Lily Marlene

I’ve blipped this piano in St Pancras Station before, and the picture has very little to do with what I did today, but the chance photograph captured a wonderful moment where this guy was playing wartime songs, oblivious to those around him. I just thought he, with the backdrop of the kids (English/French?) on some kind of excursion all on mobile phones, together with M&S food, contrasted each other in a sort of way, especially with all the war anniversaries going on at the moment.


We have just got back from a wonderful two days in London. The Baileys Prize event at the Southbank Centre that I went to with my daughters was very good. To hear all the authors read from their books and answer questions was quite revealing. It was disappointing that the favourite Donna Tartt didn’t feel able to attend, but we did get a reading from Charles Dance, which sort of made up for her absence – in a way! In the end I’ve just discovered that the book none of us could read actually won! I have to say that Elmear McBride's reading from her book was quite mesmerising and sort of showed what she was trying to do, but whether we agree with the decision is still to be thought through. And whether any of us will have another go at reading it is another question.

After the event, the men folk joined us and we went for a meal at Brasserie Blanc. Excellent food. Excellent company. A delightful evening all round.

This morning the two of us went to the Viking Exhibition at the British Museum – just wonderful. We learnt such a lot about how far the Vikings travelled and the interaction they had with people in so many countries – and not always warlike.

We spent a lot longer there than we had anticipated, but then made our way back to Kings Cross for lunch at Plum and Spilt Milk, the Great Northern Hotel Restaurant. A suggestion of our son-in-law’s, we were not disappointed. A classy place with wonderful food and the perfect way to spend a couple of hours before we went for our train home.


I will not go into how long it took us to make the last, what should have been 10 miles home, but it was edging on how long it took us to get by train from London to Darlington! The eve of the Appleby Horse Fair and every road and verge of all the lanes around was chock-a-block with cars, vans, trucks, caravans of every kind, horse boxes etc. etc. all waiting to be allowed into Appleby in the morning. We wound our way round all the back roads, manoeuvred our way through jams of vehicles and finally arrived home. We are now staying put for the weekend!!

It's been a long day - I'll catch up with everyone tomorrow!