A Quiet Life

[lathany]

My life ? Well, the absence of the babies (sorry, toddlers) meant I could run Athory in peace and quiet (well, without screaming anyway) and head off to Oxford for an outside and, amazingly, dry performance of Twelfth Night.

This time, it was bateleur's parents turn to have the twins first. We had decided to drive up on the Friday night when he got back from work, stay overnight then come back (twinless) on the Saturday morning. Sound easy ?

Have you ever noticed that, how ever much Ryan howls and rages, Beatrice is always cheerful ? Do you know why ? Because, on the rare occasions when she wants to complain, it ensures that she has everyone's full attention.

We arrived at Granny Jo and J-J's house. It was late but the twins still needed their bedtime milk (plus nappy change and teeth clean) before going up. We carried them in. Bea looked around to see an unfamiliar house (she's been before, but probably didn't remember). Her mouth went down at the corners (literally), her eyes screwed up and then she howled her little heart out. I felt awful. Granny Jo, if anything, felt worse. Bea's noise set Ryan off and the two of them screamed and screamed until they went to bed.

Of course, after three minutes in bed, they were both sound asleep. We then ate dinner in peace and quiet (whilst discussing Katie Walgate's approaching wedding to which Jo and J-J had been invited) and had a far better evening. Come the morning, both twins were fine. However my parents may be in for a repeat performance today.



We enjoyed a peaceful Saturday evening on out return and started playing Watchmaker - my latest adventure game. Depending on how far we get, there may be a review later this week. Then we got a wonderful twinless night's sleep and I vacuumed the lounge floor in preparation for my Athory players.

For once, I'm not going to give an Athory session write-up. chrisvenus, quisalan and ao_lai have done that whilst bateleur has added all sorts of comments. It means that next session will see a change to the party and, from the looks of it, much angsting.

It was odd to play without the dice snatcher and the muffin monster. elethiomel had popped in mainly so that he could see them and was rather surprised to be disappointed. On the other hand, it meant that the game had fewer interruptions.



After the session ended, chrestomancy stuck around, ate spaghetti carbonara and fruit sorbet and then we brought out the Settlers of the Stone Age board and got started on a game.

The game was a birthday present from chrestomancy which I had taken to BadgerCon, but never got around to playing before now. So we took off the packaging, pushed out all the counters and read the rules. Unsurprisingly, it is a variation on the original Settlers game and I consider it better than the original. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although at two-and-a-half hours running time, it really needs a full evening to be played.



It was great to get up on Monday morning and not have to face the twins. Instead I cleaned the kitchen sink, enjoyed an otherwise leisurely morning and then caught the train to Oxford.

I might have had a good day, but the girl opposite me on the train certainly didn't. She got off several stops before me (Egham in fact), but it was only as we were drawing into Reading that I realised she had left her purse behind full of credit cards and money. Consequently I became acquainted with the Reading Station lost property office and was assured that the people there would contact her bank straight away. Although, I imagine she would have already cancelled her cards by then.

Arriving at Oxford I headed straight for triskellian and smiorgan's house and was cooked for (I can't remember the name of the first course, but it involved most of a bottle of red wine, bacon and pasta; whilst the desert course was Ben and Jerry's icecream with yummy chocolate caramel pieces). After a quick collection of umbrellas we drove off for the park.

The performance was an excellent one. It was set in the twentieth century (I'm not good at costume dating, sadly, so I won't narrow it down any further) and the parts of Orsino and Fabian were doubled - Fabian became a French cook with an absurd moustache.

Lines were changed around - specifically Maria and Toby took more of Feste's lines (including the part in act three where Feste first comes across Sebastian just before Andrew assaults him) mainly to make more of their romance. In many versions the marriage of these two seems to be a bit of an afterthought, but this production made it seem the main point of the play. I think that Maria ended up with more lines even than Viola and Toby was also pretty dominant.



Returning back to the house I was treated to a wonderful sweet wine before going to bed (after shutting the cats out). I also contacted secretrebel and was invited over for lunch the following day.



secretrebel made tea and we watched the breakfast news before disappearing off to the garden centre and obtaining some flowers for her flower basket (there's a bit of flower basket oneupmanship going on in her road) and some lavender for the back garden. Getting home, I sat on the grass (on a rug, actually) drinking coffee and eating ginger biscuits whilst secretrebel dug holes in the flower bed to plant her two new lavender plants.

Then, as secretrebel had predicted, Jon was next up (_yakumo_ didn't emerge until after lunch). He came downstairs to join us and indicated that he might consider getting an LJ account (hurrah !). I asked about Canada and future plans; it's rarely that I get a chance to talk to him.

secretrebel cooked pesto pasta and ciabatta spread with more pesto (I'm a big pesto fan - even though it doesn't contain chocolate). Over lunch, she gave me a number of writing tips about approaching agents. Namely not to write books at all but to concentrate on synopses and the first three chapters. Only to complete a book if a publisher is actually found. I think it's good advice, and I'll probably follow it to the extent of sending out a synopsis and initial chapters of book number three (possibly with one or two other book possibilities), but I will then go on to write book number three anyway. Simply because I'd rather complete the books for myself; even if it means reducing my chances of ever being published.

I also got to see her new roleplaying plans and ideas but, I think that may be a topic for her LJ.



This morning, at the half-way point (already ?!), I feel as though I have accomplished a great deal since I last saw Ryan and Bea. On the other hand, I still have lots more that I want to do before they return.