Roman Wedding

September 25, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

The wedding of one of Jane’s nieces – the set piece event of our Italy trip – followed sharp on the heels of our family holiday near Orvieto in Italy. We travelled south to Rome and dropped off First Grandchild and his parents with a couple of goodbye sniffles and sobs. We then made our way to our Airbnb in central Rome to grab a bite to eat and change into our wedding garb.

The formal element of the wedding was held in the City Hall in the heart of Rome and adjoining the Piazza Del Campidoglio. We gathered in a rather sumptuous room decorated in a deep red with several big flags and banners. It was an impressive backdrop to a lovely bi-lingual ceremony in which Italian law set out the obligations of both bride and groom with regard to, among other things, living arrangements, looking out for one another and bringing up children. There was much cheering, primarily and initially from the Italian groom’s side of the family, to underline the Italian-flavoured drama of the event.

^{Piazza Del Campidoglio (With The City Hall To The Right)}

The reception was on the outskirts of Rome in and around a lovely old house which was accommodating the now married couple their closest relatives. The food and drinks had been carefully selected by the groom and the local wines were various and, I thought, very good indeed. The buffet of antipasto was splendid. I probably overindulged given that this was followed by a lovely four-course meal but the spiced cold pork on offer was to die for and I didn’t hold back.

^{Arriving At The Wedding Reception}

The wedding speeches were delivered in Italian, English and Madagascan to reflect the roots of the main protagonists and their best men and women. Printed transcriptions of these helped us understand the humour and the emotions in these speeches and they all added value.

Then, just as the evening chill was starting to become noticeable – especially for the relatively lightly-clad women at the party – there was dancing. Following the initial wedding dance standards there was, as expected, an even more ebullient period of Madagascan music and dancing. This included the Madagascan equivalent of the Conga executed with much enthusiasm. The Madagascans in Jane’s wider family do love a good dance!

DJ’s took over and it was clear that, for some, it would be a long night of dance, song and drinking. We grabbed a cab just before midnight and before my alcohol unit count became innumerable. The whole day had been long but very memorable and enjoyable.

Next day, before our evening flight home, Jane and I did some walking and sightseeing around central Rome. We had last been here together in the 1980’s before we had children. I missed out on a subsequent visit with Jane due to pressure of work and a ‘persuasive’ boss so it was lovely to have another opportunity to see some of the iconic Roman buildings in great weather.

*^{The Trevi Fountain – One Of Rome’s Many Tourist Magnets}*

*^{The Parthenon (With Tourists Like Me!)}*

We wove through the massed crowds of tourists to see the Trevi Fountain and the Parthenon. We strolled further afield to towards Piazza Navona take in the atmosphere and revisit the fountains there. Unfortunately, these fountains, like many monuments in Rome, are currently under restoration in advance of the 2025 Rome Jubilee. We satisfied ourselves with other sights and appreciated them in the early Autumn Roman sunshine.

In the afternoon, I spent a couple of hours meandering around the Colosseum and the large area of various ruins and buildings to the immediate west. Much of this has been closed off to the non-paying public since I was last in Rome. I couldn’t bear the idea of the queuing in crowds and heat for tickets and entrance. Anyway, there was still more than enough to see for free before my knee started to complain and I needed a rest.

^{More Rome!}

Indeed, a highlight was entering a church – I failed to note which one – which had some lovely baroque music playing, slumping onto a pew and relaxing to the point of a brief doze. Bathed in all the memories of the wedding and the last week with the family, I felt chilled out and content.

*^{The Church Where I Dozed – Beautiful and Restful}*

With that, I made my way back to the Airbnb and then, with Jane, to our flight home. Even the train strike causing cancellation of trains to the airport couldn’t shake my feeling of well-being. It had been a very good week indeed.

Family Holiday In Italy

September 22, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Jane and I, our three sons, their wives/fiancées and our two grandchildren all made our way to a rather splendid villa in Italy for what turned out to be a wonderful holiday; all that I had hoped for and more.

*^{The Dramatic First View Of Our Holiday Villa As We Arrived}*

Getting everyone together for a family holiday for the first time like that was a feat of flexibility on the part of those, unlike me, who are still managing careers. It also involved precise scheduling and effective logistics including three hire cars, enterprising use of car boot space, and multiple airports and pick up points. I felt very privileged and lucky that we could manage it.

We stayed in a villa near Lake Bolsena, about 90 minutes north of Rome (where, at the end of the holiday, Jane and I, plus Youngest Son and fiancée, went to the wedding of one of Jane’s nieces). The villa was in a very rural, rather remote setting overlooking an ancient volcanic caldera and Lake Bolsena within that. It was an elegant, comfortable and well-equipped villa. Importantly, for the relative youngsters and, especially, the grandchildren, it had a substantial swimming pool.

*^{The Evening View From Our Terrace With Lake Bolsena In The Distance}*

We had every breakfast and evening meal at the villa. The group included excellent cooks and baristas plus willing clearer-uppers afterwards. I barely got a look in on either aspect but took responsibility for the recycling and most of the considerable waste disposal. Despite the local market and supermarkets being a little disappointing we ate extremely well and the bottles and cans recycling bins were repeatedly overflowing.

*^{Catching Stray Wildlife In The Pool}*

Orvieto was about an hour’s drive away and is perched on the top of a prehistoric volcanic plug. We had been there when our children were very young but while memories fade, of course, the key visitor sites were unchanged. Given we visited the city just out of prime tourist season this time, the crowds felt substantial. However, as ever, a few yards away from the main tourist routes, the streets were quiet and picturesque.

