Maastricht

What a fabulous weekend we had in Maastricht!  Perfect weather, company, food!  It definitely needs to be recorded here.  So here come the photos...

 The adventure started when AS and Mamma picked John and I up from school at our early 1.30 holiday finish on 7th April and we were off on our European Road Trip.  Sadly the M25 meant we didn't make the train time we had booked for but due to the wonders of Flexiplus we were able to drive straight on the next Eurotunnel train.  A first for us all and quite a bafflement yet a successful experience.  

 Saturday saw us meet up with Lizzie and start our two days of her showing us the wonders of Maastricht interspersed with splendid food stops.

 Breakfast/brunch at Piece of Cake.  Check out those glasses!

 Lots of lovely parks to walk through and statues to stumble upon.

 Maastricht had my favourite blossom of the year so far.

 We stopped at Lizzie's place to see where she had been living in the old cigar factory - and to experience the high bed!

We carried on walking through the parks and along the old walls of the city.

One of the great stops was the bookshop that has been created within an old church building.  Lovely to browse through.

 Then a walk across the River Maas.

After a rest back at our Airbnb place we went to the Lumiere which is also a cinema for a delicious evening meal.

Sunday. 

 After driving to Lizzie's and loading the car up with some of her belongings, we set off walking again down more beautiful streets and passages.

 Time for food again.  We stopped at this amazing old mill bakery.  Yum yum!

Then off again for more walking and browsing the shops.

We stopped at another old church building, or more accurately cloisters, that this time had been made into a hotel...

... with an unusual water vortex that captivated us!

Then it was time to walk up the hill of Maastricht for an ice cream and to admire the views before heading underground for the tour of the caves.

For our final meal we headed to the Vrijthof to eat in one of the many outdoor restaurants there.  And of course we had to follow it up with waffles!

Thanks Lizzie for such a super duper time!  I loved it!

Musical - School of Rock

It's been a while since I've written one of these posts!  Exciting times again!  We had had a date in the diary for a while to meet the friend we saw Billy Elliot and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with.  Not until two days before did they decide and book tickets for us to see School of Rock.  I hadn't really been involved in the discussions for it so hadn't enjoyed the anticipatory build up, but I did find a dress to wear to school that day!

We met at a restaurant, Joe Allen, in theatre land and it seems to be the place for pre-theatre goers.  It was a big basement area covered head to toe in theatre land posters!  I'd like to go again and take it all in!

We headed over to the New London Theatre which John (jokingly, but accurately) described as an NCP car park.  I mentioned that it was the first ever West End theatre I went to to see Cats.  The theatre was boldly decorated on the outside but I'd filled the space on my phone so didn't manage to get a photo.  Just this (rather poor) one of the inside from our seats.

I loved our seats.  It really felt like we were so close to the action.  We could see all the spit coming out of the lead's mouth as he enunciated - yuk!  We were also the front row of the second part back of the stalls which meant comfy leg room.  It really felt like a great theatre for this show which was so much of a performance.  Not sure actually if that makes sense or is true, but I know I really loved it!

I had seen the film around the time it came out over 10 years ago now and I think I had vaguely heard that it was being made into a musical.  Two weeks ago I was enjoying an unknown song on Elaine Paige on Sunday and was then surprised to discover it was from School of Rock and that Andrew Lloyd Webber had something to do with it.  And that was all I knew!

On to the show itself...

It started with an announcement that I was surprised to find out was Andrew Lloyd Webber (felt I should have recognised his voice!).  He (pre-recordedly) welcomed us and said the question that is asked most often is 'are the children really playing the instruments live and the answering is a definitely "yes they are"!

Then the show started and it was a wonderful evening of enjoyment.  R noted at the break that the pace was really good and I realised that was exactly what I'd been thinking without knowing enough to put it in to words.  It was just continually enjoyable and didn't have any lows.  Most scenes slid from to another without ending for applause  and the scenery was always changing so it just kept rolling.  Not being a rocker myself ;-) I couldn't really buy the whole 'stick it to the man' thing, but I still had a great evening and sung 'stick it to the man' most of the way home!

