January 1st 2012

Christmas was utterly perfect.  Our family festivities started on Christmas Eve afternoon with a visit to the Colston Hall in Bristol to watch Coram Boy. We also took my mother in law Helen, whom I adore, and the production was outstanding.  The play was directed by Melly Still, the director of the sold out production at the National Theatre, and it was one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. With a cast of 140, a full orchestra and choir, the audience was taken on an emotional and, at times gut wrenchingly powerful journey through a period in history when babies born out of wedlock were left dying on the London streets and slavery was rife.  Not your average Christmas show for sure but Emily was incredible in the role of Melissa and I have a rekindled love for Handel’s Messiah.

Last night was spent in London at a party near the Thames and we stayed in the Haymarket Hotel close to Trafalgar Square.  We don’t usually do much for New Year’s Eve as I personally dislike seeing the end of what is usually a wonderful year but we had decided to accept an invitation from friends a few months earlier and I am so thrilled that we went.  There were so many people that we hadn’t seen for a while and being in London was jolly good fun.  Until the walk back to the hotel that is.  I was wearing lowish heels (as far as the fashion industry and my daughters are concerned) but given that I spend most of time in my outdoor Uggs or my Ariats, they were HIGH.

We had walked along the embankment watching the crowds congregating along the river in sight of the London Eye and the atmosphere was great. Personally I am not sure that I could ever be motivated to sit in a London gutter in the rain just to see some albeit spectacular fireworks some four hours on but it was nice being a part of the build up for a while.  We spent several hours at the party chatting and cheering in 2012 and decided to leave around 1.30am.  The walk had been effortless on the way to the do, but after five hours my feet were beginning to hurt.  I would have taken my shoes off but the crowds of jolly families waiting to ring in a bright New Year had dissipated leaving the hard core drinkers staggering around in their wake.  The streets were littered with vomit and broken glass and our passage was slowed by staggering drunks. It was gross. By the time we got back to our hotel I was crippled. My feet were on fire and I figured this must be the closest a human can get to experiencing the pain of laminitis.  I could barely put one foot in front of each other by the end of the walk and although Tony was being thoughtful in offering a supporting arm he kept taking me across cobbled areas which was making it worse!  I have never been so thrilled to see Landseer’s Lions in my life.

My feet still hurt this morning and my hips are now giving me grief as well. I am not even old but am clearly well past it on the party stakes.  Unless I wear flip flops of course.   If I was a horse I think I would probably be put to sleep as I can barely move.  Thankfully we decided to bring my truck up to town so I only have to shuffle round the corner to the car park and enjoy a leisurely drive home.

This entry was posted on 13. January 2012 at 19:06 and is filed under Sarah Fisher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.