Fast - Like instant noodle.

Well we are in Sydney. Last time we were here couldn't afford Opera so just walked around outside of Opera House and took photos. This time, pennies saved, opera it is!

Carmen - set in Spain, sung in French (of course it was by Bizet) with a not very literal translation on the subtitles. Kept reading the subtitles and even with my limited French managed to work out that it wasn't quite what they were singing!

Amazing depth of stage, and they had a horse bring the toreador on stage. Horse took a bow at the end - very clever but did feel that the horse might rather be somewhere else.

Carmen and Micaela were brilliant. Great voices and great acting. Set was stunning - real fires burning, not so much gadgetry but really well set.

Have been frantically trying to remember some of the tunes from Carmen and then of course the minute the overture was played I was like oh yes that one, and that one and that one! Managed to not to join in though.

In some ways it is reassuring that even the Sydney Opera House suffers from the same issue as all other theatres etc I've been in - not enough toilets! Queue at the interval was beyond massive! As usual I made it to the front of the queue just as the bell for the end of the interval went.

A truly great first introduction to opera.

Oh dear, LOL, sorry - I have to go now, we put the laundry on and Martyn has just found the hanging drier which we thought we would try and use on our balcony. His tongue is sticking out as he tries to assemble it, currently he looks like he is putting up one of those folding deck chairs. I'm trying to tell him its a drying gadget so he should be able to make it work - what do you think chances are? He says the tumble drier is looking more enticing. Oh dear, now its leaning on his legs, balanced on his feet and he has an arm through one bit. Oooooh - impressed, its up. Will it hold up under the weight of the laundry????

Sun is out today - may tootle off to beach - didn't get ice cream yesterday!

PS - sorry about lack of photos recently - we are taking them but we don't seem to have the time to sort them out at the moment.

PPS - spent some time yesterday researching Bangkok bits n pieces - most useful info gleaned from one website:

 'Bangkok is fast - like instant noodle'