*^{Quiet Orvieto Square In Front Of The Church of Sant Andrea And A 12-sided Tower}*

After a very good lunch with the grandchildren and their parents, Jane and I left the group to visit Orvieto Cathedral which dominates the city and which can be seen from many miles away. The façade is wonderfully preserved and impressive. The other walls are also memorable – both inside and out – since they, and the internal columns supporting the roof, are unusually, horizontally striped with alternate layers of basalt and travertine. It was great to be able to visit and remember it again.

We visited a few of the smaller towns around Lake Bolsena. Now edging beyond the tourist season, some of these reflected what we have read about small rural Mediterranean villages gradually emptying out and becoming inactive backwaters. Our closest town was Grotte Di Castro. It is beautifully (but seemingly precariously) situated on a high ridge; of course, these hill-top towns are two-a-penny in much of Italy but even so it seemed surprisingly quiet and there were a lot of ‘For Sale’ signs.

Montefiascone on the opposite side of Lake Bolsena was bigger and busier. It too had wonderful hill top vistas and inviting alleys and cobbled streets. Their steps and sharp inclines challenged my currently dodgy left knee but I think the exercise did it good. While in the town, we were lucky to avoid the storms that seemed to be gathering all around us and, having failed – not for the first time – to find a restaurant both open and selling pizza before sundown, we headed back to our villa via Bolsena.

*^{Stormy Weather Over Montefiascone With Views Of Lake Bolsena and Cattedrale Di Santa Margherita}*

The town of Bolsena was much closer to our villa and did offer takeaway pizza during the day. We sampled that with First Grandchild (FG) in mind couple of times since he had said a few weeks before that pizza was what he was looking forward to most about the holiday. In the end, I think we were more concerned about tracking down pizza than he was.

Bolsena is another attractive town perched on a volcanic outcrop. Several of us had a good lunch in a restaurant adjacent to the lake. While FG played with a new remote-control toy, several of us took turns to take very pleasant strolls down a street lined with huge plane trees and up through its pedestrianised alleys to the castle and main church. From the top of the town there were broad views of the Lake Bolsena, its islands and the surrounding ridges. Second Grandchild (SG) was entertainable, calm and happy (as usual), FG had his new toy, and we all had a relaxed time in the town.

Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe and there was volcanic activity within it as little as 2,000 years ago. With it being so close to our villa, a swim in its waters was on the holiday agenda for many (but not me; I really don’t like getting wet!) SG and his Dad also missed out because it was nap-time but the rest of the group had a boisterous time in the water. FG loved the water and all the splashing with his Granny, Mum, Dad, aunts and uncles. I took charge of capturing the action on camera with the big sky and gorgeous landscape around the lake in the background.

*^{Frolics In Lake Bolsena Under A Lovely Blue Sky}*

Much more swimming, splashing and fun and games were done at our villa. It was lovely to see both grandchildren ignoring the coolness of the water and just loving every moment in it. I also loved the opportunity to take both of them around the villa on little walks. FG is old enough now to appreciate nature and we had lots of lizards, millipedes and ants to observe and blackberries to eat on our ‘adventures’ (as he called them).

And then it was time for us to leave all this fun and conviviality. It had been so good to see everyone enjoy the holiday with its mix of group and separate activity, the games, the food and drink and the diverse chat. I hope we can repeat the model again but practicalities may intervene to prevent that so, for now, I am just going to continue to soak up the happy memories.

A Stag In Active August

August 26, 2024 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

Retirement in August has felt busy so far. There have been several separate events to enjoy. In between these, I have been walking while listening to political podcasts, tidying our field and garden, visiting the local recycling tip with multiple dumpy bags of green (mainly thistle, bramble and bindweed) waste, and enjoying our local community hub: the village pub.

I visited my Dad and sister in Nottingham for the first time since the end of his innovative and apparently very successful cancer treatment. I’m really proud of him; he has stuck with all the hospital visits, the injections and the infusions and they have not only benefitted him, but furthered cancer research. It was great to catch up with them and, for a change, win at our games of Mahjong.

*^{Dad Ringing The Hospital ‘Ward Bell’ To Celebrate His End Of Treatment}*

The football season has restarted and, during my brief stay in Nottingham, I managed to get to Boston in Lincolnshire to see my dear Forest Green Rovers treat me to a rare, stonking win. After two successive, distressing relegations, we seem to have found our natural level again.

*^{Boston Football Club: Nickname The Pilgrims Because So Many Original Pilgrim Fathers Migrated To The Americas From Boston}*

Whilst in Boston I had time to climb the church tower and take in some aerial views of Boston and the very flat surrounding landscape. The church is large and the tower is impressive. The port and its surrounding sluice gate system was also substantial but is now looking run down. Indeed, much of the town looked as though it needs a face lift.

*^{Views Across Boston, The Port And The Church}*

*^{An Attractive Part Of Boston Next to The River Witham With The Tide In}*

Also in August, Jane and I have visited Bath, dropped in on Second Grandchild in Bristol, hosted Youngest Son (YS) as he has worked his way through his busy month of multiple stag dos, weddings and video shoots, and attended a talk on artistic gardening in Stroud.

