Rest in peace, Patricia Routledge 🙏🏻
In memory of her, I encourage everyone to read these words of hers from February last year.
Whether young or old, you're bound to get something out of it.
*****
"I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolour painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
I’m writing this to tell you something simple:
Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.
Let these years ahead be your TREASURE YEARS.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
With love and gentleness,
Patricia Routledge
*****
Once more, rest in peace. 🤍
@carryonkeith This is quite promising .. it would be a colossal f*** up if those to tried to work together ... the public are never going to forgive Johnson
Thanks to Angela Rayner, zero hours contracts will be banned, no-one will be subject to fire at will, no-one will be able to be fired and rehired, and no-one will lose their private rented home just cos their landlord wants them out. That's quite some legacy. Thank you Angela.
Hunt avoids £100k of Stamp Duty
Sunak wife 'non dom' status
Zahawi underpays millions in tax and pays a fine
Mone PPE - no resolution over millions
Rayner - given wrong advice over £40k of Stamp Duty - loses everything
Raynor had the guts to resign for something that pales into insignificance compared what those Tory villains did and they remain to spew their vileness. She should not have resigned.
BRITISH RECORD
Morgan Lake creates history in Zurich by becoming the first ever British female athlete to clear 2.00m in the high jump 🇬🇧
She went over it on her first attempt in the Swiss city 🤯