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Yesterday afternoon Jackie drove us to
Leatherhead Travelodge where we joined Helen and Bill, Shelly and Ron in order to watch the performance of
directed by the sisters’ cousin Pat O’Connell.
First, we watched the second half of the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and Wales.
Next, we dined with the addition of Pat, Christine,and their daughter Olivia, at Piazza Firenze. This was quite the best of the three such establishments we have tried in Leatherhead. Red and white house wines were quaffed, the drivers in the company taking advantage of the fact they they were not having to drive home. My main course was sea bass and prawns served with green beans and boiled potatoes. For dessert I chose crepe Vesuvio, while Jackie selected lava cake, which seemed appropriate. My enjoyable dish consisted of vanilla ice cream wrapped in a pancake with a raspberry sauce poured over it. What added to the fun was that this was served on a flat piece of slate. Perhaps the idea was to keep me on my toes in order to keep the melting ice cream from flowing off onto the table.
There followed a spirited, amusing, and entertaining production with some good jokes, skilful individual performance, and well directed choreography. After this, we spent a delightful time of conversation and reminiscence in the theatre bar, before repairing to our respective hotel rooms.
The was the view from our fourth floor room.
With the sun making sporadic efforts to put in an appearance I wandered about outside the hotel. Leatherhead has received considerable expansion since my childhood in the ’40s and ’50s. One result is the High Street paving that is shared by both vehicles and pedestrians. These two shots looking up the street were taken through parts of a sculpture featuring aspects of the ancient town, such as the river and railway lines.
Like many of the more recent additions, the setting for this artwork is suffering. Slates are falling off, and graffiti has been applied.
The pavement at the base of the ornamental tree featured in the first two views of the sculpture is surrounded by a mixture of birdshit, chewing gum, and dog ends; people are meant to sit on the cylindrical structures arranged behind the tree and within the enclosure surrounding the elements of it.
A metre or so away a cycle rack bears evidence of a stolen machine.
We all breakfasted in the Edmund Tylney, a Wetherspoons pub opposite last evening’s restaurant. Edmund, a Leatherhead man, was Master of the Revels to Queen Elizabeth I, so he would probably be quite pleased to have a hostelry named after him.
Back at home, the Six Nations rugby match was between England and Italy.
This evening we dined on eggs, bacon, and toast followed by steamed syrup pudding nd ice cream.