Trio

Just a fortnight ago to the Wigmore Hall to hear the Trio Bohémo give us Dvořák's Dumky Trio (Op.90) and Liszt's ninth Hungarian Rhapsody. A programme which will be approximately repeated in June for the Barnes Music Society. I have not counted but we have heard the Dumky Trio quite a few times over the years, say between 5 and 10, with the most recent occasion having been noticed at reference 2, three years ago now, rather longer than I had expected. With just a movement more recently, noticed at reference 3. And with an even more recent performance, misfiled at reference 4. Misfiled in the sense that the search term 'dumky' was missing.

A day when the National Rail Journey Planner was still being temperamental. You just get going with it, then it either freezes when trying to load the list of stations or gives you a bad server error which is completely fatal. What is the matter with these people that this formerly useful bit of online software has been misbehaving for months now? Ever since the strikes of last year.

A cold Sunday morning, but there were still two lots of builders out on houses. There were also two trolleys on Station Approach. Marked down for future action which, I think, failed to materialise.

Examined the fig tree on the other side of the tracks, a fig tree where we sometimes play fig spotting. My theory being that the trees can carry immature figs over the winter which ripen in the spring. But we failed to spot any on this occasion and Wikipedia neither confirms nor denies the theory at reference 5. Maybe I will investigate further.

For a change, we had a talkative guard on the train who appeared to hail from the US. I think a first.

Just missed a shower at Oxford Circus. All-Bar-One quiet and the service was fast.

The concert was very good, particularly the Dvořák. For some reason, a strong association from the Liszt to the rather louche high society of the end of the nineteenth century, despite having been written fifty years previously. A harbinger perhaps. Encore rather fun - and Greek - although I forget now what it was.

We had thought to try All-Bar-One for lunch, having troubled them for no more than tea and coffee for years. But in the end we thought their menu a little young for us and too many of their seats not very comfortable. We are not keen, for example, on eating from high tables on high stools. So in the end, we settled for Ponti's. Where they tried hard to push us off our beaten track, succeeding only partially, with my taking the fried chicken, last tried, as it happens, on the occasion noticed at reference 3, when it was not particularly successful. On this occasion, it was very freshly cooked and rather bigger than I really wanted. Not helped by coming with an overcoat rather than a raincoat. But not bad, and I rather liked the dab of mashed potato made with olive oil rather than butter or milk. Beans on the side also good.

The reliable - in the sense that we always like it - Fiano di Avelino I Favati was missing so we took the next one along on the list, a 2019 Cottanera white called Etna. Which, as it turned out, we liked even better.

A modest looking place, in an area full of vines. Not a huge factory at all. Plus the occasional cactus. And it may even be Etna itself on the horizon.

When it came to paying, I wondered what the Italian for 'bill please' was, what the equivalent of the French 'l'addition' was. I thought something to do with quinto, but was not sure and the waiter could not help as he was Egyptian. Reasonable enough when he told us, but it had not occurred to me, despite his having served us on several occasions. Bing comes to the rescue this afternoon with 'il conto', not so far from my quinto. And I dare say making a scribbling gesture with the hand would do, as it does here in Epsom.

Visited the platform library at Raynes Park, but very thin. Nothing even to while away the remainder of the journey home.

Instead, for some reason, we wondered about the active ingredients of Lemsip. Out loud enough for the young lady across the aisle to tell us that there was indeed an active ingredient and it was called Paracetamol; a fact later confirmed by Wikipedia at reference 7, to the tune of 1,000mg if you get the big sachets. So quite a lot of the stuff. You also get sugar and some varieties include caffeine.

The expedition closed with a taxi driver's lament about the volatility of his income. Made worse by all the city types working from home two or three days a week, and worse still by all the strikes. But from the punters' point of view, Epsom Station remains a good place for a black cab and it is unusual for us to pile out of the station to an empty rank. Usually late afternoon or early evening these days, so we can't speak for other times of day.

PS: I have just tried the chat line provided at the Help & Support page provided with the Journey Planner. A chat line which is responsive enough, but where you have to flash the plastic to get any action. Failed again.

References

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

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/01/end-of-term.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/via-sutton.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-year-trios.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig.

Reference 6: https://www.cottanera.it/en/wines/etna-doc-bianco/.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemsip.