To Kindle or not to Kindle?

That is the question.  Yes, I'm debating about whether I should join the e-book revolution and become a Kindle reader or not.  I'm fascinated, I must admit and the list of pros is outnumbering the cons at the moment.  I'm still up to my ears in research and it would be very much easier to do it via Kindle - and probably cheaper in the long run. It would be portable - meaning the train journey could be put to better use. A lot of the stuff I'm reading at the moment is on PDF anyway - and  is out of copyright. And there's the fact that my poor over-loaded bookshelves couldn't cope with another 3,500 volumes...However, the literary Luddite that is me is holding out a) until the price comes down a bit b) until I'm sure Kindle isn't going to be a Betamax c) until I can have a test drive on someone elses!!  So today (last day of half-term holiday so work avoidance technique #1) I've been downloading more old, potentially unloved books from the internet and spending a little more of my ill gotten gains on Abe books.  Kindle might be instant, but there's still something satisfying about ordering, waiting and then unwrapping the brown paper/envelope/jiffy bag from a new book!  I don't want to lose the romance of re-homing books in a flurry of e-reading!  Maybe I'll just wait a bit longer...

Mourning The Book Inn, Billingham

One of the best little independent bookshops I've ever been in has closed, leaving Billingham Town Centre an even greater cultural wasteland than ever before.  I had many dealings with the Book Inn over the years, taking advantage of their fantastic ordering service, friendly staff and serious bargains.  When I first started work, I was in there at least once a week, buying a book to get me through the next week's train travel. I always bought book tokens there and they did some excellent deals for our staff reading group. It was a tiny shop, not much to look at, but always crammed with good stuff, it smelled of paperback books - ink, paper, laminated card... There was a little stationery section at the back, and a friendly (sometimes!) cat who would look at your purchases with distain as they were bagged up to be taken away.  I loved it. I never came out empty handed.  Sadly, Billingham has lost yet another retailer and the town seems destined to be bookshop-less from now on.  What has happened to the town centre in general is nothing short of scandalous, but the loss of The Book Inn is an absolute tragedy.

Cinderella, but Matthew Bourne style

I am tired.  Very very tired.  And, for once, it's almost entirely my own fault!  Left work last night and headed straight to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to see this production - a 3 act epic of a dance show - and then hung around until almost eleven as Matthew Bourne was doing a post show talk.  I adore his work - it always feels as if there's a heart and soul and intellect behind it - and this was as fabulous as ever.  The stunning Prokofiev score, played at just the right volume augmented by Blitz sound effects, a magical re-invention of the story in a very credible setting, the hallmark humour and pathos I've come to expect from this company, some deft references to two of my favourite films of the 40s ( A Matter of Life and Death and Brief Encounter) - fabulous frocks, and some exquisite dancing - one of MB's very best pas de deux.  Oh, and a scene on the London Underground and a celestial motorcycle and sidecar!!  FABULOUS!
We were up in the Gallery - the only seats we could get - and that was wonderful too - I spent many happy evenings up there as an impoverised but theatre obsessed student.  The Gallery is going to undergo a major refurbishment as part of the renovations which begin in March and so it was lovely to be up beside the muses above the proscenium for one last time before it changes forever. 
It was well past midnight when I crawled into bed and had officially changed into a pumpkin and had no concept of where my shoes might be.  When the alarm went off this morning I was bleary-eyed and seriously weary.  But if it wasn't entirely sold out, I'd be back there tonight!!!
When it's magic, it is MAGIC!
www.new-adventures.net/productions/cinderella