Morning Everyone,
Happy Thursday! Happy SUNNY day!
Isn't this weather amazing?! I have a tan from being in Wales - now there's a first. I'm sitting here in my shorts and vest with a lovely breakfast and looking forward to two shows (even if the weather being 28 degrees outside will result in me getting VERY sweaty!)
It's been an amazing week since my last blog.
Last Thursday after the matinee I met up with my friend Laura Hamilton who I haven't seen for quite a while. We worked together on Cinderella the pantomime in Bromley over three years ago. She was also the runner up on last year's Dancing On Ice with another friend of mine Colin Ratushniak who was her professional skating partner. It was really good to see her and catch up. She's getting married towards the end of this year which is exciting.
After the second show on Thursday I headed home to read and get a good night's sleep. Friday morning I was helping a friend move out of his house before heading into town to chill in my dressing room with my friend Haley who came over for a cuppa and a catch up and then I had my guitar lesson.
After Friday night's show I went home to pack for my trip to Wales. I woke Saturday morning, loaded my car up and drove into central London so that my car was there ready to whizz back to North Wales after the evening show (which is exactly what I did the weekend before too). The matinee was good on Saturday but by the end of it I could really feel my voice, body and brain shutting down - it's that classic thing when you know you have a chance to relax ahead of you, your body and mind start to unwind a little too early. So Saturday night's show was really quite tough and I was so happy to get through it and I raced out of the theatre to jump in my car and just escape London and to not have to sing and shout and just drive to the peaceful haven that is, my family home in Wales. I managed to get home an hour earlier than the week before too because I didn't hang around in London, I just ran from my dressing room and I knew a few shortcuts to get out of london quicker - is it against the law to drive the wrong way down a quiet one way street in Soho?! It is? Oh well - never mind! ;-)
I arrived at 2am and climbed into bed and stayed there until the cows mooing woke me up the next morning and I thought 'well, I'm certainly home on the farm!'
I had a very relaxed day on Sunday just with my nieces and reading my book and then in the evening, My parents and I went to visit my cousin and her family who live on a hill in the middle of a very rural area and I realised I hadn't actually been to their house in about 15 years! That's ridiculous. We had a lovely night and it was the first time in many weeks that I actually had a glass of wine and didn't have to be concerned about the consequences it may have on my voice!
After I got home that evening I felt really exhausted. Probably the combination of being in different surroundings together with finally having some time to unwind from the show and then a couple of glasses of wine to make me feel a little groggy - so I lay in bed thinking 'tomorrow morning I'm gonna book a couple of treatments in a spa I know' and that's exactly what I did. I woke early and called Bodysgallen Hall which is a hotel and Spa on the outskirts of Llandudno on the coast of North Wales. I took my mum to stay there for a couple of nights a few years ago and so I knew it was the perfect place to go.
I arrived a half hour early and sat on their outdoor terrace in the blazing sunshine and read a chapter of my book - The Hunger Games book 3 which I'm over half way through now and am enjoying, but neither the 2nd or the 3rd are as good as the first in my opinion. I then went in for my treatments. I had booked a 1 hour full body massage which then went straight into a 1hr 15min facial. Laying on a bed for 2 hours and a 1/4 with a lovely young lady relaxing every inch of your body (well not quite every inch - cheeky) is always going to be a pleasure isn't it! The therapist was great as were the treatments and afterwards I went and sat in their relaxation room and read another chapter of my book before driving home along the North Wales coast with my windows right down feeling the sea air blowing my hair around which was very greasy from the massage oil and I had my music blaring and I felt like I could just keep driving like that for an eternity. The massages were both described in the brochure as 'energising' and I certainly felt in good spirits that evening. I was pulling up the drive of our farm and my mum and sister were going for a walk around the block - does everyone have a block that they walk around at home? Be it a collection of housing estates, or some fields or a road that leads around in some sort of circle? Anyway I said to them "wait 10 minutes for me to have some food and then we'll head for a walk up Moel Famau instead" - and that's what we did. Moel Famau is a mountain in the Vale of Clwyd which is a mountain range which surrounds the county where I was brought up and as your driving along the road to my folks place Moel Famau looks like a big boob with a nipple on the top of it! The nipple is actually a small castle like turret at the peak of the mountain which looks so exciting until you get there and realise it's just a rather dull stoney pile of dark stone - however the view is breathtaking. It was about 8pm by the time we reached the top and we sat there feeling like we were sat on the top of the world. I know I tend to harp on about it quite a lot but I feel so privileged, honoured and lucky to have been brought up in such a picturesque beautiful area - an area that is such an amazing escape from the hustle and bustle of London city life!
We headed down from the mountain and after a long chat with my brother in law about which bathroom I want in my flat (he is a plumber and is coming down to transform my bathroom while I go on holiday in September), I went home to read in bed and feel happy to have had an amazing day at home!
I woke on Tuesday and headed to my sister's house which is only half a mile away from the ranch (which is what we call my parents farm!) and she was painting their garden fence so I picked up a brush and helped! Five hours later, we're still painting and my back is sun burnt and bright red, my David Guetta CD has played on loop a good 7 times from my car and the fence is still only about 1/8th painted! It was the only good thing about coming back to London that I didn't feel guilty about not being able to help any more than that!
I did however have a little break during that five hours to put on some of my brother-in-law's swim shorts and get in the paddling pool with my 3 year old niece - baring in mind the paddling pool was only 3 feet in diameter and about 12 inches tall (yup kinda small) so the only way I could fit in it was by sitting upright with my legs crossed thus resulting in my poor niece being squashed to one side of it, but she insisted I stayed there so she could fill her plastic teapot with water (and grass) and then poor it over uncle Mark's head! It didn't take us long to dry off on the trampoline though! It was a great afternoon where I returned to my childhood for a couple of hours!
That evening the whole family came to the ranch to wish my brother a happy 30th birthday (he'd just got back from Vegas so there were no big celebrations as he was a shattered, so we all had fish and chips and sat around looking at old photographs and newspaper cuttings of him that my mum had put together in a special album for him for his birthday! It was really funny because my brother it quite often in the local newspapers in the sports pages because he plays football for the local town and some of his facial expressions in the action shots were just perfect material for a good old belly laugh! He was mortified seeing so many ugly pictures of himself in the same album! I found it highly amusing!
That evening I felt truly gutted that I had to drive back to London. I felt I'd just had the chance to unwind properly and then it was all taken away from me as I typed London into my sat nav and bid my family farewell. Really wasn't ready to leave, I could have gladly stayed there the rest of the week and bathed in the sunshine and laughed and enjoyed my family but alas London was calling.
The drive back was great, granted I broke a few speed limits but I made it back in good time and got myself a great night's sleep before waking and having a chill out day in the sun before heading for a meeting in the early evening and then on to Sadler's Wells to watch Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures which was absolutely wonderful! It was a breath of fresh air to watch a dance piece that was so narrative and entertaining with a great cast who were very inspiring and extremely talented!
After that I headed home for a very warm sleep with windows open and listening to the local foxes mating - which sounds excruciatingly painful doesn't it?!! Ouch those poor Vixen! Ha
Right I think I've written enough for today! I'm off to sweat off my entire mass of bodily fluid on a west end stage! Sexy eh?!
Have a great week people! Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy your lives!
Keep Believing!
Sh-Boom!!!
Mark
