The Royal Opera House - Public booking opened today

Oh dear.

Quite a lot of people have had a torrid day either on the phone or via the internet, trying to book tickets for the ballet or opera at the Royal Opera House. There have also been long queues outside the building and refreshments on offer from the staff for those hardy enough to queue when it's cold as it was this morning.

Who gets the best deal ? Seasoned bookers will have anticipated some issues at least, most notably online, but you never quite know what you will get until the day itself. And rarely is it a pleasant surprise. It probably depends on your stress tolerance and how much time you have to spare on the day.

I won't put up a link to the website this time - you will either be thrown into the bland & grey waiting room or, worse still, a new gremlin which pops up as a black screen and tells you that the site is full to capacity and could you possibly try again later ? And this, when booking opened at 10am this morning and it's now almost 6pm. 8 solid hours of people trying to book and still the website cannot cope with demand.

I'm not at all clear why booking for the Kirov had to open on the same day as public booking. Ditto the Schools summer performance which seems to always generate an enormous scrabble for seats. It can't have helped the situation.

Anyway, to cheer everyone up I've posted a picture of my first peony of the year. It is the size of a saucer and the most beautiful colour - cheers me up every time I go out to say hello. I have three of them out right now - if the rain doesn't get them as it did last "summer".

If you have a tale to tell on the booking front then please do let me know. And take it easy out there.