To the Phoenix

Or, to be more exact, to the Wigmore Hall for one of their Monday lunchtime concerts: Stravinsky, Pärt and Ravel. Violin (Hanslip) and piano (Driver). All new to me, but see references 1, 2 and 3.

A flurry of snow as I approached the station, but there were patches of blue sky by the time I got to Ewell West, some minutes later.

A dead mouse (or perhaps vole) on the way and I dare say a naturalist could tell us what had happened, but not clear to me. Not something I come across very often, although I dare plenty do get caught at night. Then after this dead-stock, plenty of live-stock, that is to say birds, around the Waterloo platform, including a wagtail, various tits and a flock of small , green-brown birds with pale underparts. Probably sparrow, but not sure, sparrows not being a bird we see much of in our garden. Plus a fox who had clambered up from the embankment below.

At Vauxhall, I thought to use the cash machine from Note, which tells you loud and clear that it is not going to charge you for its use. But then, when you are more or less committed, it tells you that your card issuer might. Which I thought was economical with the truth. I might add that I have no objection to their charging - these machines are expensive and we have to pay for them and their maintenance one way or another  - but if they are going to say something about that, they should be a bit more open and honest.

If the flashy reference 6 is anything to go by, provision of these machines is a big business. And the impression given is that the shop or whatever providing the home for the machine is paid rent, rather than the other way around. Although that said, I remember that our local Costcutter was not that pleased when its cash machine started charging, finding that it deterred footfall and was bad for business, bad for business for the little parade as a whole. I don't think it charges now - so perhaps that is all a matter of negotiation between the shop and the machine supplier.

A little early at Oxford Circus, so my first visit to the Phoenix for a while, at the corner of John Prince Street and Margaret Street. I was probably their first customer of the day. For some reason my telephone rendered the grey of my gloves very blue, maybe something to do with the lighting in the pub. In any event, blue they started and blue they have stayed.

On to the hall, where the Director was on duty in front of the box office. The hall itself was nearly full. Good flowers - with their florist very rarely missing. Just a modest amount of waffle from the man from Radio 3, with his keeping the full performance for the privacy of his microphone.

I enjoyed the Stravinsky and the Ravel started well, but after that I did drift a bit, only coming back to full concert going life for the close. I might also say that I found the silver sequins on the top half of the violinist a bit distracting. But good to stray out of my comfort zone for once in a while.

Followed up with a visit to the nearly new robot kitchen shop just along the road, where the salesman was only too happy to show off his wares. The idea seemed to be that you put all the ingredients into little pots and then told the robot in what order to add them to the pan and what sort of stirring was required. Certainly good for mixing cocktails in an expensive bar as a gimmick, but it looked a long way off being actually useful to me.

But I must be selling it a bit short. Plenty of quite fancy looking food on show at reference 4 and the salesman did say something about the food man needing to work with the robot man to convert a regular recipe into something that the robot could handle. To translate the language of food to the language of the robot. I associate now to the business of translating ballet and dance to Labanotation, for which see reference 7.

Maybe you have to look more like a potential customer before he puts on a proper show.

2 Veneti of reference 5 was the place for lunch, a reliable place, one we use from time to time. Two sorts of bread to start. Then gnocchi, with the sauce involving leek and rabbit. Rather good. Followed by lamb's liver - which despite explaining that I wanted it less pink than the time before, was still pink and with what I thought was more than my fair share of chewy bits. Nicely presented though. Tiramisu to follow - the sort that comes in a small glass bowl - but good for all that. Taken with my usual 'Isidor Manzoni Bianco. Vigneti Belle Dolomiti. Fanti', which I like and which Bing understands well enough. Rounded off with a spot of Calva.

Failure of the liver apart, a good choice, a well balanced meal.

Some discussion of the difference between statins and beta-blockers. It turns out that the former do cholesterol and I don't do them, while the latter do heart beat and I do do them. Whereas I had thought they were all much the same. The things one talks about as one gets older! I am reminded of an acquaintance who told me the other day that even his passion for football was fading before the ailments of advancing age.

For some reason, instead of being in the body of the not very busy restaurant, we were given a table tucked away in the corner. But at least this meant that nobody was bothered about our loitering and we could keep our eye on our coats.

And then, on leaving, I nearly managed to leave my bus pass, train pass and travelcard in the middle of Wigmore Street, and I have a passing tourist to thank for not so doing. Which would not have been a serious loss of money, but which would have been a serious nuisance.

Despite all of which, since my stay in hospital, people seem much less quick to stand up for me than they were on tubes and buses.

Sign of water ingress in the corridors leading down to the platforms at Oxford Circus. Sandbags and all.

Cold by the time I got to Raynes Park, where I had a bit of a wait. So glad enough to turn collar up, put woolly hat on and pull the hood over all. Very cosy.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvo_P%C3%A4rt.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlo%C3%AB_Hanslip.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Driver.

Reference 4: https://www.moley.com/.

Reference 5: https://www.2veneti.com/.

Reference 6: https://notemachine.com/.

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