R's rue

I've had the best of times. The best. Nu is a panacea for most ills and meeting her lightened my heart more than anyone else in this world could possibly do. On Friday we went to Hawksmoor on Air Street for dinner followed by WALDEN which is a sort of Syfy drama staring the glorious Gemma Alderton. The theater felt safe and welcoming and the play proved to be thoughtful and well acted.  We went back to Ealing for too much gin and conversation so was muzzy headed for the start of Kew Gardens on Saturday  Kew, as always was a delight and sunburnt and tired we followed that with cinema inBrentford Where we saw a fantastic movie called AFTER LOVE staring the comedian actress Joanna Scanlon as a middle aged Muslim Convert who finds out her recently deceased Pakistani husband had led a secret life for 14 years. Set around Dover, this brooding drama is wonderfully shot and impeccably acted with the dumpy and fallorn Scanlon as a true standout. Her performance, which wavers be...

Truro choirboy by Suzi Stephens. Lying abed this morning with BBC Radio 4 playing on our radio alarm clock, vague memories of when I was a choirboy came to the surface of my mind. On Sunday mornings, Radio 4 focuses upon religion and there are church services complete with hymns, sermons and prayers. Memories returned like flotsam on waves. I was a choirboy from the age of ten to fourteen. I can't remember how I ended up in our village church choir but I have always loved singing and my father was a church warden and regular churchgoer so that may explain it. As a choirboy, I had to attend choir practice every Friday evening ready for  Sunday. When "The Sabbath" arrived there were two services. One began at ten in the morning and the other was I believe at six thirty in the evening. In those four years, several hymns became very familiar  and I knew some of them by heart. Even today I can still sing whole verses from memory. One of my favourites was "Ye Holy An...