Youngest sister having given membership of Wimbledon Bookfest as a birthday present mrs maytrees and I decided on an evening out there a few days back.
Upon opening the book I was initially dismayed to find that the print was extremely small. However that dismay quickly changed to fascination.
Some blurb on the book from Waterstones reads
Mining sisterhood, sacrifice and survival, The Nightingale charts the path of two very different sisters in Nazi-occupied France, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards love and freedom... It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women...This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II, when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked.
The book was certainly the most interesting biography or should I say biographies as two sisters with contrasting characters are portrayed throughout.
Perhaps a spoiler for those intending to read the book first published here about six years ago; though the bravery of women during WWII is surely underestimated, had the 'Nightingale' been man he would have been captured by the occupying German army and executed at an early stage.
The Germans were clearly hunting for a man and assumed that no woman would be directly involved. Thus the Nightingale's success in ensuring that so many airmen shot down by the Germans into German occupied France, were so successfully and secretly transferred by her over the Pyrenees to British diplomats in Spain.
After some discussion, a centuries old ownership dispute between the French and English, was referred to the international court in December 1951
Many months later, the court ruled in Great Britain's favour in 1953 - see further below.
Maytrees max has promised to buy a fast boat trip to the Islands (cost about £40) when we next visit his wife and himself in Jersey.
... the French argued that not only were the islands geographically French, but Ecrehous had been granted to the Abbey of Val Richer the year before Jersey had sworn its continued allegiance to the British crown.
Ultimately, the French arguments failed and the International Court of Justice upheld the British claim in a judgement passed on 17 November 1953. In part, the judgement was based on the 1066 invasion and the fidelity of 1204, but the court also cited the fact that Jersey had administered both the Ecrehous and Minquiers faithfully over the years, which France had not.
The reality is however that Blue Lights is a riveting fictional series about policing in Northern Ireland. The plots depict inter alia, protestant and catholic criminals. The other real criminals also include MI5 operatives in London as well as senior crooks based in Dublin .
The series is about far more than crime however with mental breakdowns, middle class crack cocaine taking, domestic abuse, illness, love, hate human strengths and weaknesses featuring.
Terror, knee cappings and plots made in pubs are covered as well as huge protests with petrol bombs, about a protestant march. One plot included a 6 year old boy who had managed to obtain his crook father's handgun from a safe..
Recent episodes cover Belfast peoples' protests against immigration from eg Syria though the immigrant subjected to a hate campaign is an attractive young lady, whereas in reality most illegal immigrants are young men but in fictional Blue Lights that is an aside. The threats against people leading to the need to check underneath cars before driving are depicted as well as the need to move house when threats escalate.
One of the interesting sub-plots concerns a senior black police officer from Dagenham London and the difficulties she has in a largely white policeforce as well as Belfast more generally.
I am not normally a fan of the BBC these days but Blue Lights is a very absorbing watch as nights draw in.
Mrs maytrees and I ventured to the Wimbledon Curzon cinema this week to view the new film Sense and Sensibility
The only site designed by Mr Rogers that I can recall visiting, is the Pompidou Centre in Paris and even that visit was many years ago. As I recall, the Pomidou Centre has many of its building works and pipes constructed on the outside of the building which made it almost unique at the time.
Reverting to 22 Parkside; the building is set back from Parkside the opposite side of the road from the Village end of Wimbledon Common. The home is not visible from the road which presumably means that traffic noise is largely absent.
Having learned that the Rogers' house has been given to the National Trust, their information was that NT visitors would not be admitted until 2028. However the house would be open to visit on one day last week by appointment but unfortunately when upon enquiring, all bookings to visit had been taken so we will have to wait a while.
Merton to my knowledge, only has one other National Trust site, namely Morden Hall Park which mrs maytrees and I have viited on many occasions. There there is a large garden centre, two cafes a decent second hand bookshop and several other activity centres and sites. Unusually for the NT there is no requirement of being an NT member to vsit Morden Hall Park, nor is there any admission fee payable.
The addition of a second NT property to the London Borough of Merton is welcome.
Having arrived early I decided that the sacrament of reconciliation might be apt for me. Having joined the relatively short queue for the two confessional boxes it was amazing to find that the wait was almost 45 minutes.
I recalled whilst waiting being in the same queue may years before when one of the priests announced that the passing of time, now meant that only those with 'mortal' sins should remain. The queue immediately evaporated at which I inwardly laughed.
After holy mass we decided on Bills for lunch. Happily there was a Bills in the shopping centre opposite Westminster Cathedral. We each had hambugers and drinks which were all very enjoyable.
Much of the converstaion of course centred on the many journeys to Lourdes we had made mainly with the HCPT over the years eg HCPT Group 35. We also decided that traveling together one more time as we had done in 2018 would if possible be worthwhile. Lourdes. Bernie mentioned flying there but my preference was to take the train; London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord thence Gare Montparnasse to Lourdes although when travelling previously many SNCF trains were strike-bound;
The journey home by train from Gare de Lourdes we assumed would be uneventful as Sunday was a SNCF non-strike day. However upon arriving at the station notification was given that the TGV to Paris had been cancelled. There was a chance of finding a train to Paris from Dax so we took a local train to Dax. Over coffee there while we waited many people French and others mentioned Mrs Thatcher's union fights which they hoped President Macron would emulate.
A most enjoyable reunion.
