psmv5: Via Sutton

Engineering works on the Waterloo line continue, so last Sunday's visit to London went via Sutton once again. With the plan being to catch a bus from Victoria, deemed on this occasion to be less plague-risky than the tube.

Spotted quite a lot of Wellingtonia on the way into Sutton, relics of the large suburban houses - far too large for the modern, nuclear family - which once lined the roads, a lot of them now demolished in favour of flats. But no time to score any of them and we simply marked the area down for a closer look on another occasion.

On the other hand, we did not spot that many masks at Victoria Station, we we climbed on a bus to take us to Marble Arch, where we got close to the fake grass mound, last noticed at reference 2, passing some action at the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, it being Remembrance Day. Action which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, one should show respect to those who gave their lives. On the other, it is time we moved on, from what with the passage of time seems like the appalling nonsense of the first half of the last century. How could we have been so stupid?

Decided that refreshment was more important than the view from the top of the mound and that we did not have time to do both. And I have only noticed this morning the M&S food van - which might have meant that we could have had it both ways. Don't think I ever knew that M&S were into street food. We also thought at the time that we would have to pay, but asking Bing this morning, I find that the council withdrew the charge after much comment, not to say ridicule. And then there was the consideration that one does not want to be associated with the whole silly project by making use of it. Perhaps I was being silly, but that was how I felt on the day.

Wandered on into the western end of Wigmore Street, a precinct we have not visited for some time, usually confining our attention to the eastern end.

Didn't get very far with the rather grand looking (Catholic) church of the Assumption in Bryanston Street, where what looked quite a decent congregation, including young families, was gathering. A church which I now know was dedicated just days before the start of the First World War, a dedication troubled by worry about the possibility of a Suffragette disturbance. We had a peep, but declined the invitation of the very pleasant and cheerful greeter on the door to join in. A place to be visited properly on another day. In the meantime, there is always reference 3.

Wound up taking tea, coffee and in my case a croissant at the Soho Coffee Company, just a few yards from the Bulgarian staffed public house noticed at reference 4.

We sat in what in a pub would be called the back bar, complete with a real if blocked up fire place, and convinced ourselves that the area we were sitting in had once been a separate shop of some sort, then knocked through into the corner shop relatively recently. But looking at the snap from Street View that is not so clear at all. Sadly, whoever did the tremendous bit of local history at reference 5, stopped a few numbers short of this particular building, around No.104, so I am not yet any the wiser.

Digging deeper at reference 6 suggests that this building is just on the wrong side of the boundary between Volumes 51/52 and Volume 56, with this last being described as being in progress and presumably not far enough advanced for it to be appropriate to publish a draft. Maybe next year.

A little further east, we were reminded of the rather grander coffee and cake shop called Ole & Steen, and there was one particular pastry which they had very large numbers of, so presumably very popular. Possibly one of the pastries described on their website at reference 7 as a swirl. Next time.

And so onto the Wigmore Hall for some trios from the Smetana Trio. Beethoven Op.1 No.3 and Dvořák Op.26. Both very good and we were reminded that we rather like the piano trio format. By way of an encore we got the fifth movement of the Dumky Trio, Op.90. A trio first heard on the first occasion we heard his most memorable piano quintet, Op.81. A movement which rounded out the present concert very nicely.

The pianist, Jitka Čechová, used a page turner, a young man whom she helped along by giving very clear nods when she wanted the page turned - something not all pianists bother with. While I think the cellist, Jan Páleníček, had moved onto to a computer - although he did manage to get his foot tangled up in the control at one point, fortunately before the off.

Taking our sherry afterwards, we wondered why they bothered taking in our tickets to make sure we weren't cheats. I can't imagine anyone would come in off the street, or that many would go in for seconds. The young lady told I would have to wait to see what happened to left overs - of which I thought there would be quite a few.

BH did not care to pose properly against this nicely polished car, parked at the south eastern corner of Cavendish Square. Given that reference 9 tells me that AMR is a sort of Aston Martin, perhaps this one belongs to the showroom or something like that. While Bing tells me that an AMR is a sort of heavy rifle used for smashing up unarmoured or lightly armoured vehicles - with AMR being short for for anti-materiel rifle.

And so, onto Ponti's of Great Castle Street once again. Not too impressed with my chicken, too much like a large version of a fish finger for my taste. Not getting a proper green vegetable, something like spinach, with it was a mistake. But BH was quite happy with her salad.

I did rather better with my dessert. With the tiramisu following the current fashion for bowl or glass format rather than cake format, which had ruled for some years.

Back at Victoria, after having been led out of the tube to Cardinal Place, rather than to the railway station we wanted, I was intrigued by the sign saying 'market hall', above and to the right of the No.38 bus. I don't remember any such thing, in the fifty odd years I have frequented the place. A rather more seedy area when I first knew it than it is now. I also remember an Oyster Bar or some such thing to the right. And I am pleased to say that the name that pops into mind, Overton's, is confirmed by another branch of UCL at reference 10. Although it does call what I call 'Baby Ben' 'Little Ben'. A Ben which, I am pleased to able to say, has been reinstated after removal for repairs.

Just caught the 14:55.

The day closed with BH discovering at Sutton that she had mislaid her car key, the story of which came to an end at reference 1.

On the upside, a good haul of washers to add to my collection. I explained to the rules committee that the hexagonal washers were not threaded, as one might think on the basis of a casual glance. On which basis they were allowed.

PS 1: the 2 Veneti restaurant (in Wigmore Street) appeared to be shut this Sunday, having been open on Sunday's for a bit. Hopefully there is no trouble brewing there as we rather like the place. Taking a very acceptable Florentine steak on the occasion of our last visit, if not quite up to the one we had in Florence.

PS 2: much later: further investigation suggests that the fancy car is probably a DB11, rather than a Rapide which, oddly for a sporty car driven by wannabee Bonds, sports 4 doors. New, such a thing might cost you £150,000. But do dodgy youths with nothing better to do still go around scratching them with keys? Would you rather have seven and a half of the hugely expensive watches noticed at reference 12? The good news is that we have managed to turn up enough pigs to meet present needs, pending restocking at Bentalls - a matter mentioned right after the watches.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-lost-car-key-episode-2.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/showing-off.html.

Reference 3: https://www.annunciationmarblearch.org.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/06/schubert-quintet.html.

Reference 5: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/sites/bartlett/files/chapter09_wigmore_street.pdf.

Reference 6: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/research/survey-london/survey-london-volumes.

Reference 7: https://oleandsteen.co.uk/.

Reference 8: http://www.smetanatrio.cz/en/.

Reference 9: https://www.astonmartin.com/en-gb/models/rapide-amr.

Reference 10: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ramble-london/home/victoria-street-mansion-flats-and-model-dwellings. More interesting London material from UCL.

Reference 11: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/to-london-town.html. For Florentines.