I've had an interesting few days lately. It started on Sunday when our chapter of Red Hat ladies was one of many who went to London. We arrived at London by train after an "interesting" journey due to engineering works and, waiting for one of our party on the concourse of Liverpool St Station it was fascinating to see just how many people recognised us as members of the Red Hat Society. We were approached by two young Australian girls who recognised us and who said that they were well aware that the Red Hattters were active over there too, another lady approached us and took photos of us. Also we happened to meet the Queen of the Lake District Chapter, down in London with her mother and sisters to celebrate their mother's 85th birthday with a visit the previous evening to the London Palladium to see "The Sound of Music". They were going to same place as we were and so joined our party.

We were off to see "Menopause - the Musical" at the Shaw Theatre and arriving there it was fascinating to see just how many red hats were around. I would estimate that there were about 60-80 red hatters in the audience, which was predominantly female and "of a certain age". The musical itself had four female performers, was set in the Marble Arch Marks and Sparks and comprised many well-known popular songs with new words, all about the problems faced by those going through the menopause.

I have to admit that before I went I had had some doubts about the whole thing. I love good musicals and good music and knew that this one had received many very bad reviews, for example both The Times and the Daily Telegraph newspapers had said very unpleasant things about it, so I approached the performance with a few reservations. However, I enjoyed it a lot. OK, it's not likely to go down in history as a groundbreaking new musical but it spoke to its audience of the things that women of a certain age are going through, the way they become "invisible" to much of society, hot flushes, the inability to remember things, difficulty in sleeping, feeling that they have lost the boat in many things...... I reached the conclusion that the reviewers were young males who had absolutely no idea of what women actually went through. I have to admit that only those women who were either going through the change or have done so would really identify with the musical, but those who had were appreciative of the only thing around that actually covered what they were going through. However, I enjoyed myself and had a good time.

Monday was spent catching up with everything I should have done on Sunday and then came Tuesday: the Husband and myself's 14th wedding anniversary. We went up to London for the day and started off at John Lewis to buy my present. John Lewis has a wonderful selection of contemporary classic costume jewellery. In the past the Husband has bought me jewellery (usually earrings) himself, as he has an excellent eye for such things but for my birthday the earrings he bought me bore more than a close resemblance to a pair he gave me a couple of years ago. As it was he took one look at the silver earrings and said "these look nice" and I was obliged to say (tactfully) that I like them a lot, especially the identical pair he bought me about 5 years ago (and I wear frequently). Anyway, I found a really nice silver pendant that will go with many of my pairs of silver earrings, so that was nice. Then we walked though to Soho and found a good restaurant where we had a meal. Then we walked through to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. There they had a wonderful exhibition titled "Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883"

It was wonderful. Apparently it was the first exhibition specifically to concentrate on Renoir's landscapes rather then his better-known works which usually involve portraits or pictures of, say, cafe society. The paintings were wonderful and I was transfixed by many of them.

Yesterday I caught up with some things and an (almost forgotten) hairdressers appointment. Today I must get back to the garden. Yes, I'm still working at that, at times I feel I always will be. Gardening just never stops.