Kleio

This being notice of a Monday concert at the Wigmore Hall given by the Kleio Quartet. I did not know the Elgar, but thought that I would like it well enough and Haydn is always reliable.

Elgar Op.83, Weber Op.5 and Haydn Op.50 No.6.With the striking snap above lifted from the Wigmore Hall's website. Probably our first all lady quartet.

About the time of the moons and the keyboard accident noticed at reference 1. I wonder now whether the moon had got to me, resulting in the accident. About which I have yet to take any more remedial or mitigating action.

Travel via Ewell West, where we were a little early and so had a pleasant sit on a sun-facing bench, up on the platform. The starlings noticed at reference 2 were still there.

Plus a bit of botany in the form of a complicated shoot.

Plus some shaded fruit.

Plus some exuberant shoots up top.

The light is so different here that one would hardly think it the same shrub - but I think that it probably is. Google Images says Japanese spindle tree (Euonymus japonicus). The same as the plant which featured at reference 4?

While the exuberant shoots were box. And  zooming in on the leaves this morning, none of the distinctive serrations around the margins of the leaves visible on the other snaps. As it happens, we shall probably be visiting Ewell West again tomorrow, so I shall check that all these snaps do indeed come from the same plant, from the same hedge.

Scored one aeroplane at Wimbledon.

Next up was a small, timber framed office block at Vauxhall, which I had not noticed before and which was called Timber Paradise or something like that. To be found at reference 3 and named for Paradise Gardens, not the one up above. All present and correct on gmaps. Quite a decent bit of green space if Street View is anything to go by.

For once in a while, BH picked up a real newspaper, albeit only the Murdoch rag, once that pillar of the print establishment called 'The Times'. Not often that one comes across a paying-for newspaper these days, not like the olden days, when I was just starting out in the world of work in London.

New crockery and trimmings at Olle & Steen. Musak a bit louder. Was this makeover a response to falling turnover? Overreach with too many branches opening up? Maybe I should tell them to put less sugar on their otherwise excellent cardamon and almond buns?

But we did get some entertainment in the form of a couple of fully veiled ladies lifting their veils when they wanted a mouthful of their coffee or cake. I must say that they did it very neatly, with some elegance even.

Outside, a Bentley Bentayga, No. something 001, so a proper number plate for what I thought was rather a peculiar car. Ugly even. Definitely more for showing off than for anything else. But if it floats your boat, you can probably get a fairly new one for around £150,000 aka 50,000 pints of quite decent bitter in the Wetherspoon's at Epsom. Which is lot more than I am likely to get through now. Or an old one for much less; they don't seem to hold their price very well. 

Into the hall, where we had four computers, arriving in two waves. And a rather enthusiastic gentleman from Radio 3 - but at least I learned that the croaking of the frogs in the Haydn was achieved by playing pairs of notes - nominally the same pitch - with the first using one string and the second another. He was enthusiastic about the technique, if rather negative about it sounding like frogs.

Having thought that I would like the Elgar, at the very first bars I had the fleeting thought that it was going to send me to sleep - which it more or less proceeded to do. Not properly asleep, but there was certainly a certain amount of discrete nodding. 

The Webern was curious, but that was fine for a short, interval piece, as it were. It did prompt a bit of counting of the repeats in the pattern around the back of the stage.

From where I was sitting, the orange spot seemed to be just about in the middle, and the chap's feet made a convenient way marker. Moving the head was not allowed. This afternoon, with the help of the mouse I make it twenty. On the day, the Webern was not long enough to get to a stable count, but I remember it as being a bit more than twenty, so I guess from this angle, further back than we usually sit, some must have got lost in the margins.

Haydn as good as we have come to expect. But I missed out on the croaking, despite being told about it.

Out to the Lina Stores, where we had taken the precaution of booking on our way over from Olle & Steen, which was just as well as they were pretty full when we arrived just after 14:00, although it did thin out fairly quickly after that.

Opted for beer, rather than wine, going for this cloudy beer which appeared to be unfiltered. Perhaps the same sort of unfiltering that makes artisanal (farmhouse in old-speak) cider cloudy. Tasted fine.

Prawns good. Maybe we should have had two portions for the two of us, rather than one. Plus some more of their rather good bread, of course.

Linguine good again, although I did not need two portions on this occasion. BH opted for a vegetarian ravioli. Followed by a cake format tiramisu, also good. Helped along by a spot of yellow grappa, in a proper glass. And, for a change, an Expresso single - this not being something that I do very often after a meal.

The table next to us was occupied, soon after we arrived, by the quartet, complete with their instruments and various hangers on, including an older lady whom I took to be their agent. There was some performers' chatter, to properly appreciate which I think you need to be one, but they did not strike me as being very relaxed, and they neither ate nor drank very much. And there were some boxes from Pret on the table when we left, which was a bit odd. I associated to the agent whose book was noticed at reference 6. 

However, three of the four nipped outside for a fag break, and we found them outside when we left. I made some remark which one of them misunderstood, thinking I was trying to bum a fag - with which she could not oblige, as she at least was vaping. All taken in good part though. And they looked very pleased when I thanked them for the splendid concert.

It must be hard when you have just taken the plunge and you are trying to make a living as working musicians.

Scored a one at Earlsfield and missed a conversion to a two by a few seconds. Frustrating. But then, we were sitting inside the train and had only a west facing window, which makes things a lot more difficult.

More botany at RPPL and I was entertained by cecidology - the journal of the British Plant Gall Society - for the rest of the journey. Very much a niche enthusiasm, although, as it happens, this very gall has cropped up again in the last couple of days and I shall be taking another look.

But, given that I have got a lot of botany books from RPPL over the years - some of which I have still got - for example Bentham & Hooker - where are all they coming from? Is just one botanist whose library is slowly being cleared out, or do we have the library of some local botanical society being liquidated? 

The train from Raynes Park was crowded and, rather to our surprise, there was a mass exit at Ewell West, who mostly appeared to be heading for Ewell West rather than Ewell Village. Down market rather than up market. Another surprise was another ticket inspector - a breed which seems to have resurfaced after a prolonged hibernation. Is there a big push on?

Closed the day with the light skate soup, previously noticed.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/astronomy.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/wigmore-late.html.

Reference 3: https://paradise11.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/odd-pinnate-3.html.

Reference 5: https://www.linastores.co.uk/.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/08/life-in-string-quartet.html.

Reference 7: https://www.kleioquartet.com/.

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