Urine and blood

Been Shakespeare'd out today. Weather grey and cool, and on top of an open top bus at times cold. But our first day of a long weekend has been very enjoyable.

Started off with the Stratford sights, then on to seeing Anne Hathaway's cottage with just a few tourists around ( and some photos with none in sight!), to Halls Croft where William Shakespeare's daughter Suzanna lived with her medic husband.

An exhibition there had some fascinating displays: from blood letting devices, to muscle knives, to saws for amputation, to books on Melancholia. There was a description for a remedy for quinsy- inflammation of the pharynx - which involved eating swallows nest with feathers and droppings. (My wife assures me the droppings have high alkalinity and with the roughage might have helped.)

There was also a display of different colours of urine - see extra - with the relevant diagnosis.

We also heard about the infrequency of bathing. And how children were, after their annual bath, sewn into their clothes for the year. And the origins of phrases such as "night, night: sleep tight". And why unmarried young women were "left on the shelf"; "June brides" . As well as the words Shakespeare invented.

The evening - the day after the Ides of March - was a performance at the RSC of Julius Caesar. Very dramatic and powerful. I've not read the play since schooldays and had forgotten how many famous phrases come from it. Some great performances to round off a full day.