Victorian Haydn

That is to say a Sunday morning concert at the Wigmore Hall which involved travelling via Victoria Station because lines through Wimbledon were out of action for engineering works. The Wihan Quartet giving us Op.76 No.3 and Op.64 No.5, the emperor and the lark respectively. A Czech string quartet currently in residence at the Trinity College of Music, across the river from the Isle of Dogs, with reference 1 suggesting a fair amount of work in the UK. Seemingly not heard by us despite their 40 years together.

The day was set to be hot, so not a day to be stuck on the Victoria Line in central London, our experience being that this particular line and the passages serving it can get uncomfortably hot.

There were trains running to Worcester Park from Epsom, but the one I saw departing had just one passenger on  it. I then nodded off on the train to Victoria which followed, to wake up at Clapham Junction to what seemed like a sea of people around me dressed in bright yellow. I never did get to find out what was happening. Exit at Victoria to head for the bus stops in Grosvenor Gardens, admiring the quaint garden shed snapped above on the way. The sort of thing I associate with the better class of seaside resorts, places like Yarmouth and Sidmouth.

Took a No.2 bus and found that my telephone was much more helpful about the route to come than the in-bus displays which only bothered with the next stop. I didn't have to do much more than key 'no.2 bus route' into it. Much easier than asking the driver behind his glass screen, even supposing that that is permitted these days.

Past the decapitated horse at Hyde Park Corner to view a great sprawl of tents, booths and fences over a large chunk of park. I would just as soon do without and keep the park, but I suppose being close to a non-user of Hyde Park I don't have much say. I do wonder though, with so many of these sprawls springing up, whether any of them make a decent living. Are all the holiday makers really impressed and entertained by the this sort of thing? Does London really have to go head-to-head with the tacky end of a seaside resort?

Olle & Steen quite busy at 10:45, with a bit of a wait for coffee. And with one rich looking foreign lady with two large boys not seeming to have much in the way of queue manners. It was as if she thought she was the only person in the shop. Or, at least, the only person that mattered. And to add insult to injury, the young lady who served me had great trouble understanding what I was saying and I wound up with a small amount of milk in my coffee, which was not what I wanted. In the event, it mattered less than I had thought it would. Perhaps it was only a dribble before the barista realised her mistake. A job which must be a bit grim at times, with a steady stream of tickets dribbling out of a little machine at one end of your work-station. Is there no end to it? I guess you just have to pace yourself and work to a steady rhythm without paying any attention to how many people are waiting. Or to how rich and important they are.

Concert very good, once again. The wheeze with coffee certainly seems to be working!

All Bar One for lunch, where I opted for prawns to supplement the paella. Which worked well, except that the prawns did not need to be smothered in quite so much oily stuff. BH went for her usual maki bowl plus chicken. Pleasant ambience, neither too busy or too quiet. Pleasant staff. A good value offering. There were even people with real fags on outside.

The only downer was that I learned that the saffron in the paella was a very quick and effective way to stain a shirt. Fortunately it was not a very big stain.

Out to find some rather ridiculous armour on offer somewhere in Margaret Street, with Nos.17&18 being visible in reflection. Possibly Apollo Art Auctions at Nos.63&64, but I could see nothing very corroborative at reference 2. I assume that the armour was made for show and I wonder who on earth would want such a thing in his house now. Bit big and expensive for a restaurant or a hotel. Maybe an oligarch who joined one of those re-enactment societies to occupy his retirement from oligarchy? Would his fellow cosplayers think it a bit OTT? With cosplay being a word I discovered last Christmas and noticed at reference 4.

Into an empty All Saints (of reference 3) to soak up the atmosphere - which on this occasion included a good bit of incense left over from morning service.

I was impressed by the seats which did not look cheap and were in very good condition. But could they match the hundreds to Sunday service claimed for St. Bartholomew the Great?

It might be my favourite church, at least for the moment, even if the snap above captures little of the atmosphere of the place. Would Archbishop Ramsey of reference 5 have approved? He was High Church, was very keen on the Eucharist, liked smells but was not particularly into fancy dress and processions.

Another view. The destination was the cheese shop in Seven Dials, so a matter of heading vaguely east and south.

With the first stop on the way being Dennys, with a window majoring on kitchen knives. Closer inspection however suggested that they were really a catering clothes shop, with a few accessories like glass cloths thrown in. Agatha Christie would have approved as they sell the sort of glass cloths we used to call tea towels when I was a child, with just the odd border stripe by way of decoration. No pictures of pot plants, cuddly animals or anything else. I remember in the story set in Bertram's Hotel, she put words into the mouth of Miss. Marple about the irritating modern habit of printing pictures on everything. See reference 6. But if I am by there when it is open, I might pop in for a natty looking crumb scraper, which would probably work better than a credit card or the edge of a magazine.

