The Last Song

Dorothy was quite badly behaved for my sister over the weekend . Picking fights with her dog, peeing and pooing. Demanding attention . I doubt she will be asked back. 

High Maintenance is the phrase she used.

Hey ho. 

Its a soup day today . 

Cold and bracing  

Butter bean, chorizo and garlic soup , extra thick by adding a potato… is heating in the slow cooker

I shopped, caught up with Nu by phone and listened to the new ABBA album in the car 

Comic con and London seem a long way away today .

Comic Con

Leo is presently getting photographed with some superhero actor.

I am lying on the floor, resting gently as a group of Spiderman climb up some metal girders nearby.

Its been a nice day.

I met Leo at St Pancreas and we took the tube across town.

I have never been surrounded by so many geeks since I was doing my film degree

We had lunch in a rather nice sushi place near Olympia then continued the geek fest 

It was lovely to see him again, he was my family and

I had missed him dreadfully 

Covent Garden

 The West End was rammed with people. 

I walked up from Euston just in time for a late lunch of lamb chops and black daal at Dishoom in StMartins Lane,  The Covent Garden Christmas Tree was suitably festive and I sat and people watched until it was time for the theatre .

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane was an interesting choice of mine as I picked it without knowing nothing of the production.

It’s a fantasy/drama about a man who after attending his father’s funeral visits his half forgotten childhood. A childhood full of sadness, grief, loss and disappointment and of fabulous witches, monsters, life long friendship and magical powers.

It’s a surreal and rather beautiful production full of visual tricks, superb puppetry  and a clever lead performance by James Bamford who captures all of the angst, confusion and pain of a twelve year old boy  who is hiding behind his fantasy pre teen, bookish safety net. Not wanting to process  what real life actually is.

I loved it

After the theatre, I walked the streets for a while.

Down to the National Portrait Gallery, then up over through Leicester Square, Soho and  Chinatown 

I bought a box of fresh Noodles from Wok & Go and ate them as I walked with cheap chopsticks bummed from the server.

The streets were filled with couples and groups of theatre goers and drunks

But it was nice to be a part of it all

I’m a bit nervous about tomorrow 

I haven’t seen my “ nephew” for over three years 

I hope he still likes me 

He was a child when we last saw each other 

Heyho

London Bound

 

There is a chill in the air this morning.

Winter is approaching and the dying ash trees in the graveyard are stark against the cold marble sky in the west. Ash die back has decimated the trees nearby and those around the Church have been marked with yellow paint spots by the council and are awaiting their sad executions.

It was dark when I returned home last night, so I didn’t notice that my sister had titivated the garden which now looks clean and tidy and ready for the winter. 

She had planted pansies in the flower beds and left a colander on my garden table filled with alpines

I’m going down to London today and the quiet coldness of the village feels a million miles away from the lights and bustle of Covent Garden . 

I’m staying in Z Hotel again 

I need to pick my train but I need my coffee first.

Our tickets for Comic Con are not until tomorrow but as Leo wanted an early start and has only got to travel from Kent, I have arranged to go down today so that I can meet him from the station.

A night free in London will be filled by a trip to The Duke Of York’s Theatre to see The Ocean At The End Of The Lane.

My nephew has Aspergers and I think it’s his first time travelling to town on his own, so it’s kind of a big deal. His mom emailed me yesterday to check if I had arranged to meet him and I assured her I had.

It’s strange to think that the last time we were in London together he was a little boy.

Dorothy is off to my sister’s shortly and Mary to Trendy Carol’s 

Enough time for another coffee me thinks

Sheldon

 There was a plastic bag tied to my doorknob when I finally got home after work  tonight 

I knew by the strangely wrapped gifts inside that Mrs Trellis was on one

A Mars bar surrounded by kitchen roll, 

A homemade 2022 calendar with a photo of Mount Kilimanjaro on the front.

A packet of children’s crayons ( opened )

And a pink, slightly balding fabric shrimp with a label saying “His name is Sheldon, I found him at a rummage sale at Glan Clwyd Hospital”

Hey ho

Poor Gorgeous Dave

 

I don’t know exactly what Gorgeous Dave and I were expecting from Nigella Lawson but her one woman let us both down. 

No doubt he was hoping for a pussy galore-esque Nigella  in a tight fitting black polo neck ,playfully fingering an irritating gravy stain on her bosom with a red nailed index finger.

I was hoping for a playfully funny story teller.

We both were a little disappointed 

She kept everything , verbose, food orientated and meandering 

Lacking the obvious tight direction she has on tv and the close seductive relationship with the cameraman 

Dave and I had a nice chat but that was on the way home 

4 pm

It’s four pm

How did that happen?

What have I done today?

I slept late, I know that much, and I’ve shopped for lunch tomorrow and for dog food.

I’ve booked a pottery lesson for next Wednesday evening and for the cinema on Thursday followed by an on line evening zoom Night with Patricia Cornwall on Fane 

Next week I’m working more hours than I should

I’ve had a bath and cooked Korean noodles for lunch tomorrow and walked the dogs 

I downloaded my covid pass, bought some Christmas gifts on line and “talked” to my friend Ben who was drinking beer on his Korean balcony in Seoul .

Autumn days just fly by. 

It’s almost dark and from my office window the village lights are just starting to twinkle  through the Church yard trees

It’s 4 pm …….how did that happen?

Soup spoons

Bit of a crappy day at work 

Came home and no post in the box by the front door ( I was expecting some old essays to be posted back to me) 

Disappointed they were not there.

I sat with my hoodie on as tge cottage warmed up, with the dogs on my knee

A neighbour brought around a parcel at 9 pm 

It had been left by the postman 

Four beautifully home made ceramic soup spoons, which I had ordered an age ago now

I was too tired to make soup to try them out 

So ate some tinned low fat custard

Using each spoon in turn to try each one out 

Eaten from the tin