I come to bury Caesar

On Wednesday morning Jamie was feeling very unwell with a sore throat and a headache, so he sadly but sensibly decided to spend the day in bed. James, Davie, Kerry and I went to the British Museum which was very hot in the central area, and then cooler in some rooms than others, probably depending on when they were last renovated. We had cool drinks in the Members’ Room and then the others went for a stroll around the museum while I stayed put and enjoyed people watching (there are always plenty of elderly and eccentric folk in the Members’ Room who talk quite loudly!) Then we went to the wonderful Caffe Tropea in Russell Square where we had coffee and cannoli in the dappled light of the walnut trees; it was delightful. 

Later we met up with Ally and Cat in the Swan at the Globe restaurant and enjoyed a very tasty meal before going through to the adjoining Globe Theatre. I think that this had been Ally’s idea, and indeed it was a lovely London thing to do with Jamie and Kerry, neither of whom had been inside it before. We collected our cushions to make our bottoms more comfy on the wooden seats, and the play was Julius Caesar. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and I was glad that Jamie had felt well enough to join us. I did think that the small cast struggled to portray the fighting scenes adequately; a bit more action would have been good. However the murder of Julius Caesar was very good, with blood spurting across the stage and even spattering on to some of the audience members at the front of the standing area. And the speech by Mark Anthony was brilliant “… but they are honourable men!” I remember that my Dad particularly enjoyed that speech. After the play finished we walked across the Millenium Bridge in the warm evening and went for a nightcap in a bar beside Paternoster Square, then up to our old favourite Madison to look at the amazing view of St Paul’s.