From Schubert to Shoes

Well, I had quite an eclectic weekend just past. It was started off with a trip to the RSNO Symphonies at Six at the Usher Hall. How highbrow! Well, good ol' 5pm.co.uk came through with another good offer and I thought "Why not?" I don't think it was a special offer actually but I would never have found out about the concert if 5pm hadn't emailed me so Bravo to them. The programme was supposed to be Brahms Symphony No. 1 followed by Schubert Fantasia D940 in F minor (piano duet) but there was a slight hitch... 12 of the orchestra were stuck on a train somewhere between Glasgow and Edinburgh. D'oh! Luckily they were on their way so we had the piano duet first, or movement for four hands as it was charmingly called. It's a very lovely piece of music in my opinion and Louise and I were quite taken with the French dude (Frank Braley) who accompanied the conductor (Stephane Deneve). Bruce was less impressed, though I suspect this is because he was jealous of his crown of foppish French hair ;oP

Then the rest of the orchestra had turned up and they could get on with the Brahms. Huzzah! There we were, enjoying the symphony and I happened to notice one of the violinists on the right hand side ducking out of a door. I don't know if it's coincidence or not but a few moments later the fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate the building. Blimey! More bad luck. Well, not for me actually because I needed to see a man about a dog and took the opportunity to nip into the Trav bar. They did finish the concert after that, but about half the audience had beggared off in the interim. Needless to say the audience got one of the biggest rounds of applause I've ever heard at the end - mostly I think for managing to get to the end of the concert. Again, bravo to them and I'll definitely be back for their next Symphony at Six in December. That is supposed to be an Elgar cello concerto, Nielsen Symphony No. 4 and Bach solo cello suite no 3 in C major. Ooh! Can't wait!

After the symphony we met up with Craig and headed to Phenecia for dinner. Oh burpalicious my friends! Love that place! We had hummus and pitta to start and then I had the sunshine chicken. Yum yum yum yum yum. After dinner, as an antidote to all that highbrow culture stuff, a bit of Russ Mayer was the order of the day. I picked up a copy of 'Up' a few months ago for cheap in Fopp and we thought we'd give that a go. My goodness me! I perhaps should have read the back more carefully, but I doubt that would have helped. Nowhere on the box did it mention that the film starts with Hitler being sodomised by a bloke dressed as a pilgrim father. Then Mr Hitler gets eaten by a pirhana fish. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Got to love it! That's the start of a big tits and shagging and nonsense fest in the best traditions of Mr Mayer. It was ace!

On Saturday I finally gave in to the little voice inside me that's been telling me to put a bit more in the dressing up box. I was in Cameron Toll and before I knew it I was in New Look and at the till with my ruby slippers (see picture). Oh man! They are fantastic. I love them! They were quite cheap and, once I pick up a pair of stripey tights, I'm sorted for any future fancy dress parties I may be invited to. I can definitely justify the purchase that way ;o) They are just wonderful though and I will probably wear them out to a few Xmas nights out. I want to wear them to work just now though! Sigh.

Saturday evening was my old boss' fireworks do down at Bankton House. There was a huge bonfire, Crombie's sausages aplenty, mulled cider and a spectacular (for somebody's back garden anyway) fireworks display with accompanying music. Apparently Yvette's husband had been on a fireworks safety course this year, so that was reassuring. I'm not sure exactly what that means but one would hope it means you get access to bigger fireworks! The display was great though and the smell of bonfire only stayed in my hair for about 2 days afterwards. The mulled cider caught up with me on Sunday though and most of the day was spent in the company of Buffy and the Scooby gang. I'm on season 3 at the moment and I'm getting quite impatient as my Angel box set arrived last week and I'm itching to start watching those. I'm going to try and do it properly though and maybe watch it in tandem with season 4 of Buffy. Or I may just go 'Feck it!' and run off on a big Angel binge. Watch this space....