WC OCTOBER 18.
The week started brilliantly with a London interview with Jane McDonald. We are old friends and it was a real pleasure to interview her again. This time to promote her brand new CD and DVD release, as a comined package, of her recent London Palladium Concert. As ever, Jane was a gem to chat to and we had our usual fun.
En route to Jane I popped to Pimlico to pay a social call on my longest showbiz pal, Craig Douglas. He has had to give up the business due to ill health. Thankfully, he is now in a more positive frame of mind, despite another health problem. I also have tried to talk him into a little project that his Island fans would really appreciate. I am hopeful.
Had a rare day off on Wednesday – so I went to see Claire Sweeney in Tell Me On A Sunday at the Kings, Southsea I had only seen Marti Webb in previous productions. Claire, like Marti, a lovely lady, did so well in the part and the format has been superbly updated with the use of computers and more modern jargon. It still works so well. It is a lot more sexy and seductive than the original, such are the demands of current audiences.
On Friday night I went to see Big Bad Mouse at the Whitwell Village Hall. I love this venue for real amateur village theatre. Its cosy, so close to the stage and the hosts are always very friendly. The full house seemed to enjoy the comedy. I left really amazed how Mike Santer has progressed as a local actor. He had never been near a stage a year or two ago. He made a lot of new fans at Whitwell.
Finished off the week with another visit to the theatre. This time it was for Herbal Bed at the Apollo. I love my job of seeing every Island amateur show for the County Press Theatre Awards. One night it was the farce-like Big Bad Mouse and the next night it was back to Shakespeare’s time for the superbly acted Herbal Bed.
I love real service from retailers and companies. I have been an O2 mobile user for at least 15 years. I had a problem with my Nokia and got so much help and good advice from Mark at the Newport 02 store. I now have a new phone – and he explored the avenue of keeping the old one – but it made so much more sense to obtain a new one. He did not try and sell me an expensive phone with gadgets I would never use. I don’t want to e-mail from a train going to Waterloo or watch a DVD or movie. I just wanted a trusted and reliable phone – and he came up with the perfect choice. I marked him high on my after-service text.
The week ended with an e-mail from Jim the organiser of the Duane Eddy Circle in Britain, to congratulate me on the interview. Other members were listening across Britain. It makes it all so very worthwhile.