Twitter Twatter #1

I've finally joined Twitter. It provides me with another social media platform to neglect. For those who want to say hello, I'm on as @Davetweetedthis, but for those that don't here's a snapshot of my first month's tweets:

Let Your Hair Down

I read The Conqueror Worm, an 1843 poem by Edgar Allan Poe for Let Your Hair Down, a video by Simolab Productions. The visuals are by filmmaker Simona Piantieri and the music by composer Salvatore Schiano. The video was showcased at the Britten Theatre at the Royal College of Music. An orchestra played the soundtrack live.

I can't embed it, so here's a link instead.

Wobotics

Last year I posted every time Dredd Alert covered a new strip. Then I went off on my sabbatical and such matters went woefully under reported.

A couple of months into the strip, Judge Dredd found himself with a robot servant who took it upon itself to look after him. Walter was the Judge's biggest fan and followed him to the moon and back, despite a lack of appreciation from Dredd. Highly strung and with a speech impediment that meant he couldn't pronounce his R's. He was often put in situations that left him very emotional, required the robot to rely on rhotacisms and scream "Dwedd" a lot.

A couple of months after his first appearance, Walter got his own strip, largely comic relief but often with a surprisingly dark thread running through it, Walter The Wobot.

Abseil

My mother wanted to celebrate her sixtieth birthday last year in style and so she and my sister decided to abseil 100 foot down the side of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to raising money.

They were both interviewed on hospital radio, but to be honest so was anyone that stood still long enough. My father, Sarah and myself were all questioned while the two intrepid abseilers were getting ready. I filmed the following (rather poorly):



The hospital radio guy was continually asking for song requests. Sarah attempted to request a song to play whilst Mum and Beth were abseiling. She asked for 'Heroes' by David Bowie, but they didn't have that. The closest they could offer was 'Holding Out For A Hero' by Bonnie Tyler. And so Bonnie it was...

They were aiming for £100 each, but between them they managed to raise £445. Donations are still welcome. I'm very proud of them both.

A photograph of the two of them is being used on a leaflet to advertise the next abseil.

Engage

When I announced our engagement on here, I neglected to include any photographic evidence. It's time to change that.

Nothing delays a proposal better than people saying things like "so when are you two going to take the plunge?" Sarah doesn't really wear rings, so working out a ring size was an initial hurdle. Naturally, I searched online for suggestions. The barmiest of which was to tie some string around your intended's finger while they were asleep. How terrified would you be if you woke up to the sight of someone stood over you with a ball of string around your digit mid-knot?

We had treated ourselves to a little holiday to North Wales and I went armed with an adjustable ring. I chose it very carefully. This was important. Eschewing precious stones I plumped for the red Lego brick. We had a wonderful time, but it was either raining or foggy much of the time and the occasion was never quite ideal. Then one day towards the end of the week it brightened up and the time just seemed right. I put the ring in my pocket and we ventured out for the day.

We visited an aunt that I hadn't seen since I was a baby. She commented that I'd grown. We had a lovely morning wandering around her garden and digging up her veg. Then we headed off intending to go to St. David's. We didn't get there. I can't remember why, but we decided on Little Haven beach instead. It was beautiful and not too busy. We walked the length of the beach and sat on the rocks. I decided now was the time and asked. Some people seem disappointed that I didn't go down on one knee. It didn't even occur to me. I asked, she said yes, nothing else mattered.

We took this photo on the beach moments after I popped the question, only later did we discovered we were in the appropriately named St. Bride's Bay.

After 1848

By rights I should be posting my M chapter today, but it's been a very busy week. So instead here's a bit about 1848. The show was free, but managed to sell out. It sounds like a contradiction in terms, but we filled the Conway Hall to its capacity.

I've been in several shows for The New Factory Of The Eccentric Actor and so the process is a familiar one by now. People rehearse when they can and sometimes do not meet the other actors in their scenes until the first night. It's always a matter of piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. For me, 1848 was a jigsaw puzzle with smaller pieces and I didn't see the whole show until the performance. It's not for me to speak to the quality of the show, but I enjoyed it. There's a review here.

Niall McDevitt played Baudelaire and has written this about the process.

Hopefully, we'll do it all again sometime.