A Shitty Night

We had thought we were going to need a new washing machine because it isn’t spinning but L fixes it herself, by cleaning out the filter. Maybe she has a new career there. Not that her boss is letting her go just yet and he has her in work all day on Wednesday. 

The Lad is at the Vets later for his annual booster. I had scheduled this for Tuesday night but they’d moved it because they had a power cut on Tuesday. That’s fair enough but I had tried to avoid one vet who I don’t particularly see eye to eye with and now we get him. My opinion of him isn’t enhanced when he completely forgets about us and leaves us in the waiting room. We have to remind the receptionist that we are still waiting. He apologises but this has now made the whole night a rush. We dash home, feed the Lad who doesn’t get a walk then I need to grab some shopping for my Dad, quickly visit him and then head off to dog training where I am now too late to see my brother. 

Thursday night is mad in a different way. We are at the Curve Theatre in Leicester where I have willingly volunteered for another musical. We are here to see ‘Six’. 

Now I’m not against musicals. I thought the Jersey Boys was good, historical and an obvious musical. The Everley Brothers one wasn’t so good but still an obvious choice for a musical. However, the tale of Henry VIII’s wives is not an obvious musical to me so you have to give credit for the sheer nerve of the people who wrote it. This turns out to be a bunch of students from Cambridge University who devised it for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. 

The concept is great. All six wives of Henry VIII are brought back to life to compare their experiences and argue about who had the worst time with him. Which they do in turn and in song. It is also very short at just eighty minutes long and comprises of just eight songs. 

We have a recovery drink afterwards in the Ale Wagon pub which was acquired by Hoskins & Oldfield as their first pub in 1999. The interior features photos of the former Queens Hotel which was across the road and was also the old Hoskins Brewery. 

I drunk a lot of Hoskins ales when I visited Leicester as a student back in the day. However brewing at Hoskins & Oldfield ceased in 2002 but the beers have continued to be brewed at other local breweries, currently that is the Tower Brewery in Burton. 

On Saturday we parkrun at Vicar Water, our second time there on what is a really tough course. This is then followed by a really slow coffee and breakfast at park cafe. We won’t go there again, we went to a much quicker local one on the main road last time. 

L then goes over to Mickleover and I go to Aston. She then meets me later in Derby at the just reopened Market Hall which is great, stays open late and has a bar that sells Jaipur. 

We then continue our cultural week at Quad for a talk on Shitty Cities or rather ‘Shitty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities’ which is a book written by Ben Aitken which he is talking about as part of the Derby Book Festival. His list includes many cities we’ve done and certainly ones we will do. Derby hasn’t made his list yet but he’s clearly been doing his research while he’s been here. 

Then we head back to the Market Hall for a Biryani, and where they now have a singer on, then to the Smithfield for another beer. 

Sunday is the Colwick swim\walk and then in the afternoon, after cutting half our lawn until the battery dies, we head up to visit Daughter’s allotment or rather her partner’s allotment. I think she's taken ownership of it.

(Sunday 1^st June)