English Summer Dispatch III - Friday, 19th July 2013

Dear Friends, we are now in the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, which is a very expensive & comfortable place to be, close to the Green Park tube station which is three stations from St John’s Wood & Lord’s. When I wrote last, we were about to leave Nottingham. I managed to get a bad cold, which added to my asthma, left me feeling quite exhausted and unable to sleep.

We drove to Stratford Upon Avon, checked in to our hotel and went for a walk with Terry to see how it had changed since we were all there in the 70s. It is a lovely tourist town, which survives because of Shakespeare. We decided to have lunch at The Garrick Inn, where tall Terry had to bend his head to enter the rooms.

 

I left Wes & Terry doing the red bus explorer thing, while I went back to the hotel for a rest and to do some washing. We had a lovely room with a view, very comfortable bed and good pillows and I found myself sleeping for a couple of hours, as did Wes when he returned.

That night we had great seats for It’s a Mad World, My Masters, at the Swan Theatre, where we saw the Royal Shakespeare Company at its finest. This is a Jacobean farce that was set in the 1930s and it was fabulous – great acting, costumes, lines etc. While we were having a drink before the show, we were greeted by three women from Daylesford… they were doing a tour of the theatre and couldn’t believe it when they spotted us.

The next morning we headed off to London via Oxford, where we spent a most enjoyable 90 minutes. Wes and I walked by the river for a while, then to the Ashmolean, where we learned that women were not allowed in that museum for many years and when they were finally allowed in, they had to pay sixpence for the privilege. It was felt that women with their empty heads would not be able to appreciate the wonders that were contained in the museum and that they would flitter about disturbing the important thinking of males.

Although our hotel is lovely, the wifi is ridiculously expensive, but can be obtained free in the lobby and restaurants and bars. So we have opted not to pay for wifi and are putting up with the inconvenience. However, there is free wifi at Lord’s, which also gives me a chance to keep up-to-date on my mobile.

 

Our first few hours here were spent going on a short walk, washing, and resting. I decided not to go to the Cricket Dinner at The Oval, and had an early night. Wes went and tells me that it was very ordinary with Ray Bright & Rodney Hogg as speakers.

We had a completely free day on Wednesday. John had organised a bus tour of London in the morning for those who hadn’t been here before or recently, but we decided to catch the tube to Harrods instead. I bought a new Mason Pearson brush and a new Black & White Shopping bag as the one Lovely & Malcolm gave me is nearly worn out from so much use. It is such a delight to shop there and I was able to replace my Harrod’s card which I had lost and to organise the tax refund we were entitled to for the goods we bought.

 

Then off to the National Gallery for a wander around the Impressionists and a lovely lunch at Giovanni’s, our favourite Italian restaurant here. We first ate there the night before we went to the Opera House and our host has entertained most of the operatic stars, who have all left signed photos. He plays operatic music and when we told him about our previous visit, he even remembered which opera was on at the time.

That afternoon we had tickets to see Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Innishmaan at the Noël Coward Theatre in St Martin’s Lane. Poor Terry was most uncomfortable in his seat, and we swapped places when the girl next to me moved and there was a spare seat. Daniel is to be admired for tackling different and difficult roles and he is a success yet again. Wes loved the play, but Terry and I found it a little repetitive. However, the cast was of a high standard and there was much to ponder on afterwards. Terry shouted us drinks on the 28^th floor of our hotel – it has a beautiful 360° view of London – and then we went to our room, while he joined most of our group at the pre-match function.

I was still unwell, and coughing, and Wes was starting to cough too, so we decided to stay quietly in our room and read and get an early night.

 

Yesterday was Day 1 of the Test at Lord’s, so we gathered together with Jane, David, Terry, Annette & Steve (a young teacher from Traralgon on his first overseas trip) to catch the tube. Steve had not been into the underground, so we were asked to look after him. He had handed all his laundry into the hotel without asking the cost and hasn’t recovered from being charged $255 for a few t-shirts, socks and jocks. We nearly lost him a couple of times, but eventually we all got to the East Gate at Lord’s and in we went.

Lord’s is unusual and exciting, but not a patch on Trent Bridge when it comes to atmosphere. We are sitting in the Mound Stand, in the front, where there is no cover, so it very quickly gets too hot to bear. Wes and I went for a walk around, through the Lord’s shop, via Jamie Oliver’s hamper pick-up site, over to the grassed picnic area, past the Veuve Cliquot Tent ($70 half-bottle), and around by the ordinary members area.

 

We were pleased to have been there for a visit by the Queen with all the pomp and ceremony that entailed and she stayed for quite a while, until no doubt, someone suggested that she go and the wickets might stop falling. Not only can we not see The Fanatics, we can’t hear them either, ditto the Barmy Army.

Wes and I left at Tea, as did Jane & David, and we watched the rest of the game from the comfort of our room. I suspect we will be doing something similar today as it is going to be hot again and we are in the 3^rd row which will get the sun very quickly. Tonight we are off to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the Apollo Theatre, so will have to rest up for that.