Last week I had a date with Dawn French. Well, me and hundreds of other Manchester Palace Theatre goers. It was a great night, less the stand-up routine that some people were expecting (judging by some overheard comments) and more about what it is to be Dawn and bits, really big bits, from her life so far.
This was story telling at its best, enhanced with a backdrop of photos from the family album. At times it was laugh out loud hilarious, at others so heart wrenching that certain, ahem, people in the audience had to stuff their gobs with tissues to muffle the sobbing. It was no holds barred, very well written, superbly delivered and I loved every minute.
Staying over with the Girlie and her mister we ventured into neighbouring Derbyshire the following day for a mooch amongst the gloriously autumnal colours before a delicious late lunch.
Back home (somewhat later than planned after a mix up in arrangements which had me waiting to be picked up in one location in town and the mister and his car in another), the cake tin was empty so the bowls came out and brownies were baked. This was another of Jamie's recipes, very chocolatey, very tasty but a tad too crumbly for me. I prefer my brownies squidgy so would maybe take them out of the oven sooner next time.
We're not looking forward to November 5th here. Not that we don't enjoy fireworks, we do. It's just that Boo doesn't. He really really doesn't and turns into a quivering, panting, petrified mess at the slightest bang (which is slightly barking as he's a gun dog). So we're using a couple of these. There have been several firework parties locally in the run-up to Bonfire Night and, so far, the plug-ins have made no difference whatsoever. Nor have they had any visible effect on Boo's similar reaction to Jeremy Paxman's voice.
Ah well, at least the spuds here are happy.