the other night, kind of late, i was flipping channels and stopped, of all places, on channel 14. in spfld, channel 14 is c-span, and i don’t recollect any time in my life that i’ve stopped on c-span.
but the other night it was riveting. it was a show from the bbc, and it featured the british parliament, mostly the house of commons. it was just fascinating to watch. i guess you can kind of compare it to the house of representatives in washington, but only kind of. for one thing, the members of parliament (mp’s) sit facing each other on raised platforms, with a place down in the middle for people to step forward to talk. instead of desks, they sit on what look like very comfy red leather couches.
but the most interesting part about the parliamentary process was just how interesting it seemed to be. i’ve seen a second or two of the live feeds from the us govt chambers and i’ve never lingered more than the briefest of brief moments because they all seem incredibly deadly dull and ponderous.
the mp’s are different altogether. first, tony blair was talking, and he was fervent and passionate and also at the same time he seemed rather amused. he spoke rapidly, and then the opposition, the leader of the conservatives, would start to talk, and he, too, was animated and sometimes the mps chuckled, and it seemed like they were all having a jolly ripping good time.
if they got agitated, they’d start to boo and thump on the floor, and mostly all of them wore very bright ties.
i’d highly recommend that you watch the show, except i just looked it up on tvguide online and couldn’t find the listing anywhere. was it all a dream? i don’t think so. i’d never have a dream that interesting or animated. i’m pretty sure that last night my dream involved doing laundry.
we saw “fools” at the theatre centre last night, and the production was really good. my friend felicia coulter was fabulous, as usual, and lots of other people were good, too – some of them i’ve never seen before. the backdrops were remarkably well-done, also. the play itself – well, it’s not one of neil simon’s best, although i did think the first act was pretty funny. but by the second act, it just kind of lost my interest. but it was worth seeing, and it was nice that there were actually some people there to see it. annie and gary germann sat right in front of us, and it was nice to see them.
big rehearsals this week for “sleeping beauty.” yesterday we had our first costume rehearsal, but only one sleeve of my costume was finished. it was a mighty fancy sleeve, i must say, and i’m looking forward to having a matched set of them. the rehearsal went ok, but things seemed a bit tense. we actually stayed for the entire show for the first time, and i’m amazed at how much dancing sleeping beauty herself has to do. on and on and on, it was tiring just watching her. all the ballerinas, they continue to amaze me because they’re so good and make it all seem so graceful.
all i have to do is not trip on my dress and not fall off the stage. so i think it’ll go well.
ok then,
grace on sunday.