psmv5: The last day

On New Year's Eve to a Sunday morning concert - more trios - at the Wigmore Hall. As it turned out, a cold, overcast day, but a dry day. Not so bad for wandering around the big town.

The moon long gone from the western sky, where it had been earlier, by the time we left home. To find that it was flooded, once again after a quite a long gap, under the West Hill railway bridge, the one with the shiny new, yellow suicide bars to protect it from careless lorries. Bars which are too new to appear on StreetView.

We were down to a four coach train, which meant that it was pretty crowded. Not helped by a young man with a very large suitcase who did not seem to notice the crowd.

While on the tube from Vauxhall we had a young man wearing a neat but substantial, carefully tended moustache and equally neat, green nail extensions. BH tells me that he was reading a book called 'My sister was a serial killer' or something like that. Then there was an older couple from the far east, carefully avoiding the priority seats, which were then taken over by another careless young man from somewhere nearer east, in bulky clothes, who sprawled across both of them. Or perhaps it was all three of them.

Onto All Bar One where, by mistake, I took green tea. I worried about whether it would have an untoward effect, mindful of an episode of 'Wexford' concerning same.

We learned that patients and staff of the private outhouse of the Marsden on Cavendish Square (otherwise Royal Marsden Care at Cavendish Square. They can do Arabic, Chinese and Russian) get the benefit of the finest kosher cuisine, should they want it. I wonder what would have happened had I desired it here at Epsom? I remember once reading that it was a good way to be sure that you got fresh food on an aeroplane, as it was almost always a special order for them. But see the goodies on offer at references 2 and 3.

The Wigmore Hall was more or less full and was decorated with rather green flowers, which worked much better once they turned the lights down.

It seems that we had heard the Trio once before, another Sunday morning show, getting on for two years ago and noticed at reference 4. On this occasion, the violinist had, what seemed to me, to be a very high action with his right elbow, the bowing one. Due to appear again on May 12th - for which booking has yet to open. We may be going.

I got on better with the Haydn (Piano Trio in A) than the Tchaikovsky (Piano Trio in A minor, Op.50).

Out to discover that the small building with flags on the corner of Cavendish Square was the Flanders Delegation part of the Embassy of Belgium. Presumably all part of the settlement between the two halves of Belgium that halves are allowed a distinct presence. Part of this appears, from reference 6, to be the links forged during the first world war.

To Ponti's for lunch, quiet when we arrived but busy by the time we left, and where the starting bread seemed very good at first, but then seemed a touch undercooked. Quite possibly foccacia. Then pasta for her and pizza for him. Then tiramisu, served in a glass, but essentially in brick format.

Which is what it had been last time. As was the Mount Etna flavoured wine. Plus a spot of grappa. The telephone never lies! While the waitress explained first that the presentation of the tiramisu depending on who was doing it that day and second that she was off at 17:00, when the restaurant shut, to spend the evening with her boyfriend. Do the location and style of Ponti's not lend themselves to New Year's Eve celebrations? Or is it just a matter of giving the staff the evening off?

While we headed off down to North Audley Street to visit the food stalls in the fancy church there, catching this chunk of outdoor art on the way. 'Commissioned by Veolia [the dustbin people] and the New West End Company, The Starlight Faerie tells a profound story of transformation and the importance of a transition to a sustainable future'. So there. About on a par with Wisley.

The church being a place that I had discovered by chance and noticed at reference 7. If I had been asked, I would have guessed six months ago, not eighteen months. In any event I thought the place would interest BH, as indeed it did. Could you find the materials or the craftsmen to knock up such a door now? In what circumstance (if any) might you want to?

The repurposing of such an elaborate church still had the power to shock - even a confirmed atheist. I suppose it was the lack of respect for a once valued institution - even if this was the posh end of town. The beams looked terribly clean and smooth, but presumably they were not actually extruded white plastic, after the fashion of Fake 169, noticed at reference 8.

No view of the road from the outdoor terrace, tucked in among the chimneys and so forth. And where a visiting Anglophile Italian teacher of English told us that, while they had redundant churches in Italy too, she thought it most unlikely that they would be put to the use that this one had. Shutting at 21:00, so they were not good for the New Year either.

On the way down: it would not have done to have taken too much strong drink. Note the odd little door left.

On to the Church of the Immaculate Conception for a time out, taking in Fake 171 on the way and Piano 78 when we got there. A similarly impressive space, but this one still being used for its intended purpose.

For a while, while some trick of the lighting lasted, the east window looked particularly impressive, at least, the window over the altar, which my reading of satellite view in gmaps suggests actually faces north west. Restrictions of the site I suppose. We learned that it was modelled on the east window of Chester cathedral, this last being snapped above. Learning along the way that Chester had had a cathedral since 1541, and the church that was now the cathedral was previously an abbey church. So not of the seniority of a Durham or an Ely but not that new either.

Out to wonder about Farm House, snapped above. A place with a celebrity spangled history, starting with Mrs M Strakosch at the beginning of the twentieth century. Reference 11 does not include a (2021) guide price. Possibly the wife of the chap at reference 12, but the dates only work if she had the place built before this second marriage. She was married to a shipowner, so entirely possible.

Into the Punchbowl, a curiously old-fashioned establishment, complete with real fire, to take a little refreshment. In my case including orange juice, have developed something of a thirst. It is also the case that, since my recent stay in hospital and removal to restricted fluid diet, I seem to have developed something of a craving for oranges.

The one-time London pied-à-terre of J. Arthur Rank, the chap who gave his name to a well-regarded hospice near Cambridge. Not too posh now to get food delivered on a bicycle.

On through Berkeley Square, where the thought that we might sample what is said to be the very extensive collection of Japanese whisky at Sexy Fish was vetoed. But we were able to admire the decorations around the entrance of what I thought was an Indian restaurant opposite.

Presumably both places were going to stay open - while we had got the impression that a lot of hospitality places in town were not. Maybe New Year's Eve is more a time for beanos in the suburbs than in the big town. Not that we tend to celebrate it at all these days.

In any event, tube and train home were both very crowded.

Back to earth, at Raynes Park, I failed to get the machine to deliver anything at all. With the station carefully disclaiming any responsibility.

We were both well tucked up before 24:00, although I think BH was woken by returning revellers at one point.

PS: checking this evening, I find that what I had taken for an Indian restaurant is actually Annabel's. A place for celebs to show off and hook up. Perhaps to take strong drink. Although there is also a fancy Indian restaurant on the square, name of Benares. See reference 14.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sister,_the_Serial_Killer. Presumably the book in question.

Reference 2: https://www.hermolis.com/.

Reference 3: https://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/private-care/cavendish-square.

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

Reference 5: https://www.leonorepianotrio.com/.

Reference 6: https://flandersintheuk.be/en/contacten/contact.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/penalty-beef.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/fake169.html.

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/piano-78.html.

Reference 10: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/fake-171.html.

Reference 11: https://www.wetherell.co.uk/articles/gothic-farm-house-exudes-grandeur-and-mayfair-history.