The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
YVIE BURNETT Raving to Kasabian brought trip to physio
The mezzo-soprano from Methlick and vocal coach to the stars
By the time you read this we will, if the polls are correct, have a new prime minister.
I will also have a 30-year-old daughter – which makes me feel very old indeed.
We are all heading up to Liverpool to celebrate with her, so it will be a proper family get together.
Emily has started celebrating already as her friends took her to a hotel called Soho Farmhouse last weekend. It is an extremely posh hotel in Oxfordshire where many celebrities are known to hang out.
I’ve been there once a few years ago for Myleene Klass’s 40th birthday party which was a fabulously glamorous event.
I drove over this week to spend a couple of hours with Emily and her friends and loved it there. People cycle around the place to get from their rooms – which are little chalets scattered around the grounds – to the restaurants, the cinema, the pool or the vast gardens.
It’s a very discreet place where you can’t take photos, which is perfect for celebrities who want to be able to relax and not be snapped in their private time.
I sneaked a quick photo of Emily on her bike looking happy, but made sure I didn’t get anyone else in the shot.
I love the idea of respecting people’s privacy. There are so many people with phones held up everywhere you go now.
It’s quite nice to just live in the moment and remember what you did rather than photograph it.
Oxfordshire is just over an hour from our house, but it’s a drive through such stunning countryside with beautiful little villages and it was hot enough for me to have the roof down on my car.
I really enjoy driving. For me I love the sense of independence and freedom I get from setting off by myself on a journey. Of course, beautiful countryside and nice weather beats a rainy day on the M1.
It’s easy to romanticise about driving until you get stuck in a jam, and with a drive all the way to Liverpool and back in a couple of days, I hope I’m not tempting fate.
By the way, Ollie is safely back from Glastonbury and I marched him straight into the utility room to empty out his rucksack and deposit most of the contents into the washing basket.
Thankfully there was very little rain there, so he didn’t come home covered in mud.
He was exhausted, though. Ollie loves to sleep and I’m sure that’s not something you get a lot of at a music festival.
I stayed at home and watched Glastonbury on TV with a nice cuppa. Well, that sounds very sedate and properly acting my age, but that didn’t last. When one of the acts I work with, the band Kasabian, were on, I bounced up and down for most of the set having my own little rave. The next day I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg and had to go to the physio.
I told him I had been running and gardening, so either of those could have caused it, but when
I admitted to jumping up and down he reckoned that was the culprit.
I forget I’m in my 60s sometimes, but I was so proud of Kasabian and their lead singer Serge Pizzorno that I got over-excited.
A few weeks ago, we rehearsed for this Glastonbury performance, but it was all in secret as they were the band chosen for the much-hyped “secret” set.
Glastonbury announced that a secret gig was taking place, but although there were bets placed and huge rumours in the press, the festivalgoers only found out on the day.
They were incredible, and the area they were performing in was so packed that it had to be closed off. I’m thinking that they will be back on the Pyramid Stage very soon.
And I am going to sit down to watch them or have my feet firmly planted on the floor!
This week there was a debate about whether people should be allowed to watch TV while working from home. It was even said to be a sackable offence.
Well, first of all, how are they going to police this? And, secondly, some people concentrate better without silence. Loose Women and This Morning were said to be popular shows to watch while “working”.
So I’m risking my job as a columnist by admitting that I’m not only watching Loose Women while writing this, but it’s also where I got this story from!
Have a good week,
Yvie x