First outing commenced with hunt the plumbers' merchant in Battersea High Street, where there used to be a plumbers' merchant which had a range of shower roses of the sort which we like and which I have had trouble getting - our current rose being a paltry 12cm in diameter - to find that the merchant had gone and what had been his shop about to be repurposed. I suppose the proprietor had retired and his rather old-fashioned if attractive business had retired with him. So on to Flood Street to pick up a bullingdon to get me to Rampayne Street to see what Warwick Way could do - where, as it turned out, there was quite a well stocked hardware store, but not very strong on shower heads, never mind roses. Instead, got a baguette from the baker in Tachbrook Street from where I used, before deserting for Strutton Ground, to buy my luncheon loaf and consumed it next to the stand at Tachbrook Strret. Baguette finished, took a second bullingdon down to Vauxhall Bridge from where I legged it to the Tate to inspect their chronological and label lite rehang, which I thought rather good, although it took a while to get the hang of the layout. Interesting side light in the form of 'Flatford Mill' together with various precursors and other inputs. Not altogether clear what the selecting principles were; fame did not seem to ensure good representation, although John Martin and his apocalypses did rather well out of it all. And the picture of Belsize Park when it was a park made the cut (see April 3rd 2011 in the other place). But being label lite I was not able to find any little essay about the rehang, although I suppose there must be one somewhere.
Second outing failed in that I did not make it to the intended destination of Red Indians at the National Portrait gallery. But I did get held up by the Queen as she left Westminster Abbey and was reduced to going down Millbank rather than Victoria Street as per intentions.
First leg of third outing ran from Vauxhall Cross, where I got the last bullingdon on the stand, to Walworth Road. On the way I noticed that Mr. Tate was not the only player in the philanthropic library stakes, with rather a handsome specimen from another player in Kennington Lane called the Durning Library and illustrated above. Must pay a proper visit in due course; an interesting relic of the days when local authorities could show off, unconstrained by the dead hand of central government. Would never be allowed by the Treasury in our rich but utilitarian era.
On spec., onto the Cuming Museum which happened to be marked on my bullingdon map to find it enclosed with builders' hoardings as a result (as I now know) of a recent fire. But I was very taken with the liveliness of Walworth Road which I had never visited before, including here one very flashy lady of traditional African shape - and proud of it. And all kinds of other interesting stuff round the back as I made my way back to Elephant & Castle. Tube to Oval where I found I was a little early, so continued the tour with a second leg from the Oval - still the south pole of the bullingdon world (see December 9th 2011 in the other place) - back to Waterloo from where I picked up the Northern Line again.
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