Back To School...

... in the morning!

After a fab weekend in Sheffield where apart from gigging I mainly slept it must be said, I now have four weeks off from performing.

In the morning I begin my four-week CELTA course. I've been warned that it's really intense, and just getting up and commuting every day Monday to Friday after 17 years of working at night is going to be a challenge.

The beauty of this is that I'm doing it because I want to, I don't have to pass in order to get on with my future plans, but I want this qualification under my belt. I can volunteer with the VSO if I have something like this to offer.

I'm really looking forward to using my brain, to mixing with my other classmates and the students I'll be teaching from day two of the course.

Here's to new beginnings.

A New Chapter

Soooooo this is the blog post where I tell all. A few of my pals on Twitter and Facebook have been wondering what I’m up to as I hinted at changes - big ones - that I was making in my life. Well here’s what’s happening.

On New Year’s Eve I will be doing my last circuit gig for the foreseeable future at Leicester Highlight. After 17 years on the circuit I’ve decided its time for a sabbatical.

This year has been pretty rotten in all kinds of ways - the deaths of both my Dad and my good friend Jason Wood - and my own ill health have focussed me in a way I’ve not been in a very long time. The simple fact is I’m ready for a change. I still love my time onstage, but all the “stuff” that surrounds it, well that’s the bit I’ve had enough of.

Next week I begin my month long CELTA course and please god I will emerge at the end of September with a certificate, recognised by Cambridge University, that will enable me to teach English almost anywhere in the world.

I love to travel and in particular love being in SE Asia. I’ve said before that I always feel like I’ve come home when I touch down in that part of the world, be it Bangkok or Shanghai or Kuala Lumpur and with this certificate I can hopefully spend longer periods of time in those cities and other places in the area.

I’m not starting off there though. In January I fly off to India for five whole months, three of which are going to be spent doing “working meditation” on an ashram in Pune. I’ve been told I could be doing anything from mopping floors to making cappuccinos so it’s gonna be interesting to say the least!

From there my plan is to spend next summer in Barcelona both teaching English and learning Spanish, before heading off to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and wherever my fancy takes me.

I cannot tell you how excited I am at the thought of this mahoooosive lifestyle change. I’ve been dreaming of it for a long time and finally I am in a position financially to make it happen. One lesson I am taking from this year is that life really is too short to put off living your dreams.

I’ll still be writing about my adventures and in due course I’ll be letting you know where you can read about them.

I’m not turning my back on performing either. I rather suspect that I might just finally come up with something I wanna talk about for an hour every night in Edinburgh after this!

The Godlike Genius of Kathy Burke

http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00tcz90/Desert_Island_Discs_Kathy_Burke

click and listen to the most amazing bit of radio for ages!

I'm In The Future!!!!!!!

Kind of.

Wednesday night saw me off to my favourite place in London - Westfield - to see Toy Story 3 in the Vue cinema there. Me and my mate were off to an evening showing, in 3D no less!

I am old enough to remember the last time they tried to bring back 3D (not the first time tho, I think that was in the 50's) and it was shit back then. Jaws 3-D anyone?

This time round I'd not really seen the point in it, Avatar held no appeal whatsoever. I'm one of those old fashioned girls who needs a story as well as shiny things to stare at on the screen, so blue people flying about was never gonna have me high-tailing it to the local multiplex.

Toy Story, however, is a very different matter. I saw and loved the first one, but for some reason totally missed the second one. Anyway when Tracy suggested seeing TS3 I said yeah and booked these tickets.

The glasses have improved, they're more like a Primark version of Ray Ban, than the flimsy cardboard with one red and one green lens of my youth. The seats in the cinema were fabulous and great position. I have to admit I was excited!

The trailers began and all of them were in 3D. It was magnificent! All kinds of stuff flying towards my face, incredibly "real".

By the time Toy Story started, I was used to the glasses and it didn't seem strange anymore that things were bouncing off the screen. Another reason for this might well have been the story. Hats off to the writers, it was funny, poignant, insightful and just a celebration of childhood!

I'd expected to sob my heart out from start to finish, but miraculously I didn't! I did cry quite hard at the end but they were positive tears.

Its been out for a few weeks, but if you haven't seen it, do.

A Few More...

... photos of Paris.

It really is such a gorgeous city!

The End Of An Era

I’m writing this blog on the train back to London. I’ve spent three pretty bleak days up in Preston.

“Nowt new about that” I hear you say, “Preston’s always bleak” and of course you’re right, but this trip was especially bleak. It was my first time back since my Dad’s funeral at the beginning of March.
I’d put off going up to clear out the flat because I couldn’t bear the thought of staying there while I did it, then one of my friends suggested I just stay in a hotel and suddenly it was all ‘do-able’.

So Monday I got the train up, and first of all I did some legal stuff like sign my will. I think my lawyer thinks I’m crackers, two of my beneficiaries are the Dalai Lama and Monkey World! Then I went to visit my aunt where I sat reminiscing for a good few hours, before going off to see my cousin’s daughter’s new baby! Anything to avoid going to the flat.

I didn’t make it there Monday at all, I went to the hotel and caught up on the sleep I lost the night before.

