Been off work during this last week and did I go mad and party?...oh no, not me...we spent Monday in Brighton but that's as mad as it got! It was a very fun day, sleeping on the pebbles, eating seafood and chips, going on the pier, etc with Hels, Lornie, Jess and Shazzer was much fun. The gang had all gone down the day before for party time but I got a little distracted by the lovely young man in my bed so had to join them on Monday.

Tuesday...stayed on the sofa with Lornie who is ill at the moment.

Wednesday...Jess stayed off work so she could join me and Lornie on the sofa. But cabin fever of magnificant levels had hit by midday that we totally lost control and spend the rest of the day laughing at anything and everything. Richie came home to us collapsed on the floor when he had a "date" coming over...he kept frantically asking if we were drunk! We did all disappear to rooms when the date appeared!

Today, I cracked and had to go and do some art! Cruel and Tender at the Tate Modern. This is an exhibition of the real in C20th photography and the stand outs for me were Robert Frank ("You can photography anything now" - he had one wonderful photograph of a road, which made you feel you were standing there waiting for the next car to pick you up), Stephen Shore (street corners, diners, etc) and Martin Parr (bright, closeups of tacky consumerism). The show ends this Sunday, do try and catch it before it finishes. I then had to decide whether to go onto Tate Britain or go on the Globe Theatre tour...I opted for a bit of theatre...

The main guided tour itself doesn't really tell you anything you don't know already (actually that maybe because I'm a theatre bod, maybe other people don't know boring facts about the Globe and Shakespeare!)
The exhibition is very interesting though - from descriptions from diaries and letters from the time re: the area and the theatre, to the building itself, to other writers from Shakespeares time (I can never get over what a pretty boy Marlow was - that painting of him is like a pre-teen boy band photo!), to the costumes and there's a really interesting interactive authors space. This gives you the chance to "publish" editions of Shakespeare but you get the options to change the edition, use modern or period spelling, use modern or period punctuation, use cut or extended stage directions, use or not use scene divisions and change the typeface - fantastic ccomparing the difference between the texts you create (oh, maybe another boring Boudicca moment?).

One moment I particularly enjoyed on the guided tour was many of the flagstones have people's names engraved into them as a celebration of donated money. I took particular pleasure in seeking out people I don't like and grinding my heal into their names...oh, power mad I tell you, power mad!!

I also spent the rest of the day reading a really good book - The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd. Very funny indeed esp. I think for you bods who have experienced art/drama school!

Apart from that I haven't really been doing much over the last few weeks (well nothing that should be put on here anyway!) Lornie, Hels, Carla, Jess and I are going to Limp Bizkit on Saturday (not for the band you understand - free tickets plus it should be fun!) and then it's back to work on Monday...mind you, only two weeks there and then I have another holiday lined up. This one is a little more organised (rather than just relaxing at home!) and the family are going up north to visit my brother (plus I should be able to catch up with some old mates I haven't seen in ages...)

Also I see that 'Spirited Away' is being released here soon, everyone must go and see as it is the most amazing film - beautiful, strange, enchanting. Reminds me of Darian and New York!

Plus the clubbing withdrawal vibes are still in full flow but I can't seem to get it together to go out and get ratarsed and party (maybe something to do with lack of funds or maybe something to do with the young man in my life???)