2006 Country of Living: England

Well, another year is gone. This one was quite busy but not a lot of big things – Just a lot of small things. I have been working my way up to a visit to Asia by continuing to study Japanese (though that has gone a bit by the wayside now since I did not really seem to be able to progress in my studies for various reasons). Still in Cambridge working at the same job (with a number of “exciting” things happening there).

Not a lot of travel, but did do a bit…

• February - France - Mother and I spent a week skiing at Courcheval. See my The Three Valleys (Les 3 Valles) page for details
• April - Manchester - Visited for the Easter long weekend
• May - Alton Towers - Visited the biggest theme park in the UK on a dedicated day out (long in the planning)
• August - Devon - Visited Exeter as part of work but ended up staying for a few days
• August - Scotland - Visited Edinburgh then northern Scotland with my mother
• December - Canada - I returned to Canada for two weeks over Christmas (including a stop in Toronto) then returned in January (2007)

There were quite a number of interesting events throughout the year that I attended, including:

• 1st - London (Royal Opera House) - Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (Opera)
• 29th - London (West End) - Chinese New Year
• 29th - Cambridge (West Road Concert Hall) - National Youth Jazz Orchestra (Concert)

• 18th - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Movie)
• 23rd - London (Phoenix Theatre) - Blood Brothers (Musical)
• 27th - Cambridge (West Road Concert Hall) - Academy of Ancient Music: Towards the Classical Violin (Concert)

• 3rd - Cambridge (ADC) - Cambridge Footlights - Circus (Comedy)
• 12th - London (Trafalgar Square) - St. Patrick's Day
• 19th - Cambridge (Cineworld) - V for Vendetta (Movie)

• 8th - London (Old Vic Theatre) - Resurrection Blues (Play)
• 8th - London (Imperial War Museum) - Lawrence of Arabia: the Life, the Legend (Exhibit)
• 8th - Cambridge (Vue) - Ice Age 2 (Movie)
• 23rd - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Prokofiev & Shostakovich (Concert)
• 29th - London (Wyndhams Theatre) - Honour (Play)
• 29th - London (Apollo West End) - First on the Moon (Movie) - Part of the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Fun
• 29th - London (Apollo West End) - Confederate States of America (Movie) - Part of the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Fun
• 29th - London (Apollo West End) - Anime All Nighter: Karas: The Prophecy, Final Fantasty VII: Advent Children, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Voices from a Distant Past and The Place Promised in our Early Days (Movies) - Part of the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Fun

• 25th - Alton Towers (Amusement Park)
• 26th - Cambridge - X-Men 3: The Last Stand (Movie)

• 3rd - London (Science Museum) - Pixar:20 Years of Animation (Art Show)
• 3rd - London (New London Theatre) - Blue Man Group (Show)
• 3rd - London (Comedy Theatre) - Donkeys' Years (Comedy)
• 8th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (Movie)
• 10th - London (British Museum) - Michelangelo: Drawings Closer to the Master (Art Show)
• 10th - London (Sadler's Wells) - Kabuki featuring Ebizo Ichikawa (Concert) - Japanese opera
• 15th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Sin City (Movie)
• 17th - Cambridge (Mumford Theatre) - Song and Dance (Musical)
• 23rd - Cambridge (ADC) - Cambridge Footlights: Niceties (Comedy)
• 30th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Organ Recital: Simon Preston (Concert)

• 6th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Movie) - UK premiere (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 7th - London (Covent Garden) - Royal Opera House: Turandot (Opera) - Live in the piazza (outside) at Covent Garden
• 8th - London (Barbican) - Akira and Tokyo Godfathers (Movies) - Japanese animation
• 13th - Cambridge (Cineworld) - Cars (Movie) - UK premiere (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 13th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Tetsujin 28 (Movie)
• 14th - Cambridge (Parkers Piece) - King Kong (Movie) - Original black and white movie on outdoor screen! (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 15th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Renaissance (Movie) (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 15th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - A Scanner Darkly (Movie) (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 15th - Cambridge (Parker's Piece) - Big Weekend (Fireworks)
• 16th - Cambridge (Arts Picturehouse) - Tideland (Movie) - UK premiere, including a chat with director Terry Gilliam! (part of the Cambridge Film Festival)
• 18th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Proms 6: Cosi Fan Tutte (Concert) - Glyndebourne Festival Opera
• 19th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Proms 7: A Concert for the 80th Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen (Concert) - In the presence of the Queen. Composers: Davies, Mozart and Davorak
• 22nd - London (Odeon Leicester Square) - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Movie)
• 22nd - London (Playhouse Theatre) - The Rocky Horror Show (Musical)
• 27th - Cambridge (Cherry Hinton Hall) - Cambridge Folk Festival (Concert) - Just down the road in my home of Cherry Hinton!
• 29th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Proms 20/Proms 21: The Voice]] (Concert)

• 1st - Cambridge (Cambridge United Football Club) - Cambridge United FC vs West Ham United FC (Football)
• 11th - London (Wyndham's Theatre) - Sunday in the Park with George (Play)
• 20th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - Proms 49: Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Opera Concert)
• 23rd - Edinburgh (Assemby @ George Street) - The Goodies Still Rule OK! (Comedy)
• 24th - Edinburgh (C Theatre) - Shakespeare for Breakfast (Play/Comedy)
• 24th - Edinburgh (C) - Sherlock Holmes: The Three Students (Walking Tour/Play)
• 24th - Edinburgh (C) - The Train 4 (Play/Comedy)
• 25th - Edinburgh (Edinburgh Castle) - Edinburgh Military Tattoo (Concert)

• 9th - London (Hyde Park) - BBC Proms in the Park (Concert)
• 10th - Cambridge (Cherry Hinton) - Cherry Hinton Festival (Show) - Small local fair in the park. Very pleasant.
• 11th - London (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) - The Producers (Musical)

• 7th - London (Royal Academy of Arts) - Rodin (Art Show)
• 7th - London (V&A) - Leonardo Da Vinci (Art Show)
• 22nd - Cambridge (Botanic Gardens) - Apple Day (Show)
• 26th - London (The Palace) - Spamalot (Musical)
• 30th - Cambridge (West Road Concert Hall) - Academy of Ancient Music (Concert)

• 4th - Cambridge (Midsummer Common) - Guy Fawkes Night (Fireworks)
• 8th - Cambridge (Kings College Chapel) - Kings College Choir (Concert)
• 16th - London (Mermaid Conference & Events Centre) - VSO Supporters Conference (Conference)
• 18th - London (Odeon Leicester Square) - Casino Royale (Movie)
• 27th - Cambridge (ADC) - Cambridge Footlights Panto: Faust (Panto)
• 28th - London (Institute of Education) - Michael Palin (Talk)

• 2nd - London (Hammersmith Apollo) - Ennio Morricone (Concert)
• 12th - London (Royal Albert Hall) - José Carreras (Concert)

Well, busy as this year was I am planning a lot more for 2007 including a visit to Japan and China which I have wanted to do for a long time. Keep listening!

Visit here for my review of 2005.