On Good Friday Adam and family arrived around 6 pm with the usual noise and mess. They arrived in a good mood and I managed to receive a hug from all the grandchildren.
Soon afterwards Sean, Sheila and the kids turned up from no 38. They came as usual fully laden with drink and food. Sean and Sheila always a bubbly pair added a refreshing dynamic to the evening. However, their and Adam’s children really didn’t mix.
A fair amount of alcohol disappeared during the course of the evening particularly by Sean and Adam. As so often occurs in those sorts of occasions a certain amount of amateur poliitical philosophy follows. This time we had a rather weird discussion on Brexit.
For once my consumption of drink was fairly moderate. I drank two scotches and a beer The ale filled me up so much that I didn’t want anything else. The evening petered out after 11 and Maggi and I cleared up 90% of the detritus with a little help from Adam.
Saturday 30th March, Sarah’s birthday, and Islay made a cake for her mum in the morning. We all set off to town after having a very early lunch. Adam’s crew went to Hyde Park while Maggi and I took the train to Westminster in order to walk to the National Theatre.
Making progress out of the station, across Westminster Bridge and along the first part of the Southbank proved difficult. The mass of people made it impossible to move any faster than a crawl.
We arrived at the theatre to see Nye, a play about Aneurin Bevan starring Michael Sheen. As we were early for the show we sat outside in the sunshine on The Bank of America Terrace. The terrace is all part of the concrete Modernism of the National Theatre.
We sat in our circle seats hoping to enjoy a performance about such an icon of left wing labour politics, but I found the play a bit farcical.
The premise of the show rested on the dreams of Nye as he reflected on his life while on his deathbed. Shouting dominated some scenes making understanding the dialogue difficult. I also found others parts overtly theatrical. Throughout the dialogue was just dull. On the final scene Nye’s best friend can only say I loved you, while Nye’s wife adds something equally trite.
I can’t say the play was awful, but I certainly expected better. Many members of the audience stood up to applaud, so maybe I represented a minority view. Maggi liked the play more than me, but she wasn’t enthusiastic.
We arranged to meet Adam etc at a Pizza place behind King’s Cross called Fatto a Mano. I had booked for 6, but of course our party consists of eight. No problem they fitted us in even though the place was packed. We had a reasonable pizza, as they sold very little else. The staff showed a lot of friendliness throughout.
We made our way home after our meal.
We spent a far less hectic day on Sunday 31st. We lost an hour because the clocks went forward for British Summer Time. Hopefully this change will be reflected in the weather over the next few days. Adam suggested we drive over to Hampstead and walk on the Heath but I thought the ground would be too wet and muddy. I proposed that we walk locally and the majority agreed. Everyone joined in except Maggi and Keir who stayed behind.
We walked down to Eastcote House and around the walled garden. From here Adam wanted to see his old cricket club and then we moved onto Joel Street and the back way up to the end of Tolcarne Drive. When I announced that Adam used to live in the road they all wanted to see the maisonette where he spent two years of his young life. Meanwhile I continued on to see if I could buy some Greek Yogurt. Not one of the Pinner supermarkets was open.
When everyone arrived home we ate lunch before the family packed up and headed to Gatwick to catch a flight to Nice for a week. We cleared up and I watched the football where Liverpool returned to the top of the table after they beat Brighton and Manchester City drew 0-0 with Arsenal.
I’m always pleased to see Adam and family, but I invariably feel like I’m their servant, washing up and clearing away. Maggi does all the cooking and the kids or Sarah do nothing or very little. I don’t think that is inevitable just what seems to happen with our family.