Thursday, 30 September 2021

Brahms and dressing gowns

On Monday to the Wigmore Hall for one of their lunchtime concerts. Lunchtimes being preferred to evenings for the time being, until we get more used to being out and about in the evening again - and until we are more comfortable about taking the tube in the rush hour. Nielson's Serenata in vano of 1914 and Brahms' Serenade in D, Op.11 of 1857.

Got to a rather hot tube at Vauxhall, on which I was offered a seat, declined.

Out to All Bar One for coffee and Riesling, the only difference from the previous occasion, a couple of weeks previous and noticed at reference 1, being that smarties were back on stream. The lorry from Rowntree's had made it through to Regent Street.

Wigmore Hall maybe a third full, very light for their usually popular lunchtime concerts. Both works were new to us, both rather sprightly and cheerful, although I got a bit lost in the second. I would probably do better on a second hearing. While I learned yesterday from an elderly LP, that the orchestral version of the Brahms was probably better known than the chamber version - although on a short sample I could not see why. Orchestra seemed a bit overdoing it to me.

Out for lunch, to pass on 2 Veneti which was open. To pass on the Langham, which was open. To fail at the pizza place opposite, which was where we were headed, shut Mondays and lunchtimes. Failed at the Wigmore (the public house attached to the Langham), which was shut. Noticed a new cigar tastery in Cavendish Square. 

After the cigars, we came across what appeared to be a genuine Mini from the 1960's. It seemed terribly small - as do a lot of cars from that era.. Presumably we have got used to cars being a lot bigger.

Failed at Rossopomodoro (in John Lewis), which was being dismantled. I had always thought that they had given a lot of floor space to this eatery, although we did rather like it, and had used it several times. Must be a bit of a quandary for management: too much space given to eating and more space than they can use for selling stuff. On all of which my take is that these places are just too big for modern needs and tastes, all the visitors from parts east notwithstanding. The days when these magnificent temples of consumption made good money for their owners are over.

Finally settled down at the 'Place to Eat' at the top of John Lewis. A cafeteria with a view, not so unlike the one at Kingston.

Which gave us very good lunches for not much more than £10 a head. I had meat balls, rice and green lentils which I thought very good. Quite decent portions too. While BH was happy with her chicken, rice and salad. Cafeteria fairly quiet, as was the shop. Hard to see that they were covering their costs, but it was Monday, perhaps a slack day for shops after the excesses of the weekend.

The next item on the agenda was a new dressing gown, my discounted 'Ralph Lauren' dressing gown from T.K.Maxx having been declared senile. Very poor choice in John Lewis. Very poor choice in House of Fraser next door. Ritual moan about the way that clothing is organised by brand rather than by item, so you can't just go to the rack labelled dressings gowns like you can in T.K.Maxx in Epsom - provided, that is, that the dressing gown rack is present at all on the day in question. T.K.Maxx being a bit hit and miss in that way. Shops, like YouGov, must think that we are all obsessed with brands.

Debenhams next door, deceased. Although the fine art work, the shimmering ceramic tiles outside, are still present and correct. Hopefully they will survive into whatever is the next incarnation of the building.

We finally got some choice at Selfridges, the next one along, although the loud musak was rather annoying. One offering, a sort of cross between a coat, a dressing gown and a cushion, came in at around £3,000. With a modest handbag from the same stall coming in at £4,500. One wonders how of them get sold in a week. Moving downmarket, there was a silk dressing gown for a modest £1,250, snapped above. And I actually settled on an entirely satisfactory dark blue, cotton one for around a tenth of that. Helped along by a very helpful sales assistant.

Rewarded ourselves with a box of pralines from Godiva from downstairs. Very good they turned out to be too, if a little dear. Good quality, traditional chocolates. Neither salt nor vinegar. Neither parsley nor parsnips. And I was pleased to find that Godiva seemed to be a genuine brand of chocolates, from Belgium, not some brand cooked up in some factory up north or other by Selfridge's marketing people. But hard to be sure these days.

Another hot and crowded tube from Bond Street to Waterloo, on which I was again offered a seat, again declined.

Another army booklet at Raynes Park, the same format but nothing like as grand as those noticed at the end of reference 4.

Mostly masked up in the train to Epsom, except for one lady, 40-50, otherwise presentable, standing near us. She looked like a Guardian reader or a teacher. We have noticed before that mask wearing doesn't seem to respect class or occupation - with plenty of railway workers not bothering any more.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/wigging.html.

Reference 2: https://www.rowntreesociety.org.uk/explore-rowntree-history/rowntree-a-z/smarties/. All you could possibly want to know about smarties.

Reference 3: https://www.godivachocolates.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/abbey.html.

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