Living in London

We have been meaning to see the stage play “Mary Poppins” for some time now (it opened almost a year ago!). To augment this experience we rented the Disney film and viewed it a few weeks ago.

The Disney version wasn’t at all like I remembered from the last time I saw it (scary to think about how long ago that might have been) but the songs were even better than remembered!  Both of us were singing for days afterwards. This prompted us to finally get those theatre tickets, and we saw the play on Monday evening. It was the best theatre experience we have had in London so far. The actors, the staging, the music were all fantastic. Even the theatre was the best we have visited (there was actually room for our legs!).

Bravo!

On Saturday evening we went to our village church to see a local theatre company perform Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia. The performances were unbelievably good! Most professional, and very well done for what seemed to be a fairly complicated play. We enjoyed wine and snacks as we sat in the front pew completely entranced!

We walked home through the church cemetery on a wild windy night feeling totally satisfied.

Today we had a very luxurious experience at Berry Bros & Rudd, at the store and cellars where they have been operating for over 300 years. Still managed by the same family, this place has an amazing history, and really ‘gets’ the concept of service.

Established in 1898, they were originally an 'Italian Warehouse.' They not only supplied coffee beans, but also weighed their customers on their giant coffee scales. They showed us ledger books with the records of customers’ weights spanning three centuries. It was apparently very fashionable to get dressed up and head over to Berry Brothers for your annual weigh-in. Customers who visited the store include Lord Byron and Beau Brummell, Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon III, prime ministers Balfour, Melbourne, Peel and Asquith, John Nash and Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Evelyn Waugh, and of course, us! [Note: we did not weigh in ]

In 1923 Cutty Sark Scots Whisky was created here. In 2000 they began a wine school and this was one of the classes we attended.

Our class included a tour of the store and cellars, a couple of hours tasting champagnes, and a fabulous lunch paired with five more wonderful champagnes. The tastes were generous and the air was spiced by interesting conversation with the other patrons. Very enjoyable afternoon.

Take a virtual tour for a 360 degree view of many of the rooms in the store and cellars.

“We are all worms. However I am fairly certain that I am a glow-worm.”

              —  Winston Churchill

A few weeks ago we watched the HBO film called “The Gathering Storm. It is about Winston Churchill’s life just before WWII began. We are exploring an emerging interest in Winston Churchill and we were completely entranced by the film. Albert Finney is amazing in the lead role, and I’d recommend the film just for his performance. Of course, the other performances are wonderful as well, and the subject matter was fascinating. We have been working on a Churchill theme ever since!

What a huge character this man was! Far from perfect, or even proven right about many things in retrospect, he is still bigger than life. He served under six monarchs, won sixteen terms in Parliament, and was Prime Minister twice. A prolific author and journalist who published over 40 titles in his lifetime, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He experienced an amazing range of history during the violent 20^th century – participating in the last great cavalry charge against the dervishes in the Sudan campaign, making a daring escape from a prison camp in Pretoria during the South African war, leading Britain and the world through WWII, and then seeing Britain on to becoming a nuclear power. He is reputed to have started every day with a cigar in bed and then held court sitting propped up in bed – including giving dictation to his secretaries and holding discussions with senior military advisors. His consumption of champagne is legendary, and he drank it daily at both lunch and dinner.  About Pol Roget (his favourite champagne) he said “I deserve it in victory and need it in defeat.

Following on the theme, we recently visited the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill museum. The War Rooms are located underground for protection from bombs, and are realistically preserved. It is easy to picture yourself trying to live and work there, around the clock, during the war. The audio tour is very helpful in portraying life “underground.”  The Museum is quite a contrast to the realistic 1940’s era Cabinet War Rooms – very high tech, multi-media based, and gives a thorough overview of Churchill’s entire life before and after the war.

Our next step is to visit Chartwell, Churchill’s family home in Kent for about 40 years, and a place about which he once said “A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted.” 

The web is loaded with great information about Winston. Here is a link that is a great place to start.