Random Jottings

Random at the Tennis

I have been absent for a few days as I have been up in London visiting family but mainly to attend the tennis at Queens.  Felicity, AKA the Other Grandma, and I are tennis fans of a high order and about five years ago she bought me a ticket to go to Queens as a birthday present. One of the best presents I have had. Since then we have made it a regular visit and attend on the Thursday of the week. We have always been lucky with the weather but this year I really thought we were unlikely to retain this run of good fortune as it bucketed down for two days and there was a total washout.

However, Thursday morning the sun was shining and off we went.  Play started at 11 am to catch up on the back log so we made sure we were there bright and early.  Throughout the day the temperature soared and dropped and, at one stage, we were huddle up in coats and scarves shaking with the cold. An hour later the clouds moved, out came the sun and we were baking hot. It was at this precise moment as I finally got my sunglasses from my bag that one of the lenses fell out and I had to spend the rest of the day squinting. Law of Sod.

No matter. We saw the finish of a game when Tsitsipas polished off the Brit No 1 in fifteen minutes; then he came out and played a three setter and scraped through; then we had Mahud v Cilic the defending champion and beat him to everyone’s surprise then another three setter with Chardy. By this time everyone was getting restive because what we all wanted to see was ANDY MURRAY who was testing his metal hip by playing doubles with the Utterly Gorgeous Feliciano Lopez.  We had benefited from the wash out as this match was due to be played earlier in the week.

All I can say about his reception is that if the tennis club had a roof it would have been raised. Yelling, cheering, stamping of feet and the Scottish lady sitting next to me was quite overcome.

Andy had said in an interview prior to the match that he expected to be the worst player on the court and he was expecting nothing. He and Feliciano were playing the Colombian pair, ranked No. 1 in the world so we were just hoping they would put up a respectable show.  In truth, when play started it was clear that Andy was tentative, his timing was off and he was clearly nervous. Feliciano, ever the gentleman and good friend, took most of the play and nurtured and took care of Andy and gradually you could see the touch and the confidence come back. When he let rip one of his cross court forehand winners the crowd went potty. And in the cause of Full Disclosure I tell you that I jumped up and down, I fist pumped, I shrieked and I yelled and made a right exhibition of myself. But nobody minded as they were all doing the same.

And they won and nobody could believe it and the other pair were totally hacked off as they had been up against the entire audience not just the players on the other side of the net.

The rest of the week was really something. Feliciano, runner up twice and winner once, made it to the final of the singles and he and Andy in the final of the doubles. He won the singles and the doubles and I am sure he would not mind that the papers were full of Andy the next day, though the general consensus was that Feliciano was a Good Guy.   His form this year had been poor and he was not able to qualify for Wimbledon. Now they have given him a wild card and he is going to get such a reception when he walks onto court there.

So a great time but, once again, the attendees amaze me. There are a hard core of tennis fans who go there for the game but there are a huge amount of people who come tarted up to the nines in the latest designer stuff and swan in and out clutching a glass of Champers or Pimms. They never watch more than a game or two.  Felicity and I, apart from the odd loo and tea break, sat and watched nine hours of tennis and loved every minute.

One couple behind us, he such a Hooray Henry with a Panama hat and she in floating skinny dress totally unsuited to the elements drifted in an out all afternoon and the amount of alcohol they consumed would have floored me. They were possessed of these loud braying voices that only the Brits have and in the afternoon vanished and did not appear for four hours. By this time, we thought they had left and spotting a bag and a jacket on the floor, called a steward and told him this had been left behind. He got onto his walkie talkie and five minutes later a burly man in a high vis jacket appeared with a sniffer dog!! At first we all thought this was overkill but then I realised I was sitting in front of this bag so greeted him with joy. Dog had a sniff all ok and the stuff was carted off to Lost Property.

An hour letter the couple swayed in and the following conversation ensued:

She: OOh my god where is my bag and jacket

Me: they were reported as we thought you had gone home and left them behind

He: (clutching a glass of champers) Oh but we were only having a drink

Me: that was four hours ago and we all thought you had left. the sniffer dog was called out

Her: OMG why?

Me: it was being treated as a suspicious object

He (swaying) well honestly really I mean..bit over the top what? (At this point the image of Wooster floated through my mind. I wonder why)

Me: well as the bag was behind my seat I was quite glad to have it cleared up

He: well ok but what a pain. Where has it gorn (and yes he did say gorn)

Me: they said the coat and bag would be taken to lost property

He: well where on earth is that?

