Shakespeare!

It's that time of the year again, and the Globe season is starting up. I had much fun last year, & wish to go again. The women's company we saw last year & liked are doing Much Ado About Nothing, which I am v fond of indeed. So the plan is to go to that. P & I are thinking weekend matinee (matinee to attempt to avoid warmth/lighting issues), May/June/early July (to avoid it getting *too* hot). I want similar seats to last time: ground floor, at the back, so those of us with bad backs (hello!) have something to lean against. Tickets are £13 for slightly restricted view, or £18 upwards for better views. I can't really go higher than £18, sorry! Please note, if you've not been before: the Globe is a reconstruction of a theatre built in 1599, & is not *desperately* comfortable. We're talking benches (you can hire or bring a cushion if you want) with no backs (hence wanting the back of the seats, to lean against the wall), no a/c or heating, & all seats have *some* restrictions on views due to it being held up with posts. We really enjoyed seeing The Taming Of The Shrew there last year, though. I think we had the £13 seats & I wasn't too bothered by the view restrictions - others may disagree, of course.

Also, the Old Vic is doing Hamlet, directed by Trevor Nunn, with an as-yet-unspecified young cast. For this, we're thinking weekday evening. Tickets: between £10 - £20 (depending on results below, I guess). I don't know how the view differs.

Poll! Fill in if you're interested. I want to book next week, so shout *now*, kids. (I'll confirm with everyone who's interested whether or not they definitely want tickets before booking: you're not committing yourself at this stage).

[Poll #275641]

Shakespeare!

It's that time of the year again, and the Globe season is starting up. I had much fun last year, & wish to go again. The women's company we saw last year & liked are doing Much Ado About Nothing, which I am v fond of indeed. So the plan is to go to that. P & I are thinking weekend matinee (matinee to attempt to avoid warmth/lighting issues), May/June/early July (to avoid it getting *too* hot). I want similar seats to last time: ground floor, at the back, so those of us with bad backs (hello!) have something to lean against. Tickets are £13 for slightly restricted view, or £18 upwards for better views. I can't really go higher than £18, sorry! Please note, if you've not been before: the Globe is a reconstruction of a theatre built in 1599, & is not *desperately* comfortable. We're talking benches (you can hire or bring a cushion if you want) with no backs (hence wanting the back of the seats, to lean against the wall), no a/c or heating, & all seats have *some* restrictions on views due to it being held up with posts. We really enjoyed seeing The Taming Of The Shrew there last year, though. I think we had the £13 seats & I wasn't too bothered by the view restrictions - others may disagree, of course.

Also, the Old Vic is doing Hamlet, directed by Trevor Nunn, with an as-yet-unspecified young cast. For this, we're thinking weekday evening. Tickets: between £10 - £20 (depending on results below, I guess). I don't know how the view differs.

Poll! Fill in if you're interested. I want to book next week, so shout *now*, kids. (I'll confirm with everyone who's interested whether or not they definitely want tickets before booking: you're not committing yourself at this stage).

[Poll #275641]

Sodding drivers

Just read an editorial in Shooting Times (it mentioned the League, so got passed round the office for info). Obviously, it caused me to froth at the mouth over several different issues, but the one that really got me was speed cameras. They criticised a particular police chief constable on the grounds that his force had installed too many speed cameras.

Now, this has got at me for a *long* time. Why, exactly, are speed cameras a bad thing? Why is it that a significant number of drivers - who would presumably describe themselves as 'law-abiding' & other such - get so irate when they get caught by a speed camera? In particular, what is wrong with *concealed* speed cameras? If you speed, then you are breaking the law. And if you get caught, then that's your tough shit. If you don't want to be done for speeding, *don't bloody well speed*. Concealed cameras clearly aren't the same as entrapment - no one is enticing you to speed. They are merely not telling you that here, right here, is a particularly risky place to speed. Which is fine, because, hey, *you shouldn't be speeding anyway*.

Yes, I am an occasional driver. No, I do not speed. Not even on motorways, these days. I used to be prepared to do between 70 & 80 on motorways; I've since decided that this is inconsistent with my general stance on speeding. I'm aware that there are arguments for upping the speed limits on motorways, & would certainly think that in good conditions, 80mph is safe. (But, when I did still go over 70mph, I would not have complained, other than at myself, had I been ticketed). I don't think there's *any* decent argument for going over the speed limit on non-motorway roads.

This also reminded me of a conversation I heard yesterday in the shop next door, which also incensed me greatly. Two people complaining about the congestion charge (grr to them to *start* with), and then moving on to complaining about parking, and parking tickets. The woman said, in horrified tones, that a friend of hers had (illegitimately) parked her motorbike in a residents-only bay, and the parking-ticket person (have forgotten correct word, sorry) had *lifted up the motorbike cover* to get the plate number to give her a ticket (nb they are not supposed to do this). The friend was, of course, appealing ("of *course*!" agreed the bloke in equally aggrieved tones). No mention, of course, of the fact that the friend in question shouldn't have bloody been there in the first place. Or that deliberately covering your license plate to avoid getting a ticket is clearly *wrong*, although sadly not illegal.

GRRRRRRR.

I need a 'ranty' icon. Or a pissed-off one. All my icons are cheerful, or of rats.

Sodding drivers

Just read an editorial in Shooting Times (it mentioned the League, so got passed round the office for info). Obviously, it caused me to froth at the mouth over several different issues, but the one that really got me was speed cameras. They criticised a particular police chief constable on the grounds that his force had installed too many speed cameras.

Now, this has got at me for a *long* time. Why, exactly, are speed cameras a bad thing? Why is it that a significant number of drivers - who would presumably describe themselves as 'law-abiding' & other such - get so irate when they get caught by a speed camera? In particular, what is wrong with *concealed* speed cameras? If you speed, then you are breaking the law. And if you get caught, then that's your tough shit. If you don't want to be done for speeding, *don't bloody well speed*. Concealed cameras clearly aren't the same as entrapment - no one is enticing you to speed. They are merely not telling you that here, right here, is a particularly risky place to speed. Which is fine, because, hey, *you shouldn't be speeding anyway*.

Yes, I am an occasional driver. No, I do not speed. Not even on motorways, these days. I used to be prepared to do between 70 & 80 on motorways; I've since decided that this is inconsistent with my general stance on speeding. I'm aware that there are arguments for upping the speed limits on motorways, & would certainly think that in good conditions, 80mph is safe. (But, when I did still go over 70mph, I would not have complained, other than at myself, had I been ticketed). I don't think there's *any* decent argument for going over the speed limit on non-motorway roads.

This also reminded me of a conversation I heard yesterday in the shop next door, which also incensed me greatly. Two people complaining about the congestion charge (grr to them to *start* with), and then moving on to complaining about parking, and parking tickets. The woman said, in horrified tones, that a friend of hers had (illegitimately) parked her motorbike in a residents-only bay, and the parking-ticket person (have forgotten correct word, sorry) had *lifted up the motorbike cover* to get the plate number to give her a ticket (nb they are not supposed to do this). The friend was, of course, appealing ("of *course*!" agreed the bloke in equally aggrieved tones). No mention, of course, of the fact that the friend in question shouldn't have bloody been there in the first place. Or that deliberately covering your license plate to avoid getting a ticket is clearly *wrong*, although sadly not illegal.

GRRRRRRR.

I need a 'ranty' icon. Or a pissed-off one. All my icons are cheerful, or of rats.