Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Last Day in London

Monday, August 2, 2010
London

Excitement of getting home to Southport after 6 weeks kept me awake half the night. I awoke at 6. oo am with the intention of getting my bags ready for the cab which was supposed to arrive at 7. 30 to get me to Heathrow at 9 am--traffic is awful in the morning, the cabbie said. We'd best be off early. Last-minute stuff was thrown into my backpack, more edibles I'd stored in the freezer were stashed in my bags and just as I sat down to a bowl of cereal at 7. 15 am along came the overly-enthusiastic cabbie, 15 minutes too soon!

Goodbye and Thank-yous all said, I was on my way, not along Cromwell Road (my favorite way out of the city) where the cabbie assured me there'd been a accident, but along Euston Road (less interesting). Of course, because we were early, there was no traffic at all and I arrived at Heathrow at 8. 30 am for my 12 noon flight! Once I'd checked in and re-distributed weight (my bag was three and a half kilos too heavy), I had all the time in the world to shop duty-free--so off to Harrods I went for mementos for Chriselle (found her the cutest Ferris key chain) and a Christmas pudding for our family and off to Jo Malone I went (for Pomegranate Noir perfume for me--saved almost $20 on a bottle) and off to the cosmetics counters I went for more sample spritzes and off to the Bacardi counter I went for a complimentary mojito (which after all the tension over my baggage I sorely needed) and then I was ready to make my way to the gate and sink down in my seat.

There was time after I'd whispered a prayer for a safe flight to reflect on my two weeks in London and to realize how singularly fortunate I'd been that I hadn't seen a drop of rain in 2 whole weeks! I'd covered almost all the items on my To-Do List including visits to the National Trust's out-of-the-way Hidcote Manor Gardens in Oxfordshire and Hever Castle in Kent, had eaten in a few of the restaurants I'd wanted to visit (St. John's Bar & Restaurant where I went specially for the Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad) and Cafe Spice Namaste where I had the chance to hobnob with the chef Cyrus Todiwala and his wife Pervin and Patisserie Valerie where the Tarte de Citron is not half as good as Carluccio's. I'd visited 4 of the 6 new museums on my list (the London Transport Museum, the Science Museum, the Foundling Museum and the Serpentine Art Gallery (the only one I didn't get to was the newly-reopened Florence Nightingale Museum but I shall keep that for a later visit and the Brahma Museum of Tea and Coffee has closed down). I saw two good plays (the outstanding All My Sons with David Suchet and Zoe Wannamaker and Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater. I reconnected with so many close friends over pub grub and longer meals or shorter drinks. But perhaps the Highlight of my visit this time was the tour of Lord Leighton's House in Holland Park. And another highlight was that despite being ill and fighting a terrible flu-like lethargy, I managed to make it to the Anglo-Indian Mela in Croydon which was really the main purpose of my visit to London during this time of year.

On the flight back, the UK slumbered brownly under partly cloudy skies. We flew westwards along the northern coast of Devon before skimming over the Atlantic. As soon as we broke land again over the Northern coast of Canada, I spied the jagged edge of Newfoundland and the region around Halifax (how pretty it all looked) before we flew over the Gulf of Maine, the Massachusetts coastline and along the vertebra of Long Island (did not realize how many swimming pools there are on the island--almost every house seems to have one the further east one goes) before we made a smooth touch down at Kennedy airport under cloudless skies.

American Airlines made me wait a whole hour at the conveyor belt for my baggage and as I sweated bullets wondering how Chriselle was faring on the other side (and hoping she wasn't despairing of ever hooking up with me), I finally did sail through Customs and made contact with her. Apart from our affectionate reunion after 2 weeks, I received the most uproarious welcome from Ferris--indeed it is worth being away from home for 6 long weeks when one has this sort of welcome to anticipate. Chriselle drove on the way home which gave us a chance to catch up on all the happenings of the past couple of weeks since we'd parted in Bombay and then it was time for us to pull into the driveway of Holly Berry House as my travels came to an end and I surveyed all that I had left behind.

We had a cuppa in the garden which is badly weed-ridden--what with all the rain--and I realize I have exactly five days to bring it up to snuff before Llew and I leave on our trip to Canada at the end of the week.

As I bring this blog to yet another close, I say Au Revoir and Many Thanks to my followers. If only you (apart from faithful Feanor) would write me a line back sometimes to reassure me of your presence!

As they say in the UK, Cheers!

