We decided we needed to get out and about, encouraged by the Times weather forecast (which was totally wrong as usual). So we took the train to Penzance, the big one from London as opposed to the bone shaker, clean, quiet, very pleasant. We were intending to take the bus from there to Mousehole and then an exhibition at Penlee House Gallery. However, there would be half-an-hour wait and the bus to St Ives was about to depart so we jumped on that. It took a roundabout route and we got plenty of opportunity to see the landscape of Penwith…wild and rugged with some areas of small fields (supposed to be a sign of Iron Age settlement).

As is usual when we got to St Ives the weather changed for the better…in any case the light is so different, it really is, that it always seems pleasant. We decided to visit Tate St Ives to see whether it had improved from our point of view after the opening of the big new extension. With our National Art passes it cost £3 each so we weren’t going to lose a lot. First stop, top floor cafe and the views from there are lovely..

What struck you was that everywhere you went the building was almost as important as its contents….this is Room number 1and we soon found that the quality of the exhibits was matched by the informative descriptions as well as background letters, papers, books etc which added to the story of the growth of Modern Art in St Ives.

Here, for instance a scribbled letter from Alfred Wallis, the Cornish fisherman who influenced some of the big names ( and there were plenty….Lanyon, Hepworth, Heron Nicholson and many more ) through his primitive approach…

And the exhibition flowed….after introducing some of the artists we then learned how they were influenced by the great movements on the continent, including Impressionism, and how they became involved in industrial subjects during the War.

As at the National Gallery I thought the snow scenes were pretty special..

and I much preferred the paintings which were not totally abstract…

mind you who would not like the Graham Sutherland….you can see how this links to his great tapestry at Coventry Cathedral which I have seen many times..

I mentioned the building itself but the outside vistas of St Ives are just as much of the show, so that everything is cleverly linked..

and this was interesting a view from a plane ( I think Peter Lanyon had the idea ) which is almost an abstract painting itself…

Just before exiting you are treated to a film of the almost white-out wasted landscape of Labrador to be a juxtaposition of a painting by Alfred Wallis supposedly of his trip there (there is no evidence he actually went!).

Even the staircase had some rather nice doodles…

and the foyer was very jolly…

Whatever the weather it’s always great in St Ives…

 

 

Doing our regular walk at Hannafore with a break in the weather, we watched a limping trawler being towed into port…safe and sound at last.

A present to ourselves at Christmas was another 1000 piece jigsaw, this time of Padstow…

who invented sky?!

 

We stayed in Acton with our son David and his wife Jennifer in their renovated flat. Buses and Underground to…..everywhere. Weather not brilliant, but we were here to use our National Art passes to good effect. First stop was appropriately No. 1 London i.e. the Duke of Wellington‘s Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner.  I had long wanted to visit here. As a historian knowing quite a lot about the man and his history I wanted to see his home. Having conquered at Waterloo, the nation gave him money to build a palace (rather like the the gift of Blenheim to Marlborough). However the Duke decided his modest country place at Stratfield Saye and modifications to Apsley House (which he bought from his brother) would be quite good enough thank you. Apsley House is quite average in size and has no gardens to speak of, but the remodelling and extending was done to such effect that the interior is quite magnificent. And that is what the Duke intended. It had to be a palatial interior to be a suitable place for him to receive the Great and the Good from all over Europe….and to be an apt repository for the absolutely magnificent gifts with which he was showered from every corner. To go round the house we had an audio guide and this was excellent (I don’t often use them). The pics just give a small idea of the style of the house including a thirty foot long dessert display. But one of the stars of the show was the Waterloo shield in its custom-made case which is displayed on a side table every year at the Waterloo Banquet. And this banquet takes place in perhaps the most astonishing room in the house – the Waterloo Gallery ‘one of the great palatial interiors of Britain’, a double cube ninety feet long and whose walls are filled with most of the Spanish royal collection of paintings…..gifted to the Duke by the King of spain after Wellington rescued them from the baggage train of the defeated Louis Napoleon. Here is the shield with Wellington at centre (and his major battles around the outside)……

and part of the room itself….

