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Near a fortnight ago saw another Monday lunchtime visit to the Wigmore Hall, for a change, for some songs which were not from Schubert. Anna Lucia Richter mezzo-soprano, accompanied by Ammiel Bushakevitz on the piano. Both, I think, new to us.

It turned out to be her debut as a mezzo at the Wigmore Hall, but to judge by the sophisticated website at reference 3, she was no beginner. Even though something seems to have gone wrong with the construction of the snap above, with unsightly white lines turning up in the margins of her forearms.

Not a cold frosty morning, but it was a cold damp morning and the first item of interest was this bitumen tanker. Presumably associated with the winter round of road resurfacing in and around Epsom.

We used to have bitumen tankers in my days on the roads but they were a good deal smaller, they were dark green and I think they started life in the army. Perhaps the engineers responsible for building airfields, which might have been subcontracted to the army by the RAF. A thought which comes to mind as I once worked for a materials engineer who once worked on such airfields. Contrariwise it also comes to mind that he was RAF, although at this distance in time I may well be quite wrong about that.

This tanker appears to deliver hot bitumen emulsion and appears to come with a supply of plastic bottles in which to put the stuff. But read all about it at references 1 and 2. With the plant people being based in a gravel pit in Cambridgeshire.

While BH was rather more interested in, and impressed by, the retro art work which has appeared at Epsom Station. Much more her sort of thing than the ugly faces incorporated in the facade by the creationists up the road. So impressed, that she has now acquired the post card versions, to be used as notelets.

And so onto All Bar One in Regent Street, where BH took her usual coffee with smarties. I had a glass of Riesling, a brand which I had had before, but which on this occasion tasted slightly of earth and petrol. Maybe a problem with their glass washer. All kinds of people in interesting outfits wandering the streets outside.

Onto the Wigmore Hall, perhaps a third full on this occasion. And on this occasion the Radio 3 presenter was, for the first time for us, a gentleman rather than a lady. And I am pleased to say that, unlike the people at St. Luke's, he did not find it necessary to share his radio spiel with us.

We puzzled about the floral arrangements, including what looked like sticks of rhubarb holding up large pink flower heads. In the end we realised that they were Amaryllis.

Our singer turned out in a close fitting, glittering, silver gown, topped with a matching cape. Very striking. And not for the first time we wondered what proportion of her fee the gown and cape accounted for. Perhaps professional singers collect gowns in the way that more ordinary ladies collect shoes.

Confronted once again with the dilemma of whether to follow the words or the face, I settled for a quick look at the words to get the general idea and then the face. One misses a lot, but that seems to work best for me. And it certainly did on this occasion with the mixture of Brahms and Wolf going down very well. Brahms being after Schubert and Wolf being after Brahms. We both rather liked the Wolf, something of a surprise for someone who (just) made it to the twentieth century.

Out to take BH to see the new church noticed at reference 4, to find it shut after mass. All very frustrating. Although I might say that I had noticed that one of the sequence of parsons listed there was OSB, so sufficiently Catholic to have put time in at a monastery. The chap noticed at reference 5.

Furthermore it took longer than expected to find our way to the Bellaria Restaurant first used on that occasion, and BH was getting a bit fidgety about her lunch by the time we made it. Luckily, it turned out to be well worth while. Some yellow bread with oil to kick off. Then some very thinly sliced meat - beef carpaccio - with what looked a bit like dandelion leaves but were probably some modern variety of lettuce. Then a spatchcocked chicken, a term known to BH but not to me. This last coming with a rather good white sauce, served in a little jug, like gravy at Wetherspoon's. Taken with our first Greco di Tufo for a while. Entirely satisfactory, from the Campanians at reference 7.

Wrapped up with a rather good tiramisu, a tiramisu which might have been assembled to order. Plus a spot of white grappa, made from the same greco grapes. Another first.

While BH was very happy with her hot chicken salad. A dish which varies as much as tiramisu - but on a good day, good. I even take it myself from time to time.

The decor included various high-level electrical gadgetry.

An area which included plenty of interest, adjacent as it happens to the area around Charlotte Street a little to the north, which we used to know quite well getting on for fifty years ago. In the days of a famously cheap, excellent value, scruffy and rude establishment known as Schmidt's. Long gone, but noticed at reference 8 by a fellow blogger in a blog turned up by Bing.

With Audley House snapped above turning out to be an important late nineteenth century listed building, now a flexible office space. While it had caught my eye because of the huge chimney perched right over the doorway. Where were the fireplaces? And looking at it now, it does not look that old: perhaps it has been tastefully rehabilitated under the watchful eyes of the heritage people.

While from uber-trendy offices we went to uber-trendy furnishings at Moooi, where were were invited to go online to make an appointment to visit the store in Great Titchfield Street. The display there was rather florid and more than a touch out of our league. An impression confirmed by a quick peek at their website at reference 9.

But a good day out for all that.

PS: on the way home, we learned that the Wonka of Lyme Regis, noticed at reference 10, was also playing the lead in a new version of 'Dune':  Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides. I once knew the book and its various sequels quite well - sequels which gradually sank in quality, if not in length, as is so often the way. And a difficult thing to make a film of, with a fair number of strange beasts and a fair amount of exotic technology. I now know that Chalamet is not a full blooded Frenchie, rather a US mix of France and Central Europe, and I wonder if I will get to see him on DVD - actually going to the cinema seeming a bit improbable, with Bing turning up all kinds of exotic shots, including the one above. Just a hint that the love interest has been ramped up from the story as written. And the full-on hoods to keep the water in and the dust out have been ramped down a bit so that we can see the all the pretty faces. And even if he is on offer at Epsom Odeon this very afternoon, maybe the trailer at reference 11 will have to do me for now.

References

Reference 1: https://rahabitumen.com/emulsion-bitumen/.

Reference 2: https://www.linkedin.com/company/d-e-plant-limited.

Reference 3: https://www.annaluciarichter.com/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-new-church.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-rule-of-st-benedict.html.

Reference 6: https://www.bellariarestaurant.co.uk/.

Reference 7: https://cantineifavati.it/.

Reference 8: https://mark-kaplan.blogspot.com/2006/05/schmidts.html.

Reference 9: https://www.moooi.com/eu/.

Reference 10: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/10/wonked.html.

Reference 11: https://youtu.be/bOlGF2J90CQ.