Amid all this activity the most unusual event for me was the opportunity to attend part of YS’s own Stag Weekend. That was a lot of fun – even though I opted out of the most boisterous activities and those requiring the heaviest drinking penalties. It was lovely to be invited and great to catch up with old friends and meet a few of YS’s best mates who I didn’t already know.

Middle Son kindly gave up his bed to allow me a relatively comfortable, though rather hungover, sleep in a large tent also shared by Oldest Son; it was my first experience of something resembling camping since YS was at Primary School and a lot more restful than then!

The main purpose of a visit to Bath was to equip YS and myself with light suits for YS’s wedding and for the wedding of one of Jane’s nieces in Italy next month. With that aspect of the trip satisfactorily achieved, I visited The Holburne Museum to see a Henry Moore exhibition.

This was a small exhibition of Henry Moore’s small works. Many of his familiar themes such as mother and child, helmets, family groups, reclining figures in stone, wood and metal were covered in a single room. The breadth was admirable but it took a while to get used to the delicacy of the work having been used to the more massive Henry Moore sculptures I have seen in the past. In truth, only a few of the displays in this exhibition really stood out for me but a couple were lovely and it was worth the visit.

On the way out I popped into a separate exhibition in the Museum by Mr Doodle (aka Sam Cox). He is clearly into fun art and the room completely covered in his ‘doodles’ (see below) certainly raised a smile.

Closer to home we went to a talk on ‘Where Gardening Meets Art’ at the Museum in the Park in Stroud. The Museum has a lovely terraced and walled garden that I hadn’t visited since shortly after it was built and planted several years ago. The sun was shining and the garden looked splendid.

*^{The Walled Garden At Museum In The Park, Stroud}*

The talk itself was preceded by an exhibition of gardening and plant inspired artworks by Cleo Mussi, who’s work we know well, and Fiona Haser Bizony, founder of Electric Daisy Flower Farm. I liked several of Cleo’s mosaics, especially the simpler ones, but we quickly moved outside to the garden in evening sun and a small bar offering locally brewed beer.

*^{Cleo Mussi’s Hands Mosaics At Museum In The Park, Stroud}*

Jane had booked the evening and I didn’t know what to expect from the talk. In the event, it was efficiently introduced and a thoroughly entertaining. The main speaker was Charlotte Molesworth who has a renowned garden in Benendon, Kent. She was terrific. She had a lot of good sense to share and did it very amusingly. Her anecdotes were warm and lovely and she had a great answer to every question. The whole evening exceeded my expectations severalfold.

*^{Charlotte Molesworth Speaking About Where Gardening Meets Art}*

August – and, unfortunately, summer – is now drawing to a close. The final week will be punctuated by further visits to The Hog, our local pub, for its Summer Bank Holiday Hogfest (a beer, music and food festival) and then the monthly quiz. I am also looking forward hugely to Forest Green Rovers’ first home game of the season on the club’s brand-new, hybrid (5% plastic) pitch.

But then my thoughts will turn to our family holiday in Italy prior to Jane’s niece’s wedding in Rome. I can’t wait to see the two grandchildren together amongst our sons and their partners. It is going to be a real treat to have everyone together.

Resolutions And Houghton Hall

July 26, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

I have made patchy progress in adhering to my 2024 New Year resolutions during the first half of this year. I’m ok with alcohol targets and weight management. As planned, I’m spending more quality time reading books and I’m listening to less (largely agitating or depressing) news on the radio and television. However, I’m not doing enough back exercises despite grumbling about a stiff back. Also, my resolve to step up my creative activity has been weak since my visible darning of a load of socks and my devising of an Easter treasure hunt for First Grandchild.

Additionally, since a good start early in the year, Jane and I have not been consistent in addressing our joint aim of embarking on more short trips away from home. We set this target with the intention of responding to periods of good weather and our relatively flexible diaries to see bits of the UK we are not familiar with. In part that has been because the abnormally cool, wet weather hasn’t been particularly conducive to such thinking. Also, my diary has been less flexible since I took up a new commitment on Wednesday afternoons to listen to children read as part of the local ‘Read With Me’ scheme.

We have done much better as the weather has improved and the school term drew to a close. We have followed up our trip to Sissinghurst, Rye and Lewes with another lengthy excursion to Houghton Hall and Gardens in north Norfolk, and then on to visit friends in north Suffolk. On all these travels this month, we were blessed with very good weather.

Houghton Hall was impressive, the gardens-cum-sculpture park there were interesting and it was great to see our longstanding friends again.

^{Houghton Hall West Wing (From The Cafe)}

We left early with the intention of arriving at the Houghton Hall at opening time but, after encountering tedious traffic jams around Kings Lynn, arrived a little after midday. The car park was already extending into the overflow area but the grounds of the house are so huge that, once we got into them past the café and exhibitions (including a truly remarkable exhibition of the Cholmondeley Collection of Model Soldiers) in the splendid West Wing, the crowds seemed to melt away.

^{The Remarkable Model Soldier Collection of the 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley Spanning Two Densely Packed Rooms}

The gardens double up as a sculpture park and, immediately, we could see Antony Gormley statues dotting the acres of lawn. Jane explained that the 100 statues comprising his work called ‘Time Horizon’ had been installed so that they were all standing at the same height above sea level. Given the undulating land of the gardens, this concept meant that some statues barely were barely visible – with just their heads showing – while others were on tall plinths. We have seen the multiple statues (of himself) several times before in a variety of settings but this idea of consistent altitude was a new and amusing one for me.

