Harmony and equal (but not necessarily the same sort of) responsibility is the key to every happy union, and most definitely a dignified one.
Some may think that being a young and beautiful woman is enough to guarantee a lifetime of indolence from their older, average-looking man, nooooo love, that's called being kept. Like a pet. Neither am I that worrying new breed of 'hyper-feminist' who think of men's chivalrous gestures (opening doors for ladies, offering their coat when it's cold) as oppressive and demeaning. I do believe in equal rights for genders (duh) but I don't agree that men and women are equal, no, we were made different to compliment each other. Understand? Anyway, digressing from my rant about balanced unions. Henry and I take turns to plan dates for each other, that time he treated me to a day at Hadleigh farm and a camping trip in castle ruins. Last Sunday it was my turn to plan our outing, so upon Sir William and Lady Judy McAlpine's kind invitation we travelled to their estate, Fawley Hill, for a picnic with our fellow eccentrics ofThe Eccentric Club. We whiled away an afternoon drinking and supping on their terrace, wandering the grounds to play with the lemurs and the other exotic animals in their sanctuary, waved at the deer from the steam train that we rode around the estate from the train museum, played on the carousel, fell in love with Bertie the friendliest cockatoo who does a cracking impression of the stream train's horn as it rumbles past the house, and of course made new and eccentric friends. T'was a most lovely afternoon, and we were so distracted by the sanguine, charming, countryside prettiness of it all that we were late for the second half of our date in the city. Do you remember when I rocked up to Everyman Cinema for a movie screening by invitation of Battersea Power Station only to realised I'd got the dates wrong and showed up a whole month early? Well I'm proud to announce that I got it right this time, and we finally did manage to watch Grand Budapest Hotel from the comfort of our elevated pods although we did miss the first forty minutes of the film. Oh.Our date began in Henley-on-Thames at the hospitality of our gracious hosts who opened their home to us for an Eccentric Picnic, guided through the winding countryside lanes with the help of some party pigs.
Our spread for two which we demolished with some difficulty and a little help from the dogs, who wouldn't leave us with their sweet simpering eyes and pleading paw rested on our table. T'was my fault, I did encourage them as I can never say no to dogs.
Bertie was painfully adorable, he'd hop over to me and turned his head upside down, inviting me to scratch his feathery head. As per suggestion I treated him to his favourite grapes.
Henry naturally gravitated to Leo the cat who fell in love with him and arched his back with very clear instructions 'lavish me with cuddles, human!'
We were treated to Megan Henwood's renditions of jazz, rock and folk song.
Spot the flying salami.
I feel like a wildlife photographer who caught a moment of nature in all its glory.
(I plonked my hat onto the carousel chicken for safekeeping)
So enamoured were we by Fawley Hill's charms that we realised that the trains back to London were only once every hour and that were definitely, absolutely late for our movie. We raced to Battersea Power Station for the Everyman Cinema's final screening on the last day of Power Of Summer, and ducked apologetically as we were ushered to our pod with mojitos and beers in hand. We may have missed the first half of Grand Budapest Hotel but it was still tremendously enjoyable. I'm certainly going to watch it again in its entirety! Thank you Battersea Power Station for the invites and VIP experience.
The view from our pods. After the movie, the chairman of Everyman Cinema saw me eyeing the pile of beanbags like a pile of autumn leaves begging to be dived into and he actually encouraged me somewhere along the lines of 'I dare you to dive into the pile, and if you do you can have a bean bag to take home'. I'd be a fool to say no! So after three running dives and headfirst plunges into the bean bag pile Henry and I came away with a turquoise bean bag of my own.
T'was a lovely day and quite a date, combining Henry's love of the country (and mine) with my hunger for the exciting and unique events the city has to offer. Can we have more dates like these, please? I love the country and city equally, and as I said before about harmony and equality, one shouldn't have to choose one over the other.
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