London Lives

This weekend, I’ve broken two important barriers:

1.  Been back to the Coliseum: when we went there before Christmas I fainted in my seat (they were high up and I hadn’t been well a few days beforehand). When my pal booked tickets for The Mikado I was apprehensive, but needed to get back in the saddle. And, from the same very high seats last Friday, all was well. Great show, too.

It sounds a silly thing to need to get over. When I was a child I was always fainting. “It’s her metabolism. She’ll need to eat little and often,” my mother was told. She was forever putting a couple of barley sugars in my coat pocket to eat at school. But, as an adult, the sensation of feeling faint in a darkened packed theatre was terrifying when you’re not quite sure how you’re going to get out afterwards. Thankfully my lovely pal negotiated all this for me.

So Friday was important. It also taught me something else: even if I faint in a darkened theatre, nothing truly terrible can happen. Let’s hope I have no further need for this wisdom.

2.  Read something out in front of a group of strangers at a writing course: I was at a weekend course at the fabulous CityLit where I met lots of lovely and talented people. Brilliant tutor too. The aim was for us to have a draft of a short story by the end of the weekend and the tutors was asking for volunteers to read their ‘beginnings’. I had set myself the task beforehand of standing up and reading something out if possible and I managed it (I was standing metaphorically if not literally).

Great feedback, too. Very encouraging. It’s easy to think you’ve written something unimportant or tedious that takes too long to hit any moment of resonance. Feedback is important and so welcome. And I have my first draft! I can see this as a completed piece. Brilliant.