A jolly hot weekend

Kew Gardens, May 2026

After the slight trauma of the broadband and landline difficulties at mum's, I went on to stay with Lola II and Mr M for a London minibreak. Lola II had helpfully planned our activities, starting with an outdoor film in their garden on Friday evening, complete with projector, screen and three-way headphone splitter. The film was much more gory than any of us usually choose - I was watching through my fingers for some of the time.

On Saturday Lola II and Mr M occupied themselves elsewhere for the day and I treated myself to a badminton event (spectating not playing). It was in Alexandra Palace Theatre, which turned out to be an excellent venue, and it was a new competition for young players who are at a higher standard than county leagues but not quite national team level. I had a great time, not least because I happened to be sitting next to a couple of enthusiastic and interesting men, but also because some of the people I volunteer with at the international event in Birmingham were also there, and it was lovely to see them.

In the evening I rejoined Lola II and Mr M to see a play at the local theatre in Ealing about some elderly residents in a home. It was a comedy, although it portrayed some uncomfortable bullying. There were a few delightful performances as well as a very talented singer, but someone in the audience laughed so loudly that it was intrusive. Despite this, whenever I go to the theatre I always come away thinking that I don't go to the theatre often enough.

I had volunteered to provide a 3-course picnic for the following day, so on Sunday morning I did some of the preparation and cooking for that, before Lola II and I headed out to the National Gallery to see an exhibition by a Spanish painter called Zurbarán. I'm no expert on art but I particularly liked the way he painted the textures of cloth and fabric. Saturday had been quite a hot day and Sunday was the same, but it was relatively cool inside the gallery. Mr M joined us for supper at a Sri Lankan restaurant which we ate outside accompanied by live blues music from the venue next door.

Monday was the hottest day so far and we had decided to go to Kew Gardens. The following day we read that the temperature that day at Kew broke all records (and it was even hotter on Tuesday), but we set off early and were even allowed in before the general public because Mr M has a civil service benefit that got him and Lola II in for free, and half price for me. We saved £80! Mr M heroically carried all the picnic, which we ate as an early lunch. 

After a quick climb and walk around the Treetop Walk, Lola II and I set off to book places on a tour of the sculpture installation by Henry Moore. We arrived one minute after booking started to find that all places had already been snapped up. This was no bad thing, because standing in the sun looking at sculptures would have been pretty uncomfortable. Instead, on the advice of a lady at the tour booking desk, Lola II and I visited a building where they were exhibiting some of his smaller sculptures alongside some lovely botanical drawings. We agreed that we didn't really like Henry Moore all that much, so we counted ourselves lucky to have missed the tour. And that building was air conditioned - very welcome indeed at this point.

Kew was lovely, but overwhelmingly hot and mostly green - there didn't seem to be many flowers except in the glasshouses, and roses. Is there any time of year when there aren't roses? The redwoods were beautiful too. We had a break for afternoon cakes sitting in the shade, we played one of the new games I was given by a man who lives and works at the retreat centre where I volunteer. He suggested that I try collaborative (rather than competitive) games, and this one was very unusual. I won't try to describe it, but I'm not sure how it would go down with my U3A group. We played the other collaborative game that evening, and it was much easier to understand and play but again I'm not sure if it would be enjoyed by the U3A people.

I have omitted some of the many happenings that occur when I spend time with Lola II and Mr M, including the substitution of Kenneth, Roger, Demi and Ilkley for Henry Moore, the subsequent misunderstanding of "varieties of trees in Kew Gardens" as "varieties of cheeses on Ilkley Moor", the Horror of the Permanent Marker, the falling asleep during the bedtime story and probably many more stories. But it was a great way to spend the hottest days of the year so far, and a nice break from all the issues connected with selling a house.

Smoke and mirrors

Tate Modern, November 2024

As well as the Assisted Dying event, I spent a lovely couple of days with Lola II and Mr M. We started with an Egyptian lunch in Knightsbridge - I was a bit early so popped into Harvey Nichols out of interest. I only went up to the food department, and concluded that it isn't a shop that I belong in at all. Then we went on to the Tate Modern, specifically for an art installation which beamed shapes of light in a dark room onto screens, and filled the room with haze so the passage of the light through the room could be seen. It was quite fun to play with the installation, although I really don't understand Art, especially Modern Art. It was also pretty expensive even though one of us got in for free thanks to an Art Pass.

Next day Lola II took me to an Art café where we each painted a small canvas. Looking at mine up close I didn't think it was all that good when I finished it, and I wasn't going to take it home. But when I was washing brushes across the room Lola II told me to look back at it, and it looked much better from a distance, so it is now in Lola II's house until such time that I can collect it - I wasn't about to take it with me to the demo and then onto the train.

Back home again, I went to visit my new friend (still nameless for the purposes of this blog) who fell off his bike and ended up in hospital with a broken hip. They gave him a hip replacement and sent him home after four days, when he was already able independently to make me a cup of tea - I brought cakes. We marvelled at our amazing National Health Service while also mourning its huge deficiencies.

Great progress for mum too, where we managed to replace her 2G phone with an almost identical 4G one, and she also achieved a price reduction of £7 by insisting on paying the price displayed on the shelf rather than what came up on the till. I am much less assertive that she is in shops, although I would say that she is a little too assertive on certain facts than she should be - the Blue Badge was not in the cupboard where she said it was, so there. Not until writing this did I realise that we could have parked in the disabled bays even without a badge - I think my assertiveness needs work.

I've had a few long, full days, but have been a bit more successful than previously at building in gaps between them, to the extent of not going on my Friday morning U3A walk because Thursday and Saturday had so much in them. This was the right decision. On Saturday I volunteered to staff the Leamington LETS stall at the local Repair Café on a day so filled with wind and rain so that hardly anyone came, then went straight on to my last music group rehearsal before the concert next week. The music this term has been so challenging that I've actually had to practise both saxophone and clarinet parts, which is probably a first for this group.

On Sunday, UJ announced that she'd joined a choir, something she's been thinking of doing for a while, and their carol service was taking place that afternoon, so I went along. She seems to have joined the Parish Church choir, which is somewhat surprising (she did say there was quite a lot of talking about God). The service was sparsely attended, which was a shame because I love belting out a Christmas carol among other enthusiasts. Unfortunately the bits between the carols reminded me why I really don't get on with Christianity.