So we are on our way....tickets booked, rental booked (Felicity yours was available for our week Aug 15th to 22nd till few weeks ago, but as you know, our son would not give us the 'go-ahead' till he had his PhD qualifying exams which he did and passed last Friday with flying colors and then yours was gone!) and RST ticket for 'Merchant of Venice' booked (the last is on my list of 'things to do in this life time and I am so close to doing it now...).

So the family wants to know what if any is the dress code for a matinee show at RST. Also, what is the weather like in Northern Cotswold in mid August.

Thanks

Hi,
I saw Merchant a few years back at the RST. There didn't seem to be a dress code, although the woman next to me said she could pick out Americans since they always wore jeans or levis. I had on a dress so she thought I was a Swede for some reason. (?) Anyway, it was a great play, done in modern times with great backdrops. We ate in the cafe but it wasn't good. Very rushed and over priced, and that was when the dollar was worth a little more. I got back from this year's trip about two weeks ago, and I must say the food prices were horrific. I know you have probably watched as I did when the dollar was dropping so much but the reality is painful. But in spite of it, we had a great time and I hope you do too.
Beth in Vegas

Letha,

I second what Beth has said. The dress I saw at a matinee at the RST was quite casual and comfortable. I probably wore slacks since I almost always do - not jeans, but that's just me.

Ann

Thanks Beth and Ann, Phew what a relief not to have to get hubby and son to dress up; I'll try and get them to upgrade from jeans and if not they will just fall perfectly well into the 'American slot' and once they stay with jean, I'll say 'why bother'......though we are Indo-Americans, and my son's girlfriend who is vacationing with us is Vietnamese American so that should give us a good shot at keeping people guessing :-)

Yes we are bracing ourself for the 1:2 exchange ratio. We were in England three years ago and already found even pub food on this rise. This time I am sure we will have 'sticker shocks' but hey it is still vacations and we plan to enjoy....the family is a sucker for the English/Cornish pastries and that keeps us going quite a bit...

Cheers

Letha

Letha, sorry our dates did not coincide but if you are in the area, do feel free to drop in and say hello.

I hope you have a wonderful time and congratulations to your son! Re. weather in August in the North Cotswolds. It should be warm enough to wear very light clothes but always have that woolly jumper to hand! Our weather is unpredictable - one day a sundress, the next day full rain gear and feeling cold through the dampness getting to you although I would guess (without checking this on a weather site) that we have the least monthly rain in August - at least it feels like that. However, make sure you have some shoes suitable for rain but you might be living in sandals and summer dresses. It is very unlikely you will need any really heavy clothing but it can get chilly in the evenings and I have known it to be really cold if it is wet as well so jeans and a jumper (with socks for your shoes) are good things to have standing by. I have lived here for 29 years and I still can't predict what each August will bring in the way of weather. I don't think the Met office are too sure either, judging from this rather ambiguous statement on their website in relation to summer of 2008:

"There is a slightly enhanced chance of more frequent cloudy and cool spells compared to recent summers prior to 2007. Nevertheless, mean temperatures are more likely to be above the 1971-2000 average".

Not that temperatures will be really mean, just a bit stand-offish.....!

Oops - I am quite wrong about the rainfall in August! I have just looked at a website which gives historic weather statistics and they have August in joint first place with December as the wettest month with 2.6 inches. Sometimes it gets very hot and then we have a thunderstorm so I suppose that bumps up the figures but we have such variability from year to year that I would not have picked out August as a 'wet' month at all. However, these are apparently the official figures so they must be right!

Felicity and Patrick,

I was telling my family about the responses re weather and they said 'give us a summary' and I said 'in a nutshell be ready for anything, but each of u is allowed one piece of luggage of the cabin roll on size :-)

Thanks for all the tip; Felicity I will give you a call once we are there...and hopefully we can drop by. We are having a Bay area ST get together next weekend and this will be the very first face-to-face ST event for us and I am always excited about putting faces to name.

Letha