Sun Der Land

Tivoli has written a comprehensive account of our amble from Paddington to Charing Cross so I won't repeat, except to say that I was pleased to see the New Zealand War Memorial for the first time, and moved by the flowers and messages of sympathy and sorrow over the mosque attacks in Christchurch. New Zealand has set an example for the world with its reaction to this atrocity (extra). 

I don't remember how we got to be talking about Rembrandt and my being transfixed a few years ago by Portrait of an Old Man and Portrait of an Old Woman next to each other in the Pushkin Museum, but it was very timely to find ourselves right by the National Gallery, with its outstanding visual aids. In we went to wonder at how he managed to communicate emotion so powerfully.

We came out in the evening sun to Trafalgar Square an exuberance of red and white stripes, footballs being kicked high into the air, plinths turned into terraces (extra) and massed singing. Sunderland is going to Wem-ber-ley where, they told us, they will slaughter Portsmouth, who hadn't even got their act together enough to be in London.

A few days ago we'd invited our mum out this evening for Eve of Mothering Sunday, only to learn that both my offspring were staying with her this weekend. So our amiable meal out was à cinq. Great fun it was too.