Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2009

1-16 May 2009 is the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. There's lots of really interesting performances going on, these are the ones I've got my eye on at the moment...

Glisssssssendo - 1 May on Millenium Plain, 5.15pm and 10.15pm (FREE!)

Dressed in cone-shaped gowns and hats spouting flames and performing on an assortment of brass, percussion and plucked instruments, the members of Fanfare Le S.N.O.B move swiftly and silently, morphing as if by magic into transfixing choreographed routines. These magnificent musicians/comedians are by turns heroic, glorious and hilarious, pushing the limits of a mere fanfare to create, in their own words, generous and humorous shows.

Bombs per Minute or Tres Mechant -2 May at Earlham Park (FREE)

A clock ticks. Bells begin to toll. Fireworks start to errupt into the night sky in a continuous, almost hypnotic flow. The tempo quickens and a torrent of light and sound is unleashed – a furious but beautiful explosion of energy that will set your pulses racing...

Phillip Glass - Etudes and Other Solo Works for Piano - 15 May at the Theatre Royal - I really wanted to see this but all the cheap tickets have gone already!

The Garden Party - free performances in Chapelfield Gardens during the middle weekend including...

Levity III - Adults £4, children £3 - this will be open throughout the festival

A kaleidoscope of liquid light, gentle surround-sound and psychedelic colour. Levity III is a 10,000-square foot inflatable, walk-through sculpture inspired by Islamic architecture and the beauty of natural geometry. It’s also a fantastic chill-out zone, so come on in and lose yourself in multicoloured bliss!

There's much more going on, have a look at the website. A lot of performances have tickets for £5 for under 26s if you book in advance.

Prettier in pink 2 (before and after)

Ben did the sourcing, cycling it home, the screwing and gluing, we both did the sanding and painting and I did the upholstering. A perfect weekend couply project!

Prettier in pink (before and after)

Lent update

I very nearly caved yesterday - I still haven't got into a Spring routine yet and finding it hard to shake Winter-esque tiredness in the mornings. In my sleepy state I forgot Ben's key had broken in the lock the day before so managed to lock him in the house. Felt very stupid and miserable when he called me up at lunchtime, late for work because he couldn't get out of the house and I couldn't rescue him in time. Felt rotten by the end of the day, left work early and browsed the shops, but forced myself to leave before finding anything I liked. Bad day!

My work gives out 'VIP' awards if you get enough nominations and I was presented one last week in the shape of £30 of Next vouchers!!!!! Determined not to spend them til 13 April. 20 days to go...

Decorative Arts

There's a fabulous new permanent exhibition at the Castle Museum in Norwich called Decorative Arts. Lots of interior design inspiration! There's a great fashion section with fabulous examples from the Carrow Road textile archive - this isn't easily accesible to the public (I think you have to book an appointment) so it's great to see some items on display. They will be rotated every so often.

The exhibition is also made up of items that families in Norfolk have collected over the last few centuries. There are beautifully made pieces from all around the world including exquisite embroidered sleeves from China, Art Deco and Nouveau jewellery and many beautiful knick knacks like the girl below. It's a fascinating glimpse into the the work of some very talented people.


You can get in to the Castle for £1 if you go for the last opening hour any day or between 12-1pm on weekdays during term time. I find an hour is perfect to take in one or two sections before I start needing a cup of tea. Make the most of it!

Play

For Lent Ben has given up being stupid and is trying to be more cultured (this includes not reading The Sun!) It was one of our goals for our second year of marriage to share some form of learning together. We thought originally we might tackle an interesting book together but after our trip to the jazz bar in Bath it's turned into seeking out things like music and plays.

From this season's Playhouse programme we thought the play Dai (Enough) looked like the most interesting. It was given rave reviews at the 2007 Fringe festival so we thought we'd go for it.

Set in a Tel Aviv cafe, it portrayed several different characters talking about their lives and views on the Israel/Palestine war in the moments before a suicide bomber blew up the cafe. It was acted and written by Iris Bahr who was amazing - to be on the stage for nearly 2 hours must have been an exhausting experience for her and it was a brilliant performance. There are some clips on her website here.

I hate lent in a childish way :(

This morning I had a clothes crisis. It happens every so often... I experience a feeling of complete and utter despair about my wardrobe and hate my curves and have a little strop in front of my mirror. All this takes about an hour which means my flex time suffers and this morning I woke Ben up prancing on squeaky floorboards between the wardrobe and mirror.

Normally a morning like this would bring on a guilty shopping spree at lunch but as it's a week before pay day and I'm doing this STUPID lent thing I couldn't spend a thing. Plus the winter to summer season change is the one I find most exciting and want to embrace as soon as possible. It feels wrong wearing winter dresses!

I guess this is all part of going cold turkey from a bad habit - it's just my inner child needing to have a strop until I get over it and feel mentally ready to complete the rest of lent with a smile. As my dad would say, it's character building (GRR) and maybe this will have more of a spiritual impact than I first thought.

Talk of the lillies in the field and starving Africa will have to come later. I feel so immature!