Viola times

Thursday past off to St. Luke's again, for a programme which I was not too sure about and which, for me, did not work out too well in the event. Maybe there is a reason why the repertoire for the solo viola is a bit thin.

Off to a bad start, being irritated by a poster at Epsom Station containing a nature lovers' snap of a cuddly urban fox. They don't seem to understand that urban foxes are vermin and are not cuddly. Perhaps the people responsible are also the sort of people that feed them.

Then the screen on the telephone froze, needing a reboot to get it back into life again. Interestingly, the alarm clock survived the reboot to dish out an alarm at the intended time.

Things got better at Waterloo where I was able to pull a working Bullingdon from the second stand on the ramp, to pedal off to the Finsbury Leisure Centre, next to St. Luke's.

Close encounter with a Hanson cement tanker in Stamford Street while admiring a large mobile crane, I thought from Ainscough, but not now sure, as I remember a red crane, while the Ainscough livery featured at reference 1 is yellow. The encounter was not in the least threatening, but it did serve to show how easy it would be to wobble under such a thing at a junction. It went on ahead, but I was able to catch it on Blackfriars Bridge, where the lights were against him, but for me, zooming along the Cycle Superhighway - still unused to oncoming cycles, the Superhighways being two way streets. What about dual carriageways next? I also wondered about the transience of fame. Hanson was a very big cheese twenty or thirty years ago, but who has heard of him now?

At the church, our Radio 3 presenter, Fiona Talkington, put on her usual act, a little toned down from her usual exuberance, introducing us to Lawrence Power, who turned out to be a fine musician, let down to my mind by his music. I had been pinning my hopes on the Bach, the sonata for viola da gamba and harpsicord No. 3, given on this occasion with a viola and a grand piano and interleaved with the Turnage piece. Which, while there were some moments, did not work for me. The Bowen sonata likewise: it had its moments but did not really work for me.

Second leg. back from the Leisure Centre to St. Martin's Street, behind the National Gallery. With St. Martin's being a rather grander church than St. Luke's, but from a roughly similar period.

Quick tuna sandwich behind the gallery to keep me going. £2,50 for a couple of thin slices of factory white wrapping up what seemed like a huge quantity of tuna fish, albeit whipped well beyond its intended volume with something or other wet. Followed by a visit to Gaby's, a famous place in Charing Cross Road, often passed but, I think, never before visited. Where they were able to do me the best salt beef that I have had for a long time, not as good as the stuff you used to be able to get, many years ago, in Great Windmill Street, but a lot better than the stuff usually dished out. They also seemed to think that I needed a huge quantity of mustard but, luckily, that came in a separate bowl. Latke not so good, having been made quite a long time previously and warmed up for me. But an excellent place, to which I shall return.

Wikipedia knows all about Great Windmill Street. I never knew that the place used to be called the nosh bar, but I am reminded of the excellent chicken soup which was to be had there. See reference 2.

Wound up the proceedings by a touch of Vinho Verde from Terroirs, where we were served by a very cheerful young lady from Warsaw who assured us that Poland ran to both McDonald's and Broadband; not completely backward. But Terroirs could not do vin de bouleau, despite their otherwise fine collection of wine. While our waitress had never heard of the stuff, alleging that Poles did not do wine, preferring beer and vodka - and, to be fair to her, Poland was not one of the places earning a mention at reference 3.

One aeroplane at Clapham (from the train), one at Earlfield and two two's over the Wimbledon Traincare Depot. Lots of cloud, but high up. Maybe I could have done a four from a platform? Then an oddly large aeroplane at Wimbledon, perhaps joining the flight path late after swinging west into it from the south.

PS: Ms. Talkington is said by wikipedia to have an MA is in Literature and the Visual Arts from 1840 to 1940. Why would one stop at 1940? Is 1940 a 1066 in the history of same? A watershed where history is rebooted and restarted? She specialised in Kenneth Clark, that late but well known expert on nudity.

Reference 1: http://www.ainscough.co.uk/.

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

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/twittering.html.