I went to London last Thursday for a long delayed visit to Laura, my Hygienist who is a charming, amusing person. She loves to chat away just when you are incapable of any response beyond a gargling, choking sound as the water spray, shrieking plaque scraper and rotating fluoride brush whizzes about; your head in her lap almost, gazing through Perspex goggles, gloves, masks and dazzling lights everywhere. I have always been terrified of dentists though they have all been without doubt charming, gentle people.
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 02 October 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 11 September 2020.
Quartet, trio, duet and even on one or two occasions, solo dinners and lunches have been proceeding at a pace here at No. 11 while Bojo and his Shudder of Cabinet Clowns tinker with the rules of engagement, perform U-turns enough to make us dizzy and seem, certainly in the international arena, to be bringing our country into disgrace with broken treaties and, it looks likely, a dishonourable discharge from the Club of Europe.
Well we shall see. What else can we do? Nothing.
Thank you so much, dear Friends, for all your emails and messages. This is proving an excellent way to keep in touch at this frustrating time. Its lovely to hear from you and thank you for reading these communiqués! Many of you were interested in how Tony and I met each other and asked that I complete the story as I think I left him in the last episode greeting me in his office wearing a smart Panama hat, courtesy of Marina Martin. That was Part 1 : HAPPENSTANCE – The Meeting.
Parts 2 & 3 are COINCIDENCE : The Waiting (Sitzkieg) and ACTION : The Beginning (Blitzkrieg).
If you’d like to read those click on the link here:
So it’s been a short season of Staycationing, the new way to explore England for as long as the ever-changing rules allow. On Monday it will be a criminal (sic) offence to be in a domestic gathering of more than six people. Luckily this did not disarray our August Bank Holiday visit to the Family in Cambridgeshire where there were eight of us. Now we would be subject to arrest and a fine or, I suppose, even imprisonment!
THE GREEN DIARY : Wednesday, 26 August 2020.
A Friend in Wilderness, South Africa sent me this poem, which I felt was hilarious considering where we all are today, surrounded by U-turns and indecisions.
I won’t arise and go now, and go to Innisfree I’ll sanitise the doorknob and make a cup of tea. I won’t go down to the sea again, I won’t go out at all, I’ll wander lonely as a cloud from the kitchen to the hall. There’s a green-eyed yellow monster to the north of Katmandu But I shan’t be seeing him just yet and nor, I think, will you. While the dawn comes up like thunder on the road to Mandalay I’ll make my bit of supper and eat it off a tray. I shall not speed my bonnie boat across the sea to Skye Or take the rolling English road from Birmingham to Rye. About the woodland, just right now I am not free to go To see the Keep Out posters or the cherry hung with snow And no, I won’t be travelling much, within the realms of gold. Or get me to Milford Haven. All that’s been put on hold. Give me your hands, I shan’t request, albeit we are friends Nor come within a mile of you, until this shit show ends.
FROM A Brisk Walk through a Pageant of English Verse
Though to be fair our new regimen of what we call Quartet Luncheons & Dinners has gone some way to breaking the ice in our isolation, so-to-speak. These are Two+Two affairs observing the niceties of distancing, always only four of us.
But much excitement into the big smoke we plunged to visit Friends Penny & Nick, one of our BridgeBase-Online partnerships in East Sheen. It seemed so naughty driving there, not playing live bridge but spending a lovely evening in actuality not virtuality.
Thanks Friends it was a lovely evening. A Quartet dinner of note.
Home to sad, dusty Leverton Street . It needs love and a lick of paint I think. The windows remind me of scenes from Miss Haversham’s failed wedding night in GREAT EXPECTATIONS; but I am just too fat and unsupple to do the deathly window ledge balance and clean the acres of dirt & diesel off the glass! Oh where is the wonderful window man?
This is Falkland Road just before you turn into Leverton Street. It has become very colourful. Perhaps because Sir Keir Starmer lives in the neighbourhood. He is our MP.
Hampstead Heath was surprisingly not crowded; perhaps it wasn’t the finest day. We walked our usual circuit up from Parliament Hill to Kenwood House and round down to the Ladies’ Pond, the Boat and Men’s Ponds to catch a 214 down the hill home and were distraught at the sight of all the diseased Horse Chestnut trees, their leaves brown with some sort of fungus.
