Newsletter October 07

Magic Moments

After babysitting Dilys Mae during Grace and Tom’s honeymoon we left for France to celebrate the birthdays of Tony and our other granddaughter Ella. They were born on the same day. This year Ella is two. I couldn’t wait for her to open her presents. It gets better. First you enjoy opening your own as a child, and then you are so excited when your own kids open theirs, but with your grandchildren it is like being a child again. Now at last I have someone with whom to share faeries, angels and all things magical …..I want Ella and Dilys to be enchanted by life.

Learning to Walk

I have been in physio once a week learning how to walk again. I am still in sandals and sports trainers. I do my exercises and walk a bit further every day. My feet are swollen every morning and every evening. To soak them in warm water and Jo Malone’s Red Roses bath oil, whilst watching those gorgeous hunks David Duchovny in Californication and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the young Henry VIII on telly is my idea of bliss. I have learned that when you are sixty the pleasures of the flesh take on a whole different meaning, having a lot more to do with comfort than exertion. Saturday evening is turning into a nightmare. I have X Factor on in the telly room and Strictly Ballroom in the kitchen and I stumble wildly back and forth, from one to the other watching my favourite bits. It is exhausting. This is the most exercise I have all week. A word of advice to help you enjoy X Factor in a more delicious way - read "Chart Throb" by Ben Elton, published by Transworld. Highly recommended. You will see it in an entirely new way.

Going Underground

I arranged to meet my goddaughter, Cheryl at Tower Hill where she works as a PA at MCC. We wanted to spend the afternoon discussing her work, her prospects and her dreams and generally catching up. I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to try out my Freedom Pass. My hairdresser, Karen encouraged me and advised me to start my adventure from Bond Street tube. I know nothing about the underground and this proved to be a complete new world to discover. I found it very difficult actually getting to the entrance as you have to pass so many tempting shops on the way. I had my Freedom Pass card at the ready. It all looked a bit confusing but Karen had instructed me to slam the card onto the button at the gates. I did. Miraculously the gates parted and I slipped through. Easy peasy. Finding the train was simple, following the signs, entering the tunnel accompanied by the drifting tones of a slide guitar from a busker. The station was clean, virtually empty and the train arrived within minutes. Full marks so far. I whisked through the system to my destination with growing confidence.

Freedom Pass?

The way home was a rather different experience. Cheryl and I had talked so much we forgot the time. Negotiating the rush hour takes nerves of steel. I stood transfixed in the entrance of Tower Hill. Hordes of people rushed past pushing me hither and thither. A small voice from somewhere out of sight, below my vision said, "Can I help you? You look lost." I gazed down at a vertically challenged London Underground employee. He guided me through the crowds to the train. What an angel in the bowels of hell!

I found out that Oxford Circus was closed. This threw my route plan into chaos. I had to walk through tunnel after tunnel to find another way. Now I know why it is called the Circle Line. My feet were aching and my confidence was ebbing. Suddenly a Bo Diddley riff came singing through the chaos. As the music became louder and louder I began to regain my focus and self assurance. I threw all my loose change into the busker’s guitar case. Finally I marched out of Bond Street Station feeling a sense of real achievement. A news stand trumpeted that Ken Livingstone was putting a 20 mph speed restriction on London roads. That’s a laugh. Ever tried reaching such dizzy speeds on the Marylebone Road? He had also proposed to get rid of sleeping policemen and replace them with speed cameras. Anything to get revenue in, eh Ken?

Next month I am going to use my Freedom Pass to try out London bus transport. Let’s go back to the countryside with the painting by Xavier Pick of my summer party called "Under The Walnut Tree". See what I mean about magical? (Xavier is a great artist - take a look at: http://www.xavierpick.com/)