^{Antony Gormley Statues – All At The Same Height Above Sea Level – At Houghton Hall Gardens}

In the South Wing there was a small, temporary exhibition of Magdalene Odundo’s work called ‘Metamorphosis and Transformation’, an installation of blown glass vessels apparently based on an ancient Egyptian ear stud found. That was impressive although I found some of her other work set out in the main house elegant but a little distracting in its contrast with the heavy furnishings and wall art there.

*^{Metamorphosis and Transformation (2011) By Magdalene Odundo}*

Elsewhere in the gardens, we saw sculpture by other artists we have encountered before such as Richard Long, Sean Scully and Rachel Whiteread, plus several others I wasn’t familiar with. I particularly enjoyed ‘Sybil Hedge’ by Anya Gallaccio. This was an unusual ‘sculpture’ made from a large, winding beech hedge that worked well in the large scale of the garden.

*^{A Section Of ‘Sybil Hedge’ By Anya Gallaccio At Houghton Hall Gardens}*

The Palladian style house was bathed in sun but, inside, the rooms were dark to preserve the furnishings, tapestries and artworks. As Jane remarked, despite the size of the rooms, they felt almost claustrophobic after the expanses of the grounds. The tapestries that adorned many of the walls contributed to that feeling but they were remarkably well preserved and had interesting content. The sumptuous rooms, with their blurry views out onto the lawns and deer park though original, handmade glass, were well worth the extra visit fee.

The highlight of the visit for me was the Walled Garden. This was beautiful at every turn and a riot of colour. An interesting twist was that vegetables were grown between the flowers and, here too, Gormley’s statues (on plinths here because of the lower altitude) were watching over us. It was clear that the volunteers and gardeners that manage the garden are not blighted by the multitude of slugs and snails as we are back at home; everything looked vibrant and healthy.

From Houghton Hall we drove south to Eye in Suffolk. By this time, we needed to charge up the car. We have noticed a huge improvement in the availability of electric vehicle charging points during our last few trips around the United Kingdom. Certainly, both our charge ups on this trip were very quick and easy.

*^{Another of Gormley’s Statues, This Time In Houghton Hall Looking Out At Others (Incredibly, Given The Amount Of Work Involved In Setting It Up, The Installation Is Only Until October 2024)}*

We arrived at our friend’s house in time for drinks in the sunshine. There was also time for an evening tour of their garden, the private allotments adjoining the garden which they own and manage, and the entrance to the woodland/wetlands beyond the allotments that are now owned by our friends and others in the community. The various types of land they look after are lovely slices of nature. They are also a labour of love although one task not needed is slug management – their chickens prodding around in the allotments seem to deal with that!

The excellent and copious hospitality we were given in terms of food and drink put my New Year resolution targets for weight and alcohol consumption under pressure but, as ever, it was great to catch up with old friends. Plus, our target to have more days away from home exploring the UK was helped along.

Birthday Rye

July 4, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

After a delightful visit to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens we travelled on to Rye for further celebration of Jane’s birthday. Like Sissinghurst, we had visited Rye before but not for many years and so it felt like a new discovery to me. Also, as at Sissinghurst, we were blessed with great weather throughout our stay.

We got ourselves unloaded into a room in the new, neat complex of rooms making up the bulk of accommodation in The George In Rye. This is an impressive-looking Georgian coaching inn cum hotel on the High Street. It was renovated and re-opened in 2006 after falling into disrepair but was badly damaged by fire a few years ago. It is now once again a very comfortable place to stay with some eclectic room decorations (including local pottery and wallpaper), a lovely bright courtyard for al fresco refreshments, and a timber framed bar area. It was a nice retreat after our wanders around the town.

*^{Rye Street Views (Including ‘Rye Water House’ – An Old Cistern, Top Right)}*

Jane had chosen a visit to Rye for her birthday treat mainly so she could visit her favourite textile and clothes pattern shop: Merchant & Mills. She duly paid a couple of visits to the shop and made a few purchases while I perused the local sights. Jane’s Christmas present from me this year is already organised and is a residential course at Merchant & Mills early next year – this present choosing and giving lark is getting easier and easier under Jane’s direction!

Rye is an interesting town with a long history. Perhaps the most notable thing about its history and geography is that it was once a thriving fishing village and then a Cinque Port – part of a confederation of ports on the south coast of England working together for defence and trade purposes. The sea has now retreated so now the harbour is a much-diminished facility on the River Rother that is a mile or two from the actual coast.

^{Rye Boatyards A Little Upstream From The Original Rye Harbour (Now Largely Silted Up)}

We fitted in a bit of fresh air walking along that coast and sauntered for a while along Camber Sands. We both always enjoy walking near the sea. The tide was out and, apart from a large group doing outdoor yoga, the beach was almost empty, and it was a very relaxing place to be.

Nearby was a farm shop with several electric vehicle chargers; being able to charge up while looking at a sound plant selection and then drinking a coffee added to our chilled out feeling.

Because of its importance as a key defensive hub in the Middle Ages, Rye has town walls and a castle set on top of the hill overlooking the surrounding flatlands and river valleys. There are many picturesque, cobbled streets of half-timbered houses surrounding the St Mary’s Church.

The church offered a trickily narrow, very steep and low-ceilinged stairway up past the church bells to a roof view of the town. I only bumped my head on the way up once and the end result views were worth it.