I enjoyed the moment that the girls were auditioning by singing a snippet of song and the last girl sang 'Memories' and he said 'let's get one thing clear - that song will never be heard in this building again' and there was a great knowing laugh from the audience.  I'd love to know if that bit is in the film; I kinda feel that it is.  And I was very interested to find out in my wikipedia-ing that School of Rock was the first ALW since Jesus Christ Superstar in something like 1971 to open on Broadway before the West End, and that it's playing on Broadway in the theatre that housed Cats for 18 years!  Coincidence?!?

I loved watching the kids join the band 'you're in the band' and watching them play was absolutely amazing - another plus of our great seats being able to see them so clearly.  Katie on bass was great with her pout and I really enjoyed the energy of the backing dancers.  Tamika's singing in the second half blew everything out of the water for me!  I'd love to know how and when the kids started playing their instruments.

I couldn't really figure out how 'where did the rock go?', the song from EPOS was going to come in, but it did and I really enjoyed it.  That was the only song that sounded Andrew Lloyd Webbery to me and I feel it's right up there with my favourite of his ballads.   I like the thought of it becoming a classic.

I liked the way the kids were really the mean characters being on stage the majority of the time.  The adults were far more incidental and I feel only Dewey Finn and possible the headmistress should have got a curtain call ahead of them.  It was a really great ending of the show.  The children went to perform at the Battle of the Bands and while they were performing I absolutely loved the way the house band, who had been playing up at the height of the circle to the side of the stage, got up leaving their instruments behind and leant over the side and were basically cheering on the kids band and doing the 'rock moves'.  I thought it was a really nice touch to show them appreciating the kids.  Either at the end of that, or the next number, some audience were up on their feet and I was willing enough people to do so so that I could and eventually I did and they told us to stay on our feet which I loved!  They did their battle of the bands encore number and then it was the curtain call where it seemed quite natural for Dewey Finn (who I don't think of as Dewey Finn but more as Jack Black) to introduce the characters and then he introduced the 4 lead kid musicians by real name which I thought again was a splendid touch.

All in all a jolly excellent evening.  I would like it to win the Olivier for best new musical next weekend or at least the special award where the children's band have been nominated.  I want to try and find a list of the kids we saw.

Feeling Tired

Last afternoon and night I was feeling like I would like to write a blog post.  I was feeling tired, mainly emotionally and mentally and I thought I fancied diary-ing about how I was doing.  I am at school at the moment and have done quite a bit of my work.  I could do some tidying or more marking, but I decided I would have a go at this.

And funnily enough I am now feeling more energised so maybe the post isn't needed so much.  And my lift is ready now so off I go!  So you may or may not get anymore here!

Refill station - Shopping without the packaging

I have wanted to do a podcast about this for ages! But a bit like the banana bread, I find it so awkward to know what to call it! It's a stall at the East Oxford Farmer's Market or is it Community Market?! Somewhere (I think on the un-updated website) it's called SESI but how do you say it and what does it stand for. Unhelpfully there are no signs at the stall. I tend to call it something along the lines of packaging-free or refill place.

After that rant about not knowing what it is, I'll now talk about how fantastic it is!! I have probably been 5 or 6 times now and beginning to feel like I know what I'm doing. I was very nervous the first few times and that's the sort of situation I feel quite uncomfortable with as I don't know the system and the etiquette. It got better when I was brave enough to ask for a list of what they have so I can study it at home in advance. John and I have also been through it marking the items we are likely to buy so I can just look through those each time to see if there is anything I need. Then we have also been collecting containers and keep those in a bag ready for the market. I go through those in the morning and make a list of what we want and which container it will go in.

It's a bit of a lifestyle change from being able to go to the shops and get something whenever we should fancy, to only being available on a Saturday morning from 10-1. Quite often we are not around on a Saturday morning but if we are I try to stop at the market on my way back from park run. And it's funny having to wait your turn at the stall. But I try to remind myself that that is a good old world thing like Blair's shop in Carmody, PEI! I try and mentally allow an hour for the shopping.

