h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Grrrrrrrrrr! Sometimes it's a nightmare.

First it wasn't accepting the booking. Then it was telling me at the final stage of the booking process that I couldn't book without "starting a sales session". isn't that what I had done?

In the end, I got it sorted, but only by using pre-1900 technology. I phoned up a Helpful Wee Man, and got him to send them out in old fashioned envelopes, through my old-fashioned letterbox. Lucky I did, because the Helpful Wee Man told me that because of the booking system errors, I was due to be billed eight times for the same two seats, in the same theatre, at the same time. ("What, buy two tickets for each arse-cheek?!" I nearly asked him, but I stopped myself in time. )

I hope this play's a good one after all that!

what are you going to see?

This one: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-pentecost-donmar-warehouse-london-1362114.html

(Although not that production of it, obviously, as that was 18 years ago. )

And on the subject of online booking, what's the story with extra charges for booking online? Isn't the whole point of computerising a business that it lowers costs? You can do more work with fewer staff. So why do we pay more to do it the cheap way?

over here it's usually the same price, or cheaper to book online.

That play looks really interesting. I really miss not seeing modern plays, the best I can ever hope for is Shakespeare

Yeah, I think it should be good. He was a playwright who liked to chew on ideas. I shy away from Northern Ireland drama a lot of the time, because it can be predictable, obvious, embarrassing stuff. Usually a boy and a girl, one Catholic one protestant, kept apart by blah blah blah and wouldn't it be nice if we all had a group hug...

But this isn't that kind of theatre. (Lots of it isn't that kind of theatre, don't get me wrong - some of it is as profound as any drama in the world - but too much of it is.)

The unwashed masses of twitter seem to be very impressed after last night's opening show. I'm glad I decided to go.

(I'm waiting for other tickets too: the ones wot I won. But the people who are giving them away keep pestering me with phone calls to check my name and address and hat size feck knows what else now. Slap em Sho!)

I'm just home from the play linked to up above.

My brain's a bit fried (can't handle long days/late nights ), but it was a good night. I need to chew it over.

Always kind of funny meeting someone for the first time who you know online like an old, old friend.