National Paralympic Day - August 2014

The end of August saw Rachael and I back at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to attend the National Paralympic Day. I had such an amazing time last year with Matthew, meeting our amazing British Paralympians and enjoying all the activities. This year, the moment tickets were available, I made sure to book two tickets to watch the swimming, the first time the event had been held the park since London 2012. Could not complain when the tickets were £5 each and we had amazing seats!

On arrival at the park, we made our way straight to the signing area and were lucky enough to get there just in time to meet our British skiers, who did an amazing job in Sochi at the beginning of the year. I was even lucky enough to wear the gold medal! We ended generally spending our time around that tent making sure we got to meet as many of the Paralympians appearing that day before we headed over to the Aquatic Centre. I was most excited about meeting Jonnie Peacock and Aled Davies, which we were fortunate to be able to do so!

When we finally got to meet Jonnie, the staff working at the tent told him we had been to every signing session just to make sure we did not meet him! I told him that Mattie had meant to come with me but had changed his mind that morning. Then preceded to tell him we were at the Anniversary Games the year before and that Mattie got all upset when he came third in his race. Jonnie apologised just like he did that day, not wanting to let anyone down. I told him that he did a great job that day!

We met Aled Davies just as he was coming to join the signing area, but as we didn't have time to queue up again, we approached him as he arrived. It was absolute honour to be able to meet him and tell him that me and the kids were in the stadium the day he won his gold medal at London 2012! After we met him, we headed over to the aquatic centre in time for our event.

The swimming was Team GB vs Europe. As we were attending the evening session, we saw the second half of the competition. Being back at the Aquatic Centre was amazing, though it did feel much smaller now that the higher additional seats had been removed. At the start of our session, Team GB were well ahead of Europe and it generally continued that way, with Team GB winning on completion of the event! Definitely a great way to reopen the aquatic centre!

Definitely want to attend again next year and hopefully Matthew will want to come!

Four Nights, Four Musicals - August 2014

Four nights in a row, four different musicals, one very tiring week but absolutely worth it! It was Kids' Week again and this year, I had managed to secure a pair of tickets for me and Rachael, across four nights to see four musicals. Yes, many complained that it was unfair we had secured that many, but we were just two people and tickets for two people are far easier to buy than for four! So between the 18th of August and the 21st of August, we saw: Wicked, The Pajama Game, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.

Wicked has long been our favourite show and every year, we go and see it. This year, we were more excited as Kerry Ellis had been announced as doing a short run back in the show. For me, it was a chance to see my first ever Elphaba again, for Rachael, it was a chance to see Kerry in the role. Sadly, on arrival, we discovered she was not appearing that night and instead we were seeing Emma Hatton in the role. She was outstanding in the role and next year we get to see her again as she has been offered the principal role from January 2015! We also thoroughly impressed with Savannah Stephenson and Jeremy Taylor as Glinda and Fiyero! As always we stage-doored and were so happy to finally meet Savannah as throughout the year we had kept missing her at events, only realising it was her when it was too late! She was so touched by the story, she came out from behind the barrier and gave us an extra photo to make up for the lost opportunities!

Our next show was The Pajama Game. I took a risk in booking these tickets as it is an unknown show for me, but as it was on a limited season, I thought we should give a try! To be honest I had been wanting to see the show's lead, Michael Xavier for a while after hearing great things about him and having seen him present West End Live the year before. On arrival, we ended up having our seats upgraded to much better seats, though I never did check what the difference in price was! The show was fantastic and had an amazing cast. It was definitely worth me booking it and everything I heard about Michael was right, he is amazing leading man. At the stage door after the show, Rachael got chatting to another little girl and Joanna Riding mistakened them for sisters or long time friends!

