claytoncast

The strange thing is that this blog is about what happens in my life, and yet the minute something happens in my life, I don't have time to blog. I'm cramming this in while on my daily journey over to West London for "Green Forms" rehearsals. It's not the most pleasant of slogs either way so how better to use this one than to get my blog up to date. Yes- after so many months of planning we are now halfway through rehearsals for our play and we open next week. Last week was very exciting as we watched tickets sales climb and climb, helped no end by some fab adverts placed by the aka team in The Telegraoh and The Times, and also a slow awakening on the part of friends and colleagues that it is actually on and that  they needed to book. I'm the same. A show can be on for months before I decide that I have to see it, and then I can be at least another two months before we have a discussion about when to book for. It's not a dilemma we face often as Rich h...

I am writing this weeks blog on my new I pad. It was a surprise Christmas present from Richard and I love it. It is a gadget that changes your life Rich has had one for a year now and is attached to it by an invisible umbilical cord. I feel now that with this I have grown another set of arms and eyes and ears. It really does change your life. I have just taken it with me on a business trip to Holland. It played a movie to me on the plane. It gave me my book to read at bedtime. It played me music. It allowed me to film the students I was working with and play back the results to them for analysis and feedback. It allowed me to book airfares for a future job. And of course it allows me to keep in touch - face time phone calls to Rich, Skype phone calls to Mum as well as dealing with all my emails. Hard to find something it doesn't do and of course it now means we are both sat on the sofa of an evening, ipads to hand ready to look something up, or tweet our thoughts abo...

So this is my first blog of 2012.  Last night we spent a quiet new year at home. Nice wine, nice food and our own company. For the last two years we've been away. In 2009 we were in New York, and last year we spent the new year in Swanage in a friends cottage.  This year I've been rather busy over the Christmas week driving over 1100 miles to bring mum down from Yorkshire, take us all down to Devon, take mum back to Yorkshire, and then having come back to London, a trip out to see our friend Andy in panto in Cambridge on Fridaywas the last stage of the Christmas marathon. Christmas was quiet too but none the worse for it. We spent it with Richard's parents and grandmother in Devon and I had my mother with me to so it was in every way a family Christmas. Despite the slightly antiquated tradition of family Howle not opening their presents until after lunch, which in this case meant nearly 4:35 PM in the afternoon, all was well and everyone seemed happy with what Santa...