Hunt the swede

Following my post of 17th February I have now fiinished Nil's Holgersson's wonderful journey through Sweden, and while I would not go so far as to call it wonderful, it was a very good read, all 700 pages of it, despite not being very keen on the pictures. Like all the best childrens' books it appeals to adults too, with plenty of wry and dry humour about the rum ways of the world. All very Northern Europe. Very pleased that the TLS noticed the book in a big enough way for me to take notice.

The educational objectives of the people who commissioned the book in the first place, back in 1901, were certainly met in my case, finding plenty of interest in the tutorials on matters Swedish, leaving me with an urge to visit the place. As an interim measure I thought it would be good to have some documentary material, perhaps a map or perhaps a coffee table history book, the sort of thing that Thames & Hudson are rather good at. So off to London Town to see what I could do.

First leg of 15 minutes Albert Embankment to Rochester Row, via Big Ben. Despite the cold, two huge queues outside Westminster Abbey, one for cash and one for cards, so I settled for the queue free St. Margaret's instead. An interesting church of the 16th century - which I have probably visited before but so long ago that I remembered nothing of it - with rather a mixed bag of stained glass, mostly modern, so they presumably lost most of what they had during the second war. A rather blue east window which failed the Pugin test in that the composition did not show proper respect for the tracery in which it was embedded, but which was not, nonetheless, a complete failure. An interesting tablet which appeared to commemorate the life of somebody who was MP for somewhere called Wootton Bassett Lostwithiel and also, in the words of the tablet, for the very important place called Westminster. It took BH to wise me up after the event to the fact that these were consecutive rather than concurrent sittings, a fact which was confirmed by Professor Google.

Second leg of 14 minutes from Embankment (Horse Guards) to Bruton Street. Third leg of 8 minutes from Woodstock Street to Soho Square and so to Foyles where I found the Scandinavian history shelf. Sadly there was much more stuff about Iceland and sagas than there was about the historically and economically far more important Sweden. I was offered a second hand biography of Marshal Bernadotte, late king of Sweden, and one short general history, very dry. No picture books, history or otherwise.

Across the road to Blackwells to find the entrance area full of postcards, birthday wrapping paper and other trivia. For all the world like a Waterstones. And even less on Sweden than Foyles. Perhaps a travel book would be the thing, so pushed onto Stanfords, also lapsed from its glory of former years. They sold postcards and birthday wrapping paper too. They did have a selection of maps of Sweden, but nothing that appealed. And no travel books apart from the usual Lonely Planet stuff, which was not quite what I was after either. So failure. I will have to ask Amazon after all.

Pleased to find that the Marquess of Anglesey was still a Young's pub. But I suppose it was only to be expected that they no longer did the excellent bread and cheese which they did 40 years ago. Just the usual sort of pub fare which Wetherspoons does so much better, without all the celebrity chef stuff. And the once grand Bow Street Magistrates' Court still stands empty, waiting for a new tenant: perhaps said Wetherspoons will take it when the price has fallen enough for them to be able to make a go of it. They usually do such buildings very well.

Fourth leg of 10 minutes from Tavistock Street to Waterloo Bridge. Didn't fancy a posh sandwich from Kronditor & Crook so was pleased to find an old style sandwich bar - DG Sandwiches - in nearby Alaska Street. Two old style ham rolls for next to nothing by the standards of Kronditor etc. Wound up the expedition by a visit to the underground bar in what used to be the gentlemens' toilet opposite Platform 1 at Waterloo (and which had also been a rather good if rather dear piano bar at one point) and a rather longer visit to the TB, now selling warm beer again after a lapse of maybe 10 years.

PS: it seems that Thames & Hudson might still be an independent. Not been gobbled up by Pearson or one of the other biggies. I have also learned that the Hudson in question is the Hudson River of New York. Never really thought about it before, and certainly had not thought of that.