I didn’t tell you what a Pannier Market is. Just in case you don’t know, it apparently comes from the French ‘pannier’, meaning basket, and was used in Devon (possibly elsewhere but all the places I’ve found are in Devon). Panniers are also what were put onto horses’ or donkeys’ backs to carry things. Baskets to deliver baskets. It originally applied to market halls where the basket-weavers sold their baskets, but now just means a market, usually of fruit and vegetables. Appropriately, JD bought a basket!

Also in Post 181, I mentioned Variations on a Theme of Paganini written by different composers, so of course had to listen to them. Here is a recording of Martha Argerich (Argentinian) and Nelson Freire (Brazilian), which is fascinating to watch: the speed of their playing!

Back home, I visited the latest Hauser & Wirth exhibition, with artwork by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle. In the late 1950’s they met and worked in Paris, marrying in 1971 (after divorcing their first spouses). He was a Swiss sculptor specialising in ‘Meta-matics’ (satirical works commenting on automation) and died in 1991 aged 66. There is a Tinguely Museum in Basel, but all the years I worked for Sandoz I don’t remember ever going there.  She was a French sculptor, film-maker, author and painter. In contrast to his wiry sculptures, hers are mostly very curvy female figures: much of the art we saw was obviously a collaboration between them. She died in 2002 aged 72 years. I confess there was nothing I wanted to bring home (although that’s immaterial as it’s an exhibition). However, if I’d known more (see links below) I might have understood the artworks better. Still not convinced I want one though.

https://www.tinguely.ch/en/tinguely-collection-conservation/tinguely-biographie.html

https://www.artnet.com/artists/niki-de-saint-phalle/

The second half of the year started a bit disruptive.  

First we had a couple of days in Stockholm. We had an uneventful flight for once, except that we had to sit apart (some might say this was an advantage). The seats originally allocated were in the emergency aisle (seat 11A, now reported to be the safest going after the Air India crash of June 12^th this year) but deemed unsuitable for someone using a Rollator (me). We arrived in time for dinner in the hotel, getting in the mood by eating elk meatballs.

The next day we took it easy until the evening, when we ventured into the Michelin Star restaurant. This had the name Seafood Gastro: you would not believe the number of people who apparently booked it and on turning up said they didn’t eat fish. The meal lasted almost five hours. Afterwards we tried out the bar, where we saw a couple laughing at us: they could not understand why JD had not helped me to my seat. We joined them for a drink and ended up going to bed rather late.

So far, so good. We were not in Sweden to take in the local cuisine, however.  We had a sailing trip planned around the Swedish archipelago with our pals Maeve and Adrian on their yacht Oisin Ban (white fawn), an Arcona 430 for those who know their yachts. (My autocorrect thought I meant to type sarcoma, a type of cancer).

We caught a ferry to Gustavsberg, where Oisin Ban is berthed. After a very Swedish lunch of an open sandwich, we visited the porcelain museum. The displays were beautifully presented and the explanations very informative.

We learnt that prior to Queen Victoria, brides often wore black, as the traditional colour for formal events. Gustavsberg bone china porcelain has been produced since 1825, based on English production (which itself was based on Chinese techniques, hence China). In the 1960’s, the Swedish welfare state had the aim of building one million homes in ten years. Gustavsberg were given the order to make the baths and toilets needed. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a museum that displayed a urinal: there’s a first for me.

Unfortunately, the break didn’t involve any sailing due to the total lack of wind. We motored to our first mooring and anchored up overnight, along with a few other boats.

The next morning dawned grey and still. Once again we motored for the day, south through the archipelago towards a hint of light on the horizon. This was nothing but a mirage as we entered a region of ‘dimma’ or fog and lost sight of land for a while. With the help of modern instrumentation we found our next berth, a pontoon at Kyrkviken on the island of Orno. Here there was a church (locked unfortunately) with a pretty graveyard.

The store had a notice board of events happening, plus a plea to find someone’s missing otter! Both the museum and restaurant were closed as well, so we called into the pizza shed, had a paper cup of cava and watched the world go by and the ferry come in. We ordered takeaway pizzas for in the boat and enjoyed the sunshine that finally appeared, listening to the swallows flitting past us.

The next morning again dawned grey and still but with more of a promise of sun. Bird watching before breakfast, we saw a pair of Slavonian Grebes on the water, a bit too far away to get a decent photo. How come we hadn’t seen any in Slovenia? We bought some cinnamon buns to go with our mid-morning coffee and set off. JD managed to get a bit of helming in, but as he forgot his log book, Skipper Adrian could not add it to the Clipper distance.

