Absolutely Fabulous

The Corn Exchange - Cambridge UK

Inside the C.E. WE sat in the row front right of this picture

We four pedaled into town to see Jennifer Saunders at the Corn Exchange. This is a large building which is surprisingly ornate considering its original purpose was for farmers and buyers to haggle over agricultural produce.

Her new book is available in audio form which
would be a hilarious way of hearing about her life

 After locking our bikes up and stashing the lights in my bag, we took M to Nandos for tea because he had never been before. The Macho peas were a hit - does the addition of a little chilli to the normal mint concotion make the tender little things manly?

The Ely bookstore ladies had the tickets sorted into alphabetical order so the pick up was streamlined leaving lots of time to sit in the venue before the 7:30 start to admire the patterns and moldings in the building. Unfortunately M's seat was wet so the jackets were quickly piled under him annoying the people behind I'm sure.  We have never discussed why the seat was wet but to alleviate the conflict between chivarlry and digust in M's mind I offered for my jacket to be placed below his Chicago Bears coat!

Our tickets - bought through the promoter,
Ely bookshop - must go there one day

When booking the tickets for the family I had thought that it was for a stand up routine. When I saw the 2 seats and coffee table with a screen hanging behind on stage I suddenly realised that this was a book launch interview.  Not quite what the girls were expecting but they very politely said they had enjoyed it anyway. I guess stories about Ms Saunders seeing the tattoos under Dolly Parton's breasts at a New York restaurant table while suffering from jetlag and being tiddly at a prize giving ceremony at a Gay pride do with Joanna Lumney all dressed up as their AbFab alter egos are going to be entertaining no matter what format they are delivered in.

She told a story about a Principal she had had who was much like the one in Dahl's Matilda. This paragon of the teaching profession went to court for caning a girl so badly that she was literally unable to sit down for a week.  The charges were dropped because the judge at the time thought that the girl's crimes - blowing raspberries at her teacher and stealing her pen which she then sold on for a pound to be dreadful enough to warrant such punishment.

After leaving school she went to a college to become a drama teacher.  Here she met the woman interviewing her on the night, Jobo, and Dawn French(Vicar of Dibley). Jennifer and Dawn went on to  perform live standup together at the comic strip - called this because above the basement theatre were several strip clubs.  She thought that many an older bloke in Mac raincoats were disappointed when neither of them removed their clothes. The comic duo French and Saunders was born.

When Ms French was unable to fulfill her contract at one stage, their agent told Ms Saunders that she had to fill the studio bookings by herself.  This was the motivation, for a person who thinks procrastination should be named a disease so she could go to a clinic for it and be cured, needed to create Absolutely Fabulous. This is one of my favourite shows but no matter how much hinting, I still haven't received the series on DVD from my family!  Oh well kids - it's my B-day soon!

Ab Fab duo

In the question time afterwards she even said that a movie and new series were about to be produced - in my delight and audible whooping in support of the announcement (Daughters and husband slowly sinking in chairs - difficult for M with coats still puffy beneath him.) I think I may have missed an ironic lilt in the voice.  M thinks that her following statement that she will probably record it in Cambridge should hint at disappointment of these hopes.

We escaped through a side door to avoid the huge queues having their books signed. Back at the bicycle stands we reattached our lights and toddled off home in single file - Petal leading at a break neck speed (makes this old idiom sound literal!) with a torch gaffa taped to her handle bars because the lights I bought for her have clamps that don't fit her bike frame.  It was a funny feeling sailing past Billy Smart's circus in Midsummer common. Willow crouched down low and whizzed past her sedately pedaling mother - with our red noses from the cold night and wind chill all we needed were stripy suits and big shoes to get a free pass in.

We went to the circus last night. I didn't see anyone who looked like the Smarts I know. Hearing the circus folk talking confirmed that 'Britain's Greatest' circus is as English as Sauerkraut.

His hat was on fire! His ladder swings through 360
and his fie hose would only squirt behind him into the audience

The clown was great but really stressed M and Willow out by making forays into the crowd looking for people to join in.  Their APS rose to a peak when he was collecting people for a center ring act. Luckily the worst we suffered was a bit of a sprinkle from his 'tears' via a hand pump in his pocket. The girls were a bit disappointed because of the lack of animals - the closest being some giant stuffed ones as raffle prizes in the interval. Petal was happy to be able to buy Candy floss rather than a raffle ticket.

The trapeze artists and acrobatic troupe were pretty amazing. Incredibly strong and toned. My favourite act was a firefighter clown with a ladder that swung around an axis.  He was having a great time.  The little kids in the tent roared when the clown bent over while blowing a raspberry and squeezing out a spurt or two of talc from a little hole in the back seam of his trousers. A juggler played a drum kit really well with about 6 balls - amazing dexterity.

M and I wore our wellies(gumboots) so we could walk home straight through the common.  The girl's choose to walk with us instead of heading up to the path and I have put their shoes into the boiler cupboard to dry out. Luckily Willow's prediction of tripping face first into the only cow pat in the field didn't come true.

Read most of: Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan Vintage bks
Very disappointing. The premise held great promise but the plot got bogged down in relationships that were poorly sketched and hollow. This male author wrote about a female protagonist that was said to be highly intelligent but was portrayed as making consistently impulsive and stupidly emotional decisions all the way through.  I skimmed the last third because I was so bored with both the shallow plot, setting and characters. The short stories described within the novel are better than the novel. This one is going to the charity shop, no room on my bookshelf for it.