HMRC Apology

Like the other 24,999,999 people who have their account details lost by HMRC, we received a letter of apology this week.    I am still not sure whether to be worried about this, or not, although I probably should be I suppose.
Whatever – that’s still a huge postage bill for HMRC (paid by us taxpayers).    Think [...]

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Edinburgh Inspires – Logo

 
The logo and brand for Edinburgh called “Edinburgh Inspires” which is basically three curvy lines is being “quietly dropped”.     It cost £800,000 to create and the project has had a further £120,000 spent on it.
While I realise that a brand is much more than the logo we see, to scrap it so early looks a hideous [...]

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The Soldier’s Tale

We were really excited about The Soldier’s Tale by Stravinsky at the Tron in Glasgow, and were not disappointed.    
The Tale is a straightforward Russian folktale about a soldier who makes a pact with the devil and and who discovers that riches alone don’t bring the happiness that love brings.    You would think that once he [...]

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East Coast Main Line – farewell GNER

Just had a hassle-free trip from Edinburgh to London and back on GNER.    Love them, or hate them, GNER have lost the franchise to run trains on the East Coast Main Line, and National express takes over in a few weeks time.
I wonder what it will all mean?    Higher fares above inflation have already been [...]

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Rhinoceros

At school in the 1970s, I was involved in the stagecrew for an Ionesco double bill of “Exit the King” and “The Bald Prima Donna” – we were involved in rehearsals and all the performances, and I came to realise that Ionesco plays were indeed something very strange, different and absolutely intriguing.    We had fun things [...]

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Millais

We went to the excellent Millais exhibition at Tate Britain.   It was Saturday morning, and really pretty busy to begin with, but crowds thinned out as we went on.   I did find taking the big print pamphlet for each room was very useful, as it saved having to get close enough to the wall read [...]

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Sweeney Todd

The latest production at Perth Theatre is a version of Sweeney Todd written, designed and directed by Graham McLaren.   
It starts off well enough with a fabulously thin tenament set, with Michael Marra’s trio of musicians in the attic of the barbershop – itself above the pie shop.    And the script goes well at first too, [...]

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Carbon Offsetting

Carbon Offsetting is a murky world, and a tricky concept to grasp.       Every week the Sunday Times Travel section sends its journalists all over the place, but every week, they print how much they have paid to offset their carbon use.     There is a certain smugness to all of this which I find distasteful.
Many businesses [...]

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Coming next Summer – Elton John

Elton John is playing Perth next July.    It will be a football stadium gig, and a first major concert like this for the Fair City.
Great excitement and anticipation.    Box office opens today.   Only Scottish date.
Tickets from £40.    Booking fee £4 a ticket.    Booking fees should be banned.   This is a 18,000 seat concert, and I [...]

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Coming Soon ….

We have booked to see Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco at the Royal Court.    It looks interesting and unusual.
A few years back, we saw Ionesco’s The Chairs with Richard Briers and Geraldine MacEwan – also translated by Martin Crimp, and hugely enjoyed it.

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