Post 172. April, Come She Will

Haha, back to the Simon and Garfunkel song.

We started April by going to the newly opened Manor House Ditcheat with Adie. We don’t often take her to a pub, the last time she managed to slip her lead and find her way to the kitchen. We kept a tight hold on her this time!

A week later we travelled up to Sunderland to see Kate Adie OBE, the BBC journalist (no relation to our Adie), donate her collection to the University archives. It consists of notebooks, tapes, videos, DVDs and memorabilia she has collected over the years of reporting from conflicts around the world. We didn’t see it but there’s a signed Koran she was given by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi one Christmas Day. She also has a bullet on a chain (which we did see) that she picked up in Beirut after it ricocheted off a wall and hit her in the leg. She was a great raconteur and we had a most enjoyable evening meeting her. An interesting fact: the note books have three words per line, which is how many she speaks in one second. Thus, knowing how long you’ve got on the news report means you can plan it literally to the last second.

As we were up there, we took John’s mum out to lunch the next day. Although JD goes up every few weeks it’s the first time I’ve managed to visit since before my knee was replaced, so we had a lovely day catching up before heading back to London.

No rest though, the next night we had a pal over and took her to Battersea Power Station for a meal. Anyone who’s not been is always so impressed with the size of it and the atmosphere.

The following day was a first for me, but possibly not JD: an afternoon and evening in the pub watching sport. The Bahrain F1 was on, fourth race of the season. I don’t subscribe to any TV stations so usually follow the race online or catch up once it’s finished. G asked if I was watching it as we were in London. Hmm, there must be a local pub showing the race. JD found one (The White Swan) so we wandered over and joined a group in an upstairs room dedicated to the race. I think I’m allowed to say that we were the only white people and the only old people there (and most of the rest were women). A great event, not only for the results (George Russell 2^nd and Lando Norris 3^rd with Lewis Hamilton 5^th and Oliver Bearman 10^th, all the Brits in the points) but also for the atmosphere. The girls cheered every time Lewis passed someone and made much more noise than I think men would have. Looking outside, we had our own grid line-up.

We then watched Newcastle beat Manchester United 4:1, then watched the Masters golf final (until we decided we were too tired to stay till the end). Even more excitement when we got back to the flat to find the fire alarms going off. The lift doors opened, closed, opened, closed, all with the alarm in the background. Eventually one of the concierges accompanied us up in the lift to our floor. Not sure what he would have done if they’d stopped working again, other than being a reassuring presence, but a grand gesture.

JD had a lunch booked with a colleague from the London Business School, who very kindly invited me along when he heard I was also in London. It was at Roka, a Japanese restaurant, another opportunity to practise my chopstick skills. Having arrived, I found I could not open the door. As I thought there could be another that was the real entrance, as so often happens with restaurants, I wandered around the frontage, returning to the original door just as JD’s pal came out to rescue me. Even then, he had difficulty. I really should have taken a photo in case any of you go there. The trick is to pull it towards you, having grasped the wooden ‘decoration’ on the door. Now you know. Anyway, it was a very good meal both food and company-wise.

The following night we visited Harry’s Bar in Victoria with pals. We were there in January (Post 169 dated February 205) and for dessert one of us had Harry’s Toadstool (above). This time, it was Harry’s Easter Egg (below). They should have warned us it was big enough for two people.

The jigsaw in Post 171 is of Tiffany’s famous ‘Magnolia’ design. I recently saw a novel by Shelley Noble about the Tiffany girls so had to buy it. Even though a novel, it was based on letters written by Clara Driscoll, one of the designers employed by Tiffany and I recommend it. It’s set in 1899 and the Paris exposition.  I chose Tiffany style lampshades for my dive bar: I think I have neglected to show you the final version as we only have cocktails down there when we have visitors. I’ll check and get back to you.

As usual, the book took me down a new line of thought: what the link between Tiffany jewels and Tiffany glass is. Turns out Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812 to 1902) was the father of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 to 1933). The jewellery business came first, although it started out as a stationery and fancy-goods store. I love the sound of fancy goods although the reality is usually disappointing. I also learnt a new word, favrile. This is based on the Latin for craftsman and was a new way of colouring glass.

So inspired was I, that I dragged JD off to the Victoria and Albert Museum to view the glassware there. Here you can see his famous swan favrile vase, followed by swan-necked bottles from 19^th Century Iran, which must have been the idea behind the shape. You can see how the Tiffany one shimmers.

If you too want to learn about Tiffany, here are three links. I think, I can only see two.

https://www.tiffany.co.uk/world-of-tiffany/the-world-of-tiffany-timeline/

https://www.tiffanylamps.com/info.html

Autumn panel from the Four Seasons window

That’s enough for the first half of the month. I feel tired just typing it all up.

This Post’s cocktail goes by the name of Polk Salad Annie, as adapted by me. Mix basil syrup and basil liqueur with gin, Malibu, lemon juice, and absinthe, then top up with sparkling wine and garnish with mint leaves, preferably from your garden.

I was intrigued by the cocktail name so looked it up on the interweb to see if it meant anything. I discovered it was the name of a song track by Tony Joe White. He was an American ‘swamp rock’ singer from Louisiana and this was his most famous song, also covered by Elvis Presley. I then, of course, had to look up swamp rock.  I’m not sure it will be on my most played list but it captures the mood, I can just imagine the old boys in their rocking chairs on their porches sipping mint juleps. (This may be totally wrong but I’m sure someone can correct me).

A Deep Dive into Swamp Pop Music: An Ultimate Guide

I then found out there’s a similar style of music called zydeco but I’ve not yet explored that. More to come. And, just to whet your appetites, here is a hint for the subject of the next Post.