Wednesday 17 November 2021

An evening outing

Last week saw my first evening outing since the outbreak of the plague, back in 2020, that is to say to the Wigmore Hall to hear the Takács Quartet. Haydn Op.20 No.5, Janáček String Quartet No.2, aka 'Intimate Letters' and Beethoven Op.132. And I notice this afternoon, that they repeated the concert the following day at Cambridge, but then did something completely different the day after that at Malvern. The place from which you get the high end bottled water.

A quartet which started out more than forty years ago in Budapest and is now, after a number of changes of line-up, based in Colorado. With the cellist having survived the ordeal. For which see reference 2.

I started out with a good snooze in the afternoon. Next task being to pack my warfarin pills for later.

Down to the station, nearly being run down on the way by a school boy on a bicycle who was more interested in his rear axle than the pavement - which might have been dual use, I forget now. But I did think that I might have been as careless at his age, and I did manage to crash into a stationary car in a quiet suburban road at least once. I remember that the owner of the car got himself into rather a state over what I thought was just a trivial scratch. More masks on the train than on the platform, where there were few. Despite plenty of signage and announcements. I blame our fat leader for the poor example he is setting. All of which prompted the post at reference 3 - and today I would go further and perhaps if I was a hospital administrator with enough pension safely tucked under my belt (which I imagine is the case for most of them), I would deny access to my hospital for people without masks without a good excuse, Prime Minister or not. A rule is a rule, not one rule for them and one for us.

Picnic leaning against the perimeter wall at Cavendish Square, the north west corner bench outside the wall having been taken and the gates being shut. Onto to Cock & Lion which was busy and was offering Scotch eggs for a fiver. I declined them and took my wine outside, to sit on the fringe of a group of fairly well oiled young men. A group joined by a young lady from Boston, seemingly living with an older husband in London who did not care for her pubbing. All very odd.

In between times, I admired the glass bay running up the front of the new office block opposite. In the evening light I thought that it looked rather well.

Onto a more or less full Hall, and after a few minutes the quartet appeared, masked (which surprised me) and soberly dressed. Except that is, for the second violinist who had rather a handsome dress on - of which some idea is given by this snap lifted from the Guardian. No idea how the snap was done, as I saw no cameras. Perhaps a telephone is good enough these days.

Didn't recognise the second violin from the quartet's publicity shots at all. But investigation suggests that it is all one and same person. All a bit odd. Must pay more attention when next I see them.

The first violin left had his music nicely organised in the three ring format favoured in north America. Just had to turn the page from time to time. While the viola right was a page extension and complicated folding man - which I would have thought was more bother, but plenty of them do it, so it can't be.

Nipped out to the Holiday Inn in Welbeck Street, where in the near empty bar I was rapidly served with a large Johnny Walker (Red Label) for a modest £7.60. Not very atmospheric, but convenient. And the first time I have paid cash for a drink for a very long time.

The Haydn and Janáček before the break had been very good, and while Beethoven after the break was good, I flagged a little. Maybe two substantial works and one very substantial work was a bit much more me and I would have done better had one of the substantial works been replaced with a stocking filler - wheeze which used to be used by the Wigmore programme curators. Another wheeze might have been to play the three quartets in chronological order, that is to say the Janáček last, but this would have made the break awkward - and all three would have been a bit much without a break.

On exit, plenty of cardboard box people on display in the entrances to the big stores, by then closed. And the window display at John Lewis was quite modest, although I was not sure whether what I was seeing was the full-on Christmas display or some intermediate state.

And so to the Half Way House at Earlsfield, where the young lady told me that her Monkey's Shoulder would have cost more than £7.60 for a double - but then she remembered that she served 35ml shots rather than the usual 25ml. So maybe she was cheaper after all.

Back on the platform at Earlsfield there was very light rain, so probably cloud, which probably accounted for the absence of aeroplanes. Although I did learn the next day that the skies had opened that morning, thus accounting for all the aeroplanes as I was waking up. The first time for a long time. Maybe thus accounting for their absence at Earlsfield the evening before.

There was a Brompton getting off at Epsom, on which the derailleur part of the operation appeared to be supplemented by something more Sturmey Archer flavoured, as indeed is the gear change of a Bullingdon. At the time, I thought the derailleur part might be to do with taking up the slack in the chain when the cycle is folded up, but looking at the pictures now I am not so sure. Need to get hands on really.

While the website at reference 4 tells me that they are dear: at least £1,350 sounds like a lot, but perhaps not that much more in real terms than I paid for my Trek more than fifteen years ago now. Which I remember as being of the order of £500. Investigation of the two receipt pots, which does contain receipts which are older than my Trek, fails to turn up anything bicycle flavoured, which is odd. One might have thought that it was the sort of item that rated its own tag, if not its own folder. The car certainly does, and I make much less use of that.

In any event, not tempted. The Trek is fine for running around Epsom and Bullingdons are fine for running around London. I suppose I could take a Brompton on holiday, but I am not sure that I would make much use of it once we got there.

References

Reference 1: https://www.takacsquartet.com/.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tak%C3%A1cs_Quartet.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/a-modest-suggestion.html.

Reference 4: https://www.brompton.com/.

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