Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome

So last night mum and I went to see Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome. Tina, a woman at work was talking to someone about it and I overheard and she invited us along. It was tricky organising as she wanted the money for it ASAP. Luckily she was willing to wait until pay day a couple of weeks later. This was back in January or February, I can't remember now.

Originally Tina was going to give us a lift since although mum has a car she's not confident going somewhere like Bristol and she thought parking might be an issue. After a while she said she was going to have a full car and to get a lift with Jenny from work who was also going (and apparently lives near us) but when talking to her about the trip it was never brought up so we decided to get the bus since it stops right outside the Hippodrome. Eventually Jenny said she was getting the bus too and asked mum the times. Bullshit. It turned out Tina gave her a lift along with Margaret (also from work) and another woman we didn't know. A couple of other co-workers came separately (Sandra and her daughters Sherilyn and Sam and Sam's daughter).

The original plan was to meet in the pub at 7pm, mum and I got there just after (after walking down from the temporary bus stop - road works mean the bus stop right outside was unavailable) only to discover there were 2 pubs. We tried one and they weren't in there, the other it turned out was part of the Hippodrome and you can't enter without your tickets - which Tina had! Turning away from there we saw Margaret and the unknown woman, apparently they were running late and Tina was trying to find parking. Soon Sher, Sam etc turned up while Sandra parked their car. I think it was almost 20 minutes later when they finally showed and the tickets were handed out, mum and I were G13 (me) and G14 (her) which turned out to be great seats near the middle. After we had them me, mum, Jenny and Margaret nipped into the neighboring pub for a wee before we joined the queue to go in.

The layout of the Hippodrome could be a bit better, there wasn't much room between rows and the seats weren't over wide. They weren't the comfiest but they weren't the worst I've sat in either. The toilets when I went in the intermission were very awkwardly laid out too. Very narrow and the corner cubicle I was in was very small and awkward to get in. Not well-designed for the larger bodied or elderly. They could have done with more cubicles too judging by the queue - and that was with most people staying seated.

They show itself was fun. The same 2 or 3 sets gets a little boring after a while but I get that they're limited with what they can do. They did well to incorporate the scene re-arrangements into the show so that it wasn't to obtrusive. They changed some of the song orders compared to the film and added a couple in (particularly an odd scene relating to sleepwalking right after the intermission - I didn't recognise the song but Google tells me it was 'Under Attack'). There was an odd change for Bill. In the film he's Swedish Bill Anderson, on stage he's Australian Bill Austin. The guy who played Sam was very good, the one that played Harry was eerily close to Colin Firth. The guy that played Sky was a little weak in my opinion. Slightly oddly Sophie's friend Ali and Sky's friend Pepper ave done a race swap compared to the film.

Helpful links: http://www.mamma-mia.com/uk-tour/cast.php for the cast I saw and http://mrob.com/pub/music/mamma-mia.html for the basic plot and songs used and in what order.

In the intermission before going to the loo I decided to pop downstairs and check out the merchandise. The stuff was kind of pricey: posters and books £10, magnets £5, pens £3.50. I decided to buy this bag charm, it was £10 but it seemed the thing most worth the price to me. Pictured with my Charlie Bone and Last Dragon Chronicles books XD.

The show finished at about 10pm. For the last few songs after the bows, Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen and Waterloo, people were stood dancing, it was great fun and a great atmosphere. Then mum and I had to walk along to @Bristol to catch the bus home. It was about a 15 minute wait and then when we got home silly here pressed the bell a stop too early so we had further to walk home. Oops. Might be partly why my ankle hurts today. Once we got in it was about 11:30pm but as neither of us were tired mum had the mad suggestion of putting the film on XD so after all that it was about 1:40am this morning by the time we got to bed, luckily neither of us had to get up. Normally I'd be at work for 2pm (and still there now) but I had a shift change to Saturday so that's all good.

My Smear Test Experience

I've read a few posts recently on people's experiences with their smear tests as both Becky Bedbug and Oh! Leona (currently inactive) have recently linked posts from young women about how it was for them. It was actually really good timing since I had my letter in March - I'm 25 in August - and was petrified. I ended up having to re-book my appointment as nerves meant I mis-read the time and I turned up an hour late.

I finally made it last Monday and I got there early so no worries about that. But they were running slightly late so I had more time to fret. The nurse I saw, Nicola, was really nice, she showed me the equipment and talked me through everything first. The only questions she asked were whether I was on any contraception (yes, the Depo Provera injection) and had I had a period recently (sort of, I had a slimy liver lump and some very light bleeding). I was expecting all sorts of awkward questions about my sex life or lack of...

 Then I went behind the curtain to remove my leggings and underwear. When I was ready and covered with a paper sheet she came round the curtain and donned a head lamp before raising the bed and positioning my legs.

The next stage was inserting the speculum which wasn't too bad and then the worst bit, the gradual opening which was quite uncomfortable for me personally since I've never have penetrative sex. However the nurse did stop or slow down whenever I said I was uncomfortable but of course there comes a point when you've just got to grit your teeth and bear it. I was certainly glad when the speculum was open fully because by that point I was thinking it would hurt way too much to go further. I barely felt the brush due to the discomfort (general feel of pinching at the top). I was told there was blood around my cervix which may have been a mini period I was unaware of or it may have been whatever existed of my hymen breaking. Because of the blood I was told it may be considered an inadequate sample in which case I'd have to go back and have it done again.

I was told to cough to help the speculum be removed and then the bed was lowered and I was left behind the curtain to re-dress. There were panty liners if I needed them but I wear one anyway (TMI, sorry!). That was that. I needed the loo pretty much straight away and there was a little blood when I wiped and for the rest of the day I felt like my insides were going to fall out which wasn't pleasant.

I had my follow up letter yesterday and the sample was not only adequate but normal so I'm all set now until 2018.