From Panto to Pinter ...

This weekend we have been setting up for the Finn-Brit Players' Harold Pinter revue, the latest activity in their Pinter project. Rehearsals until now have mainly taken place at the offices of the Finn-Brit Society in Helsinki - the photo shows the festive table there, selling British goods in aid of the Anglican church in the city. Expats have been able to buy such treats as Branston pickle and Frank Cooper's marmalade, bringing a taste of home for those who have been too long away from the motherland. You may recognise a few of your own favourites in the picture.

For the revue, I am assistant stagehand, building on the technical skills garnered from lighting the last show. It is proving to be useful experience which I hope to put to use when I return to the one seasonal favourite not available here, British pantomime.

While I have been preparing here, my family and friends at home have been set building and preparing for the run of Jacko and the Watercress stalk, which opens on Tuesday in Old Alresford, hopefully to the usual packed houses.  I will be home in time to do front of house on Saturday night and then join the cast and crew party afterwards, helping with teardown on Sunday.

Though I love the panto and the shows we produce in TOADS, I am also enjoying the straight theatre productions here.  It has been great to get some life back into my work/life balance over the past couple of weeks!

My wife is a cow ...

Well, actually, she will be the front end of a cow, in the TOADS panto this year, Jacko and the Watercress Stalk.  My youngest daughter is playing the rear end and tonight I saw them rehearsing this for the first time.

Normally on weekends when I am back in the UK, I leave home around 3:30pm and so am gone by the time rehearsals start. But unusually this week, I am working in the UK on Monday and Tuesday and had the rare treat of a Sunday evening at home.

You may have noticed, dear reader, that it has been over a month since my last post. I do apologise, this was down to a couple of factors, the first being that the last month has been rather busy at work and the second that I am finding, after more than two years of living in Finland, that there are fewer things that seem novel to write about. So this post is rather more focused on "home home", rather than my weektime home of Helsinki.

Last weekend was also spent in the UK, celebrating at the village bonfire night party (I have posted about this before; as usual I was flipping burgers on the barbeque and also cooked Broccoli & Stilton soup).  Before that, though, we headed to Christchurch to collect two new kittens, a replacement for our blue Burmese boy George, who was run over a few weeks ago. His brother Zippy, a lilac Burmese, had never been alone since he was a kitten and so was pining for company.  When we returned from the breeder with Darcy (a brown Burmese) and Willoughby (a snow spotted Bengal), you could tell that he was trying to tell us that he wasn't that lonely! However, a week later and they all seem to be getting along fine. I have posted some photos on my Facebook account but you can see them here, even if you are not a Facebook user.

Sunday was a mild and sunny November day and we were able to drive to the pub in my wife's car with the roof down, as it was 12 degrees celsius. In Helsinki I am already driving on winter tyres and temperatures hit minus 5 celsius last week, so I shall enjoy the sunshine and relative warmth while I can.

Finally, you may have noticed a few changes on the blog. The new header photograph was taken from the boat heading to Korkeasaari zoo in the summer. In the sidebar to the left, I have added a feed showing my latest status as reported through Facebook; if you have not already added me as a friend on Facebook, there is a button to do so further down.  I hope you continue to enjoy the blog, comments are welcome as ever.