End of term

This being the notice of the last lunch-time concert at St. Luke's of this Michaelmas Term. And given the state of the upcoming programs, who knows when I will be back? I have rather conservative tastes in these matters and while a bit of new in the schedules is all fine and good, I like to have a bit of late 18th early 19th century, middle-of-the-road substance as well. Wigmore Hall lunch-time programs are having the same problem: maybe the common thread is the failure of central funding, although it is hard to see the connection. Or is it that the Radio 3 people think that their audience needs lots of variety? Not enough to stick to the standard repertoire?

Be all that is it may be, off to a bad start with the chosen ticket machine rejecting my card - not for the first time. No surprise that the machine says 'Southern' on the front. Luckily the next-door machine did take my card and I had enough time to catch my intended train - which then proceeded not to stop at either Earlsfield or Vauxhall, citing signal failure, although here again it was hard to see how a signal failure would give one this particular result.

No Bullingdons on the ramp at Waterloo, so I walked across to Concert Hall Approach 2 and pulled one there, to pedal over Blackfriars Bridge, where the cold wind and what seemed to be the large number of traffic lights meant that it took me about the same time as a small young lady jogger to cross the bridge. Which made me feel my years.

On to Roscoe Street, where I would have had time for a last bacon sandwich if the stand there had not been full. So back to Finsbury Leisure Centre where there was a slot. Got a ham sandwich from the nearby Tesco and consumed it while watching the five-a-side from a bench set up on a platform for the purpose. The sandwich was factory ham on factory white, with a smear of mustard - and was quite good, reminding me that it was not just bacon sandwiches which are improved by factory white. Cheap as well, at £2.30 or so. I also learned that at least some five-a-side people go in for referees; perhaps they found the rules as confusing as I did.

Concert good, with a couple of string quartets. Mozart K.589 first, Tchaikovsky Op.11 second, it being at least the second time that I have heard this last. Must be all the thing just presently, with the Dorking people having featured the complete set of them earlier in the year. See reference 3. Ehnes, the man from Manitoba, continues to please with his quiet, self-effacing manners at first violin. See reference 4. Not quite as cold in Brandon this morning as it was on that first occasion, it being just about zero (centigrade) there - although there is a winter storm pushing up from North Dakota.

Refreshment downstairs again, after which I pulled the second and last Bullingdon of the day for the trip back to Waterloo.

Lots of construction activity. Lots of concrete wagons, lots of cement tankers, including one from Hanson and one from Civil & Marine, and lots of cranes, including one of those flashy jobs with booms. See reference 1. Not fully extended on this occasion. Oddly, google, knows about Civil & Marine cement, with lots of entries in business directories, but does not offer a proper web site, not going further than suggesting that it might be mixed up with Hanson. So about the same result at that recorded at reference 5, another day, as it happens, which started with problems with Microsoft. See reference 6.

As on the northbound journey, there seemed to be lots of lights going down the cycle expressway way on the western side of Farringdon Road, but I am getting the hang of it. To the point where I look with disfavour on the cyclists who continue  to share what it left of the road with the motor traffic there, no doubt irritating this last as well.

Pleased, at Waterloo, to get the pole position at the top of the ramp. First time for a while. Illustrated above, for the record.

PS: having done the leisure centre and the square on this occasion, once lived near the park and clocked the town hall (from the bus) on the orgo outing, moved this morning to look up the connection at reference 2. Reliable people at wikipedia.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/baldwins.html. With some very impressive pictures to be found at http://www.baldwinscranehire.co.uk/gallery.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finsbury.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/heath-quartet.html.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/bach-not-brahms.html.

Reference 5: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/clein.html.

Reference 6: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/grumpy-user.html.