No Stopping Here. or .......

The Life of Brian.

It was a sad day as one of our regular guests, Brian, had to say goodbye for the last time. He's been coming here for 14 years. As an old thespian himself, he mainly came to visit the Theatre by the Lake and for the Jazz Festival but he also loved to take bus tours around the countryside, visiting as many places as he could. At 86, he's now become too frail to make the journey from London by public transport. While he was here, he reminisced about his trips here and about his life in general. He brought out a photo of himself when he was in the Navy as a young handsome lad and talked of how old age had slowly forced him to give up some of the things that he enjoyed doing. Like most people, he still felt like a 20 or 30 year old inside; it was the body that was letting him down. It was as if he was being forced to come to terms with his own mortality. Although it was sad for us, at least we did get the chance to say goodbye, tell him that he would genuinely be missed, take a few photographs and thank him for staying with us twice a year. There have unfortunately been times where we haven't been afforded the same opportunity.