As with all great men lots of stories attach to the persona. I was reading one in the Times today…apparently when at a Reception in Austria some French soldiers turned their backs when he entered the room, the hostess apologised, but the Duke merely said ‘Ma’am, I have seen their backs before’. I also like his comments after his first Cabinet meeting as PM: “An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.” Extraordinary is the word. We would love to return to Apsley House.

Another great trip was to Ham House on the Thames near Richmond. Taking the buses as we usually do meant quite a long walk but it was interesting to see the various impressive houses in the surrounds to Ham……

and the first view of the house itself was spectacular enough…..a rare survival of a Stuart house and

the creation of the tenacious Duchess of Lauderdale and her husband, the Duke, who together transformed Ham into one of the grandest Stuart houses in England. (The Duke is the ‘L’ in the famous Cabal.) Before even entering we had a half-hour tour with an architect around the outside of the house )something more sites should do surely), and this was as informative of the history of the house and its gardens as well as its architecture. One really interesting feature is the busts of famous men set into roundels on the house itself and into the semicircular flanking walls.

The front door itself is very inviting…

and once inside we were able to visit the ground-floor rooms that are open in winter and get a real flavour of the people who lived here and their tastes. Unusually the house was administered by the V & A before the National Trust and that is very apparent in the wealth of paintings and artefacts which they have brought back to the house. I was glad to read today that the NT also bought 4 paintings at sale which used to hang at Ham and have replaced them. Surely there are so many paintings in store throughout the country that should be brought out and placed where they belong?

The Duchess’s private bathing room in the servants part of the house (to make hot water refills easier) is a very rare survivor indeed

as is the still room at the back of the house where the Duchess liked to distil some of the many herbs from her kitchen garden..

but the most striking thing about the house itself was the friendliness and knowledge of the NT guides (this isn’t always the case!)….they were superb. A lovely house I would love to revisit. And to cap it all we found a terrific city centre pub in Kingston with two real fires blazing away for a nice pint or two….

Yet another interesting visit was to Kensington Palace. Getting there, or anywhere in London, is always an adventure as there is so much to see whether buildings…

or statues….

or iconic monuments…

Strolling through Kensington Park on our way to the Palace was very pleasant, and made interesting in that we passed the whole of the Everton football team (including Roonie) out for a stroll before their heavy defeat a bit later!

The outside looked very promising…..

and, once inside, we made straight for the cafe which was good as they go. We then went round the King’s Apartments and the Queens Apartments (this being William and Mary) and, whilst imposing in some respects, the whole interior seemed gloomy and lacking any atmosphere…

It was interesting to see some of the court costumes…

but as I am getting cynical in my old age it all reeked of flummery. However going into the Princess Diana exhibition one could say that her costumes carried on in the same vein……..except that, on her, they were spectacular of course…the design prints were super too……

What a gorgeous princess, and how tragic her death per se and for the monarchy I feel.

Interesting too was the exhibition on Victoria who lived here as a young girl and was informed she was Queen here and held her first Council here…

On the Sunday we had a train trip with David and Jennifer to Hampstead Heath. I must say it was nice, and the view of London was pretty spectacular, but I wouldn’t make the effort to go there again…I was disappointed, and it was so, so busy with people. It makes us realise how lucky we are to live in the country.

 

and some nice expensive houses….often called (ironically?) cottages……

Of all the things we did in London the best by far was to spend a day at the National Gallery. Having never been there before I didn’t know what to expect. I have to conclude it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Seemingly all the famous pictures you know, there in your face, and almost touchable (we didn’t!). It was incredible. One picture that immediately appealed was the Holbein of Erasmus….you really feel you can get into the man, and what he represented…

as for The Ambassadors well its size was overwhelming…who could not be impressed?

