Sylvia's Journal

I have never heard my name spoken so much in one evening. We went to a theatre production in Gloucester entitled ‘Sylvia.’ Having the same name as the play got us in at a 25% discount. I don’t think I have ever received a discount for being Sylvia.

The play is about a man, a dog by the name of Sylvia and a jealous wife. The man loves his dog and his wife. In the end he chooses for his wife but then the wife changes her mind and the three live more or less happily ever after.

The dog, portrayed by an actress, behaved uncannily like Tessa and Steve’s dog Oona. If I hadn’t know Oona the actress speaking dog thoughts would not have been half as funny. Her behaviors were right on, the barking (“hey, hey”), the eyes that say “I love you the most of all,” the dumb stare into space, the reaction to cats, the crotch sniffing, the slobbering, all of it. From the program I learned that the dog actress played her first role as a dog 40 years ago, presumably as a little girl. She’s gotten very good at it.

I spent a good part of the day looking for the email confirming our berths on a clipper ship tied up in one of Groningen’s canals as a hotel. It is really infuriating when you think you have everything organized, put in the right folders and then discover you had not. This may well mean that the exotic clipper ship adventure I had planned will not take place because I can’t figure out how to contact the owner. The website where I found this lodging has it now greyed out – the listing has disappeared, just as my emails about it. Mysterious and very annoying.