^{Views Of Rye From The Church Tower: Lichen-Coloured Tiles and The River Rother Making Its Way To The Coast}

In and around the High Street there are some interesting old buildings, shops and galleries. We again took advantage of our National Trust membership to explore Lamb House. This early Georgian house and garden has been home to a number of authors over the last century or so including Henry James. We spent a pleasant hour there – the sort of visit that we might not have bothered with had we not had National Trust Membership but which turned out to be a very peaceful interlude.

^{Lamb House and Garden}

Whilst in the sunshine there was plenty to enjoy and Jane had also done useful research on where to eat. We had very good dinners at The George and The Union but the standout meal was lunch at The Fig. I could have chosen anything on the menu – it all looked so inviting. The items we actually selected were really tasty. We found out afterwards that the chef was a finalist on ‘MasterChef’ and I wasn’t surprised given the high quality.

The weather was cloudier and cooler as we left Rye early next morning but Jane’s birthday treat wasn’t quite over since we decided to visit one of her favourite shops on the way back home: Freight in Lewes. We had made a trip to Lewes about 18 months ago, again primarily to visit Freight. As expected, Jane was able to find something she liked and, since it was only a day after her birthday, she came out with some new earrings. Even I can see it is a lovely shop.

While Jane did a circuit of some of the other shops, I wandered around the outer precincts of Lewes Castle.

^{Lewes Castle And The Quaint ‘Round House, Nearby}

Then we girded our loins for the lengthy drive home to complete a very fulfilling trip away from home. In weeks when the sun is shining, the temperature is pleasant and the countryside is lush following a wet Spring, the UK is an absolute treat.

And now I’m off to vote in the UK General Election…. 🙏

Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

June 30, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Jane said she didn’t want a present for her birthday – I had one planned, honest! Instead, she wanted to go on a trip to Sussex and, specifically, to Rye. She booked a hotel there and sorted out an itinerary of things to do. Part of that itinerary was to visit Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent on the way.

*^{Approaching Sissinghurst Castle Gardens}*

We had visited the garden early in our relationship, a few decades ago. I barely remember that. Even when confronted with the garden this time, I could only recall the old brick buildings not the walled gardens. Jane thinks we went in a different season to this time; perhaps that’s why I don’t really remember the garden but my memory is like a sieve these days (as our local pub-quiz regularly demonstrates.) Anyway, the gardens looked beautifully cared for and uniformly splendid.

The garden has developed considerably over the last century. It was transformed from the 1930’s onwards by Vita Sackville-West and her husband, Harold Nicolson, until their deaths in the 1960s. In 1967 the garden, castle and associated farm were taken over by the National Trust. Since then, Harold Nicholson’s grandson and his wife, the famous gardener, Sarah Raven, developed the garden.

More recently, the original ideas to develop a Greek-style garden in one of its parts have been re-implemented under the guidance of yet another famous gardener, Dan Pearson, to create an area called the Delos Garden. We visited on a gorgeous sunny day with some real heat in the air and the Delos Garden was one of the great highlights of our visit. It really did have a Mediterranean feel.

^{The Delos Garden}

Elsewhere, in one of the several walled garden quadrants, was the White Garden. Here too, the timing of our visit was perfect. Not only was the sun shining but the old, huge, central climbing rose (rosa mulliganii) is apparently only in full bloom briefly and yet we saw its lovely blossom at its peak.

^{The White Garden}

We spent well over an hour meandering around the garden, investigating all its nooks and crannies. Then we retraced many of our steps to take another look. The variety and density of the planting is amazing. Every time I thought: ‘ooh I haven’t seen one of this or that species of shrub or flower’, one would turn up around the next corner. In all directions, the colours and sheer health of the plants was breathtaking.

To cap the visit, I ventured up to the top of the castle for an aerial view of the garden. In a way, I wished I had done this at the start. That way, the layout of the garden would have been clearer from the start. But perhaps that would have detracted in some way from the excitement I got in moving through an arch or turning a corner as I had moved through the sections of the garden. Either way, the views from the top of the castle were as spectacular as expected.

*^{Views From The Top Of Sissinghurst Castle}*

We were so fortunate to see the gardens on such a beautiful day. Surprisingly, there was not a huge number of visitors. The layout of the garden into walled sections also helped to give a feeling of seclusion and nowhere felt crowded.

The entrance cost may be a deterrent for many (£15/adult). Again, we are so lucky in that we were both given lifetime National Trust Membership by my parents when we were married. It was an extravagant gift but one of the best value and valued ones we have ever received – the cost of life membership now is eyewatering.

We had had another lovely day courtesy of that gift and the good work of the National Trust. It’s a really special garden and well worth a visit – especially in June. We drove on to Rye with a bounce in our hearts.

Slivers of Summer

June 17, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Overall, the weather during the last few weeks has been rather disappointing. The meadow grass in our field that usually waves gently in sunlight at this time of year has, instead, collapsed in the windy wet. The cool and damp spring and early summer has meant growth of vegetable seedlings has been slow. Many have been eradicated by slugs and snails who have revelled in the damp conditions. Fortunately, there have been several lovely days of sun and some of those have been when it has mattered most.

*^{Roses In Rain: Along The Permissive Footpath Through Ruskin Mill Into Town}*

For example, we had a lovely sunny afternoon during which we were able to visit Second Grandchild (SG) in Bristol and to help his parents with their garden. We got a lot done – though there is more potential to fill the vegetable and flower beds with a bit of home produce and colour and we look forward to helping again there. Having said that, the highlight of this trip was having the chance to give SG a bath. He has discovered the joy of moving his little limbs and they didn’t stop threshing throughout his little wash.