What do you think will happen to them? Can they fight off this disease or will they go the same way as the beautiful Dutch Elms that were so ignominiously expunged from the English landscape? It’s a tragedy.
A Sestet birthday party of note in Clapham changed gears slightly. Friend Edward’s 69th. Soixante Neuf. An excellent position we think! The 88 bus took us all the way from Camden; it was immaculately clean and empty; alighting at its terminus in Clapham Old Town we were surprised by the over-flowing cafes, bars and restaurants filled with unmasked, careless twenty-and-thirty-somethings for whom there seemed to be no worries. For us hayseeds this came as a shock.
So, the ‘burbs are busy but the West End and City glumly uncrowded, we found.
This is where the bus stopped but it was not like this! Clapham Old Town.
Two more Quartet Luncheons last week and Quartet Martini & Campari Locktails of a sunset : except we were blown indoors! There is a lot of wind at present, the weather has cooled appreciably but none of this changed the taste of the martinis, I can tell you!
Two grandchildren came to visit and stay the night. We took them blackberrying and then wined and dined them at the Thorn Hotel round the corner where an extremely brisk trade has taken advantage of England’s new Staycationing habits. In fact on Monday last when our lovely Polish Ladies came to dust us down (they like the house to themselves), we went for breakfast at the Thorn where the special discount is still in force. Friend David McKay, the owner, stopped by and told us that they have never been so busy and were run off their feet; its impossible to get a booking; that even if there were no discount they would still be just as busy with people who have found they need not be in London to work and play. The empty cafes, bars and restaurants there are gains for the provinces.
This was brought home to us when we went for a Quartet Luncheon with friends in Thorpeness, near Aldeburgh. We have never seen so many cars and people there before, even in normal times. It was astonishing. Some friends who’d been up to Cromer and visited the north Norfolk coast told us that there were at least 20,000 cars at Holkham. Everybody is holidaying at home and there is no room at any inn anywhere. All this chimes with what David told us. Their Enoteca in Manningtree, Lucca, is chockfull too.
I rehearsed and played in my first Webinar last week too, playing Colonel Lukyn in Pinero’s THE MAGISTRATE. This seems to be the new way forward with much theatre now, streamed events whose virtuality never quite adds up to actuality but is great fun nonetheless.
Some work well: we watched ALBION from the Almeida and though quibbled with some of the writing and one or two over-busy performances, thought it was riveting and extremely good. It’s still available if anyone is interested.
On the television two major documentaries have struck us. ONCE UPON A TIME IN IRAQ, a five-part documentary shedding a terrifying perspective on that unhappy country and the effects of the invasion.
So very sad.
What we liked about it was that ordinary people from all sides gave their views and described their experiences. No politicians with their spin and their dishonesty. You can find it on catch-up as you can too the amazing full length film, due for theatric release next month, COUP 53, about the cynical involvement of the CIA and MI6 in the overthrow of the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, in retaliation for his nationalisation of the Iranian oil industry which was hitherto wholly owned by British and American interests.
Ten years in the making and much material is still in secret archives, which MI6 will not yet release. What struck us most about the film was the ripple effect down the years that that sponsored coup d’état had on the whole region and how it has negatively affected so much there ever since, never mind any trust between the Middle East and the West. It was like watching a political thriller with the consequences of the action still to play out in our future.
And now I have added another book to my growing reading list, all being read simultaneously. Get a grip! Why can’t I get rid of this reader’s block? LADY IN WAITING, Anne Glenconner’s fascinating story of her “Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown” may finally have achieved an unblocking. It’s wonderfully amusing, but dark too as much in her life was not easy. There was much tragedy. I can’t put it down.
An end note for today – Tony and I have been together for just over thirty-five years and many of you, our Friends, have asked how we met. If you are interested I have written a piece about it elsewhere on my site and if you click on the link a new story will open to entrance and amaze you (tongues in cheeks!).
THE GREEN DIARY : Wednesday, 12 August 2020.
The Green is brown because we are having a mini heat wave here and, apart from a short storm or two, creating steam and humidity of almost tropical proportions, very little rain has actually fallen.
I am always amused by weather conversations here. Of course it is a favourite topic, a well known national characteristic : stick to the weather, it’s the safest thing to do!
