Karma - and now we wait

Sometimes things are meant to go wrong just so they can turn out all right in the end. This evening was a case in point.
A few months ago I booked up for a number of us to see a series of shows at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. I have already mentioned our trip to see The Unexpected Guest a couple of weeks ago. On Tuesday we are going to see Martin Freeman and Roger Lloyd Pack in The Last Laugh. The following Tuesday it is the turn of Christopher Timothy and Stephanie Beecham in Hay Fever.
Tonight was Treats. Starring Billie Piper. When I booked to see the show, it suddenly hit me like a lightning bolt from the blue. She should be our Honorary President!
Hayley Mills took on the role about 12 years ago, but as she now lives permanently in New York we never hear from her, and about two years ago the search began for a new person to take the role.
Well I say search. What I mean is that we spent an awful lot of time sitting around at committee meetings trying to come up with an idea of who we could ask without ever agreeing.
The chairman - previous director - fancied Natalie Imbruglia. He also quite liked the idea of having her as Honorary President when she was living in Windsor. We talked about Anna Friel as she was local. Rolf Harris even. Then someone hit on the idea of Euan McGregor. None of these people really fitted the bill.
With the launch of our junior section, CAST Academy, we needed someone who was known and liked by our members as young as eight to ones as old as me. It was obvious when you think about it. She can sing, dance and act. She has the Dr Who following, the pop star past and now the serious acting career to make her everyone's prime candidate.
I put it to the committee that I should try to get hold of her agent to send a letter. They said yes, and I got on with it. Could I find her agent? No chance. So it came down to basics. A letter to her at the theatre.
Our party for the show tonight consisted of secretary and producer, set man, box office, director him, high priest and summer producer. The plan was that I should drop off a copy of the letter to the theatre before we all had a pre-theatre meal at Pizza Express. Then, armed with a second insurance copy, we should go to the stage door and the bar to try to see her and check whether she had seen the first copy and maybe get a chat if we were lucky.
But secretary and I hit problems. Serious problems. Printer problems. Having given our old computer, scanner and printer to my parents at Christmas and bought our three-in-one new Hewlett Packard, we of course hadn't got round to setting it up. We also had problems with the letterhead and charity logos which she emailed to my mac and... it's all to complex for words. Then we couldn't get the computer installed on my laptop as it doesn't have a high enough operating system, blah, blah... so I had to email the text of my letter back to secretary and then she had to reformat it and then install the printer on her laptop.
This all took a ridiculous amount of time. We ended up having cheese on toast at home rather than getting to Pizza Express to eat with the others. Finally we printed out two copies and wrote on the front 'Ms Billie Piper, c/o Theatre Royal, Windsor from Colnbrook Amateur Stage Theatre'.
We drove to Windsor and went to park in the car park near the theatre. As we drove past I saw two people outside the alley which leads to the stage door. Someone to hand a letter to, I hoped. We parked. We had to get change for the ticket machine. We had to put the ticket in the car.
We spotted summer producer walking down from the front of the theatre and I left secretary with her to stride off towards the end of the stage door alley. There was someone with a camera. I walked to the end and Billie was standing there signing autographs. She had one last photograph taken and turned up the steps to go in.
I called out 'Billie, can I just give you this' and she turned and I handed the envelope over people's heads into her hand. She smiled and said thank you in an almost surprised tone, and turned to go in, looking at the envelope and seemed to do a double-take as she looked at the words on the front. She looked puzzled - maybe. Intrigued - certainly. Likely to open the envelope and read the letter - I reckon the chances were at least 50-50 if not better.
Mission accomplished. I walked back to secretary who was flabbergasted. Then we went round to the front, where everyone else was waiting outside. I told them and director him said it was definitely karma that we had had so much trouble during the afternoon. I was meant to be there at that precise moment.
I have done my bit now and put the letter in Billie's hand. The rest is down to her. Secretary wonders if she gets this sort of request all the time or whether no-one has ever asked. I think we are a relative rarity in having a famous Honorary President as it is. And I think most groups would pick someone far older and less cool. Let's face it, we are exceptional in so far as our membership is so young and that we want a figurehead to represent that.
Finally, one thing surprised me. She is actually very, very pretty. I have always thought of her as strikingly good looking, but not pretty in the obvious normal sense of the word. She looks quite different to the character of Rose and the pop star persona which we all saw so many times. Pretty and polite. I instinctively liked her and having met and interviewed quite a few names over the years as a journalist there are an awful lot of 'celebrities' who definitely do not fall into either or both of those categories. Yes, I really hope she agrees. She would be great.
The play was good too. Cleverly constructed with the relationships between each of the three of the characters examined clearly. You got a chance to study them on their own as individuals, interacting as pairs, and playing off one another as a threesome. The performances were all very good as well. Not a bad night all in all. Just say yes Billie... please!

Thought for the day:
'Are you gonna walk the walk of life with me?
Are you gonna see more than you dreamed you'd see?
Are you gonna walk hand in hand with me?
Can you be the one who sets my shadow free?
Are you gonna try and understand with me?
Are you gonna be the best that you can be?
Are you gonna walk the walk of life with me?'
Walk of Life. Billie Piper