We also had a relatively warm and dry evening for a wedding party in Kew in west London with some past neighbours of ours. It was a lovely celebration of their wedding – some 14 years after first meeting – held in their garden with opportunities to meet a number of other old friends from our time in Kew. The drinking started early and finished very late and I can’t remember when I last had such a bad hangover as a souvenir of an entertaining evening.

I have had to pick and choose my moments for local walks in the sunshine. On one of those sunny days, Jane and I went to a couple of National Garden Scheme open gardens a couple of valleys away from our home. One of these was very good; the other, not so much. But regardless of the quality, it is always interesting to see a slightly different part of the Stroud Valleys and to have a nose about in someone else’s back yard.

^{National Gardens Scheme Gardens In France Lynch, Gloucestershire}

Most importantly, despite the gloomy BBC weather forecast for the weekend, we had good, chilly but bright weather for our latest trip to Edinburgh to see First Grandchild (FG) and his parents. As usual, we were treated to great hospitality, FG was on fine form and Edinburgh was full of interesting things to do.

*^{Little Boy, Big Gunnera In The Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh}*

In between our compliance with FG’s constant demands to ‘play a little bit’ we visited a few art exhibitions, took FG as usual to the outstanding Royal Botanic Gardens and National Museum of Scotland, walked the streets of Stockbridge and along the Water of Leith, popped into our favourite bar (Spry) and had a lively evening out with FG eating pizza at MILK.

Beyond the wonderful entrance hall of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland was a recent rehanging of the main hall of portraits that focused on modern portrait creation. Many of the paintings and photographs were new to me and several were impressive. The gallery is quiet, compact and one of my favourites.

*^{Portrait Of John Burnside (Scottish Poet) By Alan J Lawson, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh}*

We also visited the National Gallery of Scotland. Walking to it across Princes Street gave us a great view of the hordes of ‘’Swifties’ heading off by bus and tram to Murrayfield for one of three concerts Taylor Swift was holding over the weekend. The sun was shining but there was a cool wind. I felt sympathy for the majority of fans who had diligently dressed up in extravagant boots and light sparkly skirts and tops – as Swifties apparently do – given the expectation of a big drop in temperature while they queued to get back into town after the concert and night drew in.

*^{The Current Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition At The National Gallery Of Scotland}*

In the gallery was a showpiece ‘national treasure’: a painting by Vermeer that had been put on special show to commemorate the 200^th year of the National Gallery. It is lovely of course but we spent most of our time in the new gallery extension and among the pictures by The Glasgow Boys (and Girls). The new gallery is a wonderful, light space with great views (see below) and, on a Friday, not crowded despite the multitude outside waiting to get to see Taylor Swift.

To complete our cultural ride, we visited a lovely little exhibition in Leith. This was in an old, small but elegant building – an ex-pharmacy apparently – owned by Mote102 as a charming pop-up space for shops and artists. It had been partially restored so that some of its original (Georgian or Victorian) features were visible and it was a good fit for the work on show.

*^{Works By Gail Turpin At Mote102, Leith}*

The artist on show – and present for a short talk – is an old acquaintance of Jane’s called Gail Turpin. Jane had found out that she was now based in Edinburgh from the bride at the wedding celebration we had attended a couple of weeks previously. All three, and a few other friends, went on an eventful holiday in Greece a few decades ago.

After Jane had reminisced with Gail about that, I perused the textiles and drawing on show and then left Jane to the talk while I found a small present for FG and parked myself in Spry Wine Bar.

*^{Another Part of Gail Turpin’s Exhibition, Leith}*

We travelled to and from Edinburgh by train this time. That had its benefits; the journey was an hour shorter despite a train cancellation and we had booked seats so it was a relaxed journey. Train cancellations are not so frustrating when one is retired and there aren’t meetings to get to ad hard deadlines to meet. Also, while in Edinburgh, Jane didn’t have to keep thinking about moving the car to avoid parking restrictions (I rarely get involved in this aspect), we avoided car parking costs and didn’t have to worry about charging the car up.

*^{Waverley Railway Station, Edinburgh}*

However, despite the avoidance of car parking costs, the train is a more expensive option. Also, it seems that, on this occasion, there was a hidden downside in that the packed train was carrying the coronavirus. Jane caught it and has had a few rough days as a result. Fortunately, for the second time when Jane has had Covid, I seem to have dodged the bullet. Lucky me not (so far) to have never caught the dreaded Covid when so many others have!

Nadine Shah and Hamilton

May 19, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Perhaps the top birthday highlight amid a thoroughly pleasurable weekend of mild (no longer wild) celebration was a concert by Nadine Shah at the Cheltenham Festival. Because it was my birthday, Jane generously came along with me even though I had told her it wouldn’t be her choice of music. It was an opportunity to take in a bit of the atmosphere of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, see an art exhibition featuring one of our village acquaintances, and have dinner out together for a change.

I have seen Nadine Shah nine times now and have loved every one of those performances. I still remember first seeing her in 2013 in The Lexington in London. Then, the hairs stood out on the back of my head as she sang ‘All I Want’ virtually unaccompanied and I became a big fan. I recall I chatting with her Dad afterwards and then meeting her. She’s a charming Geordie and a huge, interesting talent.

