TagBLT

3BT – a riddler, the magic hour, backstage

1. My feed reader empty for a change, I’m at a loss for something to read while I drink my post-lunch tea. I stumble upon an audio slideshow about a riddler on the Guardian’s website. The style of the narration grates at times but the pictures and process are fascinating. My tea goes cold as I watch.

2. Naked trees stand silhouetted against the still bright sky. Two plump-breasted birds converse.

3. I wait in the dark backstage for the girls to finish their piece. It’s only a rehearsal but I don’t have to be anywhere else so I wait. The light of distant illuminations dances on the obscured glass windows – red, blue, yellow and white sharp against the black night.

3BT – wildlife and silliness

1. The squirrel returns for another nut-fest – and brings three of its friends. All four of them run wildly around the balcony, up & down the steps, over the fencing and into the elderberry tree, picking up nuts on fly-bys. We watch through the window, as intrigued as the cats.

2. In the time I’m in the post office, the horses who live next-door-but-one to us travel from one side of their soggy field to the other. They’re near the fence as I walk past, almost as if they know I have treats for them. They crunch the carrot and I stroke their damp noses. My sleeve is confused for more carrots and gets investigated by wet lips. It smells faintly of horses for the rest of the day.

3. In the evening, I go to Bingley Little Theatre to watch a play. It’s not something I would ordinarily choose to go to see but Rosemary, the director, offered me a free ticket for the first night. “It’s very silly,” she assured me every time it was mentioned and she was right: it is very silly but good-silly. The audience is a little shy at first but by the second half, they’re laughing raucously.