Off to flying start, neatly catching a suitable train from Epom. But then it started to go pear shaped when we changed at Vauxhall, with the plan of cutting back south to Stockwell to pick up a Bank branch Northern Line train to Old Street. Got on a train of that sort at Stockwell to be greeted with a long and cheerful announcement about how all the Bank branch trains were being diverted onto the Charing Cross branch and so going nowhere near Old Street. But we persisted while we thought about alternatives, and the cheerful announcer persisted in telling us variations on the story about the signal difficulties at Moorgate at every possible opportunity. Got off at Waterloo to catch the Waterloo & City line, having now lost around 20 minutes. Got to the Bank and picked up a bus to Old Street to find ourselves sitting in traffic, traffic which only cleared when we got off at Old Street, having lost another 20 minutes. With the result that we arrived at St. Luke's without time to eat our tuna fish sandwiches, never mind take a refreshing beverage. Never mind, onto our seats, getting a couple of good ones at the front of the second block of seats, with unlimited leg room. Where we sat and counted an unusual number of very thin people.
After a little while Christian Blackshaw turned up (our second concert with him, the first being as recently as on 17th September) to do some Mozart: piano sonata in B-flat major (K281), fantasy in C minor (K475) and sonata in F major (K533 and K494), the first of which being knocked out before he was twenty. But for some reason I cannot put my finger on, none of it really took off, perhaps because I was expecting something with more of the serene tone of the sonatas for violin and piano. Perhaps because we do not get on with this particular pianist: other people do have their likes and dislikes in that department, although not something which has ever troubled me before. Perhaps because I had failed to do any preparation, with all three works being new to me.
After our late lunch in the pleasant garden at the back of the church, I thought to do better than the café downstairs for coffee, so out onto old street and on into the new-to-us Timberyard café (http://www.timberyardlondon.com/), a place which turned out to take itself and its web site very seriously indeed. I didn't like the look of their cakes very much so we settled for just tea and coffee, for the not unreasonable sum of £4.60. Took a window seat where we were entertained by both the rather too loud background music & the street life of Old Street and maybe five minutes later our hand made wooden tray of tea and coffee turned up, the elaborate performance illustrated. A bottle of water - flat and room temperature, how I like it - and two glasses. A pot of hot water. A contraption containing tea leaves and another (copper) contraption to rest it in. A miniature milk bottle containing milk, just visible behind the teapot. A miniature kilner jar containing sugar. A cup of power coffee (rather than the weaker variety BH had hoped for). A cup and saucer for me. The whole arrangement being rounded out by a little electronic timer so that I could brew my tea for just the right number of minutes and seconds. Which I duly did, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the tea was very good - far superior to the rather more expensive brew at the Spa Hotel the previous weekend, a place which did not seem to understand tea at all.
Home via the No. 43 bus which we last used in our days north of Muswell Hill, maybe 40 years ago. Home to inspect the library, to find that I have a boxed set of 14 discs of Mozart piano works, formerly the property of Putney Library, mainly played by one Ingrid Haebler, sold to me for £14 (presumably reflecting a pound a disc policy from the library downsizers) and never, to my knowledge, played by me. Complemented by the Theodore Presser edition of the score from Bryn Mawr (of all places) in Pennsylvania. Price $6.00 in 1960 or so. No idea where I got it from and, never to my knowledge, opened by me. But the one will be played and the other will be opened before we next go to hear Mozart piano sonatas and I am confident that such an investment will be repaid.
Supper a pork confection on which I will report further in due course.
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