Braces

Last to London, ostensibly for cheese but actually for braces.

Bad start in that a young lady in the next compartment talked loud & boring business into her telephone all the way to Waterloo. One could not help learning all about the dynamic & exciting environment in which the person to whom she was talking was working. She may have been angling for employment, being about to leave off being something in government.

Mildly diverted by the new building at Nine Elms which I noticed was called the Food Exchange. The website for which tells me that this will a dynamic & exciting environment in which to be a wannabee foodie entrepreneur. Awe inspiring. See reference 1.

There were some new model Bullingdons on the ramp at Waterloo, with the most conspicuous change being the improved lock bolt to the saddle column. The ones that I tried were out of order, so I was reduced to taking an old model for the 8 minute 11 seconds run to Drury Lane.

Mildly diverted on the exit onto the Waterloo roundabout by a mixer lorry with interesting flashy lights and dalek voice. What this turned out to mean was that it was swinging right before making a sharp turn left into concert hall approach. Just as well that I had kept well back.

Cheese shop busy. There were even some French people in it, deigning to buy, what was for them, foreign cheese. Maybe even hard yellow stuff instead of their more usual soft white stuff.

Barmaid with the tattoos missing from the Crown. Headed down towards the National Gallery to pass a shop front which was full of earnest looking young people communing with their Apple computers but might also have been a coffee bar. I think it was the place at reference 2: 'TY offers dynamic, independent creative public and private workspaces fused with speciality tea and coffee. A challenge to the traditional coffee shop, we are a new and exciting environment that aims to provide products and services that are conductive to the evolving needs of life in London'. No wonder the customers were looking a bit earnest.

The credit card hardly twitched at all as I went through Cecil Court, so the fad for buying second hand books must be on the wane. Not clear what sort of business the second hand book shops there were doing: they were rather small, rather expensive looking and their appearance did not encourage wandering in for a browse. And if it was all mail order over the internet, why bother having a shop in an expensive part of London? Was it all cover for some criminal or otherwise secret activity? Were the upper floors all chock full of the Covent Garden branch of the Security Service, in the way of some of the James Bond/Harry Palmer films of the 1970's?

Next stop Lipman's, a shop I have passed many times, but have never before managed to buy anything there. On this occasion I was able to buy some braces, intermediate in both price and quality between those of Moss Bros. of Epsom and those of Crombie of  Conduit Street. At the website for these last, I see that they are now part of the Abercrombie & Fitch family, otherwise just another brand in some larger outfit - which may explain why the Conduit Street shop was running down its supplies of braces on my last visit. I shall stick to Lipman for the time being - who got a bonus point for commenting on, and correctly naming my Manchester City scarf. I learn that this is another club which had been bought up by rich foreigners, these last from somewhere in the Persian Gulf, as part of balancing our international trade account. For that last visit to Crombies see reference 4.

Next to the National Gallery to sort out the puzzle noticed at reference 5. In at the back door, where the young lady at the desk went to some trouble to find out where the picture in question was, despite my knowing neither title nor painter. And so to Room 10 to decide that the Costa painting was indeed the one I was thinking of, despite the defects of memory about the shape of the painting and the number of people in it. Also, taking a bit more trouble with it, a much better painting than I had thought, despite the various failings of draughtsmanship, for example, the muddle underneath the neck of the lute - which taken out of its context it might be mistaken for a bit of abstract expressionism. The ticket explained that painters of this time - late 15th century - were interested in trying to capture scenes of this sort, trying to capture people in the act of singing, rather than just posing.

I was interested to see, when I zoomed in on the picture this morning on the Gallery website, that the music in front of them did not appear to be in modern notation. Sort of half way between that and the sort of thing that monks used to do plainsong from.

I felt that it being in a frame on a wall made a difference to the experience. Much more effective than panning around the thing on a big screen computer, despite the quality of reproduction the computer now offers. Partly because being in a gallery gives the viewing more of a sense of occasion. The difference between a concert in a concert hall and a concert on one's hifi. Or a film in a cinema and a film in one's living room.

Room 10 also contained what was for me a famous jigsaw, 'An Allegory of Love' by Garafalo. Good to see it again. See, for example, reference 6.

Out to come across some interesting wall panels to one of the staircases, wall panels which started life as frescos. Snap to follow. And then what seemed to be a remodelled main entrance. Much more light and airy, floor mosaics shown off to much better effect. I thought they had done rather well. And just by the stairs down to the exit, a room full of paintings by a Finnish painter who was, inter alia, keen on one particular lake. Snap to follow.

Bacon sandwich at the café in Duncannon Street. Rather good and, having had this sandwich, I think I prefer my bacon to be cooked rather than crisped.

Rather odd bar next door, 'Halfway to Heaven' or some such, with an even odder cellar bar below. Maybe interesting clientele of an evening.

For my second Bullingdon, from William IV Street, I did manage to get a new model. Then, in the course of my 10 minutes 50 seconds run back to Waterloo, I learned that King's College have taken over Bush House, a once prestigious building full of prestigious corporate clients. I hope the students show respect. I also had to pedal hard on Waterloo bridge, it being down to single track in both directions while it is being mended. A pain for motor vehicles stuck behind older people on bicycles.

Pole position on the ramp, as illustrated above.

Reference 1: http://brand.newcoventgardenmarket.com/food-exchange.

Reference 2: https://tyuk.com/.

Reference 3: http://www.lipmanandsons.co.uk/.

Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/wigmore-two.html.

Reference 5: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/vespers.html.

Reference 6: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/jigsaw-5-series-3.html.