Me: (getting tired of it all) I have not the faintest idea

She (sarkily): well you seem to know everything..

Me:(going into full Lady Bracknell mode) I probably do but in this instance I have no idea where Lost Property is but if you ask a steward they will tell you. In the meantime I would like to watch the tennis so could you please move (what I really wanted to say was piss off you stupid woman and let me watch the f*****g game but I refrained)

And off they went.

A glorious day though and to see Andy back and moving easily and playing tennis and laughing and looking happy was a joy. He is going to play doubles at Wimbledon and it will be SO good to have him back.  He would like to play mixed doubles but he has said he has been turned down by a few female players!  Billie Jean King immediately tweeted him and said she would do it....

A great few days and I also attended a lovely concert which I will save for another post.

Revisiting my reading youth

In my last post I mentioned a falling down bookshop which I will be most reluctant to visit again as I was petrified everything was going to fall on top of me. I found a shelf in a corner labelled “historical romance” and had a look.  Packed with the Angelique series by Serge Golon which I read when a teenager but had to abandon as they got so bad, some Plaidy and then several books by Dorothy Eden which I fell upon with cries of joy.  I used to read every single one of her titles as they came out and adored them.

One of those I bought, The Millionaire’s Daughter, I had not read so settled down one afternoon when I came back and I loved it.  Self made millionaire in New York comes to England with his wife and daughter determined to find her a husband in the aristocracy (shades of Burnett’s Shuttle here) and yes, she does find her husband but not the one her father approves of.  Totally absorbing and written with great style.

Speak to me of Love I remembered well. Impoverished upper class family in New York arrange a marriage between their fairly lazy son and daughter of the owner of Bonningtons (think Maceys, think Blooomingdales) in order to restore the family fortunes. She loves him, he does not love her.  Smashing story and, once again, absorbing and written with great style.

Since reading these I have tracked some more of Dorothy Eden’s titles and they are on their way.

Sheila Walsh. Loads of her books now available on Kindle. Such a joy to find that these books are available now as ebooks so they can be rediscovered and enjoyed.

All I will say about this one, however, is that the author had clearly read Frederica by Georgette Heyer as the characters, particularly the young boy interested in aeronautics, are practically identical and this made me very cross indeed. Heyer was plagued by plagiarists all her life and this is clearly one of them.  I have spotted another as well but will keep stumm on that one as she is still writing...

Constance Heaven - she wrote several novels set in Russia and featuring the House of Kuragin and they were full of dashing blades and love in St Petersburg. Read them all in my teens and loved them and now enjoyed all over again. 

And a D E Stevenson title I had not read. So please that many of her books are now being reprinted.

Fond memories of my youth came back while reading these which I devoured in two days on my return from Norfolk. These are the pleasures of rummaging around in second hand bookshops - you just never know what you are going to find.

 

Random in Norfolk - finding the bookshops

Wherever I go I like to track down a bookshop. Not a Waterstone or a Smith but a secondhand bookshop. Much though I love new books wandering into a shop where they have the latest paperbacks and three for two offers is pretty boring. Why? Because you know what you are going to get and there are no surprises. With tatty, crowded, tiny little haunts there is always the chance you will find a treasure, not in monetary terms (the bookseller will already have spotted those), but a treasure that you have even seeking for some time.

Years ago before Persephone started to publish Dorothy Whipple and thank goodness they have done the lot, I was in a junk shop in Penzance. And boy was it junk! I honed in on a smalll bookcase in the corner crammed with books that were really falling apart. And in the corner I found a book called The Priory by an author I had never heard of, Dorothy Whipple, opened it up, read the first page and bought it - for the princely sum of 5p. Though I now have the Persephone edition on my shelves it is cheek by jowl with that 5p edition.

So before going to Norfolk for a week I did my research.  I visited two National Trust properties, Blickling and Felbrigg. Both wonderful places to visit and I have featured them here on Random. As well as the usual NT gift shop and tea rooms many of their properties now boast a book shop. Some better than others. When I visited Greenway earlier this year I checked their shop out. Not madly impressed. The usual paperback stuff you can find in any charity shop the length and breadth of the UK (Shades of Grey anyone?).  Felbrigg was the same. 

Blickling had a more interesting collection, and more room, which makes a difference.  Loads of wall to wall fantasy, crime, chick lit which did not interest me, but the music and biography section was excellent, also the history.  I came away with a few titles including this Elizabeth Von Arnim. I have this in a battered old Virago edition but could not resist this one

Two bookshops in Cromer were visited - Much Binding and Bookworms

Much Binding has been the one I have enjoyed visiting most this Norfolk week. Cramped and confined, heaps of books all over the place, the proprietor squeezed into a corner behind an ancient till (all second hand bookshops have such tills) and the chance of finding something interesting. I came across these.

