Kew Gardens

I spent a lovely morning walking round Kew Gardens with an old friend. The only time it rained was when we were having lunch in a pub on Kew Green. There was some Autumn colour but most of the trees were still green and lots of camellias were in blossom.

In the evening MrHCB and I went to an amazing performance of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, set in England in 1936, and performed in Wilton's Music Hall in the East End. British fascism was at its height in 1936. In October of that year there were a series of clashes in the East End between the fascists and the Jewish inhabitants supported by their Irish, Eastern European and working class neighbours. The anti-fascist coalition prevailed.

Shylock was played by an immensely powerful actress who told us after the performance that her Jewish grandparents, aunts and uncles had lived nearby through these events. She was moved to be performing the play so close to "home".  Indeed, Wilton's Music Hall had been used as a field hospital for the wounded.

It was an emotional experience particularly against the background of what is happening at the moment in Israel and Gaza.