This past week was a fairly quiet week. On Sunday John went down to Stratford-upon-Avon for a sales meeting so I was on my own until Wednesday.

One evening I went to the Old Vic to see a performance of Shaw's Pygmalion, or as it's known in some circles: My Fair Lady without the singing and dancing. Tim Pigott-Smith played Henry Higgins and newcomer Michelle Dockery was a riveting Eliza Doolittle. The theater itself is historic; the walls of the lobby and stairways are covered with photos of so many famous actors in productions going back to the last century: Peggy Aschcroft, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Lawrence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Diana Rigg, Maggie Smith, etc.

Another highlight of the week was going out after work with John's colleagues. I'd heard a lot about them, but had never met most of them. As it happened, the chosen pub was Fifty-five Bar & Lounge near our flat that I mentioned in my blog on July 9. It was fun to put faces to the names I'd heard. Unfortunately, at 2:4:1 I had too many Manhattans and awoke with a groggy head.

Why is there a photo of the Roman Colosseum on the page, you ask? That's because we're going to Italy on Saturday evening for two weeks. A week in the Eternal City and a week in Tuscany. I will try to write some entries while in Italy.