Snow is headed towards Scotland but here in London it's mild and balmy. We've set off from St Andrews wrapped up in coats and jumpers but these are soon discarded. Sloane Square is busy with shoppers and a smattering of tourists enjoying the sunshine.
The breakfast news broadcast on the television dominated by events in America. The names Matt and Tulsi and Elon banded around as if they're old friends. Seems like there's nothing else happening in the world. I have to turn to page 3 of the paper to find anything Brit related. On the radio some Senator describes the new Trump agenda as ' the Manhattan project of our time' . I wonder if this phrase is meant literally or is actually sarcasm hiding in plain sight.
A shop selling Australian plates is a surprise. Whoever knew Australian plates were a thing ? I try to work out the economics of shipping ceramics from Australia to London. The prices must be astronomically high to justify having an outlet in the W1 postcode.
'The Ivy' is setting up Christmas snowmen on the pavement by their front door. These are identical to the ones outside the Marylebone branch. I'm unimpressed but two young Japanese ladies are taking each others photo in front of them. Perhaps the snowmen will look better when the cold arrives. As it will.
We used to live on this Square in Chelsea. It was five flights of stairs from basement to the roof. Not the most practical of layouts. The houses at the end were flattened by a V-1 in 1944. They were rebuilt wider and lower. This ruins the proportions of the Square which now looks like a wide street with a garden in the middle. We like London. It's civilized and international and safe but it has a 24/7 pulse that has advantages ... and disadvantages. Ideal for 30 and 40 somethings with boundless energy. Scotland with its intimacy and gentler pace of life is just fine for us.
We also lived on the next street down. It was fashionable then and is even more fashionable now. Parking was a nightmare and the houses were too small. In the intervening years the colour scheme on the street has become brighter although not necessarily more tasteful. Our house had been owned by a famous Swedish actress who built an over-sized conservatory that swallowed up the garden. In one corner she had installed a jacuzzi with golf swan head tap fittings. I wonder if it is still there ?
Heathrow is quiet. Heathrow is never quiet. One of those conical low maintenance Christmas trees glimmers away by the departure gate. It's a desultory thing devoid of charm. Thankfully, seasonal music hasn't yet started to play. By the end of the month it will be chaos.
The British Airways flight on our way down was on a brand new plane. Heading home we have one that is somewhat older ... and smaller. Edinburgh airport has opted to close for 45 minutes to test a new radar system. How Presbyterian of them to do this in the middle of the day. You would have thought they might do their testing at night when the airports closed and the inconvenience would be minimal. That of course is not the way people in authority think. The pilot promises to get us there on time and does. I would have thought it physically impossible to get from a gate in Heathrow to a gate in Edinburgh in 45 minutes, but it is.
As we cross the Forth the sun is setting. Peak winter is pretty much here. By the time we get to Leuchars it is sepulchraly dark.
7 comments:
The 'Brutal Chopin' tag nearly put me off listening to today's link, but I'm so glad it didn't.
I'm thinking I might have been cycling past at least one of your houses in Chelsea in the early 1980s as I wove my way through the quieter streets and squares of SW3, commuting between my rather less upmarket residence in SW18 to the Royal School of Mines in South Ken.
Cheers, Gail.
PS Nobby's cognitive specialisation is surely mischief making. Creativity prioritized over obedience!
A late uncle of mine lived on Cheyne Walk for several years in the 1960s. The recently deceased Timothy West and Prunella Scales were neighbours. I regret that I was too young to take advantage of their London location.
Angus, as if it weren't bad enough that those names and a few others were not bandied about in the print media and over the air here, they apparently are polluting elsewhere too. Climate change of a different toxic sort. My profound apologies. Caveat emptor writ large.
Yes indeed, I decided last week to redirect my media attention more towards Europe but quickly realized there is no escape. I have managed to largely remove myself from Twitter, but find I am largely still following the same bunch over on Blue Sky. The article on dog brains was fascinating and casts light on some of the differences we've encountered between Cherry and Charlie. Cherry was always working on what she felt her job to be as a herding dog, whereas Charlie concentrates totally on exploiting his humans. We always felt a bit bad that we weren't able to provide Cherry with enough stimulation in central Tokyo, but we were a bit off the mark in thinking a dog bred for companionship over many centuries would be in any sense "easier". Both very smart, but using their brains differently.
Ah, the side streets and squares of London, I look forward to them.
sepulchraly… thanks for that! A new word for me.
Thanks to the surge in the $ they will be much cheaper when you get there.
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