Annoyed of Tunbridge Wells has a night at the opera

Have just fired the below off into the ether:

     "On Saturday 23rd February I attended Scottish Opera's Werther at the Theatre Royal Glasgow and sat in the Balcony. An otherwise enjoyable performance was thoroughly spoiled by the amount of noise made by the Balcony front of house staff throughout the performance. Starting within minutes of curtain up and continuing throughout there was thudding about, doors slamming (presumably the bar door), rustling, whispering, squeaking (plastic or polystyrene type noises) and walky talky sounds. I can appreciate that there might be some noise 5 minutes prior to the interval opening the bar but this was throughout the performance and ruined the standout aria in Act 2. While the performance was not well attended that doesn't mean that people who did pay for tickets should have to put up with this. I couldn't see what they were doing because of the wooden barrier at the back of the Balcony seating but whatever it was should have been done outwith performance times, especially during an opera where it's all about the sound quality.

I'm currently in the habit of attending Scottish Opera performances in Glasgow rather than Edinburgh but if this happens again, the Festival Theatre will be getting my custom in future."*





Now, one could argue that all that's a reasonable response to Werther which may qualify as the world's most annoying opera, featuring as it does winsome kiddies, rustic yokels and the most pathetic 'hero' ever. But still...

The performance seems to have been well reviewed and musically was pretty blameless (what I could hear over the noise from behind me) but the staging was ugly and conceptually really creepy - what was going on with Werther continually mistaking his beloved's little sisters for her?

What's more, the production was advertised with this, which looks moody and rather romantic:




Yet the singer, while blessed with a beautiful voice, looked more like an Edwardian railway clerk with an overexposure to Brylcreem. However no-one (except followers of Jonas Kaufmann) really expects to be visually as well as auditorily stimulated by their tenors so that's only a minor niggle.

*Have I ever claimed not to be pompous? No, I have not. I own it.

If you substitute me for English guy, this reminds me strongly of my marriage

Straight out waste of money

My problems with my fringe continue to upset and offend so I thought I'd give this a try. As you can see, it comes in a box so I did not read the teeny tiny print on the back of the bottle before purchasing. If I had, I would have found out one thing and failed to find out a second. The thing you are told is that to keep your hair straight for three days as promised by this product, you have to use flat irons every day. Not every third day, Every day. If I want to do that, I don't need this product do I? The thing you aren't told is that it doesn't work without also using serum. Without serum it keeps hair straight about 30 minutes maximum. And if I use serum, I don't need this product, do I? And with serum and straighteners, you get about 3 hours of straightness out of it. Pointless waste of money.

Recommend or do not recommend? Do not recommend.

Breakfast scene

I shuffled across the road this morning for breakfast, which in retrospect was too much too soon but never mind.

As I was leaving, a delightful family group of parents and two small sticky infants arrived. The cafe has a slightly utopian arrangement that allows customers to pick their own roll from a shelf before handing it over to the counter staff to be turned into a bacon roll. Mostly people do not forage extensively but pick the first roll that comes to hand. Not so with this family. The father 3 times picked up a roll, handed it to his son to fondle and reject and then replaced it on the shelf before trying another. The child then threw a roll on the floor which the father picked up and returned to the shelf, to be eaten hours later by some poor unsuspecting sod.

All of which only serves to reinforce my view that a necessary condition of having a child is house arrest for a minimum of 8 years. I mean, I completely understand that your kiddie's taste in breakfast rolls is the most important thing in the universe to you but does that have to be completely incompatible with a tiny amount of consideration for other people?

Anyhow, that's the last bacon roll I'll be buying from them.

ssshhh, do not speak of it

I get the point of brand protection, I really do, but this is utterly ludicrous. However I am very happy not to further mention or in any way promote this utterly idiotic and wasteful fiesta of self frottage which should have been cancelled the moment the nation went into recession and should certainly have been axed before the government started cutting disability benefits.

I'm my own worst enemy

The camera is no longer within guarantee so I can't return it. The aqua tint has been a problem since day one so I could have done something about it last year. But I didn't, because I was too busy, or too depressed, or too forgetful, even though it ruined my holiday photos from New Zealand. It seems to affect outdoor photos only and turns everything blue or grey a strange shade of turquoise. It's annoying me. Almost as much as I am annoying me at present. Of course, I can adjust the colour balance on the computer afterwards but that's no fun when you have over 1000 photos.

So, it's the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8. I'm not sure I'd buy a Panasonic again after this. What sort of camera do you have and does it have any peculiarities?