London does what it does best

Wales, May 2026

I returned from my retreats to three weeks of accumulated admin that took some time to clear. Some of the admin is particularly difficult and will occupy me and Lola II (and, to some extent, Sister D) for months. Lola II came over again to do a bit more GRUHI, resulting in two boxes for the tip and seven boxes which were collected by an outfit called Anglo Doorstep Collections. At mum's suggestion, coat hangers went to a dry cleaner, and many pictures from the wall are going to family although there are a few still left to be disposed of. My room and the garage are much emptier, but there's still more to do. Mum is well but finding it difficult to keep up with my hectic lifestyle, so we've implemented an extra level of diary coordination and we'll see if that helps.

The difficult admin demands input from a number of different professionals, including letting agents, estate agents, and an accountant specialising in property or leasing matters. And of course there are works involving a plumber, a decorator and a builder, all of which are still ongoing. To add to this collection I had to go to a local garage rather than my garage in Leamington (to which I had sworn fidelity through thick and thin), because the car had a problem that really couldn't be driven 200 miles to fix. That didn't go well at all, although from their attitude when I came to ransom the car I have a feeling that we were both very unlucky that they uncovered a problem that they honestly felt needed to be fixed.

Mum and I are impressed at all times by Lola II and Mr M who seem to find bargains in every crack in the pavement - this time, a lottery that offers cheap tickets to 'Operation Mincemeat', a musical running in London that Lola II has seen and thought I would like, but is hugely and inconveniently expensive in normal circumstances. So I entered the lottery, and would you know it, within a week I won two affordable tickets. We were in the Upper Circle which made it difficult to hear all the words (and there are a lot of words) but I enjoyed it. Lola II and I also went to see 'Hadestown' at the cinema - a London theatre recording of another musical that I enjoyed even more.

Lola II, Mr M and I also went to a free lecture at the Francis Crick Institute about fruit flies and their value in research of all kinds. The lecturer was astonishingly good, as were the presentation slides that he used, and if any more lectures of interest come up there I'm definitely going. There are past lectures to watch on the website too.

Then we had a look at the London Glassblowing Gallery - it's all arty glass here, nothing that would be of any practical use. Apart from enjoying the spectacle of amazing glass shapes being created before our eyes, I didn't find any of the completed pieces in the gallery all that appealing. But then Lola II took me to the National Gallery, where she picked four paintings for us to look at. This is a much better way of doing things than wandering round completely overwhelmed by the riches on show - looking hard at just four pictures rather than briefly scanning a hundred. It was a very good day. I have to concede that there are some things that London does best.

Phil the Plumber, Maternal Manor, October 2026