At last - tales of Merrie England

Well, I got the film developed, but it didn't help much - most of the shots are on a digital camera I borrowed and I'm still fiddling with that one. So here goes from memory...

I really would have liked more time in the UK, as all the catching up with friends left no time for theatre and such like. Not that I could really afford it - even the cheapest same-day tickets are 25 pounds - that's $63!

But the friend catching up was fun. You already know about lunch with Kelly and my surprise bumping into an old Grammar boy. But besides seeing again the ever-obliging Clare and Colin and their wonderful family I also had lunch with Brett Brown. Brett is one of our Shakespeare Globe boys (he was in the group that performed on the Globe stage in 2001). He is one of only two Australians to be accepted into RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)in the last 15 years! A condition of entry is that you can't take part-time work, so Brett had to raise $160,000 dollars and before he had left Australia he already had $120,000. So he's a cluey boy. When he turns up on the big screen, remember you read it here first!

Then I went down to Devon. My friends Doug and Marcia have retired to a tiny village called Manaton, right on Dartmoor and not far from places with crazy names like Bovey Tracey and Newton Abbott. It's all narrow lanes banked by hedgerows which make for scary driving, esp at night in the rain (which it does a lot of).

I went there with three Oz friends, Billy and Erin and Annette, and a wonderful couple from Miami, called Michelle and Peter. They are real charmers. Michelle is a real pussy cat blonde (a bit Mary Tyler Moore) who tells the filthiest jokes you've ever heard, looking like butter wouldn't melt, etc.

Doug and Marcia were determined to treat us regally. On the first night they took us (a party of 12) to Combe House Castle in Devon, and Elizabethan 5,000 acre farm (arabian horses and pheasant), where we sat down to a private dinner in what used to be the Georgian kitchen. I had had to borrow a jacket and tie, as I was not expecting such style in the provinces - more fool me! I reckon the night would have cost around $10,000!

Next day we went to Taunton, a market town (bought some presents, a new wallet and clean undies)and we had lunch at Brown's hotel - the best Ceasar salad I've ever eaten. Day three we drove to Dartmouth, once home of the Royal Navy, a beautiful harbour town full of bustle and life. Suddenly we bumped into David Thurston, the official Bela Vista photographer, who lives there, so it is a small world. Lunch in the New Angel on the waterfront was superb - my Dover cod plus wine set me back $100, but it was a real treat.

The final night was dinner at the neighbours, Edwyna and David, because THEY HAVE THE PIANO! Yes, I got to sing for my supper. Doug had put me into a nearby b&b as the house was in overflow. My hosts were charming, but no smoking, no drinking, no dancing, no partying Calvinists. Next morning at breakfast I replied to the wife's enquiry that we'd had a wonderful night singing round the piano. "Yes," she said,
"we heard you!" When I relayed this story to Doug, he thought for a moment and said "Shit! Thursday - Prayer Meeting night!"

Back first class on the train - gins and tonics at 11.00 am. It is a beautiful journey and less than 3 hours from London. As Kelly is learning, nothing is too far away.

Blog time is running out here at the Kings Cross library, so better publish.

Hugh