A Film & A Country Escape

 

London, 21st of June 2022

My Dearest,

I hope you’re well? I’ve been terribly busy lately, but all lovely things. The Jubilee week was splendid and I had sooo many parties to go to, people to meet and drinks to be had and wonderful conversations. On Friday I had supper with my loveliest friend when the weather was absolutely impossibly hot! I was armed with my hat and fan and was wearing the absolute minimum but as you know I don’t particularly like or tolerate the heat very well. But we had a lovely evening regardless sitting under an awning surrounded by plants and had brandy for pudding and had such nice conversations and plotting our next adventures.  

A little while ago some friends and I went to see Benediction. It tells the sad, lonely and conflicted story of Siegfried Sassoon. I attempted to read his biography over lockdown, but it was too challenging. I enjoyed the film, the clothes were beautiful, it was filmed beautifully and the dialogue was overall very good and the music amusing and obviously loved all the 30's tunes and Ivor Novello, who was being portrayed as the saddest, most superficial and loneliest creature you’ll never hope to meet. However, the story itself was most depressing, such a sad and wasted life. Such an empty life, surrounded by loveless and empty and hollow people. Those sad bright young things, most of them had limited qualities and talents and wasted it on booze, drugs and boys and repressing their emotions and ignoring all the things that really matter in life. Society was different I suppose and the horrors of the war left their mark on people in a way we can't even begin to imagine. But it always makes me very angry to see people who don't follow their heart, who don't have the courage to stand up for what they feel and believe. Not grabbing life by the horns and making the most of what they have and ignoring love and happiness when it's right in front of them. Such inability to express their emotions, people who rather lie, hide and live repressed and unhappy rather than to face themselves and fix their problems and at least attempt to live a happy life. I suppose we're not all born with the same determination, or strength but it is inherently sad these lives people live, the façade they put up. People who care more about their status and what people think about them, making sure they have the right 'friends' and people who care more about the role they play than who they actually are, these people always end up alone. I suppose it's a lack of confidence and a deep-rooted fear, pain and fragility that has never been healed or addressed. Blended with a religion to top it all off, how unfortunate. These people are best left to their own devices until they, hopefully see the light one day. Or not in Siegfried's case and live with a lifelong regret and a wounded heart and soul and die with it too, just because they were too afraid to act on the things that really matter when they had the chance to. What a waste.

Rant over, and on a much more positive note, my friends and I went the Grange Opera as we do every year. And believe it or not we got there and back in one piece without commotion, trees on the track, missed trains or any of that drama. It was almost uneventful, well not quite, but given last year’s wild adventure when C. picked us up in his open top car and took a short cut through a bumpy field and nearly losing 2 of the boys in the back it seemed like a rather quiet day out. We had a wonderful time! A nice bunch of boys and a lovely girl, all dressed to the nines and Fortnum bags and picnic baskets filled to the brim with wine, champagne, cheese, cake, asparagus and scones. It was heaven if you ask me! As always the performance was very good and I even liked their contemporary costumes. Which is something I usually despise, but somehow they got it right. The singing however was extraordinary, especially during the second act. I’ve always been very fond of Baroque opera, even though it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and my favourites being Rinaldo and Amadigi di Gaula for a long time. But Tamerlano was also excellent.  The best thing of the Grange is the loveliest longest interval, we had so much time to chat and laugh and eat and decided to have a lovely walk after our rather excessive meal. We walked around the garden, looked at the building, a beautiful dilapidated shell(in the best possible sense) and smelled the roses and I thoroughly enjoyed the meadow, as I always do. I’d met a few people I knew but it was a surprisingly quiet visit this year but with the loveliest people and we all had such a good time. When we left it started to rain, thank heavens only at the end and we were escorted to our taxi in a golf buggy with all of us packed on. It was really very amusing to race over the grass, past the house in a golf buggy all dressed to the nines and with picnic baskets on our lap. This week seems quiet but for a few lovely thing I have planned. I hope you're well dearest darling? And we'll speak soon no doubt.

All my love,

F.