It’s never right though. It’s either too wet, too cold, too hot. It never seems utterly to please. Droughts are declared in a matter of days if there has been no rain, and hosepipe bans follow in short shrift. For those of us brought up in countries like Australia and South Africa, the notion of a drought being declared after a mere week or two of clear skies is incomprehensible! What on earth have they done with all that water that fell, flooded and destroyed in the past seasons? It’s a mystery. I have a theory that it’s really to do with utilities companies needing to turn a profit and pay their shareholders rather than forking out cash for infrastructure improvements. Is here anyone out there who can enlighten us please? The notion of actually owning the water or any utility designed for the use of a single community baffles me, let alone the notion of paying a dividend to its shareholders. Is there anything that can remain in public ownership? Must everything be owned?
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Wednesday, 12 August 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Saturday, 25 July 2020.
This morning in the Mistley sub-Post Office I was called a “f***ing arsehole” by the only other person in the little shop, at the counter, posting lots of parcels.
She was complaining about wearing a mask; it was stuffy and stupid, she said, and why should she? Her sun glasses misted up she told Frances the postmistress, behind her glass screen; how could it save the economy (sic) and what about her freedoms? She had a rainbow mask that could not cover both mouth and nose at the same time so she may just as well not bothered to wear one.
From a metre and a mask away and hoping to speed up the transaction taking place, in a calm, muffled voice, extremely politely I said, “Its less uncomfortable than the disease.”
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Saturday, 25 July 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 10 July 2020.
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
The Bright Field : R S Thomas
I have become a real hayseed, so say some of you! A country mouse. The 4th of July is only six days ago and already the itchy feet are beginning to stir; though perhaps not mine, quite. Thank you for all your comments. One of the reasons for keeping this diary going during lockdown is to stay in touch with my wide family of friends everywhere and its good to hear from you. As I navigate my way through the widgets, platforms and instances of Web-making and attend more zooms and webinars, the construction becomes slightly easier though I do still find this algorithmic world confusing and frustrating – so if there are mistakes please forgive me. You can always unsubscribe which would be sad. Anything you say onsite passes through “Admin” – such a terrifying thought! “Admin” is me; it turns me into a sort of private censor board so all comments and replies come to my email address first and anything too private can be discreetly handled, shall I say? Some of you prefer simply emailing me and that’s lovely too.
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 10 July 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 26 June 2020.
Such excitement this week as Lockdown protocols were eased slightly and we were able to visit the family in Kimbolton. A big treat and our first proper excursion into the wilds of Cambridgeshire.
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 26 June 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Thursday, 18 June 2020.
96 DAYS & 288 MEALS INTO LOCKDOWN!
Ninety-six days into the Lockdown and the extraordinary thing is the speed with which this has flashed by. No matter the hours spent in contemplation, the inevitable boredom that would normal slow the day, we are experiencing the exact opposite – there are not enough hours in the day to complete the daily round! Friends all – are you experiencing something similar? Many of you of course are able to work from home and are probably just as busy there as in your office or studio or surgery? Webinars and Zooming are the new communication landscape and may prove to outlast this pandemic when it is shown we simply cannot return to the old ways.
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Thursday, 18 June 2020.”THE GREEN DIARY : Thursday, 11 June 2020
IT’S NOT CREATING A RESULT THAT DOESN’T EXIST
Brexit & Coixit
As many of our Friends know, we have recently had the test for Antibodies which was organised by The Medical Laboratory of London. We had the “finger pricking” ones that arrived in little boxes through the post; no mainline syringes.
Continue reading “THE GREEN DIARY : Thursday, 11 June 2020”THE GREEN DIARY : Friday, 5 June, 2020.
Pedro-of-the-Green
NEWSFLASH
Friends –
Many of you asked us to keep you in the loop about our Covid Tests.
Both Tony & I have tested positive which in a way we are glad of : the knowing that we have had it is somehow comforting and even if it provides no immunity, at least we know that our systems seem to be robust enough to survive it if it recurs. Of course we hope that it might prove we have some form of immunity in the long run, but hey, lets wait and see.
In the meantime we are cautioned to stay under lockdown and follow the orders of the scientists – not Demonic Cummings or his sock puppet!
Bon Chance All. Thank you.
Onward and Upward!