Anglo-Indian Mela in Croydon

Sunday, August 1, 2010
London

The cough I'd been fighting with medication all week developed into a full-blown cold during the night. I awoke with stuffed nasal passages, a scratchy throat, a headache and bodyache to boot. Felt really disappointed as I wanted so much to make it to St. Etheldreda's Church at Holborn Circus for the 9.00 am mass. Especially after learning the history of the church through the DVD that Michael had presented me in May, I was keener than ever to get there. It was my former 'parish' while I lived in Hoblorn and for old times' sake, I was keen to worship there again.

But when I made my way down the stairs like a zombie, Cynthia took one look at me and packed me straight off to bed. "You are not going anywhere this morning,' she said, "except back to bed." It was advice I gratefully heeded as I had some cereal, dozed myself with paracetemol and climbed back into bed expecting to have an hour's nap. I had an important assignement to cover--the World Anglo-Indian Day celebrations in Croydon and had made arrangments to spend the day with my friends Gerry and Corinne Gilbert and be picked up at Croydon mainline station by Bash.

But to my enormous shock, I did not awake until 1.00 pm. Feeling terribly dopey and drugged, I made the effort to get out of bed and into the shower which cleared my head and made me feel far better. Cynthia and Michael had set a semi-formal table, expecting the morning's preacher, one Felicity, and her husband Justin from Wembley at lunch. They suggested I join them before I made further plans for the afternoon and that was just what I did. Over Cynthia's excellent chicken in mushroom sauce with vegetables and steamed potatoes, I felt my energy return and half an hour later, I took my leave of the party as I boarded the bus to London Bridge from where I took a train to East Croydon, as instructed by Bash. He, unfortunately, being from Harrow, was totally unfamiliar with East Croydon and on asking for directions to the station, ended up at South Croydon station--miles away from where I was waiting! It was going to be a long and difficult afternoon!

Long story short, Bash found his way to East Croydon but not before inadvertently driving on tram lines which earned him a fat fine and ruined his mood--though I have to say that he recovered it quickly enough! In a few minutes, we were at the Bishop Lanfrancs School in Croydon where I had expected the Anglo-Indian Festival to be winding down--it was almost 4.00 pm by the time we arrived. Reluctant to waste any more time, I got on with my reporting, took the pictures I wanted and circulated around the stalls where I met a bunch of the interviewees I had talked to throughout my year in the UK. There were stalls selling Anglo-Indian specialties such as Karthi Rolls as well as pickles galore--I am particularly fond of Prawn Balchow and Brinjal Pickle but being afraid of spillage in my baggage (I have runied enough clothing trying to carry pickles back to the States from India!), I resisted the temptation to buy them. You can't have an AI Do without the jiving, so there it was--the old-time rock and roll favorites and there they were, the aunties and uncles, having themselves a ball! My friend Owen Thorpe who has a new book out (The Lion and The Chakra, his first work of fiction after his excellent autobiography Paper Boats in the Monsoon) sold me a copy and introduced me to his wife, Patty, who appears on the cover. I was particularly pleased to hook up with Henry Holley and his wife Marion who have been extraordinarily supportive of my research. He brought me up to speed on his various charities in India--which never fail to inpress me. Right now, he is working hard to save St. George's School, his alma mater in Madras and the oldest AI school in India, from the demolition squad which is out to sell the valuable teak wood that comprises the building's structure! It was a wonderful reunion all round and since my nose and throat were still all stuffed up, I was grateful when the Gilberts made a move about 2 hours later. Bash drove me back to Central London and by half past seven, I was back with the Colcloughs.

They suggested a light TV dinner for which I was grateful--we had fish cakes and corned beef sandwiches as the newest version of Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin (The Office) Freeman as Dr. Watson appeared on the telly. I sat around with the family on my last evening in London before I retreated to my room to complete my packing. Earlier in the evening, I'd contacted Farringdon Cars for a cab to take me to Heathrow, the next morning, as I simply couldn't face the thought of fighting peak hour crowds on the Piccadilly Tube Line.

For the next hour, I worked steadily, managing to fit all the edibles I'd purchased over the next few days in the single bag that American Airlines permits me to carry "as free allowance." Edward carried my suitcase downstairs as I fell asleep hoping my cough which has developed into a cold would not ruin my air travel in the morning. I had been so dreading getting sick in the UK and despite the best precautions I took, what did I end up with...but a cough and cold! Oh well...at least it did not compltely ruin my stay in London.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

My Kind of Last Day in London

Saturday, July 31, 2010
London

Because I will be tied up with a work-related assignment on Sunday (World Anglo-Indian Day will see me at the mela in Croydon), I considered Saturday my last day in London and decided to do all the things I most love to do when I am in the city.

