Giselle

Three years ago I went to see the breathtaking ballet Giselle at the Royal Opera House. 

The whole production blew me away

I see it returned to London just a few days ago

And the whole production can be streamed on line from the beginning of December 

Catch it if you can

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2009

Earlier this year, after browsing through computer photo files, I blogged about two years in my life: 2007 and 2008 Today it's the turn of 2009 - twelve years ago now. That was the year I fulfilled a long held dream - to visit Easter Island but more of that in tomorrow's blogpost.

The photo files remind me that in the middle of  that year, Shirley and I  visited Sussex on the south coast of England. We had three days at "The Dorset" - a public house in Lewes, near Brighton and then a week in an apartment in the charming seaside town of Rye. From there we strayed over into Kent, visiting Dungeness and Canterbury.

As I recall, it was a lovely holiday - exploring a part of England that was unfamiliar to us in nice August weather.  Looking back, I regret that we did not visit the comedian, Spike Milligan's grave in Winchelsea near Rye - simply because at the time I did not know he was buried there. These three images must suffice to represent that happy vacation:-

"The Ypres Castle Inn" in Rye

Deckchairs on the pebbly beach in Brighton - home to 

blogging celebrities Briony and Tom Cater and Cro Magnon

Fishermen's hut at Dungeness - I believe this was the very first image I 

submitted to the Geograph photo-mapping project in September of  2009

The 2009 photo files remind me that we visited Hong Kong at Eastertime. We were there for nine days and stayed in three different hotels - one was on Hong Kong Island, another on  the island of Lantau at the Silvermine Beach Hotel and the third in Kowloon. Look at what has happened to Hong Kong since 2009. I don't suppose they receive many western tourists nowadays. I am glad we went when we did.

There's a very long escalator on Hong Kong Island. It takes you up the hillside from the area known simply as "Central" to the Mid Levels. In fact it's twenty separate escalators all in a row. As we were going up we were stunned to see a new cafe/restaurant called "Yorkshire Pudding".  Of course, we had to pay it a visit and co-incidentally arrived as a  local newspaper reporter was interviewing the owners. It wasn't long before they roped me in too.

The place we stayed in in Kowloon was called "The Luxe Manor" and it described itself as "a boutique hotel".  It was a lovely establishment, spotlessly clean and decorated very idiosyncratically. I remember how friendly and helpful the staff were. They ordered a taxi to take us to the airport terminal and when it arrived I swear that a dozen smiling members of staff stood in line on the pavement to wave us off. It is an image I will never forget. As they waved us away, we briefly felt like foreign dignitaries or rock stars.

Here are three images to represent our  happy holiday in Hong Kong:-

"Yorkshire Pudding" halfway up the escalator

On Hong Kong Island

Shirley near the top of "The Bank of China" skyscraper

Tomorrow, it's back to Easter Island.

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Out

Off to bed early .

I’m Still not well, which worries me

Hey ho 

I will leave you with this video 

Very funny

 

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Winnie’s Rose

I’m sat in my office. 

Perusing the cost of new washing machines.

I hadn’t factored the fact that my Samsung wasn’t immortal.

More juggling of finances are in order.

Hey ho.

The gravedigger arrived early today and drove through my field to access the new cemetery with his mini digger . Village Elder Islwyn was there too. He loaned the digger briefly to landscape some of the more uneven parts of my field . 

While I have been ill, he has taken it upon himself to clear the Glebe of rubbish and detritus, which was kind.

Islwyn loves a project.

I’ve missed some village news. The Village Community Association has started to clear the village pond and opened up their loaned chipper to the rest of the village over last weekend. I will walk up later to check on how much they’ve done , guilty a little that I wasn’t able to help. 

I also missed the soup lunch at the Hall on Saturday, 

Trefor’s had a one word review of it

Looking unhappy, all he said was “ humm Mushroom”

I day dreamed for a while, looking at the autumn/winter colours of the gorse and for trees on the top of The Gop.

Everything is a sad dull brown.

My back garden looks just as bland I thought, then I suddenly caught a flash of bright yellow tucked away in a far corner. 

Bored with washing machines , paperwork and bills ….I went to investigate.

My rose bush “Winifred” had bloomed far late in the season.

It was a rose given to me by a friend as a memorial to the old Queen Of Sheba, and I’d never seen it flower so late in the year.

I cut two of the blooms and brought them up to the office, making my desk look cheerful 

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