Robert Hugill

We finally managed to get away from the post-rehearsal chat, then I had to sort myself out for the bike ride: store my bag in one of Neil’s paniers and put on the spare helmet. We were off to London. Shopping and then a treat. I’d been on longish trips with Neil before, but never into London. This was an entirely new and somewhat scary experience. Neil was a good, focused and disciplined driver, but we were still exposed to all manner of idiocies from other road users. It didn’t help that

You're a bit late,alas. It was her centenary a few years ago!

Yes, Mother has aspects of my mother in the mix, whilst Anne has elements of one of my aunts!

Friday I was off to another schools’ workshop, culminating in a music theatre piece that would be premiered next year. The whole project was one of those with lots of different moving parts, so I was going to be kept busy. The journey home proved laborious, and I arrived at the flat much later than intended, feeling rather frazzled. To my surprise, Neil was talking to my neighbour Maudie. I wondered what on earth they were finding to talk about—but then Maudie could talk the hind leg off

The Watermill in Newby wasn’t quite what its name suggested. Yes, it was based around an historic watermill—but not a cutesy chocolate-box building. During the 19th century things had rather developed. The water-wheel (which still existed, evidently) was now a large metal construction, and the building looked like many other early-19th-century industrial buildings. Time had evidently not been kind to the site. Having become derelict during the post-war years, it was resurrected in the 1

Oh, her! Managed to avoid that film completely

'2026 hatchet job'?

I have visited Nancy twice and found its mix of 18th century grandeur and Art Nouveau style rather engaging, even though I wouldn't really give house room to a lot of the extravagant Art Nouveau furniture. Fun fact: a few years ago (2019), the opera house there did a rare staging of Bernard Hermann's only opera, Wuthering Heights

“Be a love and help Fenny with the tea things, will you Alex?” Evan gave me a beaming smile, but I knew that it was only an excuse to get rid of me. I had brought Neil along to see Evan again—or rather, Evan had asked when I was going to bring him for another visit. Clearly my getting tea was an excuse so that Evan could quiz Neil without me being in the room. In the kitchen, Fenny was just brewing the tea. “Thanks, Alex. If you can take that tray, I’ll bring the tea.” She

I have done all three, but none are part of regular life.

“Bummer. Fucking awful day.” Neil collapsed onto the sofa. That was courtesy of IKEA. A few weeks ago, Mother and I had made a trip, so that I now had an attractive (and affordable) sofa that turned into a bed. We had been back to IKEA since which meant I also had decent shelves. Neil had been somewhat semi-detached from this process—leafing through the catalogue and making comments about plus and minus points of the various items of furniture I had my eye on—but refusing to come with

Lucky you! It is some years since we were last there.

Met Jimmy very briefly, we were arriving and they were leaving!

I know the music, not the people. I arranged Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Relax' for cabaret many, many years ago.

As I had done plenty of times during my stay, we caught the train into Munich, the S-Bahn. Evidently the S stood for schnell: fast. If so, I dreaded to think what an L-Bahn—the langsam (slow) train—would be like. Still, we got off at the west end of the city centre, walking down the main shopping street and managing to divert to the cathedral (the Frauenkirche) where there was plenty to see. The interior had a remarkably clean modern feel, thanks to restoration following severe war damage.