Saturday was rather a wet day, but I wasn't too concerned as I knew I'd be spending a lot of it sitting in a train. I caught the train to London at 11.15, and arrived just before 1.30, so I was at my sister's by just after 2.30. Shortly after that, the rain was descending in stair rods, so we had no desire to go out and seek culture until there was some prospect of going out without getting soaked. However, we had time to have a good search in newspapers and on-line, and decided to visit the theatre.
We settled for The Duchess of Malfi, which was on at The Old Vic. It wasn't completely sold out, so we were able to get tickets. We were pleasantly surprised because we were able to get inexpensive tickets (£20) at the front of the Circle, in an area known as the slips. These seats are a bit to the side, but close enough to see and hear very well, as long as you don't mind having to turn your head to the side. Considering that the other price of seat we were offered was £75, this seemed a very good deal. Apparently these seats in the slips are only available on the day of the performance.
It was a play which was slightly familiar - I had read it at University, so we knew what to expect; the usual Shakespearian/Jacobean tragedy, first act strewn with rushes, last act strewn with corpses. But we found it really riveting and compelling, with some horrific moments, like the slow strangulation of the Duchess on stage. The last act, with the Duchess being already dead, just piles up more corpses, with the Duchess' waiting woman having her neck gruesomely and loudly broken, and all the main cast members eventually ending up dead. After the curtain calls the cast reminded us of one of the play's themes, that of the so-called 'honour killing' and asked us to donate to a charity which takes care of those who might otherwise be victims of this grisly crime.
Although I found it very gripping, I was also quite gripped by a digestive problem, and probably shouldn't have eaten any supper. So I was quite uncomfortable throughout the performance, and was glad to get back to bed. I found it hard to sleep though with the digestive pain, and as I had already taken a full dose of Zantac, I wasn't able to take any more. I have no idea what brought on the problem, but at least it was the only time during my visit, so it could have been worse.
When we woke on Sunday, it was to more stair rods of rain, so we had no incentive to go out until the weather improved a bit. Then we went to the Picasso exhibition at Tate Britain. I must say I had no idea Picasso had influenced so many modern British artists; the exhibition showed works by Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Frances Bacon, Graham Sutherland and David Hockney alongside some of Picasso's work so that the influence became obvious, even to my untutored eye. The exhibition was extremely crowded so I couldn't take pictures, though I managed some of the prints in the shop.
I don't like a lot of Picasso's work, but I did enjoy the exhibition. Afterwards, as it was cold and a bit damp again, we just went back to supper.
I didn't have time to do much on Monday, around getting my hair done and visiting the British Museum to confess that, in my perambulations around the world, I have managed to lose my Friends' card, and need to have it replaced so I can go to the exhibitions free of charge.
I was able to wander a bit in the museum, but it was a wonderfully sunny day and my hair appointment loomed, so I caught a bus to St Paul's as the hairdresser is near there. I know the tube would have been quicker, but it was too beautiful a day to disappear into a hole in the ground. I ate my lunch in the cafe in the crypt of St Pauls, which was lovely and cool. I found I was much too warmly dressed as the temperature soared. Really, the weather recently has been most confusing.
After the haircut etc, I caught another bus to Oxford Street and wandered the whole length of it. I feel a bit starrved of London, but at the moment the whole place is full of tourists and it's quite hard to get about because of the crowds. Later, I went to meet my sister (using the Tube this time, squashed in like a sardine and wretchedly hot) and we caught a train south of London to where we had booked supper with my other son.
I though Tuesday should be another day of culture, so I went to the Royal Academy in the morning to see the Zoffany exhibition.
I didn't know a lot of his work, apart from the portraits of George 3rd and Queen Charlotte, but I enjoyed some of it a great deal, particularly the theatrical paintings. The paintings of court and bourgeois family life I didn't like so much, but there were one or two paintings, notably one of some beggars on the road to Stanmore, which I was really taken with, so I was glad I went to see it. No photographs were allowed of course - and it was a bit too crowded anyway. After lunch at the Royal Academy, I wandered down Picadilly and ducked into the Burlington Arcade when it suddenly started to rain. It's years since I've seen anybody in London getting a shoe shine.
The rain didn't last long, and I decided to play the tourist and pay a visit to Westminster Abbey, somewhere I haven't been for over 50 years. I would guess quite a few Londoners don't visit these places, or only go once as children and then never again.
You can view Westminster Abbey as a tourist attraction, a place of pilgrimage, or a collection of art. It was the art and architecture I went to see, though it is clearly a busy church as well. My back was starting to ache, so I couldn't spend too long there - anyway, on most days you have to leave by 4.30 because evensong is at 5 pm. The architecture is amazing, especially some of the fan vaulting which looks almost as if it is made of delicate white icing rather than stone. There is also exquisite carving and guilding to admire, 15th century altarpieces, stained glass, tiny decorated chapels, the Cosmati pavement, and a wealth of decorated tombs, many of former kings and queens. I was disappointed not to see the coronation chair, but it as been taken away for conservation.
The abbey museum is also of interest, as it has funerary figures dating back to Edward 3rd, mostly of kings and queens, but there is also one of Nelson. I knew he was a small man, but you only realise quite how tiny he was when you are standing next to him. You aren't allowed to take any pictures, which is a pity, but I did take some of the cloisters.
After that I badly needed a seat and a cup of tea, so went to the Jewel Tower. But it was too hot to sit outside, and my back was too painful to allow me to go in for further sightseeing, so I walked past the Houses of Parliament and the statues
and the thousands of tourists and caught a tube to Embankment from where I crossed the Hungerford Bridge, pausing to admire the wonderful views of the river
And stopped at the Royal Festival Hall for a comfortable seat with a nice cup of tea. I really do miss London!
Just after 6.30 I met my sister at the National Theatre for supper, then we saw Collaborators, a new play about Stalin and Mikhail Bulgakov. I found it fascinating, with its themes of the dreadful compromised an artist may have forced on him by a dictatorship, and the ways in which he can be humiliated. The powerlessness of the individual when confronted by the state and the arbitrariness of the individual's fate were truly chilling, and make you appreciate life in Britain all the more - thank goodness we don't live under a dictatorship.
Wednesday was the day of my talk, and I intended to be in London early to do my final preparations. I was in plenty of time to catch the 9.24 train and there was a 9.39 train as a backup. Unfortunately, both were cancelled! The next one, due at 9.54, didn't arrive until nearly 10, so I wasn't back in my old office until nearly 11. This meant I was quite short of time to prepare for the talk. Fortunately, there were no problems and the talk went well. Afterwards, I caught up with various emails and things in my old office until going home time, and then went to Euston for my train back to Manchester.
The house in Manchester wasn't much further forward. Most of the kitchen is in place, and the fridge is now in the kitchen as well - no more barefoot early morning trips to the garage for milk for breakfast! More problems have emerged with kitchen building though, so it still isn't in a finished state. It seems quite daft, but you can buy, from an apparently reputable DIY store, a wine rack to fit next to your kitchen cupboards which has a set of compartments none of which is big enough for any known wine bottle. I can't imagine how they are still being sold! The Ikea wall top cabinets are only supposed to need two screws, but they seem to be too heavy, even without any contents, for the walls here. And though the kitchen sink and the dishwasher are in place, it still isn't a working sink or a working dishwasher, so we are continuing to wash the dishes in the bathroom.
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