Saturday, August 10, 2019
London
Exploring Pollock Toy Museum, The Lehman Trilogy at the Piccadilly
Theater and a Dinner Party in Battersea
Hiya from London!
My day was literally off to a flying
start as I awoke to the drone of aircraft engines because Battersea (where I am
staying) in on the Heathrow flight path. Roz wanted me to join her and Christie
for breakfast at the upscale eatery called Partridge
on the King’s Road—but I had made previous plans to meet my former student (now
friend) Rosie White at Pollock Toy Museum in Bloomsbury at 10.00 am. So after
breakfast of Sainsbury muesli with Orange, Papaya and Passionfruit yogurt and
some good decaff coffee, I hurried off on the bus and Tube to get there. I got
off at Goodge Street station and then easily made my way there. I was about ten minutes early, so I wandered
around and strayed into the local Boots
to buy my Max Effect Max nail polish when I discovered that the company stopped
manufacturing nail polish a while back and now it is only available on ebay or
for sale online! It infuriates me when cosmetics companies discontinue their
products! Why oh why oh why?
Exploring Pollock Toy Museum:
My friend Rosie arrived about ten minutes later and after an
affectionate reunion (we were meeting after more than two years as we’d last
met at the Dickens Universe at the University of California at Santa Cruz), we
entered the lovely quaint Victorian house that resembles a doll’s house in and
off itself! Inside we met Eddie Fawdray who runs the shop. We obtained our
tickets at the Admissions Counter (7 pounds for Adults, 6 for students) and
after I got both our tickets, we began our exploration of the space.
What strikes the visitor immediately is that the place is crammed with
cardboard and paper toy theaters which were very much the Victorian toy du jour! Clever adults could create
entire puppet shows based on these models. Eddie explained to us that the
Pollocks were a Victorian couple who ran a toy shop in the late 1800s at Hoxton
and were collectors of these paper theaters—this place probably has one of the
biggest collections of this type of item anywhere in the world. As we climbed up
and down the main and servants’ back staircases, we were taken into little
cubby-hole like rooms each of which was themed. For example, one was filled
with dolls, another was full of Teddies, yet another had rocking horses—that sort
of thing.
Let me put it simply and briefly:
it was fascinating, it was fantastic! Rosie and I had such a good time as we reminisced
about the toys that we ourselves owned (many of which we saw in the cases). Nothing
ages you more than going to a museum and seeing the toys you played with your
childhood displayed as antiquities! I saw View Master (which was my first entry
into the wide world) and a wind-up boy on a bicycle. I could not help but think
fondly of our parents who had bought us all these toys when we were kids—toys that
I now realize they could barely afford! We spent more than an hour as we noted
the oldest item in the museum—an Egyptian clay mouse and Eric, the world’s
oldest Teddy. What a great place to visit—and I am kicking myself now that I
waited so long to see this place! What was I thinking??? Best of all, I was
glad I was with Rosie to see the place as she is a Victorianist who is working
on her Ph.D. in Victorian natural history as reflected in the literature of the
period (think Charles Kingsley and Charles Darwin). She is beautiful, bright,
funny and very very kind. What a lovely morning I had with her!
Elevenses at Le Pain Quotidien:
So then, since Rosie wanted to spend time
reading at the British Library (to which she was headed) and I needed to get to
the Piccadilly Theater for my 1.00 pm show of The Lehman Trilogy, we only had the time for a quick snack. On our
way to get to such a place, we passed by Mr.
Foos House of Botanicals on Mortimer Street about which Rosie had only just
told me, ten minutes previously! It was not open, however, so we just took
pictures of its beautiful interior and left. Across the street, I found an
Oxfam thrift shop from which I bought the most gorgeous pair of Marks and
Spencer aviator-style sunglasses from the 1960s’ days of Flower Power for just
one pound. They fit me perfectly and I was delighted!
Eventually, we entered Le Pain
Quotidien on Tottenhan Court Road where Rosie had tea and a scone with
clotted cream and strawberry jam and I had one of my favorite things to eat in
the UK—a cheddar scone with the Belgian Hot Chocolate that I really love at LPQ! We had a chance to rest our feet
and catch up before 12. 15 came round and I had to excuse myself and run.
