Blog 23!!! IT'S CHRIIIIIIIISTMAS!!!!!!

Good evening everyone!!!

What about this weather eh??!?!?!  I hope you're all ok and safe and warm and healthy! i have had many comments on Twitter and facebook about various problems some of you have had! Let's all hope it calms down soon eh!?!?! Too many people been singing 'I'm Dreaming Of A Whit Christmas' I believe - careful what you wish for as it might come true!!!

So it's been a busy old time for me since I last Blogged ("When is it not?" i hear some of you cry!). The end of the week last week was busy with Marcaroni! It was all going well we were running to schedule at the end of the first week and then the snow came along and because it was so severe the production Manager and producer decided we should finish at lunch time (after they provided Fish & Chips-bonus!) otherwise people wouldn't have been able to get out of the car park etc! So now we are 1 episode behind the whole time which is very annoying! We'll catch up somewhere I'm sure!

So Friday afternoon/evening was lovely. I made sure I did absolutely nothing and just watched TV and did things online! It was exactly what I needed! And a half bottle of Red too! - Cheeky!!!

Saturday morning I hit the shops in central Cardiff by 10am to beat the crowds and that I did! It was about time i started my Christmas shopping! I thought i'd start it and finish it in that one day! And I did near enough! But my goodness, it's exhausting isn't it?!? Trudging round the shops in the snow for 6 hours! Glad i only did it for one day! Had to buy myself a couple of treats too of course! Actually it was just a new pair of boots I felt I needed for the snow, but I liked them so much I didn't want to wreck them in the slush! I soon got over that and they barely leave my feet now!

Saturday evening I went to watch a few friends of mine who are in Mamma Mia which is playing the WMC in Cardiff Bay until mid January! Was great to see them and the show was good! Seen Mamma Mia about 8 times now in different places! Worth seeing! It's fun! Then I spent a few hours catching up with my friends after the show until the wee hours of the morning and consumed rather a lot of alcohol and wow did I feel it on Sunday morning!!! I remembered then why i don't drink much!!! I wouldn't change it though, it was a fun night!!!

So sunday morning i was a little delicate then I went to the gym for a couple of hours before meeting my friends again for a healthy Wagamamas in the Bay!!! Lovely!!! Then I more or less got an early night!

Monday morning started with my daily swim (I've been getting up at 5.45am for the past week and a half so I can fit in 50 lengths of the complex's swimming pool before getting picked up to be driven to work by 7am) Then a good day on set! It was the first time we had another actor on set (Rhodri who plays Roli Odl) instead of just myself and Non who plays Oli Odl! We were so relieved to hear someone else talking so we could have a bit less script to memorise! So that was good! Monday evening it was an early night for me as usual.

Good day again on Tuesday and then after work last night Non knocked on my door (she's staying in the apartment next door!) and joined me for a chill out night with no script to learn because today was the first Choreography day for which we have an autocue (TV screen with the words on it)!!! We were suppose to film 10 numbers today of song and dance - we only completed 4!!! They're blooming great though! We have Steve Alias (West End actor and choreographer) as our choreographer who is great especially with the story telling of a song which is important with kids' stuff!
So we're now a little behind with the choreography stuff too! Booooooo! it'll all come together though! - My legs are aching now though! Little did I know that Marcaroni was gonna be giving it whack kicks and pencil turns and full on ballet movements!!! I was soaked with sweat - We heard the words "OK just one more take" about 17 times before we actually did finish! Ha!

So that brings us up to the present time where I happen to be sat on my sofa in my wonderful apartment! I'm about to pack my stuff to head home to North Wales for Christmas! I can't figure out weather to get a late train tomorrow after work or weather, by doing that I run the risk of getting stuck at some train station in the snow in the middle of nowhere until the early hours of the morning or weather it's best to wait and try and travel home on Christmas eve! I just want to get there to see my family asap and get in the festive spirit!!! I'll wait and see what the weather's like i think!

So.... a few things to announce - I am on BBC Radio Cymru (Welsh Radio Wales) tomorrow morning live between 9-10am if you want to listen! Also Christmas day I will be on the radio talking to Margaret Williams (legendary Welsh singer) again on Radio Cymru, about 4pm i think it's on! Then i will be on S4C - The concert I did at the CIA in Cardiff sometime ago which was a collection of the Welsh people who have been successful on reality TV which will be shown on the evening of December 27th!
New Year's Eve I will be on a programme called Cyfle Cothi on Radio Cymru which I believe is being repeated New Year's day too!

ALSO: Looking forward to this one - I'll be singing at a concert at the New Players Theatre in London to showcase the music of American songwriter Bobby Cronin who will be there on the night too! It's a great line up of very talented West End Performers so come along if you can - it'll be fab! All the details I'll put on my Facebook Fanpage! I'll also be posting reminders in the new year etc on Twitter and Facebook!
I think that is about it!

Folks - It's Christmas in 3 days!!! I can't wait!!! Hope you're all prepared and all looking forward to it! Let me know what you're doing!

I won't blog again before Christmas day now so I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very merry Christmas - and I have looked through the settings of my blog page and have been overwhelmed with the amount of people who read my blog and also - in so many different countries - and so, I have decided to wish you all a Merry christmas in your native language as a gesture to say thanks for your support and continued interest in what I'm doing - I hope to meet you all someday if I haven't met you already! I have used my 'itranslate' app on my iphone so don't blame me if they're not right! Here goes...

U.K - Merry Christmas
U.S.A - Merry Christmas
Netherlands - Vrolijk kerstfeest
Ireland - Merry Christmas
Germany - Frohe Weihnachten
Australia - Merry Christmas
Russia - (Some letters I don't have so I'm using a * instead, sorry) - C Po**ecTBOM
Malaysia - Selamat Hari Krismas
Spain - Feliz Navidad
Thailand and Japan - I'm afraid I only have the English letters on my laptop to type but I wish you a very Merry Christmas and my iphone has taught me how to say the words in your languages so I am saying them out loud to you now!
And a special Nadolig Llawen to my Welsh Folk!

Festive greetings to all you lovely people!!! May your Christmas be filled with love, joy and happiness!

Life is great and don't forget it! Embrace every moment good or bad and treasure it, learn from it and never forget it! That's my philosophy on life!

Big love

Chat soon

Mark