If there is one thing I have learned while travelling, it is there is no end to the surprises just around each corner. Being serenaded in Portugal was one of those moments. Learning puppets can make me cry was another.
While visiting and staying with friends in Liverpool, they talked about a Titanic puppet show. Having been inundated with the Titanic anniversary shows, documentaries and Celine Dion soaring on and on, we were understandably sceptical.
Liverpool, of course, had a very close tie to the events of April 15, 1912. Many people who were crew members of the doomed ship lived in this hard working city.
But puppets? Okay, they’re marionettes and move by means of a crane and several frantically jumping puppeteers pulling on the ropes. Really?
Then, when we had an afternoon of visiting, Dot pulled out a dvd the bbc made of the event.
And did what Leo Dicaprio, Kate Winseltt and Ms Dion could not.
Well, I’ve managed to find a YouTube version of the documentary. It takes just under 30 minutes to watch but it just might change how you think of Liverpool and/or puppets. Maybe it’s the sweating, leaping puppeteers in costume, maybe it’s the sight of a giant dog taking a wizz on the street. Or it could be the back story.
Maybe it won’t do anything for you. But it’s worth watching, if only to see there is more to the world of puppets than the alphabet and fur covered felt.
Anyway, take a moment away from the busy preparations, watch it full screen and then tell me what you think of it.