The whole time we had been threatened with Skyfall. Not, regrettably, Daniel Craig popping in for an aperitif, but literal Skyfall: torrential downpour. It didn’t materialise over us. The final morning, needless to say, dawned sunny and with a bit of wind. Too little too late. We motored from our tranquil mooring surrounded by rocks and birds to a busy marina where we had to leave and fly home. We had the genoa sail (I think) up for all of thirty minutes.

Our next adventure was organised by the LPO, a trip to the Edinburgh Festival (first time ever for us), but Storm Floris intervened. Luckily, we’d arranged to call into Newcastle on the way to spend a few hours with John’s mam. As trains were not running beyond Newcastle due to the storm, we stayed the night.

The next morning all was back to normal except everyone was trying to get to Edinburgh: the first three trains were standing room only. Ninety minutes on the concourse listening to ‘see it, say it, sorted’ must be against our human rights.

Having arrived in good time for our evening concert at the Usher Hall, we found we were lucky not to have stayed at the hotel the night before: the fire alarm went off at 0340 requiring a full evacuation. The concert was the LPO playing a Judith Weir piece then Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini in the first half, and Holst’s The Planets in the second half, with an encore of Elgar’s Sospire.

https://cultureedinburgh.com/our-venues/usher-hall

Despite his name (Gustav Holst), he was an English composer, born in Cheltenham in 1874 to a Swedish father and English mother.. The Planets Suite is his most well-known composition so we had to work hard not to hum along.

http://holstsociety.org/index.php/about-gustav-holst

Although organised by the orchestra, the week was not just music. The next day we had an early dinner at the Gleneagles Townhouse followed by a private tour of the National Museum of Scotland, concentrating on early (Iron Age and Roman) musical instruments. Basically, bones with holes in. One of our party was a trauma surgeon and said a bone with a hole meant something different to him. Our guide, Fraser Hunter (the Principal Curator of Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology), was incredibly enthusiastic and had a colleague who had recorded what they might sound like. Listen here for him describing and playing the carnyx, an instrument to put fear into your enemies in the Iron Age.

Our final day with the LPO was another different event. We started with brunch at the local Aston Martin showroom and a discussion between Jesus Herrera (the wonderfully enthusiastic new Artistic Director) and an Aston Martin director whose name I missed, comparing music and luxury cars: the precision and perfection needed to succeed. After that, JD got to test drive an Aston Martin Vanquish. Unfortunately, only for half an hour, mostly stuck in traffic.

We had a free afternoon so decided to try some comedy as part of the Fringe. Three comedians in two hours was possibly a too-rapid introduction to the Fringe: they were pretty similar even though they were Irish, English and Scots. Only the Welshman missing. Later we had dinner at the wonderfully named gastropub Scran and Scallie. Scran is Northern dialect for food and scallie is short for scallywag, often applied to a mischievous child.

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/heres-reason-scran-called-scran-17732001

I was impressed that (seemingly with no prior knowledge?) JD managed to wear a shirt that matched the tableware!

We escaped Edinburgh just in time, an Oasis concert was being staged at Murrayfield and a further 70,000 people were due in. As we arrived at the railway station, barriers were being erected and the taxi driver said roads all over the city were being closed.

The second half-year changes to our plans continued  with a major disappointment: the long awaited trip we’d booked to India for November was cancelled due to lack of interest. Surely they’d told people that the adventurous Sam and JD would be going and it would be wonderful? (Or maybe they did tell people?). Last Christmas, we were given a book and some plates that reflected the trip. Do we now have to give them back?

Anyway, this means that we have a few months of not much going on (she says). I plan to put the restaurant critic and mixologist on part time duties and try to lose at least some of the weight that has been piling on this year. Too  much sitting on trains and boats and planes. No more Michelin star tasting menus.

Don’t worry, I’m not turning the blog into a dietary advice misery memoir. Nor ‘I took this miracle drug and the weight dropped off’.  Nor a ‘how I turned from a couch potato to Olympic runner in six months’ inspiring read. Instead, it’ll be good home cooking (not wishing to imply that JD’s culinary delights are not up to Michelin standards) and less alcohol. I’ll just have to find broader topics (oops, that won’t help the weight loss).