John Wesley and Alexander Hamilton

The last couple of days have been predominantly given over to rest. Chris has come down with a virus and as a result, has low energy levels. It suits me to slow the pace too as you get a chance to process things, talk, nap, read and rest. Neither of us want to be on the go all the time.

Two days ago, we dropped into the Jugged Hare on our street for a pint and chips. We had had a slow day and were just out to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. It was a nice experience. The Jugged Hare is an historic pub. It had a lot of taxidermy behind the bar and mounted on the walls. Its bill of fare had things like grouse, black pudding and haggis, alongside porkpies. The chips were great, and the barman was handsome and spoke with a beautiful accent. What’s not to like?

We finished off the Netflix series we had started, Hostage. Five episodes. The first three, arresting, exciting, done pretty well. The fourth was okay and the fifth, the big finale, a complete dud. Silly. Unbelievable. Badly written.

Yesterday morning, we walked around to the other side of our block to take a look at Wesley’s Chapel. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had the chapel built as a kind of mother church to the movement. It was simple, as you would expect for a Methodist church, plenty of timber, the pulpit, symbolising the Bible, taking centre stage. But it had a little bling too. Marble columns holding up the gallery surrounding the inside, and three prominent brightly coloured stained-glass windows of three events in Christ’s life. There is a museum downstairs, but we were more interested in Wesley’s grave which was in the garden. Simple with an inscription of his life’s work on one side. When I was in the Protestant wing of the Church, I had a lot of time for Wesely. He was a deep thinker, a scholar, a writer, and a great preacher. His brother Charles wrote the best hymns I have ever sung.

On the other side of the street across from the chapel’s driveway lies the Bunhill Cemetery. It is very old, with mostly above ground sepulchres on top of the gravesites, many whose inscriptions are now so weathered that their details are lost to time and the elements. The cemetery holds the mortal remains of a number of famous people including Susannah Wesley (the mother of Methodism) and mother to sons John and Charles, the poet William Blake, the novelist and writer Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan (The Pilgrim’s Progress), Isaac Watts the hymn writer, Thomas Bayes (statistician and philosopher) and Thomas Newcomen (engineer) and one of the pioneering engineers who have a major street named after them in the east-end of Newcastle.

We went for a walk in the evening, and I took a few shots of various buildings and streetscapes; always interesting in London.

Last night saw us join Graham and Jo at the Victoria Theatre to see the musical, Hamilton. Despite the fact that the Hamilton has been around for a few years, I knew nothing about it. The cast were predominantly people of colour taking all the major roles, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Aaron Burr. The show was tight, well-rehearsed, and historically compressed as I understand it. The performances were all great. It was a fun show and the first West End musical I have been to. The Vic theatre is gorgeous to walk through.

Once home, we settled and got ready for bed but once midnight chimed, I sang Happy Birthday to Chris as he turns 48 on the last day of August. I think he would have liked to have been in better shape for the milestone, but the virus will go, and Chris has a new year ahead of him.Read more