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 […]
On Saturday afternoon I went to the matinée of the current play that’s on at Malvern Theatres. It was on at the Edinburgh Festival, then in the West End, and now seems to be on tour. It’s called The Play That Goes Wrong and is effectively a farce, so I really should have known better. […]
The British Museum has one of its so-called “Blockbuster” exhibitions on at the moment, about the Vikings. It’s had some pretty good write-ups in the press, all concentrating on the central exhibit, the remains of a full-sized Viking longship. My parents have both visited the exhibition, but were somewhat underwhelmed – they said that the […]
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 […]
I walked by Malvern Theatres yesterday, and my eye was caught by the poster advertising the current movie – The Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s had some pretty good reviews, so I thought I’d give it a whirl and bought myself a ticket for this afternoon’s matinée. The cinema was only very sparsely populated, and they […]
Madresfield Court, the ancestral home of the Lygon family, is a rather interesting stately home on the outskirts of Malvern. It’s not in the care of the National Trust or English Heritage, but seems to be under the control of a family trust. Once a year in Spring it opens its gardens for “Daffodil Sunday”, […]
I find that one of the best ways of coping with end-of-year, work-related stress is to spend a day at Eastnor Pottery. Throwing, turning and decorating pots are all very absorbing activities, and leave no room left to think about work. I spent the day there yesterday, initially working on half-a-dozen or so vases that […]
Way back last autumn, September I think, I was involved in writing a rather large and complicated bid at work. It was very challenging – on the edge of my technical field, with lots of political considerations, a complicated marking scheme, and tight deadlines for completion. Anyway, well before Christmas we first heard that we […]
I hate Valentine’s Day. When Christopher was alive, we never bothered with it – just laughed at the over-priced cards and flowers, and the loved-up couples having excruciating “romantic” dinners for two while the restaurants made excessive profits. But now I’m widowed, I really don’t like the insistent insinuation that smug coupledom is the only […]
It’s a year since I went away with some friends from work to the Pudding Club, and I can’t really believe that a whole year has gone by since that extremely gluttonous experience! But the weekend has indeed come around again, and I spent it stuffing my face! The six other women on the trip […]
