Pride4

Picking up where we left off, and Elizabeth bumped into Fitzwilliam out walking, and he let it slip that in conversation Darcy had explained to him how he'd recently done a friend a favour by saving him from a disaster of a marriage. Whilst no names were mentioned, Elizabeth assumed that her dear sister Jane was being referred to, and this made her blood boil. With rather bad timing, almost immediately after this had happened Darcy himself was back round to the parsonage, and it was at this point he chose to finally unburden himself and explain that he was madly in love with Elizabeth and that he wanted to marry her. Unfortunately, he went on to explain that it was all against his better judgement, and that he was in love with her despite all of the hopeless faults of her family. Given that she already wasn't feeling too good about Darcy in light of the news from Fitzwilliam, plus the fact that he was a swine to Wickham, hearing that he was in love with her despite her having a rotten family wasn't the clincher Darcy was hoping it was going to be.

Elizabeth told him to shove right off, and to quote: 'I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.'

Darcy left, and was due to leave to go back to London the next day. Just before going he gave Elizabeth a letter. In it he sought to explain the two main charges against him - that he wronged Wickham, and that he put Bingley off Jane. Initially Elizabeth was pretty convinced as to his argument about Wickham, as it turns out that Wickham was a waster and the one with the gift of the gab who has been sponging off Darcy. On further reflection, she realised that it has most likely been an honest mistake with Jane as well, with a misreading of Jane's reticent character by Darcy.

Shortly afterwards Elizabeth went home, collecting Jane on her way, and for a short time all of the family were reunited a Longbourn, but the youngest sister was soon off to Brighon, chasing after the soldiers who had decamped in that direction. Elizabeth was soon travelling again as well, with her aunt and uncle (the Gardiners). Their plan had originally been to have an extended summer holiday in the Lake District, but because of a delay caused by the Gardiners, they ended up travelling to Derbyshire, where by happy chance, Darcy's home, Pemberley, was to be found. As the Gardiners had some connection, they called in for a visit, although to Elizabeth's great relief, Darcy himself was away on the day of the visit. By this time, and after much reflection, Elizabeth's feelings for him had changed considerably, and she regretted the way in which she'd spoken to him previously.

To Elizabeth's great surprise, Darcy appeared at Permberley during their visit, and to her even greater surprise, was nice to her, and the visit was extended with invitations of further meetings for her and her relatives. The rest of Darcy's party arrived the next day, including Bingley's sister (clearly something of a love rival), but clearly seeing more of Darcy in his natural habitat, the more appealing he'd become. 

Test

England win a Test Match! Always worth recording. Two test matches in a row go to the final day, Windies win the first one and we win the second, and so all to play for in this three match series ...

BTTF

Earlier in the year we did pretty well at going to the cinema. Within the space of the first couple of months we went to see Jojo Rabbit, 1917 and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. Then everything shut, including the cinemas. Well today, we were able to go out to enjoy a film. Not a new one, and not to a cinema, but we still had a pretty good time, seeing one of my all time faves!

As an aside, I really ought to do a post one day about all the little links in BTTF - they really appeal to the inner nerd!

Fence

A fence working party was established, and look what we have achieved!

Pride3

Turns out I was right. Another marriage proposal followed hot on the heels of the first.

Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte, heard about the first proposal (from her friend), and whilst doing the friendly thing and keeping Collins out of the way ending up snagging him for herself. Elizabeth was mightily confused as to why Charlotte would accept a proposal from a berk like Collins, but Charlotte had made a pragmatic decision about her future. She would be, with Collins, under the patronage of Lady Catherine for the time being, plus he stood to inherit the Bennet estate in due course. Collins and Charlotte were duly married and off to live at the parsonage (in Kent).

Mrs Bennet was not pleased at this turn of events.

Meanwhile the Bingley household had suddenly decamped to London, leaving Netherfield empty. Also leaving Jane in a quandary as to Bingley's feelings for her - was it just a passing interest, soon forgotten, or were the feelings deeper. Elizabeth tries to keep her spirits up, but it's a struggle - as always not helped by Mrs Bennet. Mrs Bennet's sister comes to stay (who seems a much more sensible person than Mrs Bennet herself), and Jane goes to stay with her in London for the good of her health. Jane has been keeping up a correspondence with Caroline (Bingley's sister). Having initially become good friends, Caroline is at pains to emphasise Darcy's sister's suitability for Bingley, and then becomes distant, not wanting to see Jane when she is in London. Methinks subterfuge of some sort.

Elizabeth goes on an extended visit to see her friend, the new Mrs Collins, installed in the parsonage in Kent. Relations were a little strained by correspondence, but seem to improve between them once they are back together and Elizabeth appears to have come to terms with Charlotte's choice. Lady Catherine (surprise, surprise) turns out to be a bully and a bore, and essentially keeps Collins as her willing plaything, to amuse when she's nothing better to do.

To spice things up, Lady Catherine's nephew, Darcy, arrives for a visit whilst Elizabeth is there, along with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam seems like a nice chap, and he and Elizabeth get on well (oh dear - another distraction). However, it what may turn out to be a critical moment, Darcy comes over to the parsonage, and finds only Elizabeth there. They have another awkward conversation, full of pauses. Elizabeth recounts this to Charlotte later, and Charlotte even makes the following suggestion: 'My dear Eliza, he must be in love with you, or he would never have called us in this familiar way.' However, once they talk further they concluded that it must just be because Darcy was bored at Rosings (Lady Catherine's place), and needed something to do. Oh the frustration!

Finally a quote from Elizabeth from a few chapters back that appealed:

'There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think really well. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.'

Indeed!

Sleep

I've successfully managed to record from the Clavinova onto a USB stick, to transfer onto the computer, and to convert the file type into one compatible with Flickr (essentially an audio only video file). Then the plan was to upload it to Flickr and post it here to listen to, but I have fallen at the final hurdle - when uploading to Flickr, I get the message that the 'video is being processed' but nothing further happens.

This is extremely frustrating.

My music will have to wait for another day!

Peak

We have booked a holiday.

OK - a bit of an exaggeration.

We have booked a 'mini-break'.

Still - exciting news, as somewhere new for us - we are going for a few nights next month to the Peacock at Rowley.