Les Miserables is the World's longest running musical and it is only this year that I have finally been to see it. Rachael has been asking for a while so this year I thought it was about time we did. And I am so glad I did, despite having a nasty headache all day and throughout the show! The show is most definitely phenomenal with one of the best ensembles on the West End. It is worth going to see just for the Barricade scene alone, which is spectacular! Admittedly, I preferred some actors from the movie over those in the show, but this is why you should always see the show before the movie! My biggest praise has to go to the theatre for the way they handled the stage door, which is located on a busy side street. Even with loads of fans stood outside, they had someone on the door making sure every cast member who plays a named character stopped for those waiting. This left us with the most autographs and photos we have gotten at any stage door and we definitely appreciate the time they all took!

Phantom of the Opera is another long running show I had yet to see and movie I had seen. It is the most spectacular show I have ever seen. The costumes, the staging, the ballet and the sets are just wow! The scene when the candles rise from the stage floor just amazed me and the ending when the phantom disappears right before your eyes, astounded me! After the show, after a long climb for the top of the theatre, we rushed to the stage door as I had been warned that many cast members were fast to change and fast to leave! Luckily we didn't miss them! We nearly missed the guy playing the phantom as the alternate had been on that night and obviously he was not used to stopping but a regular at the stage door called him back before he got too far!

Four nights in a row was worth the money and how tired we were but next year, I think I will try and spread out the shows a bit more!

Glasgow 2014 - July 2014

After the success of London 2012, I absolutely could not miss out on attending the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. I was able to secure two tickets to see the hockey, but missed out on gymnastics and athletics. Originally I planned and booked to stay for one night in Glasgow, but decided that with such a long train journey, we would probably be too tired to want to even attend our event. So after constantly checking for months, I managed to get us booked into our preferred hotel in Edinburgh for two nights, allowing to make more of our visit.

After a four hour train journey, we enjoyed our first evening exploring Edinburgh. The next morning, the day of our event, we spent the morning at Edinburgh Castle, which has the most stunning views. Despite our event not being till the evening, we spent the afternoon in Glasgow, exploring the city. With the upcoming referendum on Scotland and independence, there had been a worry and rumours of English people receiving abuse from Scottish people, but we found none of that and found the Scots to be very welcoming of everyone to their city.

By the time we got to the Hockey Arena for our session, Mattie was very tired and had a huge meltdown, so our time there ended up being very short, but luckily we got our money's worth. The first match was India vs Trinidad and Tobago and by half time, it was something like 10-0 to India! We were sat behind one of the goals, where India happened to be scoring all these goals! Despite being tired, this made Mattie very happy and made the cost of tickets more than worth it!

In the end, we ended doing what we did when we to see the Hockey at London 2012! The mini hockey courts had been set up outside for the kids and Mattie ended having so much fun trying it out! I ended up letting him continue playing rather than dragging him back to our seats for the rest of the hockey session! We left before the end of the second match to avoid the crowds and to give us plenty of time to head back to Edinburgh. We had a fab time, though we do wish we had had more time to explore Glasgow and been able to see more events!

London Film and Comic Con - July 2014

July brought Showmasters' biggest convention back to London and it was their biggest and best yet with the one of the best line ups of guests they had ever had. It was also the busiest, with queues heading around Earl's Court for a good ten minute walk! Sadly, many people complained for many reasons and despite how busy it was and the typical "let's randomly stand in the middle of the aisle" people in attendance, we had an amazing time both days we attended.

Over the weekend, we met: Adjoa Andoh, John Hurt, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Madsen, Jenna Coleman, Jemma Redgrave, Summer Glau, Bernard Cribbins, Jason Mewes, Juliet Landau, Stan Lee, Lena Headey, TJ Thyne, George A Romero, Colin Baker, Jason Narvy and Paul Schrier. Considering how busy it was, I am amazed we managed to meet so many of the guests we wanted to over the weekend. While all of them were amazing, there were definitely some stand outs!

Jenna Coleman was definitely a must meet guest for us, after having missed a number of opportunities to do so. I found out after the convention that Jenna had not been feeling well the day she attended but kept going despite this. She was our first photo shoot of the day and she obliged to pose with our Captain America bear (she had a minor part in the first movie). Took us a couple of attempts to get her autograph due to her being at lunch and us being given the wrong time that she would be back, but eventually we got her. She was lovely, a little quiet and sweet enough to a cheeky little photo with Rachael. 

