A swing through Fitzrovia

A rare visit to Fitzrovia earlier in the week.

Kicked off with tea, coffee and cake at the handy sub-ground café at Debenhams. Which was fine, but, despite the smart décor, I did notice the odd flaw in and around the escalator well, which all goes to show that it is very hard to completely obliterate the fact that one is working with quite an old building. The old will poke through in one way or another.

Then into the Wigmore for a bit of lunchtime recital, given on this occasion by the Armida Quartet from Germany, not heard by us before. Interesting seating arrangements. For the Mozart K80 quartet, from left to right 1st violin, cello, viola, 2nd violin (on the piano stool), while for the Beethoven Op.59, we had 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello (on the piano stool), that is to say the usual arrangement, apart from the stool, usually the seat of honour for the 1st violin. Presumably the quartet felt that there was something about the Mozart which suggested a different seating plan. That apart, a young performance with plenty of brio. So much so that at several points I thought brass. I found the Mozart a little fast, perhaps I should have revised, but the Beethoven was excellent, packing a formidable punch. And we had Contrapunctus 4 for an encore, for which it did very well. Rounded off and rounded down nicely. Audience enthusiastic.

BH explained that the flowers flanking the stage were green (once again, see reference 3), because they were dyed green, not natural, let alone organic. I think she said by standing them in a suitable green dye, but thinking about it now, I would have thought that this would take a very long time to result in green flowers. Why not just dip the flowers in the green dye direct?

To Ponti's for an entirely satisfactory lunch, slightly let down by their bread being very salty. And to think that Mediterranean diets are supposed to be so healthy. See reference 1.

From there we decided to head across to Eastcastle Street and then hang left up to Warren Street, to find the whole area awash with dinky little eateries, dinky little galleries and even the odd pub. What looked like some kind of upstairs HQ for Baslers, a relic of the days when the whole area was awash with the clothing trade rather than the eating and arting trades. See reference 2. I vaguely recall using one of the eateries, having just missed an exhibition of cartoons to do with Russian ballet, but, irritatingly, cannot now find the relevant post. Nor could we find the site of the famous Schmidt's in Charlotte Street, probably because we got into the street half way along and turned north rather than south.

But we did come across Carr-Saunders Hall, which looked strangely small viewed from Fitzroy Street, not having seen it for some years now, but which nevertheless refused to fit into the telephone's view finder, with the truncated results illustrated. I was slightly surprised not to find the place picketed by students with placards. given that Carr-Saunders was an old Etonian who had a lot to do with setting up colleges and universities in what were then our colonies, colour bars and all, right after the second war. Is it right that a hall of residence for the LSE should be named for such a person, that person's service in the first war and long time directorship of LSE notwithstanding? I might say that I am mildly embarrassed now to have known so little about the chap, despite having been a student at LSE just ten years after he left - a studentship which included sundry visits to this very hall.

Closely followed by the nearby theatre book shop, of which more in due course. Then down the hole at Warren Street, two long escalators down to the Victoria Line, and so to Vauxhall and home. Walked up the escalator at Vauxhall, but I think I would have chickened out of the longer of the two escalators at Warren Street, should we have happened to be going up rather than down. Drew a blank at Raynes Park on this occasion.

PS: later, I eventually find that memory is defective once again. The cartoons were not in Eastcastle Street at all, rather the nearby Little Portland Street. See reference 4.

Reference 1: http://www.pontisitaliankitchen.co.uk/.

Reference 2: http://www.basler-fashion.com/en/. To be found in what used, in racing days, to be the Spread Eagle pub in Epsom.

Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/debussy.html.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/big-fugue.html.