*^{Up Close With Nadine Shah Almost A Decade Ago In The Sebright Arms, London With Middle Son}*

Up to this month, the venues I have seen her perform in have been small and intimate. Cheltenham Town Hall wasn’t that. The sound was muggy, the distance to the stage – we were half way back – was huge in comparison to previous Nadine Shah concerts I’d been to, and we were sitting down so only foot-tapping was really allowed. For all that it was alien to previous experiences, I loved the music and her energy; Jane, not so much!

*^{Nadine Shah In Full Flow At Cheltenham Town Hall}*

Nadine Shah’s latest album (Filthy Underneath) traces her fall from grace as she left Ramsgate and London for her native South Tyneside to look after her terminally ill mother during the Covid pandemic. The pandemic prevented her from touring and performing her music, she separated from her husband and, in her relative isolation, became addicted to her Mum’s drugs. Several of the songs on the new album relate to this dark period of illness, suicidal thoughts, rehabilitation and recovery.

Despite their dark themes, I love their dramatic, relentless, pulsating beats and the compelling lyrics. They were in my head seemingly incessantly for well over a week after the concert.

Helping with that was a birthday present from Middle Son and his fiancée: Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones by Shokz. I hadn’t seen these until MS showed me his a few weeks ago. He had bought some because he doesn’t like wearing in-ear headphones and knows that I have a problem with them too. These new ones sit outside the ear and use vibration to exercise the cheek and ear bone structure to reproduce perfect headphone sound without blocking out birdsong or traffic noise for example. The technology verges on the unbelievable to me. The headphones are perfect for my two-hour walks into Stroud on Food Bank days and, on the first of those after I saw Nadine Shah, I naturally gravitated to playing her music.

*^{Shokz Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones}*

Since my birthday, and a flurry of family related activity, life has returned to normality; lots of walking in spring sunshine, local volunteering, visits to our local pub and, now the weather has finally improved, gardening. Gradually, one patch and raised bed at a time, I am getting the vegetable garden under control. I also need to invest time in the garden at our rental property and the small allotment I tend very fitfully; next week, maybe….

*^{Wild Garlic Gone Wild Along The Path To The Food Bank In Stroud}*

Jane and I did manage to spend an afternoon helping in MS and his fiancée’s garden. Their own gardening desires are frustrated currently by a necessary focus on their new baby and work. It was nice to be able to step in to tidy and plant a few things in their garden and, of course, to see Second Grandchild.

Plus, they gave us a couple of tickets for Hamilton on its UK and Ireland Tour which they had bought before the timing of a new baby was fully realised. It was my first visit to the Bristol Hippodrome and, as far as I can remember, my first live musical (rather than opera). I was enormously impressed with both. Management of the audience in and out of the Hippodrome was extremely efficient, the stage sets were impressive and our view was elevated, central and splendid.

*^{The Hamilton Cast (Photography Was Banned – Good! – So I Pinched This Off The Bristol Hippodrome Website)}*

Hamilton itself started with a bang and the energy didn’t let up throughout. The hip-hop and r&b songs were catchy. They were sung beautifully but in a way that enunciated every lyric so that the story, for those with only a passing familiarity with it, could understand the multiple layers of the storyline.

A huge amount was packed in and I was left a little overwhelmed by the end of the performance. I really enjoyed the variety of the music and the way elements of it cropped up repeatedly throughout to remind us of the key themes. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, brilliant, invigorating introduction to modern musical theatre.

May has been a full and very enjoyable month and we still are barely more than halfway through!

Family Stuff

May 10, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

The month leading up to my birthday last weekend was dominated by family events. We visited Eldest Son (ES) and his family in Edinburgh, we have had several visits to, and by, Middle Son (MS) with his fiancée and new baby, and we have had a visit from Youngest Son (YS) and his fiancée. Also, my Dad and my sister were able to visit us and to meet up with the new (great) grandchild; it was amazing to have four generations together.

Our trip to Edinburgh was focused on our most extended period of baby-sitting yet. While ES and his wife spent a few days in Spain attending a wedding in a hotel overlooking incredible coastal cliffs in Ibiza, we did our best to entertain First Grandchild (FG).

The first two days of that were delightful. FG had been fully prepared by his parents for their absence. There was only one time in those first two days when we got a sense that, under his effervescent demeanor, he was having to be brave in doing without them. That was when Jane showed FG a picture on her phone of his Mum enjoying the Spanish sun. I saw his lower lip quiver briefly with regret before he recovered his equilibrium with the familiar request to “lets play”.

As usual, FG loved visiting the Royal Botanic Garden (above), the National Museum of Scotland, the private garden that local residents share access to, cafes selling juice and cake, and pizza at Franca Manca. He slept like a log in between.

Another highlight was taking FG to a birthday party for a little boy of one of his Mum’s friends. This was a pirate themed party and FG had been kitted out with what turned out to be the best costume at the party (courtesy of a £5 purchase on Ebay I believe). FG was easily the youngest at the party and he found it a little overwhelming after a while, but we all had a good time on a lovely sunny day.

*^{First Grandchild As A Jolly Pirate (Without His Splendid Pirate Hat!)}*

Unfortunately, the last day of our baby minding was dominated by FG falling ill. In between his physical sickness he was subdued but seemed to recover. But poor Jane was holding him each of the four times he was sick. She quickly became very acquainted with the washing machine and tumble dryer and we had some extended viewings of the film ‘Madagascar’ while having quiet time with FG on the sofa.

