Sunday, May 15, 2022

Fed up country mouse goes to town (2022)

 I'm home again after a fabulous holiday with Het in London, the theme of which could be captured in this sign I snapped through the bus window:




My week had begun well with this news item. Please do follow the link and watch the video. These young people made my day and inspired me to do this when we walked through Trafalgar Square.


photo by Het


photo by Het


Well, there was a man offering chalk for a donation so what was a Sue supposed to do? BTW when he saw the slogan he smiled and gave me a thumbs up and refused to take a donation. (Also BTW, Het pointed out that anyone else would have squatted down, but I explained that if I'd done that, I wouldn't have been able to get up again.)

That day we walked 10 miles. Not bad for a couple of septuagenerarians. We went to The Woman in White exhibition at the Royal Academy, had lunch at the Wolseley, I bought a new poetry book in Piccadilly, new sandals in Covent Garden, and in the evening we went to the theatre.

We had tickets to see the worthy play The Corn is Green with Nicola Walker. The first line of the ad for this play says 'One person can make all the difference' so you can see why we were keen. Unfortunately the performance was cancelled that day because of Covid, so we had  to make a quick decision as to what to see instead. We toyed with the idea of My Fair Lady - safe, but not the same without Audrey Hepburn - so we plumped for &Juliet.

We were so glad we did. This review says it all. We were probably the oldest people there but had as good a time as all the people at the front of the stalls, waving their arms through the songs. It's bonkers and funny with a less than inspiring script but with terrific singing and dancing and wild stage effects. I was so wired when we came out that I couldn't get to sleep that night. 



photo by Het



The next day was a quiet and sedate trip out to the Dulwich Picture Gallery for their current exhibition The Woman in the Window. It was interesting and stimulating and I thoroughly recommend it. Actually, I'd go and see it again if I was in the vicinity.

Dinner at Legare that night was mega delicious.

On Thursday we rounded off my trip with a visit to the London Garden Museum in Lambeth and a quick dip into the permanent collection at Tate Britain where i chose my favourite painting (it's by Patrick Heron):






I did catch a glimpse from Lambeth of the source of most of my troubles 

 



but I was feeling so chipper by that point that it had no power to spoil anything. So much intellectual and visual stimulation had restored me. 

But the best thing of all was the talking. We talked for three days and still had things to say.

Here's to friendship, art, literature, music, dancing, wonderful food, coffee stops, clothes and fun!

And here's to packing in joy.

As Het said, quoting Marvell, 

"I prefer to 'tear our pleasures with rough strife, through the iron gates of life!'"

Thank you, Het. 

 


8 comments:

Susan D said...

Sounds perfect.

Sue Hepworth said...

It was 😊

Anonymous said...

Your trip sounds fabulous - I think it restored your mojo! 😍😉

Sue Hepworth said...

Yes, it did. I’m living for pleasure now!

Lina said...

You sound so much brighter now, stimulated and excited about life again

Sue Hepworth said...

It WAS a wonderful cure. I live in a beautiful place but I spend too much time inside my head,

Anita said...

What an amazing trip - doing all the things that I too love to do. Visited the Garden Museum about 8 years ago and was very impressed- would love to go again and see how it has progressed. The Dulwich Picture Gallery has been on my list for a long time. Pleased to hear you had such a lovely few days.

Sue Hepworth said...

Thank you, Anita. The Dulwich Picture Gallery is well worth a visit if there is a special exhibition on. It’s a delightful gallery in a lovely place.