3 exhibitions!

Last night #3 daughter phoned on her way home from work at 9pm. School were told during the day that Ofsted would be visiting today and tomorrow so she wanted to be sure all her paperwork was in order. (They didn’t come to her today and she has Ella’s parents’ evening tonight).

To entertain Dennis we had bought train tickets to Edinburgh for today. I had arranged to meet Jenny, my friend of over 70 years while he and Mr C did their own thing. Despite his absence the 3 of us continued as planned.

Mr C went to the museum while Jenny and I went to the National Gallery to see the Turners on loan from Ireland. However the queue was over an hour long so we walked up to the Dovecote to see the embroidery from NT Scotland houses. There were some stunning pieces. Those rich women must have had a lot of time on their hands to produce such exquisite complex pieces.

We had time to call at Ragamuffin where I’d made a purchase in August, not realising they had a no refund policy so I needed to find something before the credit note on the thing I took back ran out. I’m happy with the new silk jacket I can use to dress up various pieces (even though I had to spend more). I won’t shop there again because of that policy.

Then we met Mr C at Banns where we had a delicious vegetarian lunch. Jenny and I shared a roasted tofu and pickled cucumber with spicy sesame sauce starter and I had such a filling aubergine kofta dish I had to decline pudding. Mr C does not share. We had a jolly catch up before Mr C treated us to an Uber to Modern 2 to see Women in Revolt Exhibition before it ended. There was a lot to see - #3 daughter’s Sociology class would find it interesting. It’s strange to have lived through such times and despite the struggle for equal pay, nurseries, women’s health and safety there’s almost as much to be done as before since the last government dismantled so much that was improved between 1997 and 2010.

We got another Uber back to the National Gallery as we had been told the queue would be manageable after 4. It was an opportunity to see Turner watercolours we’d not see otherwise so it was worth going back for the hour before our train home. Despite only 3.5 miles walked I was ready for a sit down - owing to a killing corn on my little toe - memo to self - get some comfy trainers for city walking.

I couldn’t decide on which exhibition to choose for a blip so I made a collage of Greenham. I did not stay there but did go in the bus some Sundays to take treats, join in the protest and support the campers in their benders. (Although the blurb says it was an RAF base it had a token RAF CO but otherwise was totally a US base with US nuclear weapons).