Grub up

A visit to the Wigmore Hall which, in the event, involved rather a lot of food. Plus, for me, a rather unusual programme: Szymanowski and Poulenc rounded off by a bit of Schubert (D895).

A concert which might have been put on by the Young Classical Artists Trust (of reference 9), given that I take the DIY programme to mean that it is not something put together by the Wigmore Hall, they just hire their hall out.

But not so DIY that they do not appear in the archive at the hall, as snapped above. Perhaps from musicians point of view, getting into the archive seals their appearance and they can include it on their CV's. We are also told that 'Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux is a joint YCAT-Concert Artists Guild Artist, and in 2022 was nominated as a Rising Star by Classic FM. She led the Quatuor Confluence to First Prize at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival in 2021. Highlights this season include a chamber tour with Sinfonia Cymru, recordings of Schubert for Delphian Records, a return to the CBSO to perform Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending and a lunchtime recital in the Konzerthaus Berlin'. No mention of Havlat. But quite a lot of previous appearances at the Hall between them.

All of which, in the event, all turned out rather well.

A day which, however, had started out cold and overcast. Rain was a possibility. Furthermore, my telephone was playing up and was reporting problems with its SD card, inherited from the Microsoft telephone which came before the Samsung. So leave a bit early and pay a visit to the O2 shop in the Ashley Centre where I am attended to. The camera is redirected to main memory, which seems to solve the problem, and I learn that SD cards are rather old-speak. Temperamental and manufacturers no longer bother with them much, main memory have got big enough for the need to be much reduced. O2 no longer sells them, let alone attempt to do anything with one which is on the blink. Sir had better try one of those mobile joints on the High Street. 

Taking it out probably not a good plan in the short term as a great swathe of pictures will go with it, but maybe that will be sensible in a month or so's time. They are all backed up elsewhere and I rarely look at old pictures on the telephone - not least because the part of the user interface which I know about is not very good at history. All of which meant that I ended up at Epsom Station a little early for my intended train and decided to opt for Victoria instead.

Where it was a bit damp, but that did not stop me pulling a Bullingdon there. 

Another large hole in Victoria Street. Once again, not able to recall what was there before.

Whitehall OK, but it did seem like a bit of a pull up to Piccadilly Circus from Trafalgar Square and I was glad enough of stops at lights to catch my breath. Another hole in Oxford Street, on which the Samsung had a bit of bother focussing properly.

Took a beverage at the Cock & Lion where the seating had been reorganised since my last visit. Instead of a low bench and sensible chairs, there was a raised bench running along the wall opposite the bar, with high tables and high chairs. Not my scene at all, but there was still the odd low table left.

At first (this morning that is) I was unsure whether the table lower right was genuine timber or some sort of plastic veneer. However, zooming in on the edge trim, the grain of the trim follows that of the top. So my vote is for timber - with another for the power of zoom. Visible here on a laptop if you click to enlarge, possibly on a telephone too, where I think you still get some zoom.

Onto the hall which was around half full. Some masks among the older regulars who like to sit at the front. Flowers dominated by yellow pompoms and orange strelitzia, balanced by plenty of mixed green backdrop. One very groomed older gent with very combed blonde hair. Possibly involving the hair dresser's art. One lady with a lot of brown hair - but with a striking core of emerging white when she looked up.

Musicians young. Computer for the violin, pages and page turner for the piano, except the piece which he had arranged himself and for which a second computer was needed.

A young performance and I got on rather well with most of the programme, but I must have been dozing off at one point as I found myself seeing the violinist in double, one next to the other. Something which happens sometimes when I am tired, but which is usually dissipated fast enough by a bit of blinking. Not so easy on this occasion and it seemed to take a little while to clear it. All very odd. No encore, which I thought was fine after the Schubert: he did not need capping.

Pulled my gear from the cloakroom and headed off along a windy Wigmore Street to a fairly busy All-Bar-One, where I opted for a double paella. With the waitress coming back after a while to check that double meant double: she looked just a touch sheepish when I explained that the portions were rather small. Part of one of the portions being snapped above. And inverting a plate over the other portion to keep it warm, I was pleased to find that the plate was actually made in England rather than being imported from somewhere in the Far East. We do still make some stuff at least. In this case, Steelite by name, to be found at reference 1.

A website which supports something called a mood board. Presumably something needed by someone putting together an integrated decorative package for a fine dining experience.

Paella still good, if a little marred by a puddle of reddish oil (chorizo dyed) oozing out at the bottom.

Out to stroll down to Soho Square. With the first item of interest being the handsome six-potter snapped above. One fire for each floor, counting one of the two mansards and a sub-ground?

Notice how they have made a feature of the shrinking number of flues inside as you drop down the building.

Then a representative of a chain we once used to have in a rather cramped premises in South Street in Epsom. My memory being that it was a chain which started in Edinburgh, grew to overreach itself and then collapsed back into a rump. With the Epsom branch being a bit pretentious and a bit expensive for what it was. Reference 2 not much help, but reference 3 confirms my recollection on this occasion, adding the new news that it was a franchise. While reference 4 tells of a rather messy bankruptcy, involving a moon light flit to Paris in a rented van. Presumably the Dean Street franchisee survived the crash.

Amused by a public house, done up from its old Soho days, with a board outside saying that it was selling traditional pub food. Perhaps not run by someone old enough to remember the days when public houses did not sell food, other, perhaps, than the odd sandwich knocked out by mine host's wife, out of sight of the tax man. An oxymoron?

The sister establishment to the Toucan that we used to use near the Wigmore Hall, now a Be-At-One, this one just by Soho Square. Pulled a second Bullingdon at this point with a view to Vauxhall. Mostly downhill this way.

Ukrainian flags flying from the top of the Cabinet Office, the FCO and what used to be the Treasury building (GOGGS) in Whitehall then Parliament Street.

There seemed to be lots of police in and around Parliament Square, but perhaps that is normal these days.

Came across a rather shabby building behind the Albert Embankment called the National Crime Agency, a 'non-ministerial civil service department', but looking from reference 5 to be police rather than civilian and possibly carved out of the Metropolitan Police in some fit of re-organisational zeal. Nothing to do with the CJIT whom I was once with.

And so to the Tea House Theatre to take tea. The people at reference 6. Quite busy at 16:00. What appeared to be real flowers on the tables. Perhaps the marble cake was a bit much after the double paella. Decent enough in its way, but including rather a lot of butter icing, or perhaps chocolate flavoured margarine icing.

Stocked up on strawberry jam from Bugden, as first noticed at reference 7.

The road by the arches I once used to walk every morning on my way to the Home Office HQ on Horseferry Road. In the days when the back entrance to Vauxhall Station was open in the mornings. And sometimes some curious sights in and around the arches.

For once in a while, a trick of the light made me think that the stainless steel art over Vauxhall bus station was quite impressive.

A crowded train, with a quite a few children. Without BH, no-one thought to offer me a seat and so I was standing until Stoneleigh or Ewell West. To think that once I used to make a game of standing in the train without holding on - a game which took me a bit of practise to get any good at. But then, I had years and years of it.

Home to the trolley at reference 8 and news of a funeral skirmish at TB.

References

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

Reference 2: http://www.pierrevictoire.com/london/restaurant/.

Reference 3: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/victim-of-the-chain-gang-1166693.html.

Reference 4: https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/pierre-victoire-restaurant-chain-returns-after-spectacular-collapse-1719175.

Reference 5: https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/.

Reference 6: https://www.teahousetheatre.co.uk/.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/tate-and-pie.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/04/trolley-669.html.

Reference 9: https://www.ycat.co.uk/.