Marilyn Monroe Sings Happy Birthday to Hilary,
Hilary’s birthday today, and I’m very glad to be here for it. She had planned a birthday lunch for us in Wapping, in the east end of London. but this morning I had a period of high heart rate, which is a definite concern, so the initially planned birthday lunch was cancelled until things settled down (which they happily did).
Instead of a 1 pm lunch, we instead had a later lunch at a really nice Italian restaurant in nearby Barnet, with an excellent menu and food. I had pasta with seafood – delicious! Lunch was my birthday gift to Hilary.
Before that, Lydia, with whom we went to Bletchley Park on Sunday, came by to wish Hilary a happy birthday, and it was nice to see her again. Hilary and Claudio have a very tight, large, and very nice group of friends, and the dining table is filled with birthday cards. She’s okay, and much loved, our Hil.
We left again around 5:30 to see the equivalent of off-broadway theatre in the Islington area, and enjoyed a one-person musical play, the Marilyn Monroe Story, which was very well performed and very enjoyable. Also, quite sad. She lived a tough life,with many struggles, from the very beginning, and died a sad death.
At one point, when Marilyn Monroe sang happy birthday to the President, she first asked if anybody in the audience had a birthday today. Amazingly, somebody did. I ratted out Hilary, and the Marilyn Monroe actress said this was the first time in the history of the play that somebody in the audience was actually having a birthday. Anyway, the result was Marilyn Monroe singing happy birthday to both President Kennedy AND to Hilary, joined by the rest of the audience of about one hundred people. Very nice, and pretty special.
Then home by bus, hanging out and watching some television once home, and then off to bed (but not for Hilary, who often stays up late into the night).
Tomorrow, Tom arrives in the morning, and I’ll be meeting him at the airport and taking the underground back this way. Once Tom arrives, my trip will take a different direction. For the next couple of days we’ll be in London, and then Tom and I will head to Paris for one overnight and two days. Then we’ll be touring England and Wales. Stay tuned.
But for now, good night.