Oh, what a lovely weekend.
Les Mis, of course, was wonderful. The concert version is nothing in comparison with the theatrical version, but when there is no theatrical version to be had, the lovely songs sung by magnificent singers is a pretty satisfying second-best. If I felt inclined to quarrel, it would be with the people who decided which bits to cut in order to make it “concert”. So many of my favourite bits are odd lines that are sung between the “songs”, and some of these are also quite useful in that they explain what’s actually going on… The scene where Ternardier tries to rob Valjean and recognises him and reveals him to Jevert, for example. All gone. So Javert’s brusting into “There, out in the darkness, a fugitive running…” seems somewhat unmotivated. As far as you can tell from what’s gone on before he hasn’t seen Valjean for 10 years or so and so why should he suddenly go on about him now? The cut, also, deprives us of Ternardier’s delightful “In the absence of a victim, dear inspector, may I go? But remember when you’ve nicked him – it was me what told you so!” – the first part sung in a very obsequious tone, changing in the latter part to triumphant. Ah. Not to mention that they’d cut the line that sets me off crying: Marius saying “Oh God! It’s everywhere!” just before A Little Fall of Rain. *Sob* What a good thing I have the 3CD full version…
Due to Linda having stayed a sufficient number of nights at Rica hotels while working for the railway, we were able to stay at Grand Hotel for free, which was great fun. It really is Grand. The double bed was huge, it was actually wider than it was long, which, it must be said, is pretty unusual for hotel rooms. And to be able to go down to have breakfast at Grand Café… I could get used to a life of luxury, I assure you.
Saturday we went shopping. My main expense was a new filofax – or a “Grieg Plan”, rather (much cheaper) – splashing out on a real leather one… I came home to a message on the phone from someone who’s found the other one – so now I get the best of both worlds: An excuse to buy a new one and my old one (with all the information) back…
Having gone out after the concert on Friday (to a rather nice bar called Coco) we opted for a quiet night in on Saturday – we went to Dordy’s (friend of Linda’s) and saw the whole of the BBC/A&E Pride & Prejudice (yes, the one with Colin Firth). Being at the stage where I pretty much know it by heart, I got a bit of knitting done on my scarf.
And then Sunday morning(ish) we saw Kate & Leopold on dvd. Nice movie. Very nice man. Mmmm. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. Nice movie. “Feelgood” being an accurate description. Just the sort of thing when you feel you need a little help in order to believe in destiny and Mr. Right.
Then Linda cut my hair. Yay! I have short(er) hair again! Going to the hairdresser is not something I do. I think it’s boring and I resent having to spend money on it. However, I don’t like it when my hair gets too long, so I do need to get it cut every now and again.
Unfortunately, weekends have a sad tendency to end. If I were in charge we’d have four-day weekends. But we don’t. So it’s Monday. Ah, whatever, it’s not that bad. I have a pretty interesting job now. Sure, I’d rather be home reading, but then I’d rather be home reading pretty much all of the time, and I’m sure I’d get sick of it after a while (though possibly a long while).
It’s remembrance day, everyone. Sit back, take a deep breath and for a minute try to focus on all the reasons why we should not go to war…
Voice in my head: Avril Lavigne singing I’m With You