London
Back in a London State of Mind! Tate Britain, Pitzhanger Manor and Ealing Cricket Club
Hiya from London!
There is nothing more exciting that returning to a place you consider your second home and then conquering it like a Boss! I did that today...and loved it!
Up at 4.15 am (yes, that is 4. 15 am) because my body clock is still functioning on Bombay time, I spent a while in my bed on my laptop catching up on my blog posts--and I managed to put quite a few of them on my blog. Roz, my hostess, was working today but her husband Chrisite was around--he'd be attending to his business in India while online. I was given the house keys and told to come in and go out as I pleased. Before she left for work, I gave Roz the gifts I bought her--English Pear and Freesia perfume from Jo Malone and Indian glass bead jewelry that I had bought from Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. I thought it would be significant because she is truly an English rose and because Christie is based in Chennai in Tamil Nadu although he is a Keralite.
After Roz left, I showered and dressed and had my breakfast--Sainsbury's muesli with Spanish Honey and Ginger yoghurt from Sainsbury (I cannot find my favorite Hazelnut yogurt from Sainsbury--have they discontinued it?) I also brewed myself a cup of decaff coffee as I sat and watched the BBC Breakfast Show on TV.
At about 9.00 am, Christie was kind enough to set out with me to the local shops as I needed to do two things: I needed to find an ATM to get some British currency and I needed to buy a British SIM card--possibly Lebara as I have alway used that brand. We drew a blank with the ATM machine (which was not working on Battersea Park Road) but we had success at the corner shop with Nero, a Sri Lankan who fitted me in with a Lebara card and then sold me a plan for 10 pounds that gave me unlimited calls and texts in the UK, about 3 GB worth of data and 100 international calling minutes which will work very well in my calls to Dad and Russel. Sorted! I would keep my eyes open for another ATM somewhere. Meanwhile, I stood at the bus stop waiting for a bus to get to my first port of call--the Tate Britain on Millbank as I discovered that there was a special exhibition there on Van Gogh and England that I simply had to see. It helped that it was drizzling and that the day promised to stay wet. Being inside in museums seemed like the best way to go.
Getting to the Tate Britain:
Christie and I parted company as he returned home and I stood outside a florist called the Battersea Flower Station (isn't that a terrific name??) for a bus. When it came along, I asked the driver if there was a bus that would take me to Millbank to the Tate and he told me that I would have to go to Victoria and change there. His was a 44 going to Victoria--so that was what I did. It was a single decker 'bendy' bus so I did not have the pleasure of sitting on the top deck, front and center--my favorite seat of choice.
I made a call to Dad as the bus passed by Battersea Park. We actually passed by the terraced houses in which, on a previous visit to London, my friend Shahnaz and I had stayed in a B and B. I felt strongly tempted to go and see that English landlady named Linda who had really been quite nice. We went over the Thames at Chelsea Bridge. Then the bus made a left and headed to Victoria. Once there, I tried to get a weekly pass but the conductor dissuaded me as I told her I would only be in London for 4 days. She thought it best for me to top up as needed as the weekly Tube pass has soared to 37 pounds--when I lived in London, ten years ago, it used to cost me 22 pounds for a month! Almost double in ten years! Amazing, isn't it?
I also felt terribly handicapped as I did not have a bus map on me. Thankfully, I had carried the London Planner which I'd had the foresight to pick up when exiting Heathrow airport and that gave me a Tube map and my bearings. At the Travel Center at Victoria, I asked for a bus map but the assistant told me that they have stopped receiving then since 2016. Everywhere folks are going green and the inconveniences are legion. I should hold on to the complete set of bus maps I have at home in Southport, Connecticut. Someday they will be worth their weight in gold!
I then took the Victoria line going south to Pimlico Tube station (one stop away only) and then walked about five minutes to the banks of the Thames (at Millbank) where the Neo-Classical majesty of the Tate Britain loomed in front of me. It is a gorgeous building and, miraculously, because the rain had stopped although skies were still overcast, I walked with a spring in my step.
'Van Gogh and England' at the Tate Britain:
There was a long crowd snaking its way into the museum to see the Van Gogh special exhibition entitled 'Van Gogh and England'. Luckily for me, my friend Roz (who is a passionate lover of art and has a home that resembles an art gallery), is a member and she handed me her membership card which allowed me to jump the queue and enter at my leisure. I felt a tad uncomfortable, I have to say, because as a passionate art lover myself, I'd have gladly bought a ticket--but the line was simply too long and I did not fancy waiting in it and tiring myself even before my day had begun.
