Sucking Culture till I drop

Since my last post, I have been attending regularly my private Spanish tuition, whose cycle is now close to an end; Amanda, Claire and I celebrated Liz’ birthday at Belgo and Valentina had her birthday do at Guanabara; I went to see the intense and moving Lady of Burma with Joseph, Lofty, Michela and Tariq; tried, but failed, to go and watch an amateur performance with Alessandra and Graziella (and had instead the best pizza in London); dined at the bowl club with Lofty’s parents in occasion of his mum’s 60th birthday; went for a nice Sunday walk in the woods with the Lofty’s family; and yesterday six of us went to the Royal Albert Hall for a recreational orchestra concert performed by the young pupils of Surrey (Unknown Region). My evening highlights are definitely the jazz performance, the drums and the little boys playing harps. The second half of it was never-ending (the whole concert lasted 3 and a half hours!), but I am glad that I stayed till the end to listen to the senior students’ singing and to watch the balloons gently coming down from the ceilings. The bonus to this free night (offered by my company) was that we had top seats: a private central box! it was magical to be part of the magical world of children for a night....

View from the box

Well, I am in trouble now: I have not updated my blog in ages and now I have too much to write. I have been so socially engaged that I even mixed days up and texted happy birthday to my dad on the wrong way! To offset, I have remembered Ary’s birthday this morning. Happy birthday again, Aribu! So, instead of getting mad for my lack of writing diligence and to put my conscience at rest, I declare this blog on hiatus until things calm down ~ at least officially, which means that I am allowed to post stuff every now and then. I will put this break to constructive use by participating to as many cultural activities as I can. Xmas in no longer for me a day, it is now a month. During this *Xmas month*, I have three parties lined up; a drink night; a special visit from Italy; an evening at the Nutcrackers with Sian and Alessandra (*Los Schiaccianoci* in Italian); possibly a Xmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall; and finally a girly night in Brighton, where one of my friends is moving next month (I am not allowed as yet to reveal her name)—all of this prior to my parents' arrival on the 23rd!

I have also been reading an awful lot of novels (considering my modest spare time): The Shadow of the Wind; the Time Traveller's Wife; Atonement; Joanne Harris' Short Stories (kindly donated by my friend Alessandra); and now The Inheriance of Loss, winner of the Man Booker Prize; Charlie and Lola; How to Catch a Star; etc. On top of all of this outing, I am trying to update my look. To this end, I have booked a SPA DAY in central London with my friend Valentina (mens sana in corpore sano) and have been window shopping ~ mainly online.

Finally, here is a rich wish list which I keep reminding myself: Films Pan’s Labyrinth The Science of Sleep Babel Little Children The last King of Scotland Il Caimano Casino Royale Happy Feet The March of the Penguins Marie Antoinette

2007 Plays Madame Butterfly Dirty Dancing Billy Elliott Summer and Smoke, starring Rosamund Pike Exhibitions I have still to try the slides at the Tate Serpentine Gallery A short visit to the White Cube Visit to Indica, the new experimental art space in Soho