job, but then had us sweltering inside, although under the pram cover warmed up even more as the back had been closed most of the day.

Mick had a chat with Chris, The Pink Hat Man. A week or so ago Chris finished his challenge to walk from Lands End to John O’Groats and back again. I’d been meaning to post about it when he finished but other things got in the way somewhat. So, huge congratulations to him for walking so far and raising funds for Hope and Homes for Children. He’s now back onboard NB Elektra, his bow webcam back in operation, and planning where to head next, there’s the Ribble Link to cross first, but then where?

We spruced ourselves up late afternoon and walked down to the bus stop by the Crewe and Harpur pub, the No 2 taking us all the way into Derby Bus Station. I’d spotted somewhere new to eat round the back of the bus station, but it was that new it hasn’t opened yet! Instead we headed to Nandos, a cheap meal for two with a glass of wine each before heading for the theatre to see Susie’s show.

I’ve not been into Derby Theatre for eleven years. Back then we were busy moving NB Lillyanne up the country towards Hebden Bridge for the Tour de France. I’d head to Derby for rehearsals of April In Paris whilst Mick single handed heading northwards, we leap frogged car and boat quite efficiently. Then the day after the show opened I was up early to drive to Hebden Bridge and catch a train into Manchester to work our way up the locks on the Rochdale Canal to the Rose of Lancaster. That was a long exhausting day after a production week. It was nice to be back.

Murder at Midnight is a comedy thriller by Torben Betts, his writing a little bizarre at times. Set on New Years Eve, waiting for the bongs to arrive. There is Jonny, the notorious gangster, his glamorous girlfriend, his trigger-happy sidekick, his mum who’s seeing things, her very jittery carer, plus a vicar who’s hiding something and a nervous burglar dressed as a clown. A past murder to solve, but will they all survive until midnight?

Mick and I are spoilt with our theatre going, the majority of shows we see are in the round. Sitting in a proscenium theatre now makes us feel quite some distance away from the story. Tonight was only their fourth show, tonight according to Susie they’d finally got their lines in the right place. It will soon tighten up and become the near farce that it is, after all there are moments of people running around without their trousers! New Year certainly goes off with a big bang… or several! The show is touring until March next year, although they do get Christmas and New Year off.

We joined Susie and a couple of her friends for a drink in her dressing room after the show and before the building locked up. Thank you Susie for the tickets and the wine. We look forward to seeing you again somewhere soon.

There was a wait for the last bus back to Swarkstone. But it soon zipped it’s way back out of Derby and we found ourselves walking in the dark to find the way down onto the towpath. Away from cars we could now see really well, the moon casting shadows of us as we walked past moored boats back to Oleanna and Tilly who promised she’d had her paws up all evening in front of the stove.

0 locks, 0 miles, 7.5 or 10 Litres base colour, 1 long list of colours, 1 tidy tent, 0 shore leave, 1 paw resting, 2 buses, 1/4 chicken each, 1 great bonkers Susie, 2 glasses, 1 midnight towpath stroll, 33 brisk minutes.