I have read a couple of titles by Frances Beeding an author of whom I knew nothing, last year after I had read Martin Edwards wonderful Classic Crime in 100 books which is my bible.

I enjoyed them very much  but not many are in print so was delighted to spot this one - and I love the cover.

Then a Bellairs. I know this author well now having discovered him a couple of years ago and since then the British Library have reprinted some of this titles. Loads more are available for your Kindle  as well which is wonderful. I actually brought the new BL title with me so it was serendipity to find this one too.

And then a Miss Silver book which I did not know and which I have just finished and thoroughly enjoyed.

And the best thing about discoveries of this kind are the covers. Aren’t they wonderful?

We also visited a bookshop in Sheringham where, quite frankly, Health and Safety would have a field day. I have never been in such a cramped, rickety and dangerous place like this - ever. You could not see half the books for the boxes in front of the shelves. In order to check out a shelf I was interested in I had to shift a couple of these boxes which were very heavy and then split showering the books all over the floor where they landed on top of another heap which had obviously been there for some time. I came away with a pile of fantastic 1960 style paperbacks of historical writers I used to read when I was a teenager. More of them in another blog.

Half the shelves had collapsed and were on the slant with books teetering on the edge. There were steps you could use but very difficult to do so as there was not enough room on the floor to open them properly. Shelves up to the ceiling and above doors holding books which were mouldering and falling apart and had clearly been there years. The shop is in a tiny terraced house in a residential street and is totally inadequate for its use.  After fifteen minutes when I was sneezing and spluttering and suffering from claustrophobia I had to get out.  I dread to think what would happen if there was a fire.

I doubt if I will visit again. I am sure there are gems to be unearthed but unearthed is the right word.

I went to Norfolk with loads to read on my Kindle and also four physical books. I came back with eighteen though most of these, once read, will be passed on to the charity shop of the local book fair for later in the year.

I know Ratty said “there is nothing like messing about in boats”.  Substitute bookshop for boats and I think he has it about right.

Random on Holiday - Felbrigg

I visited another National Trust Property - Felbrigg Hall. Not far away from Blickling but different in atmosphere and character. Felbrigg has been a family home until fairly recently and you can tell. A delightful house with the usual well informed guides. Once again, as I got there just as it opened I more or less had the place to myself which is wonderful, nobody getting in the way as I looked and took photos and I could stroll round in a leisurely manner.

The grounds were as gorgeous as all the grounds at these places are and also has a walled garden. I love walled gardens, they enclose you and feel comfortable and safe and I always feel like Mary Lennox in the Secret Garden.

Here are photos of the garden and of the house:

And in the house

And, as you will see below, I had some difficulty leaving....

Driving home tomorrow via Aldburgh.  We visited a lot of bookshops but those are for another post...

Random on Holiday - Blickling

I love visiting National Trust properties wherever and whenever I can. My daughter, Helen, the historian told me that though she used to get fed up with being carted around them when she was a child, the experience did ignite her love of history so I think this validates making children do something because it is Good for Them.

At Blickling today which was about half an hour from where we are staying in Sheringham. A glorious day and a glorious building as you can see. It used to belong, at one stage, the Bullen (aka Boleyn) family and it is likely that Anne was born here.

Though it is so big it feels more homelike than some NT houses I have visited and it has the most wonderful library which is currently being renovated and restored as the damp is getting through and the books are in danger.

Stunning.

The grounds are also quite beautiful and really one could spend an entire day just wandering around and taking in all its beauty.

And guess what? They also have a second hand bookshop....

So that is where we ended up. And did we buy anything?

Guess.

Random on Holiday

I am in Norfolk staying in a little flat in Sheringham.  This is a part of the UK I have never visited and always wanted to and now I am here.  Great excitement when my friend and I arrived as a sink hole had appeared in the High Street and was getting bigger by the moment. There was a sewer underneath and the whole thing just collapsed.  It seems that there has been efforts to turn the High Street, which is charming, into a pedestrian precinct but it has never happened. it may now.

Gorgeous weather today with blue skies and sun shining. Here are a few photographs taken today:

There are two National Trust properties nearby so hope to visit one of those, probably the one that has a large second hand bookshop..

Oh and here is my holiday reading. Arrived just before we set off...