Yesterday I had another lovely day in London
I must have been unusually alluring, because from beginning
to end I was befriended by strangers whenever I found myself alone. It started on the coach, where a uniquely
lovely lady sat next to me and discussed Psychology with me for the entire
journey. Then a charming American couple
chatted me up while I was having breakfast at Pain Quotidian. During my customary visit to the Selfridges Hermes
scarf counter a very elegant Frenchman engaged me in conversation about Kermit
Oliver and, impressed with my knowledge of his favourite scarf designer, tried to buy me a scarf because its colour
‘matched my eyes perfectly’! I declined
his offer since I already have enough blue scarves, and escaped to my club,
where I met a retired professor and his lady companion and had a long chat
about the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland , Oregon
We exchanged news and gossip while watching a little
Armistice parade through the window, and drifted into the Civil Service Club for
a spot of lunch. While there a Bag Piper
came in and piped a few tunes while collecting contributions for the
soldiers. It was a bit loud, being indoors
– I think a bagpipe sounds best from a distance, as a mournful tune floating
across mist-shrouded mountains.
Nevertheless it was quite nice, and we all made a donation and I bought a poppy.
During lunch we discussed scarves, as one does, and I
mentioned my recently acquired scarf Le Reve de Gloria by the Australian Aborigine
artist Gloria Petyarr. ‘There is an
exhibition of Australian artists in the Royal Academy of Art,’ K told me, ‘why
don’t we see whether we can find a painting by her?’ Why not indeed? K is a member of the RA and gets to go in for
free, and she can take a friend as well, hurrah!
As it was we were lucky, there weren’t too many people and
we had a leisurely wander around the exhibition. There was a mix of aboriginal and colonial
artists, as well as some modern paintings.
We didn’t find anything by Gloria, but it was nevertheless very interesting.
Next to the RA is the Burlington Arcade, a little shopping
area which contains a unique dangerous (to me) shop, Berk, which sells
Ballantyne cashmere cardigans. Since the
Scottish Ballantyne factory went bankrupt last April, there will be no more of
these wonderful knitwear products once Berk have sold their last remaining
stock, so this was my last chance to add to my cardigan collection, and I give
myself full credit for having bought only a single one as a Christmas present
for myself. Ballantyne cardigans are few
and far between on Ebay, and although the standard colours like red and camel
do come up sometimes I have never seen the more exciting ones like foliage
green or peacock blue. Of course one can
buy the Ballantyne cardigans made in Italy
http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2013/05/another-obit.html
Pleased with our shopping we returned to the club for tea
and cucumber sandwiches and chewed the cud until it was time to go home. K is off on another of her epic adventure
holidays in two days time and planning any number of future trips, so
conversations with her are always entertaining.
Personally I prefer to have uneventful holidays in places I know well –
daily life is quite exciting enough for me, thank you very much! – but I love
to live vicariously through my much travelling friends, and always enjoy
hearing about their adventures.
On my coach trip home, you guessed it, I sat next to another
chatty individual, a student from Canada Labrador
until we touched down at the Park & Ride again. Between wolverines, ice bears, and the Hudson
Bay Company the 90 minutes journey passed very quickly, and soon I sank into my
bed, happy and exhausted after a really nice day out. Thank God for good friends and kindly
strangers!