Whilst wandering around it was great to see activity….

and to look through the windows now and again…

What impressed me most was the huge collection of Impressionists…I just loved looking at them all and seeing before my eyes how the style developed and how the painters interlinked….

 

the snow scenes were particularly magnificent…

but, having looked at what seemed like hundreds of paintings, being gluttons for punishment, we were then taken on an hour’s tour by one of the Gallery’s own experts one Lydia (Greek I think?). It goes without saying that her knowledge was vast, but it was the economical and enjoyable way in which she communicated it that was so good. What great learning experience…..we learned for instance that it was in the great sea-faring Empire of Venice that canvases first came into use when they cut down the old sails from their ships…logical when you think about it, but I never had.

Also it was Venetian artists like Titian who had access to their trading networks who came to use Ultramarine Blue….so rare and valuable that it was worth more than gold. What a show-off the patron who commissioned  this picture was!

Before leaving we had a quick glance at the Canalettos (I was hoping to see one of his scenes of Warwick, but they were all of boring old Venice!), another cup of tea, and then the bus home….can’t wait to go again.

Our last trip was to the Design Museum which had relocated to the Commonwealth Institute building…the building itself was quite as impressive as its amazing contents…we approached it via the wonderful setting of Holland Park

and past a Paolozzi (with whom we are very familiar from the Museum of Modern Art in Edinburgh where there is a terrific recreation of his studio)…..

Our starting point, as often, was the cafe which F. and I both thought was quite exceptional…would that every cafe had such marvellous food. I couldn’t help but take pictures of the building….

but we spent a long time looking at the displays which were enormously interesting and very informative…..here for instance are Jon Snow’s ties, and with them went a lovely film showing exactly how they are designed and sourced and made…

but wherever you turned there was something to grab your interest…

What a lucky pick it had been to make this our last trip…..all in all hugely enjoyable. What a place London is, what treasures it contains, how much I despise its Metropolitan elite and all it stands for!! How relieved to get back to the peace and quiet and clean air of St Keyne.

 

 

 

Two Christmases for the price of one for us this year…first to our daughter’s in Edinburgh. Lovely flight up this time with clear views, spectacular over the city itself. When in Edinburgh we are never short of things to do with our granddaughter…the nearby children’ playpark on the Meadows is always a good start….

and another thing Edinburgh is not short of is good coffee shops. Here we warmed up after our playpark adventures, and met Mum and Dad…

We were treated to 3 evenings out to view Christmas lights in incredibly different guises….here is a little princess at the start of our first evening which was a bus-ride out of Edinburgh…….. Archerfield Walled Garden lays out a fantasy fairy trail at Christmas….

and we wound our (cold) way through the woods stopping to examine lots of little fairy houses in the trees

and to watch a magical meeting between our princess and a real-live fairy (we think!).

It was all very well done and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Christmas treats went on and on as next day we were treated to a Christmas performance by our granddaughter and friends…

I really really liked the snow machine (and so did the children!)……

On this particular evening we went to a quite stupendous light display at Edinburgh Zoo. Chinese lanterns made with thousands of yards of silk, and fashioned by Chinese artisans into the most wonderful images…

The detail was amazing. We were also treated to a staged show of Chinese jugglers and acrobats who in themselves were very skilled indeed. A terrific evening.

Next day was Panto (Little Red Riding Hood, Scottish-style) and ‘Christmas’ lunch (the date of 17th December didn’t stop us in any way)….. and opening of presents. The cheapest (vile pink unicorn slippers from Lidl) went down well – as expected!

On our last evening we took Aiisha to the Fair in Princess Gardens which has a lovely atmosphere and gets better each year

Luckily we had a responsible adult with us….

and if all else fails it’s good to settle down to a quiet read of the newspaper!

