There's always one ! This Iris isn't the first of another bed to the right - it's just there, a strag amongst the pale ones. Weather still foul. Better is promised but it doesn't happen.A busy day starting with my INR blood test, then Y's dental checkup (all OK) then over to collect Joan and down the A60 en route to Hardwick Hall for our talk about Bess.
We called in at The Hardwick Inn for a snack lunch before our lecture at 2pm. First class lecture and excellent visuals. Obviously Mary Lovell had researched Bess very professionally indeed and the illustrations, and portraits, from everywhere - Windsor to The National Gallery, were spot on.
The audience was around 70/80 strong , in the Great Hall, and as Mary said, it was easy to imagine Bess coming in from hunting and standing in front of that actual fireplace on the right getting warm
. The Hall had been kitted out to accommodate the people, at the far end where you can see a beautiful quarter-sawn oak table which housed the projector. The screen was at the far end and the seats in rows either side of the table. One felt that Bess had somehow managed to approve the arrangements.Tea and biscuits followed and informal chat and we left around 4.30pm. Picture 3 is one of the side towers from the carpark and you can actually see Bess's initials on the top, all the way from the motorway. The E S is for Elizabeth Shrewsbury, as Countess of Shrewsbury.
After brief respite the rain started again and after dropping Joan off it was a real pleasure to get home.
Cheese on Toast was both our choice, followed by a Y jelly and Icecream.
I just learned from Reg that poor Mo has had to have her arm rebrokend and reset. What awful luck. But she is being cheerful about it. Brian's knee is due tomorrow I believe, Helen is camping, and Roy and the other WoW-ers all seem tied up. And I'm not bitterly disappointed - it will give Y and I time to catch up, and wind-down all at the same time.
Comments.....Bungus..... I'm sorry Jessica didn't actually win the competition. Her poem is excellent ! And thanks for publishing it.
Can't join in this football nostalgia, because I've never been interested. I have the proud boast that I have only ever been to football matches when I have been paid to attend ! That will fox the casual reader.
AnonymousRob ..... Ditto to above. The Cuba story continues to delight. Would a snap of a few peso's be possible? I'm sure the readership would enjoy them. Particularly the one with Ché's head thereon. If you still have it ?
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Another Tommy Cooper joke - courtesy of Reg's list yesterday :-
"I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I
couldn't find any"
couldn't find any"
Sleep tight and I'll catch you tomorrow. If I remember to get up ! We were both shattered today when we got home. Great day though !
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I have a big trough full of creamy nicotiana (?) except for one red one in the middle....
ReplyDeleteI went to Hardwick Hall some years back, remember it as being one of my favourites. You both seem to have more energy than we have, but like us you need time to recover afterwards....I have turned down an invitation to be driven to and from the Hampton Court Flower Show - I last went three years ago and was quite exhausted by the time I got home, which lasted for a couple of days. It's a huge show, and it's the thousands of people there that I find very tiring, that and a lack of chairs....
Please carry on with the Cuba reminiscences.
Have given up on the 'new' Culture Show, squashed into half an hour. Perhaps Y is taping it for you, I know it is past your bedtime.
I've never ever been to a professional football match, paid or otherwise! Or a horse race either. I don't think I am missing out....
Torrential rain here today, almost all day - but I didn't have to go out, or water the garden, so selfishly I don't care!
Yes, a miserable day weatherwise. But sunny spells forecast for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGlad your bloodtests etc OK.
We went to King's Mill today for Sandra to be x-rayed and me to see the surgeon - or one of his team of course, who was extremely pleasant but denied almost everything that I have been told before.
They seem to find it impossible to get their act together. If you suggest something to the surgery team they say it is the chemo team’s concern, and vice versa.
I urgently need to have my teeth seen to but can they agree how it is to be done? Can they ....? No, bet your life they can’t.
I find eating so difficult that I am wondering whether to stop it altogether until I lose so much weight that someone takes notice.
But we had a good shop at Lidl and the Bargain Shop.
On the way home, we called in for lunch at the Snooty Fox. Nothing seems to have gone up in spite of the steep rises in food costs.
I struggled through three quarters of my beef and mushroom pie (tasty but the meat was a bit on the hard side). They have now added what looks to be an excellent ‘3 courses for £10’ menu, with a good selection, served all sessions apart from Sat night.
Rather to my surprise, I did enjoy a pint (or two halves) of Marstons (I like Marstons but have not much enjoyed beer since the op).
We also called in Tesco where I was tempted, on their specialist ingredient rack by ‘funkin white peach juice’.
I was not over impressed by the Alan Clayden photos but I have only seen small examples which may not be fair. And I am sure that I do not judge them in such a technical manner as you and your WoW colleagues do.
I remember walking to Hardwick from Pleasley during the war. Everybody we asked ‘How far?’, said ‘Two miles’.
It seemed more like eight.
I also recall going there to sketch from a day release art school class in the late 40s. The lady of the house (not Bess) came over to us and chatted uncondescendingly and very informally about what we were doing.
Sorry for Reg’s Mo. Having things done once is bad enough …
Jill:
I rather enjoyed the Culture Show but, as always, there seemed too little time to deal with things other than superficially.
Klimt was a bit of a lad – 13 children and never hitched!
I have great sympathy with the poor souls who are unaware of the beautiful game.
As Bill Shankly said, “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. But it’s much more serious than that.”
On the other hand, horse racing, like motor racing, is boring, apart from the National.
The dogs give far more enjoyment and atmosphere.
Rob:
Yes, Robert Vaughan was Napoleon Solo. In the Magnificent Seven he was the gunslinger who had lost his nerve but came good when it mattered.
I am ashamed to have forgotten left back Ray Wilson’s name as he was/is a local lad (Pleasley area I think).
Hunt I find unmemorable. I know it was Hurst who replaced Greaves but Greaves should have been in the final in Hunt’s place.
I like how Cuba have made things easy by having two different currency units both known as the peso.
Nothing to do with Cuba but a 20p piece works as well as a pound coin in most supermarket trolleys.
Arrant nonsense is one thing the USA is good at.
Of course it was better for them when Cuba was unrevolutionised; a playground for the wealthy and the crooked.
I would perhaps feel a bit uneasy if Zimbabwe acquired nuclear weapons but, in general, I agree with your one rule for all argument.
Awful president.
I wouldn’t pee on him were
He a burning Bush.
Totally agree with you about sacking managers. It seldom makes the required difference.
I like the corduroy haiku. It sums them up nicely.