Rosie and I parted company as she hurried off to the British Library and
I thought the easiest thing to do was to walk one block across to get to Gower
Street from where I could take the 22 or the 29 to Shaftesbury Avenue where my
theater was located. Of course, I know this area like the back of my hand
because this is where I used to teach—both at NYU campus at Bedford Square and
just behind the British Museum at Birkbeck College of the University of London.
I passed by my former office and would have definitely gone in there to say
hello to my friends from the porters to the admin staff—but it was a Saturday
and I was short of time.
As I walked down Gower Street, I realized that so much of it was under
construction. To my horror, I also realized that no buses were plying past—they
have been diverted to some other street and, of course, I did not know which
one! In the end, to my absolute disgust, I had to walk all the way from Goodge
Street station to the theater almost at Piccadilly Circus—a good distance of at
least 40 minutes. I could hardly believe that despite my best attempts to not
overdo the walking, I am forced into these situations where my poor feet have
to take a beating—so annoying!
The Lehman Trilogy at the
Piccadilly Theater:
I was
living in London, ten years ago, in 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed in the
US. I can still clearly see the images of ordinary employees clearing up their
offices and walking out with all these boxes in their hands as the investment
bank folded up in the sub-prime mortgage scandal that hit the world. So I was
thrilled to find that this show was actually on the London stage and since it
had received such brilliant reviews and had a really grand star cast (Simon
Russel Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles!), I had booked my ticket online from Bombay
itself.
Well, the play was great—except for three things: it did not have Ben Miles
in it any longer (I was heartbroken as I have loved him ever since I saw him in
Coupling) and it was much too
lengthy. It was almost three hours long with two intermissions after stagings
of an hour each. Secondly, I found it a bit too monotonous as it had only three
actors on stage. I mean, it was amazing to see just three actors plays such a
plethora of roles as the history of the company was traced from the early 1800s
when it was first founded in Alabama’s farming community to the massive
investment bank it became that dominated Wall Street in New York. But, it was
just one set (for 3 hours) and just 3 people playing the roles. It was a very
clever use of the set (don’t get me wrong!) and very clever set design. But,
thirdly, I think they could have hurried it up much more so that we did not
have to sit there for so long (almost in the nose-bleed seats) wondering when
they would wrap up!
After
the show and a nice long rest for my feet, I walked along Regent’s Street to
visit some of my favorite London haunts. I tried to get a tasting coffee at Nespresso
but there was such a long line that I gave up on it quite soon and as I hurried
down Regent’s Street I wanted to make my way to Carnaby Street and particularly
to the gorgeous department store that is Liberty
of London. I tried to get some samples from the Byredo perfume coutner—but no
such luck! They had none!
With my feet fairly killing me, by this time, I walked to the Oxford Circus
Tube station and took the train and then the bus back to Battersea where I was
invited to join Roz, Christie and their friends at a cozy dinner party that Roz
had organized and for which she had spent an entire day in the kitchen cooking.
A Dinner Party at Roz and
Christie’s:
I had just enough time to take
a shower and get dressed when Roz and Christie’s friends arrived: Annie and
David (from their church) and Fiona and Ashok (whom I had met before at another
dinner party at their place, about six years ago). We sat and shot the breeze
together over drinks in the living room before we adjourned to the dining table
which Roz had set beautifully. Dinner was a magnificent Fish Pie with cod and
prawns and smoked haddock, finely sliced beans, boiled peas and a salad—all of
which was just delicious. Dessert was
fresh raspberries with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce (that Roz made herself)
with a generous sprinkling of chopped salted peanuts—all superb! What a great evening
it as! However, that said, I embarrassed myself mightily when I actually fell
asleep at the table as I was so jet lagged. I had been trying to fight sleep
for at least 20 minutes before I fully succumbed. Stupid me! I really ought to
have excused myself by pleading jetlag…well, live and learn!
I got up to my room and simply crashed!
Until tomorrow…
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