We booked it a while ago. It would be the first time back in England since February. We love a road trip The Man and I and we wanted to take our time getting to Calais, so two nights stop on the road before we dived down under the channel in Le Shuttle. First night at the Ibis Styles in Poitiers North. This was our second visit here. It’s just off the A10, the rooms are large and comfortable and they have a very good restaurant. The only issue is NO TEA AND COFFEE MAKING FACILITIES IN THE ROOM! We find this most distressing. We often travel with a kettle, tea bags and milk but on this occasion we didn’t, because we were trying to take as little as possible with us in the car, as we knew we had to fill it up for the return journey with all the things we left behind with our neighbours in Dorset.
Ibis hotels have a special place in my life. If you’ve read my memoir Dear Tosh you will know that the family stayed in the Ibis Hotel in Porto, next door to the hospital where Tosh lay after his accident and where we lost him. The Ibis Styles Poitiers North is a much better hotel than the plain old Ibis in Porto, but not surprisingly Tosh was in my thoughts even more than usual for the short duration of our stay. We stayed there on the way home to France too.
Our first engagement was as guests at a 70th birthday celebration for three old university mates of The Man. This took place in St Margarets, Twickenham and fortunately for us my sister lives in Thames Ditton not too far away. We stayed with her for three nights. She welcomed us into her neat and tidy (she’s not like me at all) house with open arms, although we didn’t cause her too much trouble in the catering department as we were out most of the time and ate elsewhere. We did enjoy a family Sunday lunch at the Plough and Harrow.
The 70th Birthday celebrations were brilliant. Friday night dinner at The Crown in St Margarets then from 3pm on Saturday until late people came and went from the Turk’s Head. They had organised a private room which included part of the garden and just as well because it was boiling hot. I didn’t know everyone there but managed to catch up with those I had met before a few of who have become good friends over the years. Obviously The Man knew almost everyone but he did spend about fifteen minutes speaking to a ‘Steve’ only to discover he wasn’t chatting to the Steve who helped him with his dissertation fifty years ago, but another Steve altogether. We all age in fifty years and are not what we were in our 20s. I imagine there are many people who I knew in the 1970s that I wouldn’t recognise today. In fact, I’m not very good at remembering people when I’ve only just met them!
After the party, we left the car at my sister’s house and took the train up to London where we stayed at the Royal Overseas League for two nights. We are members of this wonderful club and it’s in a perfect position overlooking Green Park on one side. Their rooms are of reasonable size and breakfast is superb. I love staying here.
For my birthday in October last year my son Will gave me membership of the Tate, then in January we moved to France before I had a chance to use it. I was determined to visit both Tate Britain and Tate Modern and see as much as possible in the two days we were there, as it was going to be my only chance. The membership runs out on the 31st October 2024.
Loved, loved, loved both the Tates…so much it inspired me to buy a sketch pad but don’t hold your breath hahaha…
Painting by Mary Black c.1737 – 24 November 1814
I found this discrimination shocking but it wasn’t out of the ordinary in 1700s. This painting by Mary Black was part of the Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 which I very much enjoyed. I was surprised how many women artists there were and hats off to The Slade Art College who accepted them from very early on.
Women students at The Slade in London
Painting by Ida Knox (1875-1950)
Women artists don’t always paint pretty things. . .
I didn’t enjoy Tate Modern quite as much as Britain, but mainly because I didn’t rate the Yoko Ono exhibition. It was good in part but some of it was just not me. I liked the room where people were asked to write something on a piece of paper about their mother and the walls were covered with messages.
I preferred the expressionism…didn’t quite understand Yoko Ono’s ‘Bottoms’ video. I didn’t give it the full five minutes, I saw enough butt. . . who knows?
Après Londres we picked up the car from my sister and raced down to Warminster to spend one night with my lovely friend Maralyn, (we ran the dance school together for donkey’s years). She is also into drawing and painting which inspired me even more to give it a go.
From her place we left to head to Bristol where my son Matt and his lovely wife Som were over from Thailand and staying with my daughter and family. Another son, Joe and his partner Rosie, came over in the evening and we all had dinner together, a fabulous Thai meal cooked by Som. Joe’s twin Will was missing as he was in the USA working — he’s a photographer, in case you didn’t know. Of course Tosh was missing too but he always is — he did get a mention or two.
We left Bristol and the family behind to drive down to Wooth in Dorset where we stayed with our old neighbours and were royally treated to wonderful meals for both breakfast and dinner. We had to pack up the car with items we’d left behind in January. They had been looked after in our ‘farm neighbours’ attic. Fortunately there was less ‘stuff’ than we both thought.
We took the early 8.30 am ferry from Poole to Cherbourg on Wednesday the 21st August. It was a smooth crossing and when we arrived at the French passport control the queue wasn’t too slow, but the guy insisted on stamping my passport which he didn’t need to do. I may not have my official card yet but the application is well advanced. However I travel with my husband who is a European passport holder so I should be exempt from the stamps but oh…how the French love to thump and mark your passport, or anything else for that matter if the opportunity arises. I don’t want to get started on Brexit but I am truly fed up with the whole mess that has been created from the UK leaving the European Union. We listen to audio books when we travel and for our journey to England this time we had soaked up Three Years in Hell by Fintan O’Toole. It was a brilliant book written objectively…facts, figures and failures. But don’t get me started.
Great catch up
You certainly packed plenty in - and I don’t mean into the car!!