700 Sundays

After the disappointment of Little Britain Live, 700 Sundays was a welcome surprise on Friday. An autobiographical, one-man show starring Billy Crystal - 700 Sundays was heartwarming, enjoyable, amusing & sad - for once something which live up to the press plaudits. It's a long time since I have seen anything so good!

After another rush to get to the theatre (it's so tricky for Lucy to get into the CBD on an evening with all the traffic) & a rushed down curry we found our seats way 'up in the gods'....however, the view was unobstructed and we weren't really so far away that we couldn't relate to Billy's mannerisms on stage. The set is based on his childhood home & makes good use of the windows & blinds to relay images to the audience. Seems like he had a pretty cool childhood - with his family having strong connections to the Dixieland jazz scene - with one of the results that 'Mr. Billy' had a very good friend in Miss Billie (Billie Holliday!)! The way he talked about his grandparents (his nan weighed 300lbs...his grandpa propelled himself around by farting!) was amusing, and the effect that the death of his father had on him (at the age of 15) was apparent.

The first half of the show was very amusing, but the 2nd half became a bit more melancholy with the talk of death - how he puts himself through that every night I do not know. The show is now touring around the world - so if you get the chance to see it, make sure you snap up tickets.

BTW 700 Sundays comes from the number of Sundays Billy managed to spend with his father before his early death (his father worked so hard that the only time they had together was Sunday).

Saturday was an early start and Lucy & I managed to be sat in Kayaks on Middle Harbour by 8.30... a bit of a longer journey this time, and poor Lucy had to cope with a snapped rudder (which makes sea-kayaks tricky to control) on the way back. Still not sure how she managed to get back. Of course, I managed to go one step further and badly graze my hand on a oyster as I got out of the kayak (lost my balance slightly & put my hand out....don't think I've seen so much blood in a while...almost passed out due to lack of food, water & blood!).

Made ourselves feel better with a lovely lunch / afternoon tea in Harry's Fish Cafe...nice views & lots of salad to go with some well cooked fish (I had snapper, Lucy had flathead & we shared some calamari). Then home for a couple of drinks, watched Jumanji on TV & then headed out to Manly Fishos to see a live band. Not bad, but was feeling VERY tired so home by mid-night.

Today, another early start with breakfast at Angel - just up the road from us with views overlooking Freshwater Beach. Eggs, Tomato & Toast for me, Pancakes for Lucy & a fruit plate to share - got the day off to a great start. We then went to pick up our new coffee table (distressed finish, 1m x 1m, been looking for something like that for a while) and had a minor nightmare struggling to get that into the car!

Quickly headed to the City to catch the start of a fortnight of Chinese New Year celebrations - it's the year of the Pig! A parade down George Street, ending at Belmore Park...some fascinating things to look at, but perhaps went on for a bit too long for my liking! Escaping the crush of people we headed on to Darling Harbour for some food - I had a fantastic Chili Dog (just the right amount of lip burn!), Lucy some steamed vegetables & rice - before heading home....now listening to England finally come good in the cricket & looking forward to bed after what has been a fun if energy sapping weekend!

Bad news to end the week - my brother is in hospital. Went in yesterday with blood in his vomit....he's diabetic & allergic to penicillin....they took no blood sugar tests & sent him home with some anti-biotics containing...yes, you guessed it penicillin. Vomited blood again during the night & in quite some state so took back to hospital in an ambulance (& the only bed they had was in a female word - shocking).... amazing the lack of competence in the NHS... is it any wonder they get sued so often? Compares so badly to the service that I received here in Manly...they couldn't give me blood tests & scans quickly enough - think that says a lot about the inefficiencies of the relative health systems. He's really not well at the moment, blood sugar all over, and sedated - hopefully some good news to come by the time of my next update.