Homeless
So while the lorry’s being mended, I’m
homeless for a few days. It's having new clutch cylinders and an MOT. Fingers crossed nothing major is
discovered and the season can begin with all systems go. It was a little
disconcerting to leave it in a lonely commercial garage in Wrexham and hitch a
ride back to my yard which now has a gaping empty space where we have been
living for the past few months. The good
news though is that the dogs and I are staying with Russ and Suzanne in their
lovely house in Ruthin, enjoying the luxury of a proper bed, great food and a lovely
bathroom! I love the occasional bath and
they have a particularly nice one and so I indulge myself with bubbles and bath
salts and deep hot water until I’m all pruny and squeaky clean. They are both great cooks and I’ve really
been spoiled while I have been there.
Russ fills up a hard drive with all sorts of good films and tv series so
I go away armed with enough to keep me goggling for weeks! They are great friends and lovely people.
I wandered around Ruthin with the dogs for
an hour or so before calling at their house.
There’s a charming antique shop converted from a miniature cinema (picturehouseantiquecentre.co.uk) and I found a
couple of old cases with brass fittings which I fell for and bought for a knock
down price. One has the original silk
lining and is probably 1930’s. The other
is a briefcase. Not sure which props
will go into them, but they’re really nice and fit the show perfectly. I love old cases, they have such lovely
stories. Ruthin itself is a small welsh
country market town with quite a few small antique shops and a regular indoor
market. The craft centre which is where
Suzanne is showing some of her furniture (www.suzannehodgson.co.uk) has some fascinating welsh crafts
and artefacts and a great café with local food.
On
Sunday afternoon Russ, Suzanne and I visited Conwy - a World Heritage site, one
of only two in Wales. The castle
overlooks the whole town and there’s some great walks along the walls. It took me back years to my younger days and
the Conwy Festival which I used to attend for years with the old stage when it
was built onto a old BMC lorry, an FG 550 which was also called ‘the threepenny
bit truck’ (the threepenny bit was a pre-decimal coin worth about 2p with angled
sides) as the cab doors folded back against the lorry body on the same sort of
angle as the sides of a threepenny bit. I
find it strange that I have to explain that to people but I guess I’m amongst
the dwindling numbers who remember a childhood when a threepenny bit was a
small fortune!
Only one or two more Cat’s Paw Theatre shows
next week before the time comes to quit my acting job and become an entertainer
again. First, though, I need to renovate and re-varnish all the parts of the
stage and decide which props need replacing and what just needs a good
clean. I have the new illusion to build
too. There’s a good feeling about this time of the year – I am beginning to
feel the season isn’t so far away now.
In fact the first booking in Llandudno at the Extravaganza is in less
than six weeks. Then I’m back on the road properly and can really continue to blog
about my life as a travelling showman, which I’m sure you will find more
interesting than all the personal stuff I’ve been wittering on about over the
winter.
The diary for 2014 is almost as full as
2013 and it always fills up more once the new financial year starts and the
councils know what they have to spend. I
have just taken a Christmas enquiry for December 6th and 7th
from Oxford Castle as a new customer and it will be great to be in Oxford near
Christmas if it is confirmed. I was
there a couple of years ago alongside the gaol and it’s a lovely venue.
And I’ve even been exercising – a yoga
session every evening has made me begin to feel I can manage all that physicality
in the show again. And still no
alcohol. I’m going to try to get through
the whole season without. A real
challenge with all those real ale tents and events I go to! We shall see.
All the best from a road near you,
Mr Alexander