Hello all. I hope you are well. We have been away and now we are back. I am exhausted. I'm not very good at getting out and about - at least not without a decent rest in between. We spent a few days in London to celebrate HOH's birthday. As a surprise, I arranged for our kids to be at the train station in Plymouth. Then they came to London for a day and a night. HOH seemed really pleased so it was all worthwhile. He is a tip-top father and husband and we are very chuffed and blessed to have him, so it was great to be able to celebrate with him around the thing that he loves the most - his family. However, I will NEVER do anything like that again. NEVER. I'm rubbish at keeping secrets and I don't think I realised how much we are on and off each other's phones etc. Keeping the secret was a nightmare but like I said - worth it. So, I'll do "What we did on our holidays" shall I? I don't know why I'm asking - I've got very little else for you.
We did a couple of shows - Operation Mincemeat - which I chose because it was a "Musical Comedy" and hopefully not hard work. It was quite brilliant. Only a few cast members tell the story of Operation Mincemeat with songs and quick changes etc. There was a bit of a rubbish film a few years ago with Colin Firth but ignore that. This is very clever - managing to be funny and sad and give the (dead) protagonist some dignity. If you are interested in the story there's a book by Ben McIntyre which is excellent. If you want to go and are over 6ft tall - try and get an aisle seat. I'm assuming we were in an old London theatre which was built when people had stunted growth and/or rickets because both males in the family had to rest their chins on their knees, it was quite tight.
HOH and I also saw Hello Dolly. Actually, that was more for me than him. I don't usually like Musical Theatre. I normally prefer the films. Imelda Staunton played Dolly and I was a bit "ummm" because I really really love the Streisand film. However, Ms Staunton "knocked it out of the park" as our American friends say and, if you have won the pools and can stump up for the tickets, I would highly recommend.
We also did the Wives of Henry VIII exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery (air-conditioned - Hurrah!) That was fine but you did sort of get the impression that someone had nipped upstairs to the Tudor room and brought all the Holbeins down and bunged them in a different order. I'm never quite sure why we make such a fuss of a deranged psychopath anyway. We also chose the hottest day of the year to visit Hampton Court Palace. I thought it was iconic obviously but a bit of a mess. If I was Johnny Foreigner Tourist I would struggle to work out what was going on. We kept going through rooms and being deposited in different series and time zones and it was in a weird order. Also - hot. Really hot. Not anyone's fault but really hot.
We finished off the week with a visit to Buckfast Abbey in Devon. We have been a few times before and loved the peace and calm. Unfortunately, we unwittingly chose the day of the annual Summer Fair. And it was heaving. Mostly the stalls were people selling crocheted dreamcatchers or those enamelled necklaces that Claire Balding wears when she is presenting the Olympics so we didn't buy anything. There were a couple of interesting areas. A man from something called Animal Encounters had brought an Armadillo called Bob but Bob didn't seem up for it really and kept hiding under a bath towel. Also, you can hire an Alpaca for your wedding apparently. I gave it some thought but I can't tell you why you should want to do that, especially as they seemed a bit bad-tempered and snappish. I already had my mother who was willing to do that at my wedding. In the end - the attraction is the Abbey which is usually calm and quiet. There's a small chapel at one end for quiet contemplation and when we looked in we saw Sister Mary-Bernadette fighting hard for a few moments with her Maker while a particularly loud and jiggy version of Dont Stop Me Now by The Rock Choir was happening just outside. She seemed to be taking it quite well though. Probably thinking of the money for the Abbey funds coming from all the extra sales of bottles of Bucky.
Anyway, this is quite a long blog thing today but I just wanted to say a few things about the stuff that is happening in the UK at the moment. The thing that disturbs me most is that a few days after the most horrible crime was committed when we should all be putting our arms around those having to learn to live with this awful loss, parents and families are having to deal with what is happening on the streets. Just to be factually correct, this truly has nothing to do with asylum seekers. If it is anything, it is another crime of violence against women and girls. No one is talking about that now.
Local media is saying that tonight is Plymouth's lucky night for a visit from a lot of people with bricks and T-shirts with disgusting slogans. So we will all look forward to that. Apparently, they start the "protests" with two minutes silence for the Southport children. So that's alright then.
I am finding it difficult to navigate my way through all of this. Dealing with deliberate lies. People with not a care for the working class manipulate them for their own ends. It does feel out of control and certainly beyond anything that I can do. I found this prayer on the Facebook page of Mid-Faith Crisis and it's very good I think on my responsibility and the way forward. I am angry and sad but this is a time to press for truth and above all to mourn with those who mourn.
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