It’s the final week before the production hits the stage. I’m doing Alan Bennett’s version of The Wind in the Willows – just about the only thing I could find that suited cross-gender casting. Such ventures have the characteristics of black holes: they absorb everything else around them. I’m pretty much running on empty at present & will be delighted when the last costume is hung up & the last prop dropped back into its box.

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 Back in 2004 a number of us – mainly Salon bloggers when that community thrived – posted pictures of themselves when dewy-eyed & callow. I think we called the photo-meme Portrait of the Artist as a Young Twat.  At the risk of being the only one to turn up to the dinner party dressed as a pineapple, I’m posting a pic that I found only recently. It’s dated 1972 & the jacket is of very classy blue velvet. I challenge others to try to best it for authentic twatness...