There's definitely a hint of autumn in the air, so who knows how many balmy evenings are still in store? Holland Park is such a lovely setting for opera and we really enjoyed last night's performance of Vaughan Williams' Sir John in Love, sitting in the front row in big, comfy armchairs ... if only other theatres would copy! A last-minute decision mid-afternoon, so no time to organise a picnic ... decades ago, when I must have had more energy, we used to have huge, elaborate picnics in the park before the performance. (Showed my friend the railings where I got bloodily impaled after we got locked in after closing time - shudder! I was never the type who could clear a fence with a skip and a jump!) As I'm deeply immersed in a food history project right now, I was giggling at that Shakespearean insult, 'You Banbury cheese!' ... and wondered how many of the audience would get it. As for "let the sky rain potatoes ... hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes" ... I could have pointed them to a rather tasty pie recipe.