Saturday 22 August 2020

Theatre Of Lost Dreams


Eek! 2020
Jill McVarish's take on it all


It is hardly News, Dear Reader, that a few of the Pipistrello's plans have gone awry this year. First up, the Wine Buffs were due to visit from hipster-central Portland[ia] in America in April and, as it was coincident with my Brother's birthday, tickets had been purchased for the magicians Penn & Teller (sorry, Illusionists!), who were also going to be in Australia. We'd none of us seen these pre-eminent show-offs, so we were all atwitter. Obv., none of this happened when the wheels fell off the Entertainment & Travel Bandwagon in March. 

Correspondence between Siblings

Brother sent me this text the other day. He'd walked past the stage door to the Theatre in question and the breathlessly anticipatory posters are still hanging. A tear was shed by Brother, who is crazy about the Art of Illusion. Abracadabra and all that.

Watch me pull a rabbit ..., &c.

I wondered if buying him a book like Abracadabra! Secret Methods Magicians & Others Use to Deceive Their Audiencethe 1997 spoiler by Nathaniel Schiffman, would be adequate compensation but aficionados of such things don't appreciate to have the Magic spoilt. No fun in peeking inside the  fulsome sleeves, it would seem.

Nothing up my sleeve!

Unsurprisingly, this has turned out to be a rather economical 2020 in our household. We've had tickets refunded to the Magic show, several Opera House recitals from our Utzon subscription to date and one ballet. We don't dine out much these days, anyway, but apart from a couple of nights out since March, (when Pear-shaped became the flavour du jour), including for our Anniversary (23!), there's none of that carry on, either. As to the future of restaurant dining, this popped up in the press this week:

Photo of protective dining bubble by Christophe Gernigon
Everything Old is New again

This young lady looks like she's settling in for a night of fun, no? Of course, there's nothing new with this idea to anyone of a certain generation, as Maxwell Smart and the Cone of Silence are old hat, so we already know better that scintillating conversation or shared confidences are frustratingly off the table with this cunning design.

Keeping Mum with Max

As for the travel question, it has been around 14 years since we've been to England and France and we'd fully expected to finally remedy that situation, but our proposed 5-week trip in May didn't happen. And back when we were silly enough to have purchased a diary for 2020, we'd also pencilled in a trip to Scotland for a couple of weeks, (what a whirligig of a year it was going to be!), which is where we'd be right now in that parallel universe. Who knows, the future may still look bright for those Lost Dreams.

We'll be stepping confidently onto the tarmac again,
... one of these days



Image credits: 1: Artsy; 2: Flying With Hands; 3: Wikimedia Commons; 4: via Pinterest; 5: Financial Times; 6,7: via Google



10 comments:

  1. I think we might as well all scrub 2020 from our diaries. Start again in 2021 maybe.

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  2. Cro: I'm wondering if I can recycle my 2020 diary and just pencil in the changed dates. It is almost pristine and has such a fetching cover. It would make for a nice little project one rainy day.

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  3. That's funny, I was just looking at my own 2020 Planner and thinking what a waste - not a single entry since March!!!!
    My kitchen wall calendar is basically a 'Birthday Book' now - no social dates at all!

    I love your statement under the Quantas poster (which is awesome) - it resounds with positivity - "WE'LL BE STEPPING CONFIDENTLY ONTO THE TARMAC AGAIN. . . . .ONE OF THESE DAYS."
    Like you, all our trips are on hold still - hoping this will change soon - sadly the travel industry is in chaos at present.

    Stay well - Mary

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  4. Everyone’s plans have been thwarted ... I guess we all have to get used to this different way of life for the foreseeable future .... it’s all very odd but I do feel that our generation have had it pretty lucky up until now so now it’s our turn to be sent something major to deal with !!! The U.K. isn’t going anywhere so hopefully it won’t be long before you can get here. XXXX

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  5. Penn & Taylor performing before Pippy & Portland Winebuffs may have even exceeded their career's apex when Adriana on The Sopranos bragged to boyfriend "Chris-ta-fa" that she blew one of them after a show..."the tall one".

    This has been a dreadful year. Glad you're still around

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  6. Mary: Oh, good idea, maybe I'll turn it into a Birthday Book! ... This was the first year in positively ages where we had our ducks lined up for some overseas travel together and even though it could be quite a while before we get another chance, it could be years before our island continent will allow us off anyway! Like convict transportation intended, we're really appreciating how far away from the Rest of the World we are right now, hahah! Luckily, we're pretty contented with our lot so we'll just feast on our memories for the foreseeable.


    Jacquie: Agreed. It's certainly been the most curious global bonding experience on offer to date. In the meantime, my Dream List of things to do in the U.K. only grows like topsy now that we've got more time on our hands! xx


    GSL: You did make me laugh! So very good to hear from you, too, GSL. I did wonder how the Lion's Den had been faring without the usual jostling crowds for you to be feasting your critical eye upon.

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  7. I AM DYING TO GET TO SICILY ................
    AND 2020 sounded so fun to say and Fun to write!
    Let's Hope by next summer WE CAN ALL SWING IT!

    Just read 25.2 MILLION people WORLDWIDE have had COVID..........

    BE WELL........and KEEP WRITING!
    XX

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  8. Contessa: Sicily is divine! One of these days you'll get there, and one of these days we'll return ... Stay well bella, xx

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  9. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment on my blog. I hope it helps in a small way while you're unable to travel.
    That's the most entertaining moan about Covid that I've yet read! I love that old Qantas poster. Any chance of Penn and Teller pulling a vaccine out of the hat any time soon?

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  10. John: And thank you, too! P&T do sound for all the world like paid-up members of BigPharma, so perhaps someone should simply ask them.

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