Off at Vauxhall to notice that the clock noticed at reference 3 had been taken down in favour of a screen which was blank apart from a central mouse pointer. Pleased to see that TFL are on the case.
Oxford Circus quiet at 1045, but All-Bar-One was doing a brisk trade in quite decent looking cooked breakfasts, which came complete with two dolls' house saucepans, one presumably for beans, two for I can't think what. Surely not grits? Smarties were on for us.
Flowers in the hall very good, topped out with some handsome strelitzia, not too big.
Dante Quartet in very good form, with the Beethoven as good as I remember it. Only marred by a fidgeting couple immediately in front of us. I had the chap, whose head jerked around at irregular intervals, attending to his ears and nails in between whiles. I almost tapped him on the shoulder, but desisted in favour of keeping my eyes shut most of the time. Which made an interesting change. The audience seemed to include quite a lot of holiday makers.
For some reason, we thought to give the restaurant downstairs a try, having looked at it and wondered often enough, with being put off by the low ceiling, thinking that it might get a bit hot and sweaty, which I do not like at all. In the event, off to a slow start, but we had a very good lunch, involving, in my case quail, haddock and cheddar. The quail was a first for me and was good enough, despite coming with rather too much clear yellow chutney as well as cous-cous - but I don't think I would go to much bother to have it again. Haddock very good for a restaurant. Cheddar not bad, served with quince jelly, but otherwise managing without the many trimmings that seem to be de rigueur in pubs. And being sat at the back, by the stairs out to the street, neither hot nor, as it happens, drafty. Might be different in the winter.
Out to pay a visit to the long neglected Wallace Collection. Fragonard's lady on a swing was in very good form, and I associate now to the famous, if rather tacky, scene in Ulysses. Did Joyce know about it? We were reminded of how many good paintings there are in the Wallace - and how much erotica - with there being some overlap between the two categories. BH was amused to find some instructions about the 13 movements appropriate to the proper taking of snuff, while I was struck by the huge amount of decorative work poured into firearms. All that trouble about things intended for killing things, if only for show or in sport. Also by the feeble appearance of many of the stocks, compared with those of modern shotguns. Presumably these old guns did not pack much of a punch.
The visit closed with an entertaining allegory of true love, by Pourbus from 1570 or so. To be illustrated in the next post. Similar background, but not really much like the jigsaw of reference 4 at all, also known as an allegory of love.
PS: the illustration is of a piece of public art which must have been snapped somewhere in the region of Bond Street tube station. But I forget now where. Caught my eye in the light of the activity noticed at reference 1. Not particularly arty, but harmless and not involving decapitated horses (as in Park Lane), cutaway ladies (as on the end of Ilfracombe Pier) or anything else of that sort.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/diy.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/navarrad.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/silver-stick.html.
Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/jigsaw-2-series-2.html.
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