*^{Circus Lane, Edinburgh. It’s A Lovely City We Can Still Envisage Us Living In At Some Point}*

It was only after we had returned home, and heard that his now returned Mum had caught the same bug and was quite ill, that we realised how lucky we had been fortunate enough to ‘dodge that bullet’. Having done so, we look back on the Edinburgh visit with a lot of pleasure and also pride in FG’s resilience in the face of his parents’ absence and then his sickness. Of course, we are his grandparents so we are bound to say it: he is wonderful!

Also wonderful is Second Grandchild (SG). It’s a treat to have the opportunity to have him relatively close by and so see him relatively frequently. Its great too to see how his parents are doting on him despite the challenges of new parenthood (primarily sleep deprivation!) They are coping with those well. Certainly, SG’s smiles suggest he is very happy and we love seeing and holding him.

*^{Son And Dad, Eye Contact and Smiles}*

Youngest Son (YS) popped over to England for a photo shoot and his fiancée joined us for a lovely, long weekend during which they were able to meet SG for the first time. One of YS’s Australian friends, now based in London, was able to join us. He, YS and I spent several hours watching football on the Saturday – first in the pub, then live at Forest Green Rovers (their last game in another miserable season which has seen us relegated for the second time in succession), and then on the telly back at home. Meanwhile, Jane and YS’s fiancée cooked and baked to replenish MS and his partners’ freezer with ready meals and cakes to enable their focus on their new baby. Everyone happy!

*^{Looking Across Buttercups Towards Forest Green Rovers’ The New Lawn Stadium (On The Horizon, On The Right)}*

YS and partner are very busy with work in Belfast but they are also finding time to visit Edinburgh in a month or so. It is so heart-warming to see the brothers together, with their partners, and, now, with nephews to hold and play with. We are lucky that they all get on with each other despite, or perhaps because of, their different characteristics.

We are lucky too that so much of our time can be taken up with looking at videos on WhatsApp that the different branches of the family send us showing their young lives, and with planning of more visits to Bristol, Belfast and Edinburgh to experience all this family stuff first hand. Edinburgh is already planned in for June and we haven’t given up on getting to Belfast again before YS’s September wedding there…….

Expanding Family

April 3, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Easter is a time when we tend to think of the emergence of the new. For the religious Christians, there is Jesus’s resurrection, for me there is the coming of Spring blossom and warmer weather, and for children there are Easter eggs.

This year, for Jane and I, there was the magic of a new life: a Second Grandchild (SG). What a marvellous thing!

SG’s mother and father (Middle Son) are absolutely besotted with the new arrival and seem to be coping very well. SG himself has seemed very chilled during the two visits that we have made so far to his Bristol home. He seems so much smaller and longer legged in comparison to First Grandchild (FG) at the same age. But maybe that is my faulty memory; all babies seem impossibly vulnerable, tiny and yet so full of potential.

*^{Second Grandchild In His Easter Chick Suit}*

SG’s arrival has been a great excuse to drag out old photo albums to look for similarities and differences between him and his father as a baby. Certainly, like his Dad, he has a fine head of hair!

Our Easter weekend was also blessed with a visit from Eldest Son (ES), his wife and First Grandchild (FG). It had been almost three months since we had last seen FG and I had been suffering something like withdrawal symptoms from not having seen him for such a relatively long time. It was great to see his development since the New Year and now we have a whole new set of videos and pictures of him to look at on repeat.

During a spectacular sort out and tidy up of our top floor storage (following on from a huge effort to sort out her late Mum’s heirlooms and other stuff), Jane had dug out some of my, and our kids’, old and very battered Matchbox and Corgi model cars and a whole bag of old plastic animals.

*^{Thunderbird 2 And Lady Penelope’s Car: Battered But They Have Been Through A Lot!}*

FG loved these old toys and it was great to see him using his imagination (and his new regard for Batman) as he played with them. He was also demanding in his requests that we also participated in his play. The refrain: “Grandad (or Granny), come and play” was frequent. When I did get down and play, but also tried to have a conversation with someone else or do anything else at the same time, I heard him plead “Grandad, come and play, you keep stopping!” Irresistible!

A highlight was an Easter Egg hunt around the garden following chalked arrows pointing to the route and egg hiding places. FG struggled at first with the concept of arrows pointing to things but he loved finding the eggs with a bit of help and then collecting them in a little bag. His parents were left with the awkward problem of how to manage the unprecedented volume of chocolate in his possession.

The anticlimax that always follows a visit from the Edinburgh branch of the family is offset this time. First, it is only three weeks before we travel to Edinburgh to babysit for a few days while FG’s parents go to Spain for a wedding. Second, we now have a Bristol baby just 45 minutes away to fawn over. We are loving the prospect of seeing SG’s development, and the developing parenthood of MS and his fiancé, in a more ‘little and often’ way than is possible with FG.

It’s all so exciting and it’s enhancing the bounce I always get as Spring arrives.

Various (so far) minor but irritating health issues have reminded me of my mortality in the last year or so. This was underlined by the death of one of my friends from university just before Easter. I once thought that as long as I lived to see my sons settled and had a grandchild, I would be happy to ‘pop my clogs’. Now, of course, I want more. I want to see more of my expanding family and see the grandchildren grow up. We can’t have it all but, so far, so good.

My Retirement Journey

I've Retired! What Next?

Author: fgrtommo