A taste of heaven

Almost the perfect evening. Travel out to Presteigne for a poetry reading. i’m performing with two friends, Liz Lefroy and Jean Atkin, but though we get on and respect each other’s work we perform in very different ways. so the audience gets a good, varied deal – three ten minute slots, then a break, then the same again. I really enjoyed it, and managed to get through the long poem I’d learnt off by heart – always a bit nerve-wracking for us 70 year olds, but worth it for audience impact.

Then home to watch Man v Arsenal in the cup. Because it’s the cup, they’d actually had it on live all evening, so I’ve lovingly recorded it, made sure I didn’t catch any news headlines, and then watched through, as if in real time, till way past midnight. Such pleasure – because Arsenal won. Only slightly mitigated by the fact that Man U were dire – dirty, unimaginative, lacking any flair.