Mars!

Current work: revision to working on M&B #59 (like working through treacle) and two or three other projects
Listening to: 30 Seconds To Mars
Reading: Rachel Hore, The Silent Tide (loved it, though it made me really angry in places - the treatment of professional women in the 1950s was atrocious); Jill Shalvis, Simply Irresistible (also loved it)
Gym: 121 (smashed my PB on the deadlift – is now 75kg) and yoga

So this weekend saw the final part of my daughter’s birthday (aka her main present – a weekend in London to see 30 Seconds to Mars at the O2, and her BFF came with us).

So, after we'd checked in to our hotel and explored a little bit of Westfield (which was crammed full of people, because it was Saturday afternoon), off we went to the O2 in North Greenwich – and seeing the Dome all lit up was so exciting. (I’ve only been there in the daytime before – last time was the Tutankhamun exhibition.)

Look at our destination – Mars!

We had dinner at Frankie and Benny's (and for once I didn't have a crab salad - I had scampi. AND fries). Then we queued up. And then it was up a couple of escalators to our block. We were very high up (this is the stage set for the support band, You Me at Six - who were very good) and, as you can see, the top tier is very steeply banked, so it was a tiny bit scary.

And then YMAS came on. I enjoyed the music, though didn't really sing along as I didn't know the words.

Interval. Waiting a l-o-n-g time. And then the lights went up, and Jared Leto was on the top of the platform, and all was very well with the world. My daughter would like to point out that I scored 8 out of 10 on Embarrassing Parent of a Teen scale, because I sang, danced and - as she put it - 'raved' through the rest of the show. Well, hey. Singing along with a whole stadium to one of your favourite songs is just an amazing buzz. And when Jared Leto tells you to get up and dance because it's a rock concert, not the movies - well, hey. Despite the fact that we were in the scary seats, we did it, and it was fine because everyone around us did it too.

As well as fabulous music (and an acoustic section which I really, really loved), there were fabulous lights and acrobatics (backflips on a see-saw, and one of those rings where you spin round the entire stage).

And there was confetti. And balloons (some of them were GIANT ones, as big as a giant space hopper).

And streamers.

All in all, it was a fantastic show, and I'd love a time machine right now so I can see the whole thing all over again. Happy, happy teenage birthday to my littlest for earlier this month, and thank you for asking me to take you to such a fabulous show.