Ruth Elleson

I think *I* could see Karl (you’d told me he was front row on the right) - was he the second one in from the stairwell?

No, the woman sitting in front of me!

Yeah, the only absolute rule we had was that I had to be home by whatever time we had agreed on.

It’s particularly galling at Cadogan Hall, where almost all events are standalone and go on sale on random dates (and where I’m extremely picky about where I sit) which means a separate booking fee for every single ticket!

I couldn’t figure out where this was, just by thinking about it. Fortunately it’s visible from the balcony at the back of my office, so I could satisfy my curiosity!

(The only time I book pizza in Covent Garden is when I have a dining interval in a Wagner opera, so I imagine my friends and I won’t be back until we see Siegfried in the spring.)

Start of an email: “Ciao Ruth, it’s been a little while since we last saw you at <venue name> and we just wanted to say - we miss you!”

Mail merge fail. Thank you, Aldwych branch of Franco Manca, for that personal touch ☺️😆

Would be nice if half of Burgess Park wasn’t blocked off for a private event for 2 weeks in the middle of the summer holidays, too.

Stopping by the Barbican later to book a ticket, saving the £4 booking fee. A 5min human interaction and, unless I request otherwise, a printed ticket. I wish it made sense that this costs £4 less than making a fully self-service online purchase.

Until then, excuse me while I try and stop entire acts of Leoncavallo’s Bohème from going round my head…

That Bastard, Puccini! - Park Theatre A hilarious, chaotic and captivating new play by James Inverne, That Bastard, Puccini! brings to life an explosive professional rivalry, a plagiarism scandal that rocked Europe, and a friendship teste...

Tomorrow night’s entertainment. It’s not every day that I get to see a play on an incredibly niche subject on which I have a substantial amount of background knowledge. If I offered it as a specialist subject on Mastermind it would be rejected as too nerdy.

I will be intrigued to see the outcome of the Green Party leadership contest. There’s one option that looks good for trans allyship, and one that just doesn’t at all.

WHEN IS IT NOT SMALL BOATS WEEK THO??
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

When is it wealth inequality week, eh?? WHEN DOES THAT COME AROUND?

I’ve noticed a strange, paradoxical mentality in some people who seem to simultaneously believe that London is basically Gotham City - terrifyingly full of crime and fundamentally unsafe - but also that the people who live there know nothing of ‘real struggles’?

I was deeply grateful that within hours of arriving, I (a non-driver) hooked up with a bunch of social media acquaintances who took me to a load of great places.

Wow - that sounds promising. Most of my US-based foodie friends descend upon the UK’s rich South Asian food scene the moment they get here!

(To qualify this: it was a big trip that I built around an event in Houston. Coming from London, I knew I wasn’t really going to get along with Houston, so I picked NYC and Chicago to make it worth my while 😉)

LOLLL… the only time I ever visited Chicago I visited Houston immediately after, and can confirm 🤣

*if it weren’t for the environmental impact and the fact that it’s built on an incredibly cavalier attitude to the theft of other people’s intellectual property. Is what I meant.

Absolutely. There are mundane tasks I might consider using it for if it weren’t for the environmental impact, but if you’re using it for anything which really ought to come from the heart or the brain, you should be ashamed of yourself as a human.

[quoting a tweet by fractalcounty that reads, “today I learned that there are actual people irl who get genuinely upset if they catch you using chatgpt. like they view it as a serious moral failing in certain circles”]

If you're using AI to write essays, eulogies, a text to your wife, I do think less of you as a person. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.

I had a ticket for this when it was supposed to happen before. Next week is sadly looking a bit hectic… but I may yet make it on Friday.

I wish I’d known about this concert! How interesting…

I will never understand the mentality of parents who watch their children perform and, in their keenness to catch the bows on video, don’t applaud even for a second.

Tonight’s Prom: Mahler 2

🌹

It feels like we should be making a bigger deal of “we actually did in fact find a cure for AIDS”

I am spending my evening marking up surtitle cues in a score of Tristan und Isolde (I would tell you to buy tickets, but it’s SOLD OUT ☺️) and I will never not love Kurwenal’s particular brand of sarcasm: “How did I get here?” “EVIDENTLY NOT ON A HORSE”.

Trans rights graffiti art mausoleum will cost £2000 to clean - BBC

Or you could leave it

Or you could give us human rights and I'd volunteer to clean it off for free

I am reminded of this which amused me yesterday

Oh ALSO in our production Hagen murdered Alberich at the end of Act 2 Sc 1, having been manipulated by him as a silent onstage character during Act 1.