January 21, 1999

Hello all,

Yesterday was the best birthday of my life. I got up at 11am - early for me. I had a PnJ sandwich and mocha for breakfast - thank you Margaret. I made it down to Tracy’s by noon. She wouldn’t tell me what her plans were for the day only that she hoped there would be good weather so that we could go for a walk. I asked her if partly cloudy with a 10k breeze from the west and 8 degrees Celsius would be suitable. She affirmed but said it was unlikely this time of year. I told her that I had a few favors I could cash in and would see what I could do. Guess what the weather was? Exactly what I had ordered. (I rule!)

Anyway, we walked along the beach down to the marina and then made our way up to the Quadrant. The Swansea Theater is located there and she had reserved tickets to see a Pantomime of Cinderella.

(For my American friends who are unfamiliar with pantomimes: they are children’s plays but they have a great deal of adult humor and the main female role is played by a man - in this case it was Cindy’s sisters who were played by men. Cindy was played by a buxom blond named Melinda Messenger. She uttered but few lines but played her role to the uttermost. I can only say that I was titillated by the seat I had on the railing of the upper balcony because the view was utterly astonishing. It was as if I were standing atop the peak of some majestic mountain gazing into the ample valley below. (I’m done now. I’m sure you get the point now, or points as the case may be.) There is lots of audience participation during the show. For instance when someone on the stage says, “Oh yes it is.” Then the whole audience says, “Oh no it isn’t.” They do this in every play at least a few times. They also have lines for the adults to laugh at. For instance someone refereed to Cindy as, “a peasant girl with no obvious means of support.” Or, at the Prince’s ball one of the sisters said, while fanning herself, “Are your balls always this hot and sweaty?” Remember this is a show for children though I would estimate that at least half the audience was over 65.)

After the pantomime Tracy took me to dinner at a Mexican food restaurant - there are no Olive Gardens in the UK. I had a chicken enchilada and nachos. We walked back to her place where she gave me my presents: two books of poetry and to assuage my yearnings for absence of my favorite aforementioned restaurant she gave me a bottle of virgin olive oil and a jar of olives - which I’m eating right now. (God I miss the salt-sour taste of olives - and don’t go getting Freudian on me here.) To top it all off she had wine and black-cherry cheesecake for me.

Love to all, dano