A dog's life

I'm pleased to report that we had some beautiful sunshine after yesterday's weather-related house arrest. I took B down to the Victorian churchyard next to Woodchester priory.

Underneath the turf here lies an intact Roman mosaic depicting Orpheus playing his lyre. It is the largest complete Roman mosaic in the Uk. In 1973 it was uncovered for public exhibition, but 150,000 visitors poured into the village, which is hilly, with narrow roads and no parking, so the exposition was never repeated.
A replica was created, tessera by tessera, by two local brothers, but being so large, it lacked a permanent exhibition space. Eventually a local lottery millionaire paid for it to be installed underground in the former pottery works at Prinknash Abbey, where I once worked. Sadly he was killed in a boating accident in Turkey, and the replica was sold, though I believe it is still in the UK.

The dog and I didn't see any Romans, nor even any dog walkers, and continued our walk through some exceptionally muddy fields. I sat on a bench in the garden when we returned, then went inside to read Country Living (an unexpected guilty pleasure). Having found our spots in the sun in the formal sitting room, B and I both lay down and dozed, though I managed to read two chapters of Lucia's Progress on my Kindle.

I've had a reply from the Mexican certificates firm. They want more information. This won't be easily obtained. Tanya and I had a chat ( it was nearly midnight in NZ and expressed mutual dismay, and confusion at some of the 'facts' that our mother is now stating by email...

I'm now listening to a one-act opera, Goyescas, ( my radio station of the week has turned out be Radio 3) and thinking about the fact that apparently about eight people are coming here tonight to eat pizza and watch a film (the owners don't mind). I definitely didn't invite that many, someone else has done a bit of annoying over-inviting: I'm hoping we will all find a comfortable place to sit.