Too much to do and not enough time!

You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged lately. That isn’t a product of a stagnant creative urge, but more a lack of time with not enough hours in the day. Much of that busyness is self imposed, but not all.

Work is just ridiculous at the moment. We are going through a complicated restructure to make savings (although the official message is to create efficiencies) which I am leading as many of my teams are affected. It is taking up an inordinate amount of time and effort to dot ‘I’s’ and cross ‘T’s’ to make sure that it is not only thought through but ‘union proof’ as well, and immune to challenge. Couple that with a bunch of senior colleagues who do not want to listen to my advice (of course me being the only one qualified in general management as well as project and programme management means I am not worth listening to) and it makes for a very frustrating and demotivating experience.

On the more positive side, I have just started DJ’ing for a local community radio station, which I am thoroughly enjoying. That is something which I didn’t anticipate doing when I said in January “Now, I’m going to have a rest for a few months”, but it is an opportunity which has just presented itself and is proving to be great fun. So tune in to www.ridgeradio.co.uk (it’s a web based broadcast, not over the conventional airwaves) from 5pm to 7pm every Friday evening for ‘Friday Footlights’ or from 7am until 9am alternate Saturdays (starting this Saturday, 9^th) for the Breakfast show with news, views, popular music and classic golden oldies to hear my dulcet tones where ever you happen to be. You’ll enjoy it, I promise! You can even send in a request or dedication and I’ll try and play it for you.

All this is running alongside the fact that we are making sterling efforts to get the house sorted out the way we want it to be, after many years of compromise to accommodate our tribe of children. We have tidied the hallway to make it more welcoming and moved all the admin stuff and the computer upstairs to create a proper study. Next up is to tidy the outside lobby and have a massive chuck out (hopefully over Easter if the weather is fine as we will have to put everything outside overnight before we can sort it and put it back in a more sensible order) and then the loft (which we will do instead at Easter if it is horrid weather) which has stuff in it we haven’t touched for ten years and therefore probably don’t need or want. After that, we will move the lounge round to face the garden again and use the ‘front room’ as the dining room, which it is much more suited for.

I’m also making efforts with my health, trying to sort out all the medical issues which have plagued me for the last few years and trying to get slimmer, fitter and basically with more zest for life. I am tired of being tired all the time (forgive the pun). I want to put myself in good shape to have a long and fulfilling old age, ideally in the Mediterranean sun, and so need to be healthy enough not to have to rely on the Greek medical system (not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just not the NHS [maybe that’s a good thing] and it’s expensive!).

Finally, I have all these creative ideas flowing for children’s books, a TV cookery series and goodness knows what else. Despite now having had almost two months off from doing shows, I’ve done nothing about any of it, and it’s about time I did; I’m sick of what I currently do for a living.

So I’ve been busy. But I like blogging, and I know that quite a few people read it, so they must enjoy them. So I’ll make more of an effort in future, I promise! Now, back to work…..

Half way through! Oh, no it isn't!

Well, half the panto run is done and yet again it is great to give such a lot of pleasure to so many people.

We have had five sell out performances so far, with another five to come. Along with everyone else, I’m exhausted and totally ready to have tonight and tomorrow off before starting again on Wednesday.

Almost 50% of our audiences so far, if not more, have been children, many of them very young. Watching them watching me, I am reminded that children, particularly the under eights, still have the capacity to be amazed and entertained by live entertainment which touches into the very roots of childhood. The simple concepts of good and evil, colour, light and visual spectacle remain, even in this sophisticated technological age, wonderful entertainment for children and adults alike.

Live entertainment, particularly live entertainment that the whole family can watch together, is more than just passing the time. It is a shared experience, a coming together of the generations in an age old activity which transcends politics, religion and other secular interests.  That doesn’t just apply to panto, it could equally well apply to other forms of artistic entertainment or even to sports watched together. Anything that everyone can participate in whatever their age, intellect or physical limitations could apply equally well.

This weekend, I have seen children’s faces lit up with pure, innocent enjoyment at the music, dancing and colour. They have cheered the goodie and heckled the baddie (me!) with enthusiasm. They have been allowed, for a brief time, to participate in something which does not depend upon violence, bad language, strife (watch any episode of East Enders, for instance, to see strife on a daily basis) or other people’s misfortune (reference ‘Stenders again!) for entertainment. In short, they have had a bit of fun and a bit of balance put back into their lives.

That might be stretching it a bit too far for some of you, but personally I would like to see more of this (ie live entertainment and activity) for our children and less of the telly and video games.  It’s very easy to detach oneself from violence or bad behaviour in celluloid, pretending it’s not the real world (although some clearly find it difficult to do so judging by the copycat actions of a few loners) but watching something with real people that you can touch has a more profound effect.

I am looking forward to the second half of the run very much. It will be more adults in the audiences from now on – it always is – but it is equally good fun watching grown men and women regress into childhood, shouting, laughing, booing and cheering for 2 ½ hours. Hopefully they will all go home having thoroughly enjoyed themselves and been able to detach from the cares and responsibilities of reality for a short while. If they can, I shall feel it’s a job well done.