Oh Yes we Did!

It's Friday and it's a blustery morning. The clouds scurry across the cold blue sky and the small fluffy clouds very soon give way to dark threatening storm clouds. Stamford has it's street market today. We consider going but the darkening sky really puts us off the notion.

Having finished all the good reads from my book shelves at the moment I decided I need to make a trip to the local library this morning. The library is in the Orton Center shopping Mall and that's a nightmare to go to at present. The area is having a total transformation although it's only about 30 years old. It must have taken about 10 years of talking, planning, rejecting plans, submitting new plans, and finding builders to finally get to this stage. Buildings have been gutted or demolished. New buildings are half built. The car park is a shambles. I sometimes wonder about the mentality of some drivers as they leave their cars in the most inappropriate places. Usually in the areas that should be for access.

I manage to park the car Ok and negotiate the barriers around all the building works. I need to get to the Chemists to get my prescription filled. The Chemist and the newsagents are just two of the few shops still able to operate. After dropping off the script I crossed the deserted, desolate area that was the open space between the two parades of shops only to find my way barred and have to make a detour before eventually making it to the library.

The wind is really gusting now and it's rattling the polythene sheeting covering the open window apertures in the gutted apartments above the shops shells below. Its all too eerie. So many young people use to live in these apartments. Now it's all too spooky. In the library I choose some books and dash back to the Chemist to pick up my pill and make it back to the car before the rain starts.

And so to Panto land we go.

This evening we have tickets for the Annual Key Theatre Pantomime. This year Michael Cross the Theatres Artistic director (and resident Panto Dame, see poster below) had written a new version of Mother Goose. We always go as a party with my sister and brother in law, Barbara and Colin, their grandchildren Lauren and Harry. Our son Jason with his daughter Grace completes the party. Our other Grandchildren are now teenagers and consider themselves too old for Panto.
Its raining lightly when we arrive and all the Christmas lights in the trees and the lights of the building reflect in the rain water on the ground. The blue and white lights are a theme in Peterboroughs' Christmas lights this year. Its warm in the theatre and the atmosphere as usual is full of excited children's voices. The tiny orchestra strikes up and the magic begins..............
Pantomime traditions and conventions - a Wikipedia definition.
Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, in-jokes, audience participation and mild sexual innuendo. Plots are often loosely based on traditional children's stories.

The Key Theatre is an intimate little theatre on the River Nene embankment. With only 400 seats everyone can see the stage easily from anywhere in the theatre auditorium. Its had some major refurbishment in the previous year and the entrance the lounge and restaurant had been dramatically improved. It's a busy theatre with plays and productions all year round.