I met my college friends, Katie and Tom, in Stratford on Saturday afternoon for a Murder Mystery Weekend. This was through a company we’ve not used before, The Killing Game, and the main attraction was that it offered single-night packages. Previously, we’ve been away for a two night murder-mystery break, which was a lot of […]
I closed down and deleted most of Christopher’s social media accounts soon after he died. Twitter, and in particular Facebook, were just too intrusive, sending him emails to say that his friends hadn’t heard from him for a while – yes, well, there was a very good reason for that…… About the only account I […]
I had a very interesting and enjoyable afternoon yesterday. I’d applied to the Estates Office for an invitation to take a guided tour around Madresfield Court, the closest thing that Malvern has to a Stately Home. I was sent joining instructions, and told to be in the “playroom” in the Stable Block ten minutes before […]
Seeing that I’ve started knitting again, my mother sent me a kit which she thought would keep me amused for a few evenings. “Amused” turned out not to be the right word, though it has certainly kept me busy every evening last week, and all this weekend. It’s a kit for a toy dog, and […]
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’ve started knitting again. I can’t do too much at a time as it hurts my wrist – I’m having to be very careful not to exacerbate my RSI. However, today I finished a pair of bedsocks -the first things I’ve knitted since Chris died. With hindsight, it […]
It’s been an extremely wet winter, but a very mild one. My lawn (or rather, area of moss and daisies) is absolutely sodden, but at least the mole has kept away. With a bit of luck, it’s drowned! I’ve not been snowed in, nor had to dig myself out, all winter. There’s time yet of […]
My sister and her husband have been visiting me for the weekend, and brought with them those Christmas presents that I couldn’t (and in one case, wouldn’t) carry home on the train. As a family, we don’t really “do” Christmas, mostly buying each other games, puzzles and other non-serious gifts. I was pleased to be […]
We don’t really “do” Christmas in our family. But we do make an effort to all get together sometime between Christmas and New Year at my parents’ house, to have a big family dinner and exchange stocking-filler presents. So I stopped off in Kent on my way back from Greece, and my sister and her […]
One of the things I enjoy about walking round cities built on ancient foundations, is that you can turn a corner and find yourself face-to-face with 2000 year old remains, just sitting there in the middle of the street! That was certainly the case with Thessaloniki. There was a large Roman forum, still right in […]
The absolute highlight of the trip for me (as I think for most people, unless they had a frankly unhealthy obsession with early Byzantine basilicas) was the museum at Vergina, displaying the contents of the Macedonian royal tombs. These had been the subject of a superb exhibition at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford in 2011. […]
