The BFG with friends

After a particularly crazy week at work, we had a relaxing weekend in Derby. No grand "foreign" adventures -- just normal folks leading a normal life.

The highlight of the weekend was seeing our first play in town [by Derby Live].  As you can tell from the JPEG above it was The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.).  Alex had the challenge of reading the book before we went.  It took awhile, but he did it with 2 days to spare!

I nonchalantly took this quick (illegal?) photo during the play.  I was curious how they were going to portray the giants.  Most of the time, they had the giants as life size and the regular people (human beans) as puppets though at times they had a giant size puppet when the regular people were life size.  It worked out well.  It was no West End London production, but it was well done and we enjoyed it.

It was all the better since we shared the outing with our neighbors.  They have 2 boys; 1 Alex's age and 1 younger (Max & Leo).

After the matinee we went to Pizza Express for a nice meal.  Here we are with Jo and Tom (sorry Jo, you blinked in both pictures!).  Trust me -- she wasn't sleepy.  Jo and Tom were nice enough to invite us over for further conversation afterwards too.  Great day all around.

Here are the boys at the other end of the table.  They entertained themselves well.  The food is good, but as with most UK restaurants, there's nothing "Express" about it.  Nicole did join us though she's not in the picture.

Speaking of Nicole, here's her meal-o-the-week.  You'll have to excuse the presentation (my bad).  The meal was spaghetti and meatball "stoup" (not quite stew, not quite soup).  I have to admit that I was a little concerned when it was coming together, but like the others it turned out great.

Since Kuk is off to France for most of this upcoming week, I will be enlisting Nicole for some additional cooking help.  We might just have 2-3 pictures next week.

Quick note on the weather.  I've not been keeping up with the weather back home (there's no point, really).  It's been fairly consistent here for the last few weeks.  Temperatures hover around 40-45F for highs.  It hasn't dipped below freezing for the most part though there has been frost on the windshield a few times (it sucks parking outside).  Seems like we get some light drizzle/rain most days -- no snow yet.  Interestingly enough, the Peak District just to the north (and at a higher elevation) has gotten some snow to the point that some roads have been closed.

So, in general, I'd say it's a tick or two warmer than what we would usually have back in Indy.  Can't say I miss the cold or the snow, but that's just me.

You may recall me commenting back in the summer on how much daylight there was.  Well, we get the opposite now.  Sunrise is just after 8 and sunset is around 4.  Dark coming and going though I do have a window at work to at least see the sun.  It really messes with your internal clock -- always seems much later than it is at night.

Christmas and the trip home are coming.  We are getting excited but Kuk and I are no where ready!

All for now -- thanks for reading.