Summer Glau and Lena Heady were both lovely. Mattie thought they both pretty and wanted to be one who had the photos with them and not me! Lena actually got upset when he ran past her at the photoshoot as she wanted a cuddle with him! Mattie was very pleased to be able to see them again when we got their autographs!

A very cool guest to meet was Jason Mewes! I am a huge fan of Dogma so it was absolute honour to meet Jason. He was very approachable and was fantastic with the kids. I have to admit I was worried he might swear or say something naughty! He encouraged Rachael to be in the photo with us, despite her having no idea who he was! What I loved most though was the fact he refused to sit behind the table and instead be in front of it so he was able to interact with the fans better!

A surprise fave guest was TJ Thyne. He is best known for his role in Bones, but I have to admit I have never seen it and chose to meet him for his minor role in Charmed. He was fantastic to meet and hugged everyone who came to get his autograph and willingly posed for photos as well. He wrote a fab autograph for me, referencing how his character got eaten by the Charmed ones!

Despite having met him in Cardiff a few months before, I chose to get a professional photo taken with Bernard Cribbins. I had only paid for one photo but ended up with two with both Mattie and Rachael in the shot. Whenever I have a photo, I always get the kids to stand the other side while I have it done, but this time Bernard encouraged them to be in the shot. No crew member or even the photographer argued with him about! He was fab with the kids and we ended up with two funny shots, one with him pulling Mattie's ears and the other with his hands on Mattie's head!

The last amazing guest of the weekend had to be the legend that is Stan Lee, who was appearing at his final ever European convention. He was the main reason why the convention was so busy. We were very lucky in comparison to many of those who attended as we had a photo booked and we were able to get his autograph which we had authenticated. We didn't have much interaction with him due to the number of people having photos and autographs, but I did manage to thank him for the autograph. 

The weekend was manic, busy and so amazing! Definitely the best convention we have attended so far. I shall be attending next year as always, though I doubt I will spending as much as I did this year!

The Book of Mormon - July 2014

I am going to put this out there right now and I am not ashamed to admit it either: I really hate South Park! I think it is disgusting, crude and not at all funny. So imagine my surprise when I found myself desperately wanting to see The Book of Mormon after seeing performances of the Broadway cast. Now being a huge fan of Frozen, finding out not long after the Oscars this year that Robert Lopez, one half of the writing team behind the Oscar winning "Let It Go", also happened to be one of the crazy minds behind The Book of Mormon.  It was the clincher I needed to be convinced to go and see the show. And I am very glad I did!

Tickets for the show are not cheap and finding good deals are not easy. However, in comparison to other shows, The Book of Mormon have a number of offers available. I took advantage of the No Booking Fee deal. I booked 12 weeks in advance via the official website and did not have to pay the booking fee. Best deal I could find with a guaranteed seat to the show. I ended up choosing the cheapest ticket available at £37.50 (if I remember correctly) for a ticket near the back of the circle of The Prince of Wales theatre. Luckily, no matter where you sit in this theatre, you generally have a good view.

The Book of Mormon follows the story of two young missionaries as they journey to Uganda. Simply put, it is an outright piss take of Mormons and their beliefs! It is absolutely hysterical! Though I do advise anyone who is in any way easily offended, I would not suggest you going to see it! The show starred at the time of me going to see it, Gavin Creel as Elder Prince, Jared Gertner as Elder Cunningham, Alexia Khadime as Nabulungi and an amazingly talented ensemble! It is definitely one of the most vocally impressive shows I have seen this year!

As always after the show I went to the stage door and met the cast. I got to speak Alexia about the fact she was, besides Idina Menzel, the only (at the time) actress I had not seen as Elphaba in Wicked. It was nice to finally to see her perform despite knowing who she was for quite some time now! It was fantastic to meet Jared and Gavin after the show, as I discovered from some fans that they were due to leave the show barely a couple of weeks later! I feel lucky I got to see them as they had done much longer than the standard year most leads do!