On Tuesday I couldn’t delay, so off I went. I walked in expecting my Dad to be sat in his chair. He wasn’t of course, but I could smell him in there. Not that he stunk of piss or anything, but just his scent was still lingering. The curse of being a non-smoker I guess. If I was still on the fags I’d not have noticed.

In the kitchen the calendar was on March it was like time had frozen. So it would appear had my emotions cos it all came spilling out. Tears for my Dad, tears for my Mum who died four and a half years ago, and selfishly, tears for me as I accepted I truly am alone now in the world. The only two people who had to love me no matter what are buried across the road under a bush in the church grounds (well their ashes are).

I allowed myself the sobs, then got stuck in. At first it was easy enough, slinging out old toiletries, packing up clothes for the charity shops - all the while checking every single pocket cos my Dad was a bugger for squirreling away money - then came the photographs.

I’d decided that I wasn’t going to keep many of them because when I die, someone from the council will be doing for me what I’m doing for them and everything will go in the bin, but some evoked such memories I had no choice but to keep them.

My childhood what what you might call ‘dysfunctional’ - if you were prone to understatement - but as I looked at some of my baby photos, and saw the look of love in my Mum and my Dad’s eyes as they held me, all the old shit just melted away. My childhood was what it was, and its a long way behind me now. They did their best, and that’s all anyone can do.

I am so glad I made this trip because getting to that point is a huge thing for me. I’ve been caught up in the blame game for a long time, and now I’m free of it.

This morning the nice man I booked to clear the place came and took everything away, then the estate agent came and told me it was worth more than I expected (only I could decide to sell a property the week the news breaks of a double dip recession!).

As I turned out the lights and closed the door for the last time, I felt a real sadness. By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs I realised that I’ve turned another corner. Its the end of one chapter, time for the next one to begin!

More Travel, Less Travail

Sooooo last week saw me taking a wee bargain break in Paris. I got a very cheap deal with Eurostar and my Priority Club points had mounted sufficiently to get me three nights in a half decent hotel for next to nowt. Basically it would've been more expensive to stay in London for the week.

I headed out on Tuesday and could walk from the Gare du Nord to my hotel. I was too early to check in, but I left my case and set off towards the Louvre. I'd bought a three day travelcard thing at St Pancras and right outside my hotel was a Metro and mainline station so all of Paris was within my grasp.

The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays but of course I wasn't there for the art. I was there for the shopping centre under the Pyramid where they have an Apple Store.

After many dramas and much deliberation I weakened and bought an iPad, and I wanted the little thingy that connects your camera to it so that you can upload photos. There were none to be had in the UK but I was hopeful for Paris, sadly not to be, but I still got to see some amazing sights.
Even the Starbucks are blinging here!

Whenever I visit a place for the first time I have a pretty rigid agenda, but I've done a few trips to Paris so there were no "must sees" - I'd seen them all! - which meant I could do what I love most, wander about, drinking coffee, watching people and getting lost. I'm rather an expert at that now!

The sun was out so I was able to stroll for miles, Galleries Lafayette wasn't far and it was the last day of their sale, so it would've been rude not to have a look for a couple of hours! Didn't buy owt tho! I really don't need any more summer stuff and the new season clothes were just a bit depressing. Winter will be here soon enough!

I went back to the hotel and checked in - taking the opportunity to have a little disco nap before going out for dinner in the Chatalet/Les Halles area. Lovely moules and frites, plus a little look at the Pompidou which still amazes me after all these years.


Wednesday saw me in a Left Bank state of mind as I took the Metro to St Germain de Pres. It ended up being a bittersweet experience as the names of all the streets brought up memories of my mum and dad. Before I was born they were stationed in Fountainebleau and used to come up to Paris at the weekends for dinner and nights out. Streets like the Rue de Bac - where I'd never been before - brought back memories of the stories my mum told of those times.

It made me quite emotional to think of this young woman (she'd have been in her early 20's then) who had sailed from England to Canada to marry my Dad and then flown across the ocean and dumped in a country where she didn't speak the language. What an extraordinary woman she was! That period of her life was one where she was exceptionally happy too.

I had a delicious brunch in Cafe de Flores. It was the most expensive omelette I've ever eaten but worth every penny to be able to sit and watch the world go by for a good hour afterwards. Then I did some more wandering and found myself in my new favourite department store Le Bon Marche. I succumbed to temptation in there big time, buying some Byredo Rose Noir perfume which is the most divine smell I've smelled in a long time. I also fed my handbag addiction with a gorgeous Jamin Peutch across the body bag in a fabulous glittery taupe leather which sounds vile but isn't!

I spent two hours in the gourmet food shop next door too, buying nothing more than a bottle of shower gel! Bliss!

The evening saw me take a Seine cruise which I timed beautifully, the lights came on along the riverside and all the bridges as we set off. This really is a beautiful city, and the Eiffel Tower is especially magical when it begins to sparkle as it does on the hour once night falls!

The next day saw me just walk and walk until I got to the Tuileries. The sun was out and there were chairs provided so I sat and soaked up the rays while I had a little picnic lunch. It felt like I lived there rather than being a tourist!

Sadly by night time the lupus symptoms had kicked in big time and all I could do was sleep, but still, what a cracking little break!