One leisurely breakfast of Michael's oatmeal later, I was on the bus headed to the National Portrait Gallery where I hoped to meet the Copyright Officer to discuss the possibility of using a particular Cliff Richard photograph that I'd seen at the 'Beatles to Bowie' exhibition in Norwich in my proposed book. Only I ought to have realized that the person concerned would not be around on a Saturday. I used their museum's data base to try to identify the photograph by John Pratt and find its 'call number'--only to find out (as I had suspected) that being owned by a private collector, it is not in the museum's possession. I raced to the book shop in the basement hoping to get my hands on a catalogue of the exhibition that might have provided more details of provenance but they were all sold out--again, as I had expected, as the catalogue was extremely popular and just flew off the shelves. Disappointed, I left the premises, intending to initiate email correspondence with the copyright officer.

It was time to get next-door to the National Gallery, another one of my favorite places in London, where I discovered that a Highlights Tour was about to begin in the Sainsbury Wing in two minutes. I flew off across Trafalgar Square and with just minutes to spare to drop off my bag joined a Michael Williams, Free Lance Lecturer, on his tour. We started off with the 12th century Coronation of Mary by Lorenzo Monaco in the Medieval section where I learned about the use of beaten gold sheets and stamping techniques to produce uniform 'patterns', then made our way through paintings by Rubens' (Minerva Protects Pax from Mars--Peace and War)--the only one that we can be sure was done entirely by his hands and not his vast workshop of assistants; Canaletto's Venice: The Feast Day of St. Roch (in which he takes liberties with scale and geography (and I had always thought his work was most remarkable for its accuracy); Velasquez's Portrait of King Philip IV of Spain and one more painting, but I am blanking out right now. As usual, I came away from the tour marveling at how much I had learned but also a trifle impatient that the guides at the National Gallery spent so much time at a single painting (sometimes as long as 20 minutes). We, at the Metropolitan in New York, have a strict rule--no more than 5 minutes at each work and a total of 10 works on every tour.

Of course, I could not leave the National without visiting some of my favorite works--Pieter de Hooch's Courtyard of a House in Delft, for instance, a clutch of Vermeers and Constable's Hay Wain--and I did manage to see a good special exhibit on 'Fakes' which featured some extraordinary works including a couple by Sandro Botticelli. I was tempted to stay on for Michael's next tour at 2. 30 pm, but I had too much to accomplish, so off I went to the bus stop, across Trafalgar Square again, this time to Whitehall to ride the No. 11 (which I always think is the cheapest bus tour of London) to get to Chelsea.

The King's Road is one of my favorite parts of the city and one I know well from former visits to London. I was tempted again to alight at Pimlico to poke around in the upscale interior design stores of the Queen's nephew,Viscount Linley (called 'Linley') and Joanna Wood but made the decision to stay the course and get off at Sloan Square where my exploration on foot began at the Saturday food market. The King's Road has some of my favorite shops (India Jane, for instance)--though the Antiques Center seems to have closed down. But I did get into M&S and Waitrose to pick up some more food (Fruity Flapjack Biscuits and Darjeeling Tea) and then I scoured the thrift shops in the area looking for treasures. Really tired, I rode the bus back to Paul's Patisserie for my favorite treats--Almond Croissants and Hot Chocolate--before I took the bus home to Amen Corner.

I had time for just a 10 minute lie-down before I had to get dressed to leave for the dinner party at my former neighbors' Tim and Barbara's, who'd asked us to arrive at 7. 00pm. We were fashionably late but as the rest of our guests hadn't yet arrived, had the chance to catch up. Tim in a trained chef and it is always a treat to partake of one of his meals--Bolinger Champagne and nibbles for starters was followed by Chicken Consomme, Roast Lamb with Roast Potatoes, a Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole (was that the Martha Stewart recipe I'd sent him at Thanksgiving?)and Carrots followed by a superb Prune Parfait for dessert. There were cheese and biscuits and coffee and chocolates to follow and I felt very stuffed indeed.

Apart from the meal, the best part of the evening was the chance to meet Elizabeth (with whom I've been corresponding through Twitter) and her husband Andrew. What a joy to see her finally! They'd traveled all the way from Bristol and made delightful dinner guests. Together with Cynthia and Michael, we made a merry lot and after some photographs, it was time to say Au Revoir!

I walked back home with the Colcloughs laughing over the silliest things before I sank into bed unable to believe that my days in London are coming to a swift end.