Sunday Was Good...If Tiring...

I did not buy at the Food Festival...I did not want to buy and take food to the theatre, it was expensive and really I did not need any cheese or meat. I did get a look around Auckland Castle, if honest it was smaller than I expected(or is that just because some is not open to the public)Impressive, certainly but unless you are going to spend hours looking at portraits of past Bishops who lived there, you can do the tour very quickly.

I was on my way to Durham by 4pm. Somehow I killed almost three hours. Which with all shops closed and many cafés too takes some doing.

So I was struggling to find a connection to the internet via my tablet, my best two hopes wanted me to allow my details to be shared with other companies and be inundated with promotional information so I did not sign up.

The theatre does not appear to offer free public Wi-Fi but I'll ask next time I am there.

It was a great night of Big Band Music with The Syd Lawrence Band fronted by Chris Dean...it was a slightly smaller band this time with only 15 members(if you include Chris)but it sounded as good as ever and on this occasion any songs were sung solely by him. Sometimes we have a guest vocalist(usually female)

I had someone sitting next to me, he may've been enjoying himself, difficult to say because he sat with his arms folded the whole time, never applauded, his expression never changed and you never saw a foot tapping to the music.

The performance finished just a little late to get to the bus station for the 10.15pm bus home and even a taxi there would still have missed it. The usual bus stop on a bridge near the theatre because of Sunday service was no help either, Mon-Sat its great so I took it really slow back to the station...and was home for Midnight.

Plans on Monday were called off because I was tired and the weather was bad. I wanted to blame myself for not having a day out but in the end it was the right decision. If honest its not great today either. Its been so wet, gardening is out again as I'll have to wait for it to dry out again.

Its the music Club again tonight...perhaps I'll try and have a trip tomorrow.

I have found a company doing coach trips nearer to here, I still have to travel 7 miles to reach a pick up point and some trips are out because I will miss the pick up by 20-30 minutes. But most I can connect to.

So two trips appeal...and I think I will have to be quick to book  a seat before they all go. One is the Sunderland Airshow. I can go by public transport but coming home is a nightmare. They put loads of buses on to get there but not for coming back. A coach would be better. The other is the Tall Ships event in Blyth Northumberland(that's 2-3 hour journey on public transport)but again a coach would be better. So you pay but its more comfortable, takes less time and almost gets you door to door and is about the same price as a taxi one way for a distance of 7 miles and you've travelled much further.

And all being well if it gets back in decent time I can catch a bus home for the last 7 miles. I may try and go on some other trips during Summer. Especially as the theatre near me is closed for around 18 months and at present there isn't much I want to see at the other venues. I'll look into booking trips in the next day or two and contact the company.

I do have another show on Thursday which was booked ages ago. At present its all Big Band stuff. But some genres are difficult in that on Saturday the Big Band was playing as part of the Jazz Festival. Is it jazz? The same thing happens when the term Folk is used. It encompasses so much.

I think I'll make up a kind of Panini Roll with tomato, ham and green stuff to have at the club tonight and take some crisps. I share bags of crisps with others on my table.

Having spent a little lately, I am thinking I may treat myself to some of the new dinky hard drives that are smaller than the ones I have which look like big black books. They still work but the new ones store much more data, take up less room and look nicer.

Does anyone have any experience of those wearable fitness gadgets for checking your health? Are they any good or just another un-necessary gadget we think we need and are told that we do? I guess I keep thinking I may as well have one and be quite up to date. At present I can have one that is half price and a well known brand.

Update:I called in on the way home for some Strawberries, milk, Clover spread, stew vegetables so I can avoid going out on Wednesday, more of the same I fear on the weather front. The media is enjoying spinning the story of rain, sleet and snow but its nothing that unusual to be honest. As I came home late from the supermarket I was being hit by freezing rain. Luckily I was almost home.