A lovely early Christmas then in a lovely city with our lovely family…

 

 

 

 

 

When F. said I would enjoy Agatha Christie’s ‘The Pale Horse’ I was dubious, its underlying theme being Black Magic, not one of my favourite subjects. However, she was proved eminently right – it is, for my part, one of the best Christie novels. Exciting, believable, good despite Poirot’s absence…a thoroughly entertaining read. The characters are more strongly drawn than usual with her (this may be due to there being no Poirot and Hastings), and the plot moves along at pace whilst maintaining interest at every step. A really enjoyable read. I should take my wife’s advice more often perhaps.

In line with my policy of reading something more serious at the same time as my bedtime reading I chose another of my Folio books….‘Hannibal’. While admittedly dated, being first published in 1981, it is a good traditional historical ‘Life’. The author Ernle Bradford does draw on a wide range of sources and research but at the end of the day he has to rely largely on Polybius writing 50 years after Hannibal’s death, and Livy writing another 150 years later. This then is a classic case of history being written by the victors. In actual fact virtually nothing at all survives of the Carthaginian civilisation either in writing or on the ground, which is astonishing considering at one time it controlled a large part of the Mediterranean and its capital held half a million inhabitants. So Cato’s much repeated ‘Delenda set Carthago’ turned out to be really what happened. But at the time of the Second of the Three Punic Wars with Hannibal in charge of Carthage’s Italian army, things were very different. It could so easily have been Rome that was the loser. Hannibal’s magnificent battlefield victories at Trasimene, Cannae and at the siege of Capua absolutely devastated the Romans, and Hannibal at any of these junctures could so easily have marched on Rome itself and with some siege equipment (which he never had) have taken it. Perhaps as his cavalry commander Maharbal said Hannibal knew how to win victory but not to use it. This then is the story of a great general and at the same time a story of how Rome came to be the astonishing conqueror of virtually the whole of Western civilisation. A gripping read.

Buckfast Abbey is becoming one of our favourite places to visit. Why? Could be the quality of the food in the exceptional cafe with a view (as above). Could be the setting, right in the heart of a bowl of hills and trees and adjoining the River Dart. Could be for the atmosphere which is calming and lovely. Or it could be that there is so much to admire in this amazing, amazing story of an Abbey re-founded and built by a handful of monks, mainly just half a dozen, who had no previous skills apart from one who knew some masonry. As I have said before, I just find this quite the most astonishing thing I have come across. The interior with its wonderful craftwork, stained glass, beautiful masonry is as impressive as the exterior….

We made a point this time of seeking out the video introduction which we missed last time which gives a nice background to the place and as it is in the Guest Hall we went upstairs to marvel at that renewed structure….first-class craftmanship.

Our next destination was Dartmouth but to get there we took the back roads which we know quite well from of old. We passed through ravishing countryside down deep Devon lanes with views of the Dart from time to time as well as the backdrop of Dartmoor all picked out clearly on a crisp winter’s day…..

passing The Watermans Arms with its lovely riverside location….

and we made  our way to the pretty riverside village of Dittisham, famous in times past for its plums (which we used to sell in our greengrocer’s shop in Dartmouth). Dittisham is yet another place with a churchyard overhanging the river, rather like St Just-in-Roseland or Mylor Bridge in Cornwall…

We also passed Fingals country house B+B which we supplied sometimes with their fruit and veg. It always brings to mind one particular dinner we had there. Everyone sits around a long oak refectory table whilst the host acts as a superb host should, filling you with great food and drink. I would normally hate this kind of social eating but Richard is such a natural that even I fell in with the idea. Anyway it was at the time of the Falkland War, and who should we have sitting at our table but an Argentinian businessman and his beautiful wife! And who should Richard ask to give a short speech recognising the basic underlying friendship of our two countries than me?!! Enough said. A night to remember…I think I lost at snooker afterwards to our new Argentinian friend.

