Stratford and Leicester on a Saturday {Othello at the RSC}

An early morning start - picking up Megs from Jamies -

then a quick drive down to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Book shopping and a chippy lunch,

then sitting in the sun in Bancroft Gardens.

Ben saw a man selling bubble wands - 

unusually for him he took an interest and asked if he could buy one.

He went over and bought it himself  #lifeskills

and then had a fine time blowing giant bubbles.

As is now usual Ben spent a the rest of the afternoon in the cafe

whilst we watched Othello.

 A great, magical moment at the start, 

followed by brutality, 

some interesting comments on racism and class

and a really quite dangerous performance from Hugh Quarshie.

Sadly, however, the second half all fell rather flat,

so - half a great production.

Afterwards we drove up to Leicester, 

and had tea with Russell, Joyce and Lizzie

{great veggie lasagne Lizzie - student cooking skills put to good use! }

We hadn't seen them since Gill's funeral - good to catch up.

It was a long drive home and it was late when got back - 

these sort of days are good - but I think we need some quiet weekends too!