Musical Evenings


The sun shone and the weather was warm, and Henley's Music Festival went with a swing. Together with my young friend, my cousin Paul, and his friend 'M' - ( no, not the 'M' from the James Bond films) we spent Friday evening by the banks of the river listening to George Gerswin melodies and soaking up the sights. Some were bizarre





But others were nicely artistic. I particularly liked these lovely little bronze sea horses and small birds.



We were serenaded from the river by this boatload of thespians 


I've never seen so many boats on the river before - you could almost walk across them from bank to bank.


'M' is not really this tiny - the deck chair is very big.


We wandered around, had a meal at the Crooked Billet and savoured the sights. 




And then the evening entertainment started with a watery exhibitionist spouting from various parts of his body in time with the music, followed by a troupe of dancers.



And ended with a musical firework display from across the river. 


Now spending the weekend in Suffolk with my young friend and her parents to celebrate her birthday. On Saturday we visited Anglesey Abbey. This is a place that changes with the seasons -especially the 'winter walk'. 


There's a little corner of the garden buzzing with bees enjoying the lavender bushes and sharing them with the butterflies


We had a tour of the abbey, making sure we donned the bright blue overshoes before venturing inside.


This is the dining room


The abbey is full of good paintings - some of them old masters. This picture is made up of thousands of tiny pieces of mosaic.



Yesterday we took a trip to Bressingham Steam Museum and went on a couple of steam train rides. 




My young friend and her mother had a ride on the carousel. 


And later we had a tour of the train sheds 



We went on board one of the postal carriages. Very interesting to see how the post office transport arrangements were organised in times gone by - when things were much more efficient.


Yesterday evening we all had dinner at the Wheel House restaurant at Woolverstone to celebrate my young friend's birthday. This is the view - pity it was cloudy or we would have had prime position to see the sunset. 


Today we watched the big container ships arriving and leaving Felixtowe docks. Apparently the largest container ship in the world docked there today - although we didn't catch a glimpse of it. This one - the newest of the Maersk Line - was pretty big. 


In the afternoon we took a trip on a ferry across to Harwich and back, passing close by a number of ships loading and unloading their cargoes.