Serious Things

My book group choice this time was Serious Things by Gregory Norminton.  Technically it had been my choice, since I'd cut out a review and handed it to Jackie, our librarian member who can sometimes get a title in sufficient quantity to save us all a purchase.  Surprisingly, there were enough copies of this to go around which caught me a bit on the hop, because I wasn't sure if it was going to be my cup of tea at all.

I was wrong.  It turned out to be a fairly easy read, beautifully written in a gentle and atmospheric style.  Fairly economic - some said sparse - use of words which nevertheless conveyed more than a first reading suggested.  Our discussion highlighted many events and characters that we'd forgotten along the way - so many small points were brought into the story and left undeveloped.  Having been irritated by last month's choice which tied up every loose end so conveniently (and completely unbelieveably) it came as a breath of fresh air to find that not every author sees the need to do that!

Recommended as one of those books which will stay with you, which will provoke all kinds of thoughts and queries for days after you finish the final page.  A good read.

Wired

One of those weeks when every waking moment is accounted for, when the sensible thing would have been to say "no, sorry" to extra commitments rather than say "well, I could be there by ten but would have to leave before two".

But I'm not good at saying "no".

Anyway, some arrangements had been made a long time ago and yesterday, I had arranged to teach a dayschool for nine enthusiastic and highly motivated women.  Preparation was required and the bags packed.

A car boot full of "resources" and an upstairs venue for the workshop gave me plenty of opportunity to work off a bit of energy.

Whoever described teaching as "chalk and talk" was clearly not of this wired-up age.  Yesterday, there was a birdsnest of wires and plugs and once it was all connected, it really did make some of the explanation much easier - it's always hard to explain the difference between a plan and an elevation, but a docucam is a useful device to switch viewpoints instantly.

And when the lunchtime ennui sets in, there's always the Pogo to play with.

I don't teach these days as often as I used to do and really miss the hands-on work.  Though my job results in added pressure to jump through all the hoops and tick all the boxes, I'm happy to do that if it makes for a great outcome.

But it does make for a full handbag (carrying Pogo, two digital cameras, Flip video camera, ipod touch, voice recorder, a couple of memory sticks and all the assorted charging cables etc)  

What fun!

Hot hot hot

We've had a lovely day.

 

 We set off early and headed for Kew Gardens.  Until a few well-behaved school groups arrived, we had the place more or less to ourselves.

We were surprised at how much open space there was - I'm not altogether sure what I expected but I didn't imagine it to be quite like this.

 And neither did I imagine our garden wall to be here either!

 I looked forward to seeing these, however.

and whilst a frog chorus would have completed the scene, the peace and quiet was equally enjoyable!

   Finally, what day in London is complete without meeting Edward for drinks and supper at "the office"?  Not only that, but since we weren't rushing off for a train, we could spend time with a privileged look behind the scenes.  As Big Ben struck ten o'clock, we were standing open-mouthed, gazing at the gilded ceiling of the Robing Room, the wonderful portraits in the Royal Gallery and trying to remember as many details as we could about the portraits in the Princes Chamber - Dudley, Lady Jane Grey, Arthur Prince of Wales, the six wives and Henry himself.  Such riches, such history - Magna Carta there on the wall and over there in a glass case, a facsimile, covered in red wax seals, of the death warrant of Charles I when we'd just stood on the very spot where he had received the judgement, too.

You can do the same tour as we did, by clicking here  I was so sorry that I couldn't take any photographs, but seeing the virtual tours is better still.  You can even click to get a close up of Charles ! death warrant and Oliver Cromwell's signature.  Amazing.

We walked back to our lovely hotel across the park on a sultry Summer evening and felt very fortunate indeed!