Dartmouth was, as usual, captivating. We couldn’t resist calling into the shop of Simon Drew  our old neighbour and friend…..our shop was next door but one, now a Weird Fish opposite the Christmas tree. We caught up with a bit of news, had a good chat to Sue who joined Simon immediately after she and we left our greengrocers, thirty-odd years ago as she reminded us. We also had a brief chat with Caroline (Simon’s wife) and to Kayla, Sue’s daughter, and generally enjoyed our reminiscing very much.

After a tour of the town and all the lovely independent shops, and a quick coffee and cake in one of Dartmouth’s delis, we returned for one last look at the beautiful lights in Fosse Street and the boat float before hitting the road home. In a historic town like Dartmouth (and Warwick where our bookshop was) plain white lights seem to suit and give a classy feel to Christmas…….

We drove home on the back roads and it was very atmospheric to see the lighthouse shining away incessantly at Start Point and to see the moon reflected on the waters at Blackpool Sands….

Making a conscious decision to use our National Art Pass we took the two trains to Falmouth. Knowing it was late night shopping we took a slightly later train than usual which meant that we caught the Inter-City rather than the little local one. So a more comfortable and quicker journey. On arrival we went straight to the National Maritime Museum. We had been a couple of times before but it is large, has excellent exhibitions and there is always something new to see. Having had a good look at local boy Ben Ainslie’s craft, the one he retrieved from the museum to race in his second Olympics, having decided it was better than the new boat he had had designed and built(!), and other beautiful things on show, we went to the Captain Bligh Exhibition which proved fascinating. There wee got talking to one of the Volunteers and the one thing I remember vividly is him telling us that he was a veteran (as are all the Volunteers apparently), and that, serving in the Falklands, his ship had a hit from an Exocet and he spent 9 hours in the water before being rescued – quite incredible. When eventually he got home and had recovered from the smoke damage to his lungs etc etc he then became a Commandos trainer….not one to shirk from Duty then. One can only admire such as he. Almost as incredible a story as the plight and survival of Captain Bligh and his loyal men.

We then had a quick trip to the Tower which we had not seen before. First of all descending we went underneath the harbour and gazed around through the windows (no fish today), we then ascended to the top of the Tower and were brought to a standstill by an absolutely breathtaking 360 degrees view – the photos of course do not do it justice….it would be worth any visit and entrance fee for that view alone….

One last look along the balcony, and passing what looked like a great cafe with its own marvellous views, we decamped to Rick Stein’s Sea Food Restaurant across the square where we noticed they had cod and chips and a glass of prosecco for £8.95…who could resist?

The quality of the food was amazing, the batter was light and crunchy, and the mushy peas were scrumptious,  a very enjoyable experience. Plus we noted for the future that on Tuesdays they have a special offer for OAP’s (i.e. the likes of us) of cod and chips for £5.95…..he calls them ‘Vintage Lunches’ (a nice touch). We shall return…….on a Tuesday.

Rushing back for our train after shopping, we caught the Christmas procession and some hearty brass band playing. A nice end to our day.

 

It certainly is, in Edna O’Brien’s hands! I wondered whether this might just be too dated but I found O’Brien’s powerful writing was for the ages. I remember reading a few Edna O’Brien’s in the Sixties. This novel is redolent of that time. Although London is supposed to be swinging, for many it was a placeof loneliness and frustration. The ‘heroine’ has a complicated personal life but seeks solace in the Med…it was ever thus! Things happen, good and bad, and then there comes tremendous, overpowering guilt (an Irish writer, so inevitable?). Not only is this a story you want to get into but the writing is terrific…she’s really good on location character, plot and sex, and there aren’t many writers you can say that about. Really enjoyed it ad must see if I have any more O’Briens.

These little Alison Hodge books about all aspects of Cornwall and Cornish life are generally excellent and this one ‘Exploring The Camel Estuary’ is no exception. Written by experts – in this case a naturalist and a bird sanctuary warden and professional photographer, they are fully illustrated in colour and give you an itch to get out and go to the places covered. We often go to Padstow but I really had no idea there was so much of interest in the whole estuary and that particularly applies to the countryside and the wildlife. Can’t wait to explore!