And what a fabulous exhibition it was! Years ago, when I was 21 years ago, I had read Lust for Life, Irving Stone's biography of Vincent Van Gogh--this was about the same time that the American folk singer Don McLean made Van Gogh a household name with his hit single "Starry Starry Night". So, basically, by the time I was 22, I knew a whole lot about Van Gogh including possibly the best-known fact about his life--that he was so much in love with a prostitute who resolutely spurned his advances and in an attempt to dissuade him told him that she would spend time with him if he cut off his ear--never, for a second believing that he would actually do so! She is said to have fainted when he presented himself to her with his head bandaged--an image that the rest of the world saw in his Self-Portrait With Bandaged Head!
This particular exhibition was wonderful. It taught me so many facts that I either did not know or had forgotten about Vincent's life. Forgive me for using his first name, but I rather think of him as a needy friend. He spoke and read five languages (including English) and was a huge fan of Charles Dickens. He read Dickens' entire output (and we all know how vast that is!). A showcase at the beginning of the exhibition held The Complete Works of Dickens and I thought that was a significant fact on Book Lovers Day--at least that was what Twitter told me it was!
Inside, were the paintings at the National Gallery that had greatly influenced Van Gogh's early work such as Hobbema's Avenue at Middelharnis (which is one of my favorite paintings at the National). There were lots of examples of his work that owe some inspiration to England or that were done while he lived in England or that influenced British artists. His other Starry Night (in Arles) was on display as were his Boots--really special were the large number of paintings that I had never seen in any museum before.
I could not leave the Tate Britain without paying a visit again to the Clore Gallery to see the Turners there--and once again, I was struck by how different and classical his early works are from the later ones--indeed, I would venture to say that he was the first Impressionist! There were also some wonderful Constables there including his View of Salisbury Cathedral from The Meadows which I had actually gone out to search for when I was in Salisbury ten years ago--and I found the spot from which he painted this scene (it has not changed much at all in two centuries!).
I then walked to the Tube station and got on the Central Line to head straight for Ealing as I had a couple of places I wanted to see there and had a fiend to meet.
Lunch at The Hare and Tortoise:
Getting out of Ealing Broadway station took me nostalgically back to the time I lived there, a couple of years ago, at the end of my Graduate Research Institute Fellowship at NYU-London. I was hungry--so I headed straight to The Hare and Tortoise where I actually dream of the Singapore Curry Laksa for days before I land in London. It is a humongous bowl of curried soup made with a coconut milk base that is crammed with every good thing imaginable--from chicken breast and prawns to fish sausage, bean sprouts, rice noodles (loads of them!) and sliced courgettes (green squash). They had a special lunch deal on it: 9.50 pounds with a drink (I got a Diet Coke)--usually the soup alone is 11 pounds! Deal! I loved it. I savored every spoonful. I would have loved to take longer but I had lots to do--45 minutes later, I was striding along Ealing Broadway.
Thrift Shopping in Ealing:
I spent the next hour thrift shopping on Ealing Broadway and I hit the jackpot when I found a Christian Dior silk scarf for 6 pounds! That and a few DVDs (I got a brand new Boxed set of Kenneth Clark's Civilization that had started me on my independent study of Art History when I was 13 and still living in India) and a bunch of other British films. This is all I buy and all I shop for when I am in the UK (apart from the edible goodies, of course)!
Off to The Pitzhanger Manor:
When I lived in Ealing, the Pitzhanger Manor was under renovation. I swore I would return when it reopened and today was that day! It was the country estate of Sir John Soanes who, when he got tired of his manor at Lincoln Inns Field in Central London, made his way, eight miles away, to this grand home which he also filled with his passion for architectural curiosities. The building was completely renovated and shines today in its new avatar--another great English country manor that can easily be seen by public transport by eager Anglophiles--unlike Syon House or Osterley House on the Thames which are hard to reach without a car of your own. Here, a short ride on the Tube, gets you to this lovely place where, for just 7 pounds, you can take in the broad mind of a man who worked closely with his friend Joseph Gandy to create these beautiful buildings. The Bank of England, The Church of St. John at Bethnal Green and the Dulwich Picture Gallery (all of which I have visited) are also buildings that his architectural genius has left behind.
