Poor Marion

Poor Marion has been really poorly this week. I feel so sorry for her as she had some sort of virus a week or so ago but was well on the road to recovery when we went to London on Monday.

We were there to see the brilliant David Sedaris at the Cadogan Hall. We have not seen him on stage before but have long been huge fans of his monologues that you may have heard on Radio 4. Sedaris is American but now lives in Sussex where he fills his spare time collecting litter from roadside verges. He is passionate about this strange hobby but it made for some hilarious anecdotes. He writes beautifully and brings his writing to life on stage with perfectly intoned readings. He is totally self deprecating and had us all in fits with his tales of clothes shopping in Japan and plenty of extracts from his diaries. There was the odd moment of sadness when he talked about his problems as a gay teenager but this sadness gave his pieces about gay marriage and adultery real power. We loved this show and, if you have not heard any of his stuff, I urge you to track some down.

Before the show we had a visit to The Royal Academy to see their current exhibition Painting The Modern Garden. This was an opportunity to see scores of masterpieces from the 19th century to the early 20th century by world famous artists on the theme of gardens and gardening. Culminating in a breathtaking display of three wall sized Monet waterlily paintings this is an exhibition for both the art lover and the keen gardener and suited Marion perfectly. 

My personal favourite was Van Gogh's Garden In Auvers.

We had a very good meal at the Royal Court Theatre before going to the Cadogan Hall and we also enjoyed a nice lunch on Tuesday when we met our son Paul and took him to Strada on The South Bank.Instead of catching the tube or walking we decided to catch a river bus from Tower Bridge. I love the contrasting ages of the building in London . They present some great photo opportunities.

The Old And The New From St Olaves Church

The Ship Inn With Its Victorian Plasterwork Nestling Between Modern Offices

View From The River Bus

It's a really comfortable ride.

More Views

The Shard From The Boat

My Attempt At Using The iPhone Panorama Feature Didn't Quite Work On A Moving Boat

Another View From Inside The Boat

Arriving At The London Eye

I  don't know if waiting for the boat in the cold had anything to do with the downturn in Marion's health. She was fine on Tuesday evening although the train back from London was very cold. She went to Yoga on Wednesday morning in a freezing cold church hall and returned home shivering. She went to bed and has hardly got up since. She's had a cough and fever and last night her back was aching so badly that I called the 111 service for advice this morning. They ended up sending an ambulance which was a bit of an overkill but the paramedics were very kind and realised that we hadn't asked for them to come. She's seen a GP now and, fingers crossed, the powerful painkillers that he has given her will do the trick. I don't think there will be many exercise classes this week though.

With Marion poorly in bed I did what all good husbands should do............................ and went metal detecting. That sounds really bad doesn't it but I have finished writing my  second novel (hooray) and Marion wanted me out of her hair as she wanted to just sleep. I found rather a lot in the fields so I've decided to put the photos in a separate blog for those who are interested.