Come follow the band

On the last night of our holiday J and I went to see Barnum at the theatre in Chichester.
I had seen it many moons ago as a child, when Michael Crawford played the leading role and when I had seen a news article months ago on the BBC website, saying it was being revived in Chichester this summer I had jumped at the chance to get tickets.
In the end I left it quite late to get the tickets and spent a long time agonising over whether to get the expensive seats or just go for some cheap tickets to the side of the stage. In the end, I opted for the cheapest seats, thinking that maybe the view would be compromised but to our disbelief they were not. We were 2 rows back, slightly to the side of the stage and the view was fantastic. The show was brilliantly done and the end of the show was a dazzling display of circus skills, acrobats and people dangling from ropes in the stage and also out in the audience. It really was brilliantly done and although on a smaller scale than the Palace theatre in Manchester, it was no less of a spectacle. We really enjoyed it and I hope that they continue to do the show and take it around the country as it is well worth seeing for any musical theatre fans.
And so ended our holiday.
On Saturday we packed up the cars and headed home. Rachel and Jack came back with grandma and grandad after a detour to say goodbye to baby Zach. Of course Rachel was very sad to say goodbye and told me later that evening, whilst sobbing a little, that she was really going to miss seeing Zach every day and that she wished she could live with Auntie Sarah! This was only to be expected though given how much she loves babies in general, and how earlier in the week she had said to me, in total earnest, that she really loved me, but that she loved Zach more!! I wonder whether she will always feel that way, even when he grows up to be a big boy like Jack.
I haven't really said much about Jack and his holiday memories. We walked on the beachfront, we built a sandcastle, we got our feet wet in the sea. He too loved seeing baby Zach and helping Rachel to feed him and he loved being surrounded by everyone. But the lasting memory for Jack will probably be on the day of the barbecue when, before lunch, a slightly hungover Uncle Addy stripped down to his pants and took a dip in the sea.
"What did Uncle Addy do at the seaside Jack?"
"Uncle Addy taked his pants off!"
And so this will be forever remembered as the sun sets on our British beach summer holiday.