21st C
Over the past few weeks I have celebrated the big O birthday. I spent five lovely days in London staying at the Sloane Club in Chelsea, a present from my daughter. Wearing an Australian vintage gold brooch (a gift from my son and his partner) I sat down to lunch at The Ritz with my partner Iann. We were guests of two close friends, Charles and Henry. I can't imagine a more delightful setting in which to celebrate a major birthday. Neither can I have imagined I would ever reach the big O. I'll leave you to work out which one. Like all my contemporaries I don't feel old. But when I sit at my dressing table facing south and look in the mirror with the sun shining on my face I can't believe that that old woman staring back at me is me.
Didn't get far with my lengthy correspondence with the local MP, Don Foster, the Council and First Bus, protesting at the lack of what I consider an essential .piece of equipment: an illuminated departure board in the recently built Bath Bus Terminal to tell me which bus I need to catch to wherever I am going. Don Foster and Bath and North East Somerset Council responded promptly, making full enquiries, but the organization responsible for provision of this major item, First Bus, replied NO, they can't afford it, although BANES points out that it was included in the plans originally passed by the Council's planning department. A friend suggests a blackboard and a piece of chalk might be the solution.
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LIVING WITH MRS THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH IN THE CIRCUS, BATH, 18TH /21ST C By VIVIENNE RAE-ELLIS The following is a work in progress, to be published here in instalments. The manuscript has not been submitted to any publisher. References and bibliography will be published following the final chapter. 1) go to the Manuscript below right.. 2) Start from the top entry.. 3) Read down through the manuscript
The Circus
About Me
- Vivienne Rae-Ellis FRGS
- I am an ex-pat Tasmanian author who has lived in England since 1987. I have had eleven books published in seventeen editions by publishers who include Faber&Faber, Heinemann, Hamish Hamilton, Robert Hale, University Of Melbourne, University of Yale, Angus Robertson and the Australian Institute Of Aboriginal Studies. Subjects include biographies of three famous Australians: Trucanini, the last Aboriginal Tasmanian to live and die on the island; Louisa Anne Meredith, Australia's first resident female author, and George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector of the Aborigines in the 1830's. Published work includes books for adults and for children based on the history of Australia; the paranormal;and Public Libraries.