valeriesbookofme

  I took the local rail service from London to Bedford—an hour’s journey after an hour on the Tube from Wimbledon—to have lunch with my cousin Bill and his wife Annie. Bill has been very ill; he was ill when I saw him last September and hasn’t made a lot of progress with his disease. So, being so close in distance to where he lives, I wanted very much to see him. It’s a cold, overcast day. Arizona winter weather almost, certainly not Spring. Spending a lot of time in railway cars/subway cars was a cozy way to go. I did take one photo from Blackfriars Railway Station before I started my train journey this morning: The chimney to the right is Tate Modern Museum, where we visited yesterday.  When we met up, Annie looked at me and said, “You look exhausted.” Yeah, yeah, I am. I tossed and turned all night worrying about this d*** COVID stuff possibly scuppering our plans to go home on Monday. At this point, I don’t even care about going on the ship. I want to go home. I said to R ...

  We met up with my cousin Elizabeth this morning at the Tate Modern. Elizabeth is an arts fundraiser, very much involved in community arts. Well, this is her bio from a report she just co-authored on funding for community arts:  Elizabeth Lynch MBE is an arts advisor and researcher who works with artists and communities. Her experience lies in collaborating with and commissioning artists, especially in community contexts, and producing interdisciplinary projects across art, science, health and education. She established the flagship Roundhouse Studios as Director 2001-8 and now works for a range of arts and culture organisations, including Wellcome, National Trust and LAMDA. She is an Associate Research Fellow in Contemporary Theatre at Birkbeck University, Chair of Board for Theatre-Rites, Trustee for Arts Catalyst, Critical Friend for Ideas Test and a member of Spitalfields Music Advisory Group. In 2002, London Borough of Tower Hamlets awarded her the Queen’s Golden Jubilee...

  After yesterday’s sunshine, today’s weather was overcast and chilly. Well, I said chilly this morning because I didn’t want to sound like a wimpy Arizonan but my Londoner cousin commented, “Freezing!” It wasn’t freezing, it was in the low 40s but I was certainly glad I had bought that warm jacket! I didn’t sleep very well last night, probably the heavy 5 Guys hamburger and fries I had in Richmond and the Coke Zero at 5:00 pm. Plus at around midnight a couple were in the hall arguing. I wanted to poke my head out and ask them to take it inside their room but these days you just don’t know who you’re dealing with. The argument only lasted about 5 minutes before they went inside the room. And about 10 minutes later I heard footsteps outside our room heading for the stairs. Shades of my crime novel, which I probably should also not have stayed p reading. All was quiet this morning though, no detectives knocking on our door asking if we’d heard any goings on in the next room…. I didn’...

  After yesterday’s trip into London, we decided to stay out in the Surrey area today. I wanted to return to Richmond, where I had my “English adventure” from 1978-1980. Richard isn’t fond of the Underground, he prefers to be in a bus where he can see the area. We discovered there was a bus line, the 493, that stopped in Wimbledon Village and went on to Richmond. Took a little over an hour because of traffic and multiple stops but the day was sunny and Richard certainly got a feel for what semi-rural English villages are like! We arrived in Richmond at 10:30 and of course stopped at M & S (toilets) before we started our long walk to Ham House, which is on the river, across from Twickenham, where I used to live.  I should explain that Richmond and Twickenham are side by side, just across the river from each other. So, I started off renting (for 15-00 GBP per week) a bed sitting room with shared kitchen and bath in a large old house on Richmond Hill when I first arrived in M...

  Just as I had finally stopped feeling I was on a rocking horse, I decided to take another boat trip. This one was from Kew Pier to Westminster, a trip I did back in 1977 when I moved to England, to Richmond. So it was a “for old time’s sake” in a way although so much has changed on the River, so many skyscrapers!  Before we went, though, we took an early morning walk around Canizzaro Park, next to our hotel. And that’s what decided me that I needed a warmer jacket; I covered that story in my post about Sunday I think. The park was so beautiful, azaleas and rhododendrons and magnolias. The garden at the back of the hotel full of tulips. As we emerged from the park we passed allotment gardens and chatted with an 80-something lady whose small front garden was bursting with spring flowers. Wish I had taken a photo but here are some park photos anyway: We ate a wonderful breakfast at Ivy’s Cafe in Wimbledon Village and then I did the charity shop circuit. No luck, I walked down t...