You will wander inside through rooms that have been decorated as they were in Soanes' time with Chinoiserie wall paper featuring exotic birds in pastel shades amidst feathery verdure. The Dining Room is spectacular with its gorgeous painted ceiling, but, to my mind, the lovely table cloth that shows place settings for some of his prominent guests (including Turner) is worth a careful study. Upstairs, the bedroom is gorgeous but I was particularly drawn to the stairwell with its huge bronze sculpture of a classically garbed Olympia and the skylight at the top (another Soanes' characteristic) that floods the place with light (you see this at his house in London as well). I loved the house--such a fine example of gracious 18th century living.
Anish Kapoor at the Pitzhanger:
The biggest
current highlight of this grand country manor, at the moment, is a special
exhibition on the work of the Indian-born, UK-based sculptor Anish Kapoor whose
work I am now increasingly seeing in international museums. Llew and I saw one
of his works in a museum in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil recently. He is best known
for having designed what is called the Acelor Mital Slide at the London Olympic
Park at Stratford which was a centerpiece of the space and which is now used to
give people rides. He does really funky work that involves reflecting metallic
surfaces that function as mirrors do reproducing images to infinity. The ones
present here depict wall art mainly in convex and concave shapes that are
treated with some kind of process that allows them to do two things--they
present images upside-down and they change color as one changes viewing
positions! I simply cannot explain the impact of these items on the viewer in
any clearer terms--they must be experienced to be appreciated. The thought that
went through my head was this: Just when you think artists can do nothing more
to vex their viewers by their creativity along comes a Kapoor to completely
bend your mind and perplex it.
Seeing so many
of the works of this incredibly talented sculptor in one place is one of the
bonus reasons for exploring the Pitzhanger Manor and I would strongly recommend
a visit and was very glad I went.
Meeting Cecil at Ealing Broadway
Station:
I then hurried
along past my former home at Haven Green to get to the Tube statin where I had
a 4.15 pm appointment to meet my friend Cecil, a physician and surgeon, who had
just got off duty. Two years ago, he had come to my rescue when I was unhappy
with my rental accommodation in the East End of London and recommended his son
Stuart's one-bedroom pad in Ealing as an alternative. I am so glad I had taken
him up on his offer because I ended up having thee blissful months in that
space that served my needs and desires in every possible way.
Cecil was
waiting with his nose buried in a free eveninger when I arrived. We then walked
briskly towards the Ealing Cricket Club where he is a member and where he had
once taken me to spend an evening indulging in that most British of drinking
traditions--the pub quiz! Our team had not walked away with the prize but we
did not come last either--we had come a respectable fourth last!
The evening was
still sunny and the cricket pitch looked tempting as we settled down in the
pavilion with pints of cider and caught up. Cecil told me all about the
expanding families of his four sons (including my former landlord Stuart, now
safely settled in New Zealand with a Mongolian partner and a baby on the way!).
I discovered that Cecil's specialization is arthritis! We ended up, then, talking
about my brother Russel and his affliction and I got some valuable input from
Cecil's professional advice. All too soon, however, I had to leave as my
friends Roz and Christie had invited me to join them for drinks with friends in
Battersea.
It was a fairly
long walk to the Tube station and, quite suddenly, it had started to come
down--the flimsy folding umbrella I had borrowed from Roz was most inadequate
and ended up soaking both of us! Still, once on the District Line on the Tube,
I got off at Victoria and then waited too long for a bus. I would be late for
the promised evening of drinks--so told my friends to carry on without me.
Salmon Supper at Roz's:
I had the house
to myself when I used my key to enter. This gave me about a half hour for a
welcome lie-down (as my feet were killing me) before my friends returned. I sat
gabbing with Christie while Roz pottered around the kitchen (refusing my help)
and churning out a splendid dinner with broiled salmon, boiled new potatoes,
samphire (a rather little-known green in the US or India) served with
Hollandaise sauce and a coleslaw of raddichio, carrots and pomegranate. We had
Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie Ice-cream for dessert that I had picked up from
the corner Sainsbury because it was on sale!
What a fabulous
first day I'd had in London and how delighted I was that I managed to pack so
much into it.
Until
tomorrow!
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