Didn’t do a huge amount over Easter… I’ve been pretty busy over the last month or two, so it was good to do some concerted idling (as opposed to my usual random bursts of unplanned idling) and enjoy the weather.
Such was my idleness, I can’t even remember what we did on the Monday, but I know we spent a pleasant Sunday lunchtime in the pub garden, followed by a walk to nearby Nonsuch Park, once home to Henry VIII. Finding the service wing of the current (Victorian) mansion open to visitors, we did the local history thang… I don’t know whether it’s a sign of age, but I found the minutiae of Victorian middle-class domestic life uncommonly intriguing!
It turns out that the partly neglected mansion (owned by a consortium of local councils) is up for sale, and conversion to a luxury restaurant or leisure club must be a possibility. In a borough like Sutton, which grew around the railway and the post-WW2 housing boom, even a neglected stately home is a rare treasure… to restrict public access in any way would be a tragedy, especially with its new-found potential as a museum of Victorian life. (More info… Save Nonsuch)
Saturday… saw the Oscar-winning (at last!) Scorsese film, “The Departed”. Verdict… well, it’s pretty good as gangland grudgefests go, but it’s almost like a Scorsese self parody, and probably not Oscar material. Naturally, he should have won the Oscar for “Taxi Driver” or at the very least “Goodfellas”, but of course the Academy doesn’t work like that, does it?
Friday was the most active day, featuring a sun-drenched walk through the Surrey hills between Dorking and Leatherhead. Spring was at its most glisteningly fertile, and I even captured some moments for you via the medium of photography…