Packing and playing

Had an ace time at the Virginia Woolf play last night - such a weird and wonderful thing to do and very Godalming too. Mind you, the wine was rubbish. After one sip of Lord H's, I plumped for the orange juice. Still, he managed to drink it all, which was definitely beyond the call of duty. The play was good too - though I think Lord H enjoyed it more than I did. Lovely to pick up with a bit of Tennyson again though. One of the great poets of course.

As we were in the wonderful and wonderfully quirky Watts Gallery, it did amuse us - but made perfect sense really - when during the essential Health & Safety talk at the start the organiser told us how to exit the building if the fire alarm went off, and by the way while we were walking out, please could we pick up a painting and rescue it. We laughed - but really they should suggest that at all galleries!

This morning, I have packed for Britain in preparation for our holidays tomorrow when we'll be staying here in North Wales. We had the usual marital conversation which went like this:

Me: When do you think we should set off then, darling?
Lord H: What time were you thinking of?
Me: Well, what about 10.30, 11-ish?
Lord H: When we get there, you mean? Actually I was hoping we could be in Birmingham by 11-ish so we can spend an hour looking at the RSPB bird sanctuary, have lunch there, then get to Wales mid-afternoon so there'll be time for a ten mile hike before tea.
Me (sighing deeply): So you want to set off at 9-ish then?
Lord H (grinning broadly): Great! My thoughts exactly!

So best set the alarm for a time on Sunday morning I haven't seen since leaving church ... What the heck, maybe I just won't go to bed at all! Ah well, at least I'm packed!

This afternoon, we've seen Alan Ayckbourn's "How the Other Half Loves" in Guildford - great fun, in spite of being wonderfully dated. Heck, it's probably historical by now. As usual, Ayckbourn's ending was rather low-key, and as usual Lord H made up an ending in the car which was actually far better. And more punchy. Though probably wouldn't have been realistic in the 70s. I swear, one day that man (Lord H, not Ayckbourn!) should write a play of his own. It would be fab.

Tonight, I'm donning my high heels and glitzy frock and watching "Strictly Come Dancing" on TV. Bliss! How have I lived without it for so long?? Later, I can watch the marvellous "Ugly Betty" and "QI" which I have stored on the video. And there's wine, pizza, ice cream and chocolate. Well, I love a balanced diet ...

And, as I'm not here again till next weekend, here's an early haiku, inspired bizarrely by this week's "My Name is Earl", which had the punchiest - and funniest - parable about forgiveness that I've seen for a long time:

I laze in the bath
and think about forgiveness.
Warm water and peace.


Would that it were actually something I was good at eh! Still some stuff takes a lifetime, and there's no harm in that.

Have a great week, people, and catch up next weekend!

Today's nice things:

1. The Ayckbourn play
2. Packing for my hols
3. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website