I have taken to reading Agatha Christie again for light bedtime reading. Ok her characterisations are a bit wooden but we can still add in our own details, for Poirot and Hastings anyway, from the TV series and fill out their characters a bit (which is what I inevitably do). It was lucky that I had ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ as this was her first published novel and introduced those characters plus Japp who develops into an interesting addition to most Poirot stories. She also sets her story in a country manor house which of course becomes a recurring theme as does the means of death – poison.  Agatha was a pharmacy assistant during the Blitz and gained an extensive knowledge of poisons which she puts to good use in her novels. The plot is not straightforward especially for tired nighttime reading, and I found I had to keep going back and then didn’t totally understand the final denouement! However I console myself with the fact that F. had to read it twice. I may read it again…..‘Dead Man’s Folly’ holds a particular fascination for us as it is ‘set’ in what was Agatha Christie’s holiday house (mansion) on the River Dart near where we used to live in Dartmouth, and the murder takes place in the boathouse which we know well. Again a bit convoluted at the end but most enjoyable……
 

 

 

 

In search of a little intellectual stimulus and a good lunch, we decided to go to our first Oxford Society meeting. We knew the location was great, having been twice to Trelissick recently. Having not looked up the times carefully enough beforehand we were just about last there and only just in time. We sat at our lunch table and were introduced to the first speaker retired Oxford academic Fenella Wojnarowska who explained how our immune systems can become misdirected so that, instead of attacking cancer or other negative cells, they attack our own proteins, causing autoimmune diseases. She had a clinic where she examined patients with serious skin diseases, being a dermatologist. And over time she noticed that quite a few of her patients also had something wrong with their brains….memory oss, Alzheimers or strokes of some kind. This led her to investigate the connection between the two. Well, eventually as it took her ten years to persuade people to give her funding. This led her into this whole area of how our immune systems work and how they can be ‘trained’ onto targets. The research was, as she said, ‘very promising’ but as the grant was coming to an end, and she retired, so did the research end. How unfortunate and how typical!

The secretary of the branch, Richard Cockram,  who is a retired Oxford mathematician, then talked about the quantum world of the very small and how quantum theory is being applied to a potential new generation of computers. This like the previous talk was exceptionally interesting and given in a very unassuming way. Richard explained that all the big companies, Google Apple, IBM etc are trying to develop quantum computers but that it may be a start-up company such as Rigetti that comes up trumps. Unlike regular computers, which store information in bits made up of either zeros and ones, quantum machines can use both zero and one at the same time in what’s called a “qubit.” It sounds like a small change, but it enables computers to run more tasks at once. Just 50 qubits can represent 10,000,000,000,000,000 numbers, a scale a regular computer would need petabytes of data to hold. What is difficult to get hold of is that a quantum computer will be built ‘within the near future’ that has the same computational power as every computer on earth today combined. Of course this has all kinds of implications, but the talk was too short to enable us to discuss this angle.

Basically here’s the underlying rationale…see ‘Futurism’

‘While a classical computer works with bits as information placeholders, a quantum computer works with quantum bits (qubits). While bits carry information in either a 0 or 1 state, qubits can be 0s and 1s at the same time thanks to quantum superposition.

Meanwhile, entanglement allows particles to be manipulated despite the distance between them — anything that happens to one particle will instantly be reflected in the other. Information can, therefore, be sent across greater distances far more quickly than with classical computers.’

The lunch? Not great unfortunately. I for instance had a quiche which was a ‘mush’ in a pot with a pastry topping (quiche?!), and a sponge pudding which was supposed to be ‘clementine’ but had no taste. With all the intellectual activity going on I could perhaps have found more than a small glass of wine acceptable too! However, I now know a lot more than I knew before about matters which would not necessarily have concerned me but which proved fascinating……