Rain and Mr Tumnus

I had a chap coming up from London to meet me, today, and I think he was looking forward to his day trip up to the Lakes although he may have imagined more blue skies and daffodils than were actually delivered. Bluntly, it was a typical rainy day in Kendal. Still, we had an enjoyable lunch at the Strickland Arms before I dropped him back at Oxenholme.

I optimistically tried the back road to Kirkby Lonsdale, following a confident van past the 'Road closed' sign, then through some traffic lights, only to be confronted by this unarguably closed road as shown above. Thus I took the turning north, up to the A684, thereby taking a significantly extended but rather enjoyable route home. 

I'd promised myself a run, this afternoon, but it was still pouring, so I did a bit of work with one eye on the windows, hoping for a break in the weather. None was forthcoming, though, so in the end I had to go out into the cold rain, which, admittedly, changed from being highly unpleasant to quite enjoyable after a mile or so as I warmed up. And then I had a bath and did a bit more work before heading up to school for the key stage 3 production of 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe'.

I had a particular interest in this show as Dan had the part of Mr Tumnus, which he played with great pathos, even he did tower over Lucy in contradiction with CS Lewis's description of the faun. Actually, it was a great show, with some impressive talent on display, especially from the girl playing Aslan and the understudy who was Mr Beaver for the evening. Indeed, it's hard to imagine the proper Mr Beaver could have matched his performance. 

But, of course, I was most proud of Dan, who brought the gentler side of his nature to the role, so much so that he almost seemed to be playing a part of himself.