Symphony

For once in a while, last Sunday to an afternoon symphony concert, given by the Philharmonia Orchestra.

There had been a frost earlier, but a fine spring day by 1300 when we set off. Pleased to find that there were no derelicts outside the station, not so pleased that the crew had not turned up for our train, so we were reduced to the Victoria side and a change at Clapham Junction. But as a consolation prize we got the sight of a lady sunbathing on the balcony of her flat in Sutton.

And there were some fine mobile cranes at Vauxhall. Sadly I failed to get a snap.

Out at Waterloo to sample the grub in the weekend food market next to the Festival Hall, my second street food in three days. On this occasion something described as a paella, with a £6 portion being plenty for the two of us. Perhaps best described as substantial fare; perhaps the Spanish equivalent of fish and chips.

Free programme

Into the Festival Hall to find free programmes and the proper price for Monkey Shoulder, unlike the occasion noticed at reference 1. In fact, near double. Hall itself reasonably full, more than three quarters downstairs. Couldn't see upstairs.

Mozart in the first half: the overture from Figaro (K.492) and a piano concerto (K.453). Schubert's great (D.944) in the second half.

I thought that the overture was a mistake, detracting from the concerto somehow. But I suppose whoever built the programme needed to pad out the first half somehow. Concerto new to us but good. Symphony not so new, also good. I suppose it is fair to say that I have adjusted to chamber music and it takes me a while to get into orchestral music, where there is so much more going on, both visually and aurally.

The conductor started life as an oboe player, which meant that he had a special relationship with the lead oboe for the symphony, who had a big part.

Popular music types

We learned that the conductor's platform, noticed at reference 2, was dedicated to one Jimmy Cunningham. The ice cream girl had not got a clue about him, but then neither had Bing nor Google. He didn't make it to a directory of popular music people either.

Clearly something going on when we came out, with three police cars and some visible police men at the bottom of the stairs, in Belvedere Road.

Passed on Fishcotheque once again, making our way down to the Bar Kitchen at the back of the Old Vic. To find it shut with a notice pinned to the window about the Old Vic management company repossessing the place. I clearly hadn't read my laptop carefully enough, not getting through all the TripAdvisor type chat to the fact that it had closed. A pity as we rather liked the place. See, for example, reference 3. Another reminder of how fast time flies for the older person!

So we tried the Fire Station instead. A bit noisy, but lively and the service was good.

Pre-stressed table

Burger for me and salad for her good. Chips bad and very thin choice of dessert. Bring on the stewed fruit! Bring on the orange jelly with tinned peach lumps! Wine fine, a new-to-us Sauvignon Blanc from the crime ridden islands a few hundred miles to the east of Australia. Also prison ridden, as their rate of incarceration is high by our standards, if low by those of the US.

Note the tastefully pre-stressed table. We couldn't decide whether it was actually new or whether it was an old table top, cunningly sanded down.

Royal lion

Having a few minutes to wait for our train, took a stroll along the balcony at Waterloo to check out the Paperchase there, catching the lion above on the way. The young man on duty explained that the large articulated lorry we had seen in the loading bay next to the Fire Station would be unloading stuff into their stock room down there, from where he would go and fetch it, as needed. And, just in case I was wondering, there was a lift.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/artemis.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/02/philharmonia.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/06/woyzeck.html.

Reference 4: https://www.saintclair.co.nz/saint-clair-varieties/sauvignon-blanc/. Readers will want to know that 'Saint Clair Vicar’s Choice Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from various sub-regions throughout Marlborough including the classic Rapaura area, lower Wairau and the Brancott Valley. The Vicar’s Choice Sauvignon Blanc contains typical Marlborough flavours of gooseberry, passionfruit and grapefruit leaping from the glass'.