Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

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Sunday 15 March 2009

Me and the Posh Lollipop Lady

Last night I went to the read- through of the late Julia Darling's The Taxi Driver's Daughter at the Live Theatre In Newcastle with my friend Liz (already introduced on this blog as the paper making friend) . However she is a woman of many talents and besides that of getting me out last night , she introduced me to an Icelandic friend Hermina and together the latter and I pieced together what was going on onstage , easy enough for me but slightly more tricky for Hermina who although fluent in four or five languages found the Geordie accent a bit hard to decipher as the evening wore on , and struggled at times to work out who was who as mother- in- prison transformed into maternal grandma and then into taxi receptionist ( with attendant cough) stopping off in the park as a school bully for a few minutes . And without the benefit of costume changes ..... and with Liz jet lagged following a gruelling work trip to New Zealand and Fiji and dozing off as the non existent curtain rose , it was down to me to help her make sense of it all .
I loved the play and will now need to get hold of the book .
Those of you who are interested enough to read the link will note that there is mention of Ellen PhetheanCatCalls: The Complex Passport Adventure and will recall that recently my sister and I stumbled upon her son's passport on the beach .... it is a small world . Julia Darling: The Taxi Driver's Daughter

After the play Hermina headed for home and Liz and I repaired to a local restaurant , where we sprawled on sofas and looked at photos of her trip in the viewfinder of her digital camera . As well as New Zealand she travelled to Tahiti and Fiji where her baby Ben was buried soon after his birth and I was able to see pictures of his grave and headstone , now somewhat weathered almost sixteen years on . I look back down a long dark tunnel to the middle of the night phone call when she rang to tell me her baby had died inside her and now had to be delivered . I do not presume to know how , or whether she coped , but she has always been a truly amazing friend .
As we stand up to leave , she puts on her various fleeces and her fluorescent cycling jacket over her clothes as her bike is tethered around a dark corner somewhere . A young couple who had joined us on the sofas perk up and the woman quips cheerily , " hey are you a lollipop lady , no you can't be you're way too posh " and on that happy note we leave .
Another weekend .

9 comments:

Silliyak said...

Undoubtably the play was a little too scruffy for your friends to understand.

MsCatMinder said...

Haha well said Silliyak ...the taxi driver was delightfully scruffy and the language was quite Filthy which Liz and I are used to though it may not have translated well for Hermina ....

BetteJo said...

What's a lollypop lady?

joan said...

Hi Shelagh
I can also say the Geordies are lovely! ok bit difficult to understand at times! When my husband was in Newcastle general, I was in a strange city, the people were marvellous, and so helpful, it made a difficult time much easier!
Joan xx

MsCatMinder said...

Aha , the things that dont translate ! she is the person , it could be a man , who helps the children safely cross the road near schools . She carries a large striped pole like a lollipop which she holds out to stop the cars . Usually they are older people , though not always . The ones round here are very friendly and also stop the traffic for people with greyhounds too ! They always wear a fluorescent green vest too and are a sort of icon .

Silliyak said...

BTW, my belief on judgmental people is that they are telling you more about how they feel about themselves than anything about the person being judged. AND I THINK THEY'RE ALL A BUNCH OF WANKERS!!! ;)

MsCatMinder said...

Hi Silliyak .... you may well have a point but the young woman in the pub was just being friendly after a few beers and having a laugh with us .... is that what you were referring to or have I missed your point here ?

Silliyak said...

I should have put it on the previous post, I was still dealing with "scruffy"

MsCatMinder said...

aha , now its all making sense ! Thanks for explaining !

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