263. BraveHeart
“I know this is a difficult question,” says LovelyFuneralDirector, “but have you thought about what you want to do with the ashes?”
She is a woman, by the way, this LovelyFuneralDirector. All three of the funeral directors we’ve met are women. As are both registrars, the minister and the train driver on the Yorkshire to London Express. Sisters are doing it for themselves. We just need one of us to find a cure for cancer and we’ll be well away.
260. Such stuff as dreams are made on.. .
Elizabeth popped up in my dreams last night; just as Hale and Hearty, Stuff and Nonsense as she was the week I started teaching in the adjoining classroom at Thrush Woods. Middle Infants – me, and she had Tops. We bonded a couple of days into my first week, when a passing ‘what are you doing with your lot this afternoon?’ revealed a shared love of Schools’ Television.
259. The mystery of the Vanished Blog…
Act 1 Scene 1: A partially decorated living room in North London; crammed with furniture. Evening. There is a large picture window at the back. Empty mugs show evidence of recent human activity.
Off stage, a phone is heard ringing. It switches to answerphone.
Ma: (off stage) Just wondering if you were home yet.
Pause
Ma: (off stage) Hope you’ve had a good weekend.
Pause
Ma: (off stage) Haven’t seen a blog recently.
Pause
Ma: (off stage) Catch you when you’re back then.
Curtain.
Programme Notes.
Meanwhile, in Salisbury, ActorLaddie and I are bunking off the endless decorating to see a friend performing at the Playhouse. We’ve shoved the furniture from the end of the room we haven’t done into the end that we have; the painting stuff has been left out in case any wandering elves have had a spare minute.
The Airbnb is rather wonderful – look:
It’s run by a hearty woman with dogs who shows us to our room up a rather splendid staircase: Escher would have liked this one.
Salisbury is gorgeous in the crisp Autumn sunlight. I’ve not been before, though ActorLaddie played here on a tour ages ago.
I’m awestruck by the Cathedral: apparently the main section took only thirty eight years to build – from 1220 to 1258. How the blazes something this spectacular was built at that time is beyond my comprehension. AND they managed to keep up to date with their blogs. One can only look and wonder.
Inside, there’s a Chapter House built to house a 1215 copy of the Magna Carta. The room has a frieze of stories from Genesis. The guide, Chris, pointed out his favourite section: the sculptor had been tasked with showing the Pharoah driving his chariot into the Red Sea, in pursuit of Moses. Clearly having no idea what a Pharoah or a chariot might resemble, he gives us instead a rather splendid farmyard cart. Can you spot it?
Patrons are now asked to leave this blog quietly, so as not to disturb the sunset.
For your own safety, you are particularly asked to pay attention to this warning on the reverse of one of Nante’s bog-standard, badgeless birthday card.
258. Day 18: And finally, please take your partners for the Eurostar Villanelle …
What shall I bring back from this holiday:
Our tour round Northern Europe on the trains?
What memories for when I’m old and grey?
257. Days 16 and 17: Lübeck
Apparently many cities have a ‘Great Fire’ – often a few. Copenhagen’s first fire was in 1728 – usual reasons: wooden houses too close together, hot summer, straw bedding, strong wind to spread it and so on. The good burghers of Copenhagen, our guide told us, were determined that this wouldn’t happen again.
256. Day 15: You put your suitcase in, your suitcase out…
Copenhagen to Lübeck: four hours. We’d reserved window seats to enjoy the scenery. On the map, it looks as if we’re going quite close to the coast and at one point will need to cross what ActorLaddie tells me is the Baltic Sea. I’m intrigued how this is going to work: on the way to Copenhagen, we crossed some pretty spectacular bridges and also went through some fairly long tunnels. I wonder if it’ll be a combination of these or whether we’re going to all be asked to swim across dragging the train behind us. I hope it’s not the latter as it’s raining and I’d rather not get wet.
255. Day 14: A Copenhaiku
Copenhagen has
a very pretty harbour;
New Metro en train
254. Day 13: Copenhagen
I wasn’t intending to blog today but this is irresistible!
This afternoon we went to look around a home which has been preserved exactly as it was when decorated in 1886 for the fabulously wealthy silk merchant, Rudolph Christensen. He lived there with his wife and three children: a son and two daughters, Gerda and Ellen. Here are the children.
The Jelly Chronicles 