We are off to London today to see Aida which, I think, has pink or blue elephants. The reviewers of this production at the London Coliseum last year praised the singing but were very po faced about the costumes and set but they sound a hoot to me, after all what is the point of taking an operatic story line seriously, they are mostly bonkers but marvellous. This outing is a birthday present for Matt, my son Tom’s partner, who has in the past year or so got the opera bug. I have loved opera since I went to La Traviata in Cardiff with my mother, aged nine or ten. We were there to get an artificial arm for me at the Arm Centre, ha ha, it was a leg centre as well, there were rooms lined with shelves filled with legs. My arm wearing days didn’t last long as it wasn’t much use except for playing hockey. I hated hockey so the arm had to go and I could concentrate on tennis and athletics.
We had some filthy weather yesterday, all the animals sodden and looking dirty. The Ministry vet turned up in the afternoon to test Benleigh Talisman, who we brought back from France, for active bluetongue. Talisman was vaccinated over there so all should be well. He is banged up in a quarantine field with a gelding for company so if the worst happened and they had to kill the stud male the gelding’s days would be over too. The vet is a cheerful old cove and said the rumour is that the 6 strain is the same as one used in live vaccinations in South Africa – odd – but a rumour until they can track the outbreak back in Holland.