The Pleasance Theatre is my latest discovery! Tucked away in the back streets of Islington this intimate attic theatre draws you in to a parallel world with its creative buzz. Moon River is apparently one of the best plays to grace their stage and although I cannot compare having never been before, I can only imagine this to be true. The actors were brilliant whilst the script was simple hilarity throughout. Having had very little sleep the night before I was expecting to doze off but there was no risk of that during this performance!

My liver is already screaming at the thought of Jubilee festivities so to change it up a bit I'm diving into Top Hats & High Heels - The Jubilee Cabaret on Sunday 3rd June back at my new fave venue- the Pleasance Theatre. Beats languishing yet again in further drinking establishments!

http://www.pleasance.co.uk/islington/events/top-hats-and-high-heels---the-jubilee-cabaret

There's definitely scope for humans to take a leaf out of the penguin handbook...

 

Emperor Penguins huddle together to escape wind and conserve warmth. Individuals take turns moving to the group's protected and relatively toasty interior. Once a penguin has warmed a bit it will move to the perimeter of the group so that others can enjoy protection from the icy elements.

How very considerate!!

Nobody makes fairy tales like Hans Christian Anderson did...

I grew up on Thumbelina, or Poucette as she was called in French. She was one of seven fairies and HCA was hugely critisised by the Danish who did not take well to his stories...but what the hell did they know?! I have vivid memories of falling asleep dreaming of Thumbelina's miniature world, filled with friendly flutterflies and sailing lilypads...Hans can keep the ugly, evil toads though!

Escaping wet and windy london to Northampton was a feat before the journey even began! Three tomtoms stashed in my car all refusing to work meant with my famously diar sense of direction we really weren't going to get far...U-turn to collect a fourth with a great sigh of relief from myself and my weary companion lead us happily on our way! It only took me a further hour to cement how terrible my direction (and perhaps common sense) really is when I questioned why we were still not on the motorway only to discover it was my brother's tomtom who drives a bike and can only use A roads!! If anyone asks what my dependencies are- it's route finder mechanisms...and perhaps this is a bigger problem than first believed! For once I was the sober one and the tomtom car was far from it whilst veering off-road on several occasions and trying to send us down imaginary routes...but despite the teething problems we made it. Clearly my Friday pining for spring blossoms rang through to someone somewhere as we were greeted with rolling fields of rich yellow and golds behind the enchanted bluebell wood to which people travel far and wide to frolic amongst the flower-fairies.

Queen of my castle...at some stage this year I will be going back to my roots to discover this beautiful place in Prague. 

 Prague Castle is the biggest castle in the world at about 570 metres in length and an average of about 130 metres wide...and is the safehouse for the crown jewels.

Wonderful Wonderland Tunnels

As bank holiday takes hold under the rain I have to content myself with dreaming of beautiful spring flowers. Having grown up in Japan, Cherry Blossom is my all time favourite tree. I biked to schoool every spring morning over a carpet of blossom petals beneath a tunnel of beautiful blooming trees. Definitely made going to school more bearable!

What I didn't know was that when the Cherry Blossoms have bloomed, they give way to the Wisteria. The Japanese hold whole festivals dedicated to celebrating the beauty of Wisteria- my second most favourite flower in the world.