Life in the Berkshire countryside
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Wokingham, Berkshire,
United Kingdom
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I made farewells with my landlady today at Tudor Place - an affable Irish lady who for some reason had taken extraordinary interest in me. Yesterday, she entertained about 70 people from lunchtime for her grandson's first communion, a family celebration I was very generously invited to join, but Roger had other plans for me and I did not arrive back until 11:30 in the evening. But the party was still going on and as I went to sleep I could still hear them singling Irish ditties in the living room below.
This morning for breakfast, other guests came out of the woodwork, joining me at a big round table for breakfast. We introduced ourselves and I was immediately identified: "oh - you must be the journalist from Australia", which made me feel that it was probably high time I left anyway for more impersonal accommodation at Wokingham, a guest house closer to the railway station and public transport.
Roger came to pick me up on the dot of 10am after breakfast and as I said my farewells I was clasped to the very ample bossum of my landlady and urged to come back any time. Somehow I don't think I will. When I'm travelling and paying for my accommodation, there is something a bit too intrusive about the concept of 'being part of the family' - I prefer keeping a comfortable impersonal distance with my service providers.
I had an eventful day, driving up to London to the new Sharespeare's Globe to see King Lear, just west of Tower Bridge.
This relatively new building is London's first thatched roof building in more than 400 years. A close replica of Shakespeare's original playhouse, the theatre has been faithfully restored with wattle-and-daube plasterworks and beams.
It is the brainchild of American Shakespearian actor Sam Wanamaker, who settled in London in 1952 after becoming blacklisted in USA during the McCarthy era.
The theatre strives for excellence in performance and during the season, from late April to early October, recreates the conditions as close as possible to those of Shakespeare's time.
It is an open-air theatre with seating over three levels in a semi-circle around the stage, a format which involves spectators much more in the play than traditional theatre seating, particularly the "groundlings" - spectators who buy the standing-room only tickets for GBP5 and watch the play from the ground floor below the stage.
Before enjoyed we enjoyed a light lunch at the Swan & Globe, the pub in the Globe complex - a club sandwich British style and rillette of Scottish salmon, accompanied by Britsh Ale and an English white wine from Chapel Down Winery, Kent. The Swan & Globe goes out of its way to offer local beer and boutique wines as well as modern English fare made from ingredients sourced from local British 'farmers, foragers and markets'.
I was dropped at my new accommodation at Warneford Guest House - a twin room with 'ensuite' in what appeared to be a converted garage. But everything was brand new and quite comfortable.