It's a nicely efficient set up. You pick a little yellow number and wait to be called and then they place your number on the hook so you and they know who is next. All the tubs of goods they offer are lined up along the back. On the table are the scales where we put our containers to be refilled. There are also the bottle pumps with liquids like washing detergents - some of which we have recently started to do ourselves. They write down each price on a scrappy notepad and so unless I read it upside down I have no idea what I'm spending on each thing! Another example of the weirdness of this lifestyle - price is no longer the consideration! And often we are now getting things in strange quantities so prices seem funny. Scarily I spent £10 on olive oil and £8 on an ice cream tub of dried mango last Saturday!

Also at the market are other stalls. Lots of nice looking lunch sort of things of various country origins. There's an amazingly big bread stall. Then outside there is a fruit and veg market that I'd like to get in the habit of using more. On Saturday it was mainly a veg market, possibly just winter thing? There is also an egg refill place that we have been using latterly. I was also excited to see the milk last weekend. Their cows hadn't been producing latterly apparently so they'd been away but are planning to be back now. I'm looking forward to getting my milk from there till we can live somewhere that we can have a milkman.

So once I've added my photos (don't seem able to from phone - such a pain the app is gone!) I think that completes this long awaited post. I'm not sure if it came across, but this is a new part of my life that I'm really excited about and enjoying and want to get their Oxford people to partake in!

I'll just finish with a funny little story. Last Saturday I was proud of getting up in time for park run and market despite not setting an alarm. I ran in the snow and then went a different way to the market at the primary school in hopes of finding somewhere to park without having to pay for the car park. Unsurprisingly it turned out to be permit holders everywhere on the other side but I parked a way up the hill and then walked down to the school feeling rather chilly now I'd cooled after the run and surprised how heavy empty containers can feel (I guess there were a few glass ones). Just as I finally made it to the school, I suddenly realised I had no money with me, at all. Not on me, not in the car... So I just had to turn around and walk back up the hill in the cold and drive home. At least there I showered, warmed up and breakfasted before heading back again. At least it's not a mistake I should be making again!

January's plastic

Here it is!  We tried to keep aside all the plastic we were going to throw away in January.  I was going to do it for a week, but then that didn't feel like it would be representative, so I decided to do it for a month.  But I think I must have got slack and started putting some plastic in the regular recycling bin as I feel sure it must have been more than this!

'The Book' (have I even really talked about what the book is?)  includes a list of questions for the Show Your Plastic Challenge.  I'll try answering some of them.

Q: Looking at my photo and list, what feelings arise for me?
A: Where's the rest? I can I live without this stuff.  How can I live without chocolate?  Why are cards and magazines in plastic?  What about when people (/school children) give us gifts in plastic?  I realise these are probably not classed as feelings!

Q: What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
A: I rather think the easy to replace things we have already done back in September. And then more we have looked into at the packaging refill market stall. So this is tricky!

Q: What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn't exist?
A: Ummm, not sure I can think of anything... Ready made sweet things. Heat in microwave rice etc.

Q: What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternatives?
A: toothpaste. Paracetamol. Quorn. Cheese.

Q: What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption? 
 A: start making my own bread. Start smoothie-ing again. Milk from the market.

Q: What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
A: Chocolate chips for cooking. The chocolate bars are in paper.

Q: What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
A: We are on the right track. It's very hard when you are given plastic things as gifts. Plastic is everywhere!!!

Let's see how this spurs me on to reduce plastic...

TES magazine package
Royal mail package
Spaghetti wrapper
Cold and flu tablet case
Chocolate chips bag x2
Tissue box plastic bit x2
Courgette package
Cling film
Cadbury dairy milk wrapper
Toothpaste tube
Pitta bread wrapper x2
Contact lens cases x 4
mouth wash bottle
Orange juice carton caps x3 (must be more!)
Grated cheese bags x2
Warburton's toastie pockets wrapper
Oatcake wrapper x2
Milk bottles x3
Microwave quinoa and rice packet
Satsuma bags x2
Quorn mince bag
M&S caramel crispy tub
Chocolate orange wrapper and holder
Chocolate biscuit casing
Individual Chocolate wrappers x16
Supermarket veg plastic bags x7 (lots more used for rubbish bags
Toiletries gift packaging
New pillow bag
Heat in the oven baguette wrappers
Shower spray bottle
Random packaging?
Mr Muscle two bottle costco packaging
Cereal bag
Greetings card bag
9 unidentified clear plastic bag wrappers