I definitely plan to go back and see the show at some point. But right now, listening to the Broadway cast album on repeat will have to make do! If you can, go and see the show! And watch out for the fantastic running joke of Elder Cunningham not being able to pronounce Nabulungi's name, resulting in some very weird and unexpected results (which I am told are made up on the spot)!

Tour de France - July 2014

The beginning of July saw the Tour de France come to the UK, the first since 2007. Being that British riders had won for the past two years, I thought I would take the chance to go into London to see the race come through the streets and cheer on our British riders! The race was Stage 3 of the tour, with the riders cycling from Cambridge to London, with the finish line being on The Mall, near to Buckingham Palace. 

My friend Kirsty and I chose to view the race on the Victoria Embankment, near to the Golden Jubilee and Hungerford Bridges. Kirsty arrived early to get us a good spot and I followed at around half two. Our spot gave us a view of them coming under the bridge and also towards the Houses of Parliament! Crowds were not too bad and slowly swelled leading up to the riders coming past, with hoards of people standing on the bridges! 

Despite our best efforts to figure out when they would turn, with someone following the race on the phone app and us trying to guess if it the last cars had past, the riders caught us by surprise, speeding past us. We cheered loudly and took photos, but we had no way of knowing who was who or who was leading! We held out right until the last riders, giving them a big cheer of encouragement. We even cheered for cyclists who were not part of the race, but were allowed to follow it on the condition they did so after the race had completely past. 

We got the news shortly after the last rider had past that there had been a crash just up the road from us, on the turn onto Parliament Square and by the time we went to leave, the race had finished! That absolutely amazed me! Definitely was an amazing experience!

Virtually Famous - June 2014

Virtually Famous is a brand new panel show, which was recently aired on E4, about videos which have gone viral online. It was presented by Glee star, Kevin McHale and the team captains were Seann Walsh and Chris Stark. Back in June, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a recording of the show. Having been in the audience for many shows when I was teenager, I thought I knew what to expect. It turned out I was completely wrong as having only been live shows or prerecorded in a live style, I had never attended a recording like the one I was about to experience and with a headache as well!

We arrived at Riverside Studios stupidly early. But a long wait would worth it if it meant seats near the front! During our wait, a researcher came out to ask we would "Keep or Delete" Cat and DIY videos. I have to admit, I really didn't think they asked the studio audience beforehand when shows say they do! So there is me proven wrong! I answered delete to both! Eventually we were led round to entrance and allowed into the studio when the set was. We nearly ended up away from the front of the audience but after my friend, Kirsty, complained, our entire row was moved to front rows, with me and Kirsty managing to get two seats directly in front of Seann's team, which turn out to be a great place to sit.

The teams for recording were: Chris Stark, James Acaster and Pixie Lott and Seann Walsh, Troy the magician and Aisling Bea. Favourite Moments of the recording included: Pixie Lott ripping off sellotape from Chris' face and the look of pain on his face when she did; Seann's rant on cats, which I have to admit I agreed with; everyone's reactions when Troy pulled string out of his eye, which was absolutely disgusting; and the amazing Aisling Bea, who kept me and Kirsty laughing even when they were between takes!  The show was absolutely fantastic and Kevin was a brilliant presenter!

The show is about 50 minutes with adverts but the recording took around two hours, perhaps a little longer. Most of what is shown in the final cut is really only a small proportion of what actually happens during recording! Then on top of that, there is sometimes the need for retakes. By the time, it was reaching near the end, my headache had got really bad (all the laughing probably didn't help), so I was quite glad once it was finally done, though I had an absolute blast! Though at least I can be more prepared for the next time, if I ever attend a similar recording.

 After the show, we hung around the bar just outside the studio doors in the hope of meeting Kevin and the guests! As you can see from my photos, I was lucky enough to meet everyone but Chris! Aisling actually ended up thanking me and Kirsty on Twitter after I tweeted my photo with her, for keeping her going throughout the show! Obviously I was so happy to be able to meet and get a photo with Kevin. I was even more delighted when he agreed to sign an autograph for Rachael, on which he stated I was the best mum in the world! Fantastic end to a fantastic evening!