Exercising Self Restraint

We were in Kipling's study, with the big desk facing the window and the wastepaper basket full of scrumpled manuscript beside it and the desk for the typist against the side wall- and one of the guides was telling us how Kipling had written most of his best known work before he moved to Batemans- and I had to stop myself asking, "But have you actually read any of his later stories...?"

OK, she said "best-known"- which is strictly speaking true. The Just So Stories, The Jungle Books and Kim were behind him. But some of his very best work dates to the second half of his career- and I hate to see it brushed aside...

Making Like A Kid

Bateman's sits on an estate of over 300 acres- most of it currently given over to wildflowers. Mike and Su and I went for a short walk, diverged from the designated path- though not deliberately- and found our way back to the car park blocked by a section of grassland that had been cordoned off with a type of plastic tape I'd never seen before. We sized the situation up and decided the tape was electrified so I lowered myself to the ground and rolled under it.

I then climbed a five-barred gate.

I'm sort of pleased with myself that at 71- and with certainly bodily frailties I increasingly do my best to humour- I can still make like a kid when push comes to shove...