Madama Butterfly at The Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent is possibly the most enjoyable opera that I've been to! Perhaps it was down to the good company that I had too. Even so Ellen Kent's production was simply beautiful. The soloists were a joy to listen to - the melody lines weren't obscured by too much coloratura. Instead the beautiful simplicity of Puccini's melodies were allowed to shine through.

I've taken my daughter to quite a few operas and she agrees that this was her favourite. It was my friend's first visit to the opera and I'm so glad that this was her first taste.

Whilst in a cultural mood we decided to finish off the holiday week with a morning movie bash. We got off to an early start with coffee and donuts and watched the Director's cut of the movie "Amadeus." Much of the plot is conjecture and it's definitely a conspiracy theorist's dream. We enjoyed it nevertheless.

I'm all inspired now to work hard and aim for my best - surely that's the purpose of all art forms?

The purpose of the outing wasn't entirely social and recreational, it was also work related - honestly! I'm working on a murder mystery, in the same series as my first book (in the publishing pipeline) "Fête Fatale." The setting for the mystery will be the opera theatre and the plot of Madame Butterfly will have a direct bearing on the course of the story…