Another day at Keswick

The first talk today was about the artists Norman Cornish and LS Lowry. I missed the joint exhibition at Bowes Museum. Cornish’s son in law spoke and he spoke well. I was fascinated to learn more about both of them.

I was tempted to buy a book about Cornish, but it was very heavy and cost £30 so I refrained.

At the start, we saw two self portraits, one of each man. I thought that each was the other. How interesting!

Then we heard a talk about Dickens the Enchanter by Peter Conrad, emeritus professor of English literature at Christchurch college, Oxford.

He reread Dickens during Covid. He knows every nook and cranny of every book and letter. He contrasted Dickens thinking with that of Wordsworth. Clare, who sits next to me, studied both authors at A level, so it was very meaningful for her.

I missed the next session and walked to Booths to buy a salad for my evening meal. It was a bright but very cold day.

I found PaulaJ in the café with her nose in a book. Just what I expected of her!

George Monbiot (pictured) was next up. He spoke about Neoliberalism. I had not even heard the term before! He was erudite and convincing, although I did not understand it all….

Finally we saw Highly Suspect, an interactive murder mystery. The clues were provided by Sherlock Holmes. Was he dead or not? We had to form teams and try to find the murderer.

Claire cracked the code one very quickly. Lateral thinking was required. The man in our team wrote a brilliant limerick, but did not win the prize for it.

We had two related murders to solve. It was great fun. Everyone entered into it as far as I could see, despite being in rows of theatre seats.

It is one year ago by date that Mum fell and fractured her pelvis, leading to her death. I am glad of distractions.