Farewell, Kitty

Oh, dear - it appears that my cryptic "out-of-office" message on Thursday caused consternation and concern amongst my viewing public (tee-hee!).

In summary: Mother was supposed to have a cataract op back in August [and I went down to stay in an apartment just around the corner from her house in Portsmouth in case she needed some help and support afterwards]. To her annoyance, they couldn't complete the job back then, and it was rescheduled to this week - thus I ended up back down there again. Thankfully, the op went ahead this time - so hopefully once the soreness goes down, she will notice a difference.

My message was merely a quick "holding page", as I knew that I would be on my work laptop both days and tending to Her Ladyship in between dealing with work stuff, so it was not going to be feasible to post to Blogger.

I had in the back of my mind that I might "play catch-up" on my return to London yesterday, but no! Some selfish bastard decided to throw him/herself onto the rails just outside Wimbledon - one of the busiest spots on the South Western network, where all the lines from Hampshire, Surrey and the West Country converge on their way into London Waterloo - and all trains had to be taken out of service. At Woking. The middle of fucking nowhere.

The station was absolutely heaving, as several full trainloads of disgruntled passengers were crowded on to the platforms. I got out for a fag (of course), and started weighing up the options. I could have gone into the - ahem - metropolis of Woking, found a pub and waited it out. That did not seem like a good idea. I could have stood outside in the rain waiting for information. Nope. I could have got a taxi to London, but I'm not that rich! Then I spotted that there was a coach connection from out the back of the station to Heathrow Airport, and the Piccadilly Line runs from there all the way home to Wood Green - so, understandably I took that option!

Having left Portsmouth Harbour station at 2.15pm, I finally arrived home at 7 o'clock... Oh, what larks.

Sigh.

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Meanwhile...

We are in absolute mourning here at Dolores Delargo Towers, as one of our favourite actresses and Patron Saint Dame Patricia Routledge has departed for Fabulon, to knock some sense into the place, no doubt, at the venerable age of 96.

I have paid homage to the great lady many times - not least here, here and here [and we went to see her in conversation back in 2011] - and needless to say, the tributes are pouring in across the media, from friends, co-stars and from the numerous organisations of which she was a patron and supporter.

Most people have focussed in on her long and lauded theatrical career, her readings for Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, and the TV roles for which she was (understandably) most recognised, "Hyacinth Bucket" in Keeping Up Appearances and the eponymous Hetty Wainthropp Investigates - however, it was for one particular character on Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV that we first fell in love with her:

Patricia Routledge - Kitty

And, then there's this - possibly the last time we ever saw her on our screens:

Dame Patricia Routledge - I Went to a Marvellous Party [Noël Coward]

How very appropriate.

RIP, Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge (17th February 1929 – 3rd October 2025)