Ralph and I watched "Love's Labour's Lost", a film by Kenneth Bronough. It was a silly adaptation of the play we were to see the following night, day before yesterday, when we went to Stratford-upon-Avon by bus with the students. Took us a couple of hours to get there. Cold that day. I could actually wear a trench coat most of the time without getting hot. And I wore flat sandals and my feet were cold.
Stratford is pretty and quite a bit larger than I expected. There was a bit of auld England there. Medieval houses that were slumping but standing strong. And the store fronts were absent the big loud signs I've seen in other little towns. Pedestrian streets. Higher end shops. It was rainy at times. Very moody day.
We saw Shakespeare's grave in the floor in front of the altar of the church. I wasn't expecting this. His wife, daughter, and son-in-law are buried there as well and they are the only ones there. A bust of Shakespeare on the wall of the church next to his grave. I believe I'm correct in saying that Shakespeare purchased the privilege of his family's being buried there. Another surprise is that Shakespeare was very prosperous.
We toured Shakespeare's parents' house. He was born there. His father was prosperous. A glove maker. The house was quite nice for it's time. Two story on one of the main streets. There is a bed placed in the parlor or living room. This was a common practice at the time of people who could afford beds. It was their most expensive purchase..something like a year's salary...so they showed it off. Very large fireplaces. Large cooking fireplace in the kitchen. High ceilings for the time. Stone floors downstairs. This house has been visited for hundreds of years. Imagine that. There were two guest books dating back hundreds of years. And they had one of three of the original publications of Shakespeare's plays published some time after his death. Charles Dickens was one of the people who campaigned to preserve the house. Shakespeare's father got into trouble, we were told, because he traded in wool in secret and did not pay the taxes for it. He went bankrupt as a consequence though he had at one time been mayor.
And we toured Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law's house. An even nicer house. More spacious. The son-in-law was well to do. He was a doctor for the aristocrats of the area. At some point he and his wife sold that house and moved to Shakespeare's parents' house which she had inherited. And so on.
Another surprise was that Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, was pregnant when they married and had her first child six months after the wedding. She was 24 or 26 and he was 18. And, his other daughter's husband got a woman pregnant during his marriage and was written out of Shakespeare's will as a consequence. I could go on and on with tidbits. It surprises me that he elected to retire to Stratford after having achieved such lofty success in London.
And, finally, we went to see "Love's Labour's Lost" produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, if I'm not mistaken. Wonderful to see. Funny and bright.
And we arrived in London later at after midnight. Ralph and I caught the bus back to Camden and walked home. He had to teach at 10 the next morning. Poor thing. And then we went to see "The Cherry Orchard" and the Young Vic. I got which play we were to see mixed up but Ralph caught it. I don't know why I am confusing things so lately. It distresses me. We were lucky to get tickets and were up in the very back seats.
And here we are today. Ralph has been doing chores and writing all day. I'm grateful he went to the grocery. And, yet, I had to go out for antiseptic cream as the neighbor cat wrapped herself around my arm and clawed and bit me. My arm is swollen and red in one place.
Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day and there were continuous fireworks going off all evening. We only heard them. Actually, there are fireworks going off as I write this.
And we were here for Halloween and did not have candy as we were told the kids would not come. In fact they did come and we had to turn the lights off and hide out in the back of the flat. We both felt very bad and I was and am sorry to have missed the kids.
The fluffy tuxedo cat named FiFi is here. She spent the night night before last, came in last night for a bit, and is here tonight asleep on the landing.
Possibly we will get together with a grad school friend of Ralph's tomorrow. He's a dean of a school here and his wife, who is Spanish, teaches in Spain part of the year. Should be interesting. We are hoping to go to Greenwich by boat on Sunday to have brunch if not this weekend then next. Next week is Ralph's birthday and we have plans for a play.
I think that's it. By the way, no photos recently as I've chosen to leave my camera at home. May be a few from my phone. We'll see.
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