birthday stories

It was my birthday yesterday. In truth, I was feeling pretty rough by the end of the day (no alcohol involved, I assure you!) and really just felt like having an early night. But we’d arranged to have an early supper at Hannah+Fee’s and then to go on to one of the Bristol Storytelling Festival events – featuring their great friend Martin Maudsley – and I didn’t want to mess up the arrangements. In the event, I was very glad I didn’t because it was a wonderful evening. Hannah cooked an excellent supper (with Ruth+Stu+Iris+Rosa there too) and then Hannah, Moira and I went on to the storytelling event (Felix was rehearsing “Midsummer Night’s Dream" for the forthcoming “Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory” season). It was held in the amazing Robert Mills Architectural Antiques warehouse in St Werburghs. Yes, it WAS very cold (but we’d gone fully prepared and were armed with huge quilts and warm clothes – and, yes, we DID drink the odd dram to fend off the chill). It was just like an Aladdin’s cave of architectural delights and provided an ideal backcloth for the evening (and with beautiful musical accompaniment too on violin and ukulele!). The evening was based around stories about Martin’s grandfather (“Old Tom’s Tales”) – funny, poignant and very entertaining.
A brilliant evening.