Yellow Brick Road – work complete

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The time has come when I can no longer walk safely down the steps of our house, even though there are only three of them. In fact, it is not longer safe for me to walk anywhere but a few well chosen steps inside our house. 

   Recently I took a fancy swallow dive with shoulder-twist and jack-knife down the Playhouse steps, in spite of there being three people around me and hanging on the Tracey's arm. I managed to rip a chunk out of my right arm and spectacular bruising of the left, but although it still damned-well feels like it as I type this, no bones were broken. 

   That was it. Some of the crew of the Armidale Drama and Musical Society [of which the Playhouse is a part] – stepped in. They knew the danger was even greater at our home. A ramp would be made from scratch and built within three hours of measuring up on Sunday 3 March, just before they were due to work on the latest ADMS production [about which I intend to write shortly].

I'll name names here because these Three Musketeers well deserve more than a passing mention.

Methuen Morgan – my big little bro, I call him. He comes from a large family of brothers. I never had one until my sisters all married excellent men and I got three. But "Jak" [another story I'll not relate here] is my friend-bro, and never was there a better man. He's a stage actor/singer, Psych First Class Hons man doing his Ph D, handyman, cattle rustler breeder and bloke you'd want on your side in a bar-room brawl – which, needless to say, he and I go looking for to the pub nightly. I can't count the times he's stepped in for Tracey and me when we really needed a friend.

Alan Wilkinson – stage actor/singer of the Paul Robeson variety [though little physical resemblance, it must be said], restorer of antique furniture, highly skilled builder and cabinet-maker-craftsman, former teacher, master of the English language and all its intricacies and nuances, and the best and most reliable friend anyone could have. In my recent illness it's Alan who has saved us one way or the other in difficulties he's so good at dealing with. [I say this while acknowledging the wonderful help of others too.]

And taa-daaahhh!! Colin Barry – Stage Manager without peer, though has been known to sneak on stage all too rarely as an actor [I have film footage]. I've left him to last because he is the best of men, working quietly and methodically in the background with steely resolution and honesty in every way and always, always gets the job done. He's an Infrastructure Manager with FMS at the university, and with his wife and family a notable caregiver for children in distress. Why doesn't this man have an OA rather than a company exec whose greatest fame is in the squillions s/he may have made? 

Now, to the job at hand – the ramp. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Alan, Methuen [in cap], and Colin [doing the maths]

 

 

 

 

I know.... this is a bit out of sync – but it seems right!

The Soxy seal of approval.

The Yellow Brick Road [must ask set artists to paint the bricks on!]

Back in Kansas – heels were clicked and magic happened.

 

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