Sunday 16th February 2014 - BAFTAS

Sunday 16th February 2014 - a rather special day on the Thespians Calendar this year.  It was also a day with so many memories that I shall never ever forget.  As the day dawned we were praying that the weather would be kind to us as it had rained for the rest of the week, well, it had been really rather stormy and frightfully scary. 

My day started at 4.35am, although I did wonder if I ever really slept during the night as the excitement was rising and I kept thinking I must get some sleep otherwise I will be fit for nothing come the morrow.  I got myself washed and dressed and made sure that I had all the paperwork that I would need later in the day, packed up some sandwiches drinks and snacks, to help me get through the day.  

We (my husband came along for the trip, he wasn't overjoyed by the fact that we had to get up before the crack of dawn) travelled into London on the first train that was available, and arrived in the Capital City at just after 7.15am and made our way on the Underground to Covent Garden, we had been told to go to the Theatre Royal.  We arrived and the queue went under the Colonnades, to the end of the Russell Street, round the corner and down Drury Lane, and round the next corner and a good way down Tavistock Street.  We joined the queue and had been standing there a little while chattering with other people who were also queuing with us for the same reason.  We were hoping to acquire an elusive wristband which would enable us to be on the red carpeted public area for the BAFTA Awards Ceremony later that evening.  There were two girls standing behind us and one of them asked "Do you have a number?" to which I replied "No, we don't."  We had to go back to the front of the Theatre Royal and get a number written on the back of our hand and then come back and join the queue.  What a palaver, there was no mention of this on the website.  So we went off and got a number and then came back and rejoined the queue, the girls had saved our places in the queue.  

We queued for three hours or thereabouts, we were given our wristbands at just after 10.00am. There were 1000 wristbands handed out that day I was No. 0807.

The number on my wristband didn't correspond with the big black number on the back of my hand - but I didn't care I had a wristband and I was on my way.   We were given strict instructions by the Security people who were on duty, we had to be back at the Theatre Royal by 12.00 - 12.30pm to be ready to be led to the public area from 1.00pm onwards.

Having stood in the queue for so long, I was hungry, thirsty and I needed to use the bathroom too.  We made our way back through the Covent Garden Market buildings to the Church on the other side of the Square and used the public toilets down the side of the Church - they charge 0.50p to use the loos.   

We went to a small cafe in Henrietta Street and enjoyed a good breakfast with copious amounts of freshly brewed tea.  
Inside the cafe we found several members of The London Pearly Kings & Queens Society enjoying their first meal of the day too. 

The London Pearly Kings & Queens can be seen in the Jubilee Market Hall at Covent Garden on the 3rd weekend of every month. 

I asked if I could take some photos in exchange for a donation in their Charity Bucket.  One lady asked what I was going to do with the photos and I replied that they would appear on my blog later this week.  These lovely people do a tremendous amount of work collecting money for local charities throughout the year.  

After an hour, with a good breakfast inside our tummies we ventured back outside into the bright sunshine and made our way around to the top end of Bow Street, which is where The Royal Opera House is situated.  

 

The Royal Opera House from the top of Bow Street, this end was screened off in readiness for the evening's events. 

We made our way back to the Theatre Royal where we were told to queue in numerical order with the numbers from our wristbands and not the numbers written on the back of our hands.  That bit was a tad confusing, but we sorted it out eventually.

When our numbers were called because we were in the 800's it actually worked in our favour a little bit.  We were taken across the road and told to weave our way in around the back of the crowd to the spot where we wished to stand for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We found ourselves a nice spot up under the rain canopy on the red carpet opposite the Worldwide TV Companies. 

    

 This is where we started off but we moved down 50 yards because it was easier to get pictures and some of the stars stopped to chat with us too. 

Below are just a few pictures of celebrities that I took during the afternoon and during the evening. 

 Dermot O'Leary - Television Presenter

Fearne Cotton - Television Presenter

Lily Allen - Singer

Little Ant & Dec - TV Presenters

Dame Judy Dench - Actress

Circled in Blue.

Emma Thompson - Actress

Leonardo DiCaprio - Actor

Michael Fassbender - Actor

All too soon the evening was over and the celebrities were taking their seats in the Royal Opera House for an evening amongst the "Luvvies".  To me it felt like organised chaos, as if they all came by bus and got off at the same time. Some of them rushed up the red carpet and whizzed into the Opera House without stopping for breath, I am sure some of them can run faster than Mo Farah.  Some of them stopped and chatted and some of them completely savoured the moment. 

There is a time-delay, the show started on BBC1 at 9.00pm.  The celebrities were up the carpet and all in the Opera House by 7.45pm, Bradley Cooper being one of the last.  This meant that we had a little while to get home by train before the program started - we were home by time the opening credits started rolling around on the television screen.  

By the time I got home I was completely exhausted but extremely pleased that I went.  My thanks go to my husband for going with me, my Mum, the Celebrities for turning up on the night and especially Michael Fassbender, for my favourite shot of the night, because by that time my camera's battery was nearly dead.  

Until the next time, 

Berty, Me & A Nice Cup of Tea

xxx

 














 

Who Is The Most Famous Person On Your Cell Phone Contacts?

Following on from a question that was posed on my Facebook pages, someone asked "Who is the most famous person on your cellphone?" and to prove it you had to have a picture of your phone showing the person, otherwise you could be telling porky pies, I guess. 

Well, my most famous friend just has to be Claire, she is one of the most talented people I know, she is funny, caring and kind and just totally amazing. 

