Bad start when I tried to work one of the shiny new ticket machines which had been recently installed at Epsom Station by Southern - and some of which were actually working. The interface had been changed slightly and one had to thump the so-called touch screen to get it to respond - but I got there in the end.
Off at Waterloo to pull a Bullingdon from stand 3 on the ramp, a ramp which now contains various fences and barriers, which one supposes to be a combination of defence against terrorists and works access while they rebuild the platforms at the Epsom end of the station. Pedalled off to Drury Lane, a journey taking all of 10 minutes and 32 seconds. During which I was rather struck by a middle aged man cycling in very short shorts and no shoes or socks at all. I value my feet so not something I would care to do at all. Maybe he was a veggy or even a naturist.
Into the Grand Lodge where the attendants were most respectful; perhaps they mistook me for some high ranking mason. In any event, the museum was open and I found the sword, to find that it had been downgraded. I was sure that the story had been that this was the sword carried by Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lützen (at which he was killed and where his body was subject to some abuse before recovery), a sword which somehow found its way to the Duke of Norfolk and then from him to the Grand Lodge. The story now was that the blade of the sword may have that found lying on the king's body, while the sword as a whole had been subject to serious restoration work since, with a rebuild in the early eighteenth century. So right age, but provenance uncertain.
To make up, I came across the ornamental trowel which had been used to lay the foundation stone of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre by Lord Ampthill - and probably never used in anger again. To quote from reference 2: 'In July 1929 the Foundation Stone of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon was laid with full Masonic ritual by Lord Ampthill, pro-Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, using an old Egyptian maul used at Sakhara four thousand years ago. Six hundred Masons were present at the ceremony, in full regalia...'. When I read on I may find out how the Masons got in on this particular act.
Onto the cheese shop in Short's Gardens, where I got what turned out to be a fine piece of Poacher.
To the Crown to take refreshment, where the barmaid with the tattoos was missing. See reference 3.
To Charing Cross Road, to pay a long overdue visit to two of the second hand bookshops which are still there: 'Henry Pordes Books' and 'Any Amount of Books'. Managed a book each, illustrated above, to which I shall return in due course. I think that it was one of these two shops from which I bought our first edition of the OED, once the property of the Royal Grammar School at Guildford (aka King Edward VI's Grammar School), a purchase which has proved well worth while over the years.
To Gerry's in Old Compton Street to check their stock, which was as impressive as ever. Good quality plastic bags too.
Tea, flan and cakes in a pleasant small café (with, for once, an English waitress) somewhere near the once celebrated 'Coach and Horses', a place I used to like to use from time to time in the days when I used to drink beer. Probably gone downhill since then. Flan was rather good, involving broccoli rather than the bacon which BH uses. Rather good, that is, in the sense that it was rather good for a café flan - but not in the same league as one which has been fresh cooked by BH. Best about an hour out of the oven; that is to say cooling down but still having the softness and lightness which is lost once the thing goes cold or, worse still, put in a refrigerator.
Strolled across to Waterloo to be entertained by what must be one of the biggest television screens in the country, used for advertising, and to be defeated by the self service machines in Smiths. Not a patch on those to be found in the Epsom branch of Waitrose.
PS: trying and failing to track down the café this afternoon, I had occasion to try the bing version of streetview. Which does much the same sort of thing as the google version, but is packaged up in a different way. A good feature is that it is easier to control where you are in what they call streetside, but it is early days yet. We shall see if it catches on.
Reference 1: http://ugle.org.uk/.
Reference 2: http://www.sirbacon.org/Dawkinsfrmsnry.htm.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/wine-and-cheese.html.
Group search key: chd.
No comments:
Post a Comment