4 June 2019

Confession

In Memoriam I by Dame Elisabeth Frink - temporarily in St James's Square
I have a confession to make. Yesterday I did not in fact encounter Mr and Mrs Trump in Green Park, London. The meeting was merely a figment of my over-fertile imagination. Please accept my apologies if you found yourself deceived by this fantasy. I should further like to apologise to any God-fearing American patriots who were in any way offended by the ramblings of this no-good limey rabble-rouser.

But my friends, I swear I was in London. Clint took us down on Sunday morning with me at the controls. The visit was mostly connected with 60th birthday treats arranged by our beloved daughter for her beloved mother. On Monday, they went for afternoon tea in The Ritz and later they went on to the O2  Arena - once known as The Millennium Dome - to see Hugh Jackman in ""The Man. The Music. The Show."

On Sunday afternoon we ventured to Clapham where our son Ian is now based  He has lived in several houses in London and this is just the latest - near Battersea Arts Centre. It's a beautiful, modern townhouse with a subterranean kitchen and a rooftop terrace. They are the first tenants. The rent must be astronomical but I didn't ask.
Ian with his Mama
We ate a vegan lunch up on the roof and delicious it was too. Ian makes great vegan food like a musician playing a symphony. It has become instinctive. He has been really busy recently working on the third "Bosh!" cookbook but we were quite taken aback when he told us he had been in hospital on Saturday and had travelled there by ambulance.

He'd had worrying chest pains but fortunately perhaps - they were not connected with his heart. They seem to have arisen because of muscular or tendon issues caused by physical strain. This may have happened when he was dancing at a wedding on Friday or he may have done it by overusing the gymnastic rings that he has hanging from the kitchen staircase in the new house.

Anyway, Shirley and I are back in Sheffield now after a trouble-free drive up the A1 - sometimes known as The Great North Road. She wanted to visit a vast superstore near Grantham called "Downtown" as she continues her hunt for  the perfect mother-of-the-bride outfit. 
Farnese Hercules in The Royal Academy
It is a 1790 plaster cast of the original classical carving which
is  in The National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy.

27 comments:

  1. I am shocked - SHOCKED, I say - that you would fib to us here on your blog . . .

    It's good that Ian got checked out. Too many people don't pay attention to pain when they should. Denial is not a medical treatment. Although my husband would disagree :)

    With your wife and son standing side by side, I can see a striking resemblance. You'll have to provide a picture of you and Ian together too, so we can see your genes in there as well!

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    1. I might have to contact the milkman we had in the winter of 1983/84.

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  2. Do you mean to say we cannot believe everything you tell us here?!

    Thank goodness Ian's chest pains were muscle related but he was wise to go to the hospital to get things checked out. One should never take a chance with such things.

    I understand Shirley's concern in searching out the perfect mother-of-the-bride outfit. I know she will be lovely in whatever she chooses and I'm already looking forward to wedding pictures!

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    1. Regarding outfit hunting, I suspect that you have personal experience of this fun activity!...And no, please don't imagine that everything I say is the gospel truth. I am a bit of a romancer.

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  3. Oh my goodness! I am so glad that Ian is okay. His house looks fine indeed! Good picture of him with his mama.
    And hold on. Is that Budweiser I see? The American beer? What? Maybe I'm wrong.
    Love the statue of Hercules. I dated a guy once who looked a bit like him. I'm not joking. Alas! The muscles were mostly for show. I had to look it up to see what it is he's leaning on. His club cushioned with a lion skin? Bit phallic, don't we think?

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    1. That is indeed American beer that I had just purchased from Sainsbury's supermarket. By the looks of it, Hercules didn't require any phallic imagery. I guess he OD'd on steroids down at the gym.

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  4. Good looking family you have there, and I see that Hercules sculpture bears a small resemblance to He Who Must Be Obeyed in the Nobody household.

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    1. I hope that your Mister does not stroll around your house in that state of undress. Visitors and postal workers would be somewhat taken aback.

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  5. What a surprise. A lefty lies.

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    1. You may not know it but you're a poet.

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    2. I know it's a gift I have. I can well understand a man whose principles are dictated by expediency.

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    3. Snap. I feel the same way about Mr Trump.

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  6. So he bought you off with private health care then.

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    1. His reference to the NHS being "on the table" was very concerning.

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  7. Lovely photo of Shirley and Ian. Hercules has impressive abs.

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    1. His muscular frame is similar to my own.

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  8. I'm glad is is well with Ian, Yorkie. Let's hope it remains so.

    We always said we were going "down town" when I was a kid growing up in Gympie. Gympie is a hilly town...and the area which became the main street, Mary Street, was originally known as "Nash's Gully"...named after gold prospector, James Nash who discovered gold in the area in 1867.

    Mr. Pud...would you please stop posting images of yourself posing??

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    1. Oh you got me! Nobody else realised that the last picture is not of a Roman statue but of the author of this blog.

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  9. Happy birthday to Mrs Pudding. Now I'm going to have to go back and look at your comments.

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    1. She was sixty in March... my daughter was planning ahead.

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  10. Lovely photo of your wife and son, an intriguing kitchen top of food, veganism, beer and crisps. Of course owning up to making up stories will make us question other things. Remember Matilda and her fate?

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    1. Which Matilda are you referring to Thelma?

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    2. Belloc's one, who told lies and burned to death. Loved reciting that when I was a child.. But not my grand daughter of the same name or the hedgehog that featured recently.

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  11. I thought I'd give you and the lads a heads' up, Yorkie....

    In this week's "New Idea"...and Aussie magazine, to my joy, "Bish Bash Bosh!" is featured in an article in the food section.

    https://www.newidea.com.au/

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    1. Thanks for the heads up Lee. I will let them know.

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  12. Downtown..chill my bones , everytime we pass it Mr BH chimes up "we really will have to call" retail is my idea of hell...lol

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    1. Some people enter Downtown and never leave - lost in the retail maze.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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