Summer Socialising

An Afternoon on the Thames

June in London this year, it has been reported, was the wettest month on record. It was also one of the dullest, with so few hours of daylight that it was only slightly less miserable than June 1987. I am quoting from the newspaper reports - the terms “dull” and “miserable” appear to be part of the usual lexicon when discussing the British weather. Yes, every stereotype you ever heard seems to be true.

Thames Ditton

But there was one lovely day, at least. On a Sunday in mid-June the sun surprised everyone and actually shone for the whole day. Brightly and warmly. No rain fell. The English know the drill - when this happens, they get out of the house, immediately, and socialise, ride bikes, wear summer dresses (ladies) and take their shirts off (gents). Everyone is very happy. In fact, so happy is everyone that you almost think that it is worth the wet, grey days just for the thrill of seeing them gone.

On this auspicious occasion I was the happy recipient of not one, but two invitations to garden parties of two different kinds. I have been here long enough to know that advantage must be taken of days like this, so I accepted them both. 

Firstly, I set off by train to Surbiton to enjoy an afternoon on the Thames, at Thames Ditton, in fact. I discovered, upon arrival, that the riverside location of the party was on the opposite bank to the Park of Hampton Court Palace - where kings used to hunt for deer and so on. It now forms a lovely green backdrop to dog-walkers, cyclists and people mucking around in boats on the river. 

The At Home party involved lots of chatty people, kind hosts, the opportunity to muck about in a boat ourselves, lots of Pimm’s, and sun umbrellas. It was absolutely delightful, and restored one’s faith in England - not to mention assisting with the Vitamin D levels. Thank you, Isabel and David.

One thing about this time of year - when the sun does shine, it shines for a very long time. A sunset at 10.30 in the evening is about par for the course in June. Thus I was able to spend the long, warm evening at the next party, a Bar Mitzvah (my first!) held at home in the garden of a big family house in Crouch End in north London.

Everyone happy.

A great garden for kids.

The ceremonies involved all the family, and some friends, of the Bar Mitzvah Boy, making speeches and performing. And very excellent they were too. All to the accompaniment of shrieks of gaiety from the dozens of children enjoying the playground at the end of the garden, the clink of glasses as the grown-ups enjoyed their cocktails, and the chatter of dozens of interesting new people for me to meet. And all topped off with a fun photo booth. Thank you, Misha, and congratulations Max.

Congratulations, Max.

Max's smallest sister Delilah contributes to the festivities

 Photo booth fun.

Another Birthday

The Birthday Pavlova.

It hardly seems a year since my report on the Birthday Concert - a joint effort, you may recall, of Kyle & your blogger. But yes, another year has evaporated, and here we are marking its progress. In a much more modest fashion this year, though featuring good friends, pavlova and Penfolds. in the birthday gift department, books ranked very highly. Muchas gracias, mis amigos.


Some pictures to mark the occasion:

Birthday flowers from Sophie & Dan

Andrew decants the Grange.

Ah! Penfolds' Grange (1999)

And more Penfolds: a cab sav.

But first, some champagne.

The birthday feast.

Lighting the candles (too many to count)

Here comes the pavlova.

The celebrators!

Sydney: sunshine, showers, friends, family, food

The Sydney press. And decent coffee.

My two weeks in Sydney passed ridiculously quickly, the days filled with family, friends and food. Typically for a Sydney June, sometimes it rained and sometimes the sun shone as if it was summer, instead of mid-winter. Now that I have made the long-haul flight back to London it is time to bring the blog up to date, including a run-down of my time in Sydney. I think the best way to do this is through a few pictures - since, as we know, they each tell a thousand words.....

An Aussie classic -- meat pie and tomato sauce. Expensive!

Family dinner: swedish meatballs, that old favourite.

Local flora.

Local fauna.

Billy's at Balmoral Beach: retro brekkie by the beach

More local fauna: Balmoral Beach

Balmoral on one of the stormy mornings.

Balmoral on one of the sunny mornings.

SO Sydney.

More local fauna. Martin Place, lunchtime.

A roast lamb dinner. Another Aussie essential.

Me and the roast dinner cook (thanks, Sandy!)

Sandy's backyard. You gotta love winter in Sydney!

B & J at Burnt Burnt Orange. Lovely location and food
(though they don't know their rhubarb from their plums - long story)

Tapas lunch in Redfern. Funky.
Tapeo Caffe & Tapas Bar
"We have wi-fi!!! How modern!"

Dinner in Redfern too.
The Eathouse Diner

My veggie soup at The Eathouse Diner.
"The unbearable lightness of being hungry"
(That actually doesn't make sense, with apologies to Milan Kundera.)
The food was fantastic though - great place.

High Tea at Gunners' Barracks

And on that note, I think I need a nice cup of tea and a bit of a rest......

So Cal

Beachside breakfast in LA before hitting the road....