As for the person listed beneath Claire, well I don't have a clue as to who he is, but he's definitely not the person that tries to sell me PPI and Life Insurance because they are listed on my cellphone as "NOBS" so I don't answer those calls by mistake.  

 

 

 

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Afternoon Tea At The Langham Hotel, London

My husband planned a trip to London Town for myself, our son and my Mum.  The reason to celebrate the fact that I was yet another year older, something I'd rather forget about, as age is just a number, but my family have other ideas.  

This trip was not like one of our normal jaunts to the Capital City, where we take a packed lunch and wander around some of the HOT touristy spots.  We were having Afternoon Tea in the Palm Court at The Langham Hotel.  The hotel is situated north of Regent Street just off Portland Place and directly opposite the BBC's Broadcasting House.  

 

Our tea table was booked for 3.15pm.  The hotel has two afternoon tea sittings, one at 1.00pm and one at 3.15pm and at 5.15pm there is a sitting for High Tea which is slightly different to Afternoon Tea, because it includes several hot dishes as opposed to sandwiches, cakes & pastries.

Upon arrival at the hotel our coats were taken from us by a member of staff and taken to the cloakroom.  We were then shown to our little round corner table where we would participate in that afternoon's session, along with other people, some were on a shopping trip, others like me were celebrating birthdays that they would like to forget and some were there just for the sheer fun of it.  

 

When seated at our table we were each given a menu to peruse and choose which tea menu we wished to eat and which blend of tea we would like to accompany our forthcoming meal.  We all opted for the "Wonderland Tea".  

My husband and myself chose the "Afternoon Tea Blend", my Mum chose the "Decaffeinated Tea Blend" and my son who  doesn't drink tea was offered Orange Squash or Hot Chocolate.  He chose the Hot Chocolate.  We were also asked if there were any dietary requirements within our party and our orders for tea were taken and whilst we chatted about the decor in the tea room as we waited.  

A few minutes later a young waitress placed four small glass dishes on the table which were filled halfway with a creamy coloured concoction with a tiny flake of gold on the top for decoration.  It was, in fact, Lemon Posset, a tangy fool, which is a traditional British Classic made with eggs, cream, sugar and lemons to produce a thick custard with a citrus bite to cleanse the pallet. 

When we had all finished the tiny dishes were collected and the drinking tea was served quickly followed by plates of savoury sandwiches and small bread rolls.  

The small round rolls were filled with a mixture of prawn and crabmeat in a seafood sauce.  The finger rolls were filled with egg mayonnaise and cress.  The sandwiches were roasted beef with tomato, salmon on rye, and roasted chicken with coronation sauce on granary malted bread.  

At the end of the sandwich course we were offered more, but we all felt that we had to leave some room in our tummies for the scones, cakes and pastry delights that were to follow so we declined.  

The entertainment for the afternoon was provided by the Hotel's pianist who played a good mixture of tunes, old and modern including a recent hit from Pink, to which my son happily sung along to, he was a hit with the young waitresses and several complimented him on his singing voice. 

The next course was a basket of freshly baked plain and fruited scones.  They were still warm when they were placed on the table and there were enough for two each.  

These were served with soft strawberry preserves and Devonshire clotted cream.  They were as light as feathers and tasted divine. 

When we finished the scones with the jam and cream we were offered a wonderful assortment of desserts, cakes and pastries.  The tall rocket shapes were like strawberry mousse rockets topped with tiny meringue buttons.  There were mango and vanilla pastries on shortbread bases, which my son referred to as the "egg yolk cakes".  The poppy seed cakes were unusual and to be honest I wasn't awfully keen.  The deep dark chocolate boxes were made from chocolate pastry and filled with a dark chocolate ganache, topped with fresh raspberries, they were very rich and I was glad that they were small and dainty. 

For the cakes that we didn't eat at the table the hotel provided a very classy 'doggy bag', shaped like a golden handbag for us to transport them home in.  

Our Afternoon Tea was priced at £40.00 per adult and £20.00 per child, we thought it was good value for the money, and a nice way to spend some time with the family and celebrate a birthday. 

The Palm Court at The Langham Hotel, London   

 

 

The Up Do - (#4 of #29 Faces)

Well folks, this is picture #4 of the #29faces challenge.  I tried to something a little different - I painted with acrylics, just one brush really for all the colours on the paper and no water for colour changes.  I have just had a brilliant idea for a face later on in the challenge but I need a bit of time to put the idea into practice which at the moment is very precious!  

I'm self-taught, yeah I know, it shows but you know what they say, practice makes perfect and I am enjoying these pictures immensely. 

The Up Do

#4 of #29faces

Imala (#3 of #29 Faces)

I know I am a day behind on the #29faces Challenge, but there will be a day when I get to doodle two faces.  It might be today, could be tomorrow but more likely the day after.  I am enjoying this project.  Today's face is called Imala, I took a different stance I used some printed paper and waited for the Imala's face to jump from the print.  A sort of 'paint what you see' project.  

#3 of #29faces

Eight Years Going On Eighteen (#2 of #29 faces)

This is face No. 2 in #29 faces.  Drawn in pencil and coloured in Promarker pens, and her top stamped with a rubber stamp to try and give a floral fabric look.  I think her ears are way to big but it gives her a bit more character! 

#2 of #29faces

#29 Faces

Ooh a new project - something to keep me occupied throughout the month of February as if I don't have enough on my plate already - and as I love drawing faces, I thought why not. 

So this is face No. 1.