Bad start to the proceedings with another new waiter in the Market Café, a new waiter who understood even less of my English than the last one, with the result that my bacon sandwich was both toasted and crusted. Which was OK, but not what I wanted. I do not particularly care for toasted sandwiches - although I do not mind buttered toast. Different thing altogether.
St. Luke's had the Elias Quartet - now heard quite a few times (see, for a start, reference 1) - supported by Huw Watkins on the piano - not heard before - do Stravinsky's 'Three Pieces for String Quartet' and Elgar's Piano Quintet, this last being a line-up which I often like.
Stravinsky interesting, might improve with exposure. Quintet started off well, echoes of both Brahms and the very roughly contemporary Dvořák, but I started to lose my grip somewhere in the second movement. Plus what struck me as a rather loud finish.
Leaving aside the rather irritating intrusion of a BBC presenter but including the page turner (who one couldn't do without), we had six people on the stage sharing four piano stools, two regular stools and eight microphones. The page turner fumbled the turn once, the pianist did appear to be playing from the score, at least some of the time, and did appear to be paying more attention to his colleagues than often seems to be the case.
After which, off to be impressed by Tooting Library in Mitcham Road, offering books in an impressive range of languages. Bright, cheerful, well stocked and well used.
The Polish shop had even more trouble than usual with my English, but the kabanos were fine, albeit a little salty. And wrapped, old style, in brown paper. None of this cling film and plastic bag nonsense. I could also buy chickens' feet. pigs' feet and what might have been pig's tongue. For cows' feet you had to go to the Halal people next door.
The cheerful lady in 'Mixed Blessings' remembered me and managed to sell me a bottle of something called 'Irish Moss', something she remembered her mother making up for her as a child. Supposed to be a Jamaican speciality, although this particular bottle was made in Kent, by Koolvibes Drinks of Folkstone. See reference 2. We have yet to give it a go. I also took a loaf of wholemeal, which was not to my taste at all. I suspected that they had used cheap flour, not proper bread flour at all, and that they had added sugar. Never again. But the fruit bun was fine.
Next item was taking in a few minutes of a televised debate from our House of Commons. Maybe as many as a dozen opposition MPs and far fewer government ones. I saw parts of two opposition speeches, both very badly delivered, no panache at all. Mostly read if you please, something which requires far more skill than these two could muster. The content might have been fine but the dullness made sure that none of it got through - and I dare say it was a matter of vastly greater importance than the drivellings (aka twitterings) of the ex-mayor of London. What is our democracy coming to?
The busy Wetherspoons barmaid was very good about my playing whisky games, wanting shots from three different bottles, an experiment which had interesting results: blind tastings for people who fancy that they know about their booze is always good for a laugh. I was also led to wonder about whether they play rugby in the RAF, à propos of some anecdote about the behaviour of Army & Navy rugby types in the Barmy Arms at Twickenham. A place which we have certainly visited in the past, eaten in even, but which does not appear to have been bloticed.
Wound up the proceedings with a quick two at Earlsfield, not bad considering the low cloud.
PS: the only Watkins known to any of my blogs seems to be the Watkins who made and sold the famous mushroom sauce.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Elias+Quartet.
Reference 2: www.kvdrinks.co.uk. A site which is, sadly, non existent, although Irish moss is well known to google. So: 'Irish moss is a seaweed which was originally found around Ireland, hence the name, with the Irish consuming the stuff during the famine of the 19th century. It also grows on sea rocks in Jamaica, so the Irish migrants to Jamaica were able to bring the tradition of the Irish moss with them. It is now one of Jamaica’s most notorious drinks among men (and some women) who seek “vigor”. It is believed “to put lead in your pencil “, “put it back” and boost energy that will lead to an increased libido. It is also used by many as a herbal medicine'.
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