Went to see King Lear on Saturday. Ian McKellen stars in it. I've seen him in a few plays over the years, but I've never seen him do Shakespeare. When I found out he was doing probably my favourite Shakespeare play of all, I HAD to go, even though it meant not going to see my beloved Spurs in action (and they won 6-4, apparently the most exciting game of the season -- sod's law!!). It was a very good production, though perhaps a little stodgy in parts. But McKellen was great, everything I expected -- indeed, I got a little bit more, because at one part he dropped his trousers and showed off his privates!!! I'm not sure it was entirely necessary, but at least I can now say I'm one of a very small number of people to have seen Ian McKellen's biggest part ...

Bas and I went to her brother's house after the play, to give Christmas presents to his two boys. We spent a nice few hours there, then returned to our flat and had a quiet night in. This morning we walked through St James' Park and Green Park, up to the Apple Store on Regent St, so that Bas could hand in her Mac notebook for repair (she converted to Apple a few years ago and swears by it; I keep meaning to follow her lead, but I'm so used to PCs, I just can't tear myself away from them, even though I've never owned one that hasn't frustrated me in one way or another ...). We had lunch in Brown's off of Bond Street, then did some shopping in Iceland, stacking up on drinks for a New Years Eve party which we're throwing -- we have a great view of the London Eye from our flat, so we've invited some friends and family around to watch the fireworks at midnight. We went for a swim and sauna to unwind, then watched the BBC adaptation of Shadow in the North. I thought it was pretty good, about on a par with the version they did of the first Sally Lockhart book last year (the books were written by Philip Pullman, and are excellent, especially the third, which I hope they'll film for next Christmas). The books don't lend themselves especially to film, but a good part of their quality shines through. After that we saw a programme about J K Rowling, which was quite interesting. And now we're off to bed for our last night of sleep of 2007. I'm pretty sure I won't be posting on New Years Eve, so I'll wish you all a Happy New Year now, and I'll be back here with you all early in 2008. Peace, people!!!