Next was a hotel with a lot of very flamboyantly dressed men taking the air outside. Plus a few women. It turned out that they were having a champagne brunch followed by a drag show. I dare say we would have been welcome enough to join in, but the cheese was calling. I dare say also they would have been very happy to have had some photographs taken, even with a telephone, but I did not think to ask.

Next stop was a pleasant garden fashioned in a courtyard just off Rathbone Place, complete with outdoor art. Probably part of the development celebrated at reference 8.

Plus this place, the very flashy looking restaurant at reference 9 - which calls itself a traditional Sicilian trattoria. However, when I get to the menu, no fiercer than 2Veneti, so maybe for trolley No.800?

The back of what was the hospital for women in Soho, where a correspondent once took the odd shift. Long since closed, but I forget what has become of the building.

Next was some rather untidy gardens fashioned out of what had been a bomb site and after that a parking lot, tucked in behind the Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road. Apparently the last survivor of a number of such projects scattered about London. So rather untidy, maintenance of both paths and plants a bit uncertain. Some rather odd people. And we saw one rather tame rat, probably standing in for hundreds of them. But for all that, a peaceful spot in a busy part of London. Good luck to them!

Another view.

And some echiums escaped from the Ventnor Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight, their proper home.

After which we finally made it to the cheese shop, where chat with a helpful and well-informed counterhand resulted in the fake post at reference 7.

With our last stop of the day being the 'Two Brewers' in Monmouth Street where we took something sweet and fizzy, probably orange in colour. A perfectly decent house of the old style (albeit refurbished and serving food), further distinguished by having the smallest small room that I ever remember using. It was fashioned in a corner of some kind and one had to take care with the order & manner with which one put one's feet through the door. However, once inside, clean, decent and in working order. Should I report them to the Guinness Book of Records? I dare say they have an entry for such places.

Outside the one and only original 'Ivy' restaurant, not to be confused with all the look-alikes which have sprung up all over the place. Perhaps now in the turnover-greedy hands of private equity? The point at issue being that I have never seen Bullingdons just dumped in the street like this. Other brands yes, but not this one, with the mandatory use of parking slots being what keeps them tidy.

Turned up by Bing, from a piece dated 29th January this year at the trade website at reference 11. Caring being an enterprising chap who made his money from clothing. Arab money yes, regular private equity no.

Onto the Northern Line at Leicester Square, where a young man was very quick to offer me a seat in the crowded train. Foreign, of course. Changed at Kennington onto another crowded train. But up on the overground platform, I did manage some rolling twos and at least two threes. My best performance for months. Very few seats on the platform, none at our end, but at least when we got on the train another young man, for once English, offered me a seat fast enough. Perhaps I was looking a bit tired by then. But it had been a good day.

PS 1: pleased to see at Kennington that the Self Winding Clock Company of New York was still alive and well. Finding previous notice of which is left as an exercise for the interested reader.

PS 2: and to indulge in a bit of name dropping for once in a while, I was in an upstairs room in the original 'Ivy', being sold something over a not particularly good meal, when news of 9/11 came through. I forgot what it was that we were being sold, but a lot of those present got very busy on their mobiles. I repaired to TB where I got the full story.

PS 3: copyright protection at reference 11 below was no match for the power of Microsoft's Snipping Tool. But thank you anyway for the use of the material.

References

Reference 1: https://wihanquartet.co.uk/.

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

Reference 3: https://asms.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/lisiecki-and-raymo-2005-used.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/ramsey.html.

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

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/fake.html.

Reference 8: https://rathbonesquare.com/residential/the-building/.

Reference 9: https://www.bigmammagroup.com/en/trattorias/circolo-popolare.

Reference 10: https://www.thephoenixgarden.org/.

Reference 11: https://www.restaurantonline.co.uk/. Where I was amused to read that the Savoy Hotel is set to auction off some of its furniture and fittings ahead of a major refurbishment project. Regular car boot sale.

Reference 12: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Caring.

Reference 13: Keir Starmer accepted £76,000 of freebies including tickets to over 20 football games: Commons register of interests shows Labour leader’s declarations in last parliament spanned concerts to clothing - Jim Pickard, Chris Cook, Anna Gross, Financial Times - 2024. Not really a big deal, but I do think the less of him for being so relaxed about such matters.