Southern California. Pausing only for a So Cal breakfast of yoghurt and organic fruit, and a manicure, I hit the road. The last leg of my road trip down Highway One took me from the delightful 'Shutters on the Beach' at Santa Monica down to Rancho Santa Fe, just north of San Diego. To tell the truth, I did abandon dear old Highway One for an excellent freeway that sent me breezing cheerfully into my friends’ house to stay a few days, with no more driving on the wrong side of the road for a while. I managed the LA freeways, but was glad to leave them behind.

Cafe culture

The beach at Del Mar

These few days featured some very tough things: fish meals on the beach, long walks on the sand, strawberries picked fresh from the fields, relentless sunshine...old friends and new. So hard to take. Not.

Impromptu dinner parties, champagne at a La Jolla art gallery, visiting some fabulous houses...getting used to the lifestyle of gated communities, five acre blocks of land, horseback riding and automatically hopping in the car to buzz down to the wine shop or the cafe or the bakery or the beach. Yoga in the mornings. Dinner table discussions of where to get the best organic produce and the benefits of wheatgrass shots. Hey, dude. This is SoCal.

Galleries in the afternoon...

Rancho Santa Fe is part of several estates of five-acre lots in the area. It is known for its many eucalyptus trees, planted by the Santa Fe railroad to provide railways ties - except that it was discovered that the wood was unsuitable, so various ‘ranches’ were established instead. Hollywood stars liked the place as a getaway – Douglas Fairbanks had a big ranch here.

The area is only about half an hour from San Diego proper, where there is lots to see. But I preferred to spend a lazy few days beachside, in my new ‘California office’! (Thanks, Brigitta and Michael).

Torrey Pines

The Remains of the Day

Left-over Birthday Cake

Indulgent though it is, the birthday this year, having been hooked to the wagon of Kyle's 50th, just seems to go on and on...I do not yet have any photos from the Concert After Party, since I elected to have others take them, so that I could mingle with all the fabulous guests who made the occasion so special. What I can tell you is that it was one great party.

The Press House Wine Bar (obviously before we got there!)

Stephanie and her team at The Press House wine bar behind St Bride's were brilliant - professionally serving what she called 'mini mains' - rissotto, fish and chips, rataouille, sheperd's pie, mini-burgers - to the hungry concert goers and relaxing artists. The wines that Kyle and I had had such fun tasting and selecting were the subject of many compliments. In the relaxed ambience of the historic wine bar people could sit, stand, dance, relax - it was such a great combination. And then the cheese came out - oh, yes! And I haven't even mentioned Gloria yet - the DJ from Colombia in her rakish hat, keeping the party jumping. 'I Come From The Land Down Under"....

Kir Royale

These festivities were interrupted only briefly when I took the microphone and made my Birthday Speech. I can't give you the text, because it was extempore...but I do recall proposing a toast to the artists, with Kyle, in our traditional after-opera cocktail, the Kir Royale. Silliness is no reason not to preserve a good tradition.

The last revellers made their way home at about 1 am. Petra (visiting from Zurich) walked me all the way to my front door, carrying the enormous bunch of flowers which had been conferred upon me by the gorgeous Madame Thomas. The unaccustomed stilettos were killing me, but I slept the sleep of a contented Birthday Girl.

Madame Thomas serves the French toast

And the next day...ahhh! Madame Thomas cooked us brunch at Kyle and Andrew's house. Escargots! French toast! A big American platefull of sausage, bacon and scrambled eggs! Quenelles! Chocolate mousse! Champagne! A party of eight or ten lingering friends, artists, guests from out of town, and dogs, sat around the big hospitable table, and talked and talked about the wonderful evening just past. I learnt much from Simone, Tamara and Barton about how tough it is to make a living in classical music. But also how much they love what they do, and how passionately they want to excel at what they do, not only for their audiences but for their own creative satisfaction. The weather was rainy. The two big dogs, Kaiser and Greta, were well behaved.

Brunch!!

Barton and Tamara chill out...

Escargots. No, I didn't.

The happy throng at Sarastro

As the out-of-towners made their way to various airports, there was time for a last-night dinner with visiting Ottawans Ken and Paul, plus Catherine and David. Sarastro in Drury Lane was chosen and one of its tiny balcony tables reserved. They do a bit of rough and ready cabaret at Sarastro (which is, by the way, the name of a character from Mozart's opera 'The Magic Flute'), so our dinner was enlivened with some violins, and then a couple of opera singers being Mimi and Rudolfo amongst the waiters and diners...a fitting end to a crazy and splendid weekend.



You will be relieved to know that I spent Monday morning drawing up a study plan and catching up on my reading on Descartes. Yes, I did really.


Some images from:
http://marketingnaweb2009.blogspot.com/
http://www.presshousewinebars.co.uk/
http://www.sarastro-restaurant.com/indexfr.html