Purpose of trip: To see Harold Pinter's 'Old Times' in the West End
Now that I remember it, I did go off the leash last year to see a similar Pinter menage a trois at the same London Theatre which has taken the playwright's name. That too featured Kristin Scott Thomas, who I find quite mesmerising, in Pinter's 'Betrayal'. Peter is usually my first choice of companion for anything like this, although it is a while since he came to the theatre with me. But it was meant to be as it fell during my half term holiday and on a day when he had no lectures. We decided to stay overnight and try and fit a few other things in as well.
When it came to it I had a long wishlist and Pete had his own agenda. Before I had even left the station I had things I wanted to see. I've written here before about St Pancras station. At Christmas hubby indulged me with a book about the restoration of the station and the hotel. I was probably a trainspotter in a previous life as I drink in the technical details as readily as the stylistic points. And I couldn't resist regurgitating bits of it to bore Pete with. That was the first time we crossed paths with John Betjeman that day.
I had wanted to visit Bedford Park and Hampstead Garden Suburb but decided both really needed more time than we could give them on this occasion so we decided to head for the city. Before we went Peter wanted to nip next door to the British Library. It was a place I knew nothing about but as a keen student of Scandinavian architecture Pete was keen to see this piece of Swedish Brutalism (have I got that right, Pete?) He was kicking himself for not bringing his good camera but managed to take a few snaps on his phone.
Next stop was Kensington where we admired the buildings of the Natural History Museum and the V&A before heading into the dark depths of the Brompton Oratory. I first visited soon after I became a Catholic in 1984 and with its Latin mass and dark glories it felt like a place of pilgrimage. Since then I suppose I have visited many churches and cathedrals and the Oratory didn't have quite the same impact on me this time.
From Kensington we made our way on foot to Chelsea to see John Dando Sedding's "Arts and Crafts Cathedral". Pete was rather amused to find that it was Sir John Betjeman who coined this phrase. Holy Trinity, Sloane Square is perhaps best known for the Burne-Jones East Window. It was indeed impressive but the parts I liked the most were the windows in the north wall and the angel lectern.
There was a superb metalwork railing around the pulpit too which reminded me of Jugendstil metalwork we saw in the artists' colony at Darmstadt, Germany last year.
We were probably at pulpit saturation point by now so we took the tube back to Piccadilly Circus and went in search of Tokyo Fixed and then the Rapha Cycle Club.
Peter has joined the ranks of fixed gear cyclists and so has begun a familiar process. With Matt's motorcycle hobby, we have probably had several motorbikes come through our front door part by part over the last few years. Now it is Pete and cycles. Thankfully we came away with nothing bulkier than a water bottle. A very expensive, chic water bottle of course!
We had managed to fit a lot into our hours before the theatre but still had time for a leisurely meal at Prezzo on the Haymarket before turning back into Panton Street towards the Harold Pinter Theatre. There we saw 80 mins of Ms Scott Thomas alongside Lia Williams and Rufus Sewell in Pinter's Old Times. I'd like to claim to be a fan of Pinter but I have to confess I can't quite get to grips with it. Pete and I tried to work out what the whole thing was about on our way to our overnight accommodation at the mother-in-law's in Seven Kings. Only the following day when I did my homework did I discover that you are supposed to put your own interpretation on Pinter. So I guessed we had done what Pinter intended, we just felt that we had somehow missed the point. We both admitted it didn't detract from our enjoyment of the play.
We had hoped to be spending the following morning looking round the Olympic site in Stratford but had read that it was closed for redevelopment so instead we went off on the London Overground in the direction of Bethnal Green. We walked round in circles for a while looking for Brick Lane Bikes (fixed gear specialists again) but found it eventually. En route we passed (at least twice) the Boxpark at Shoreditch High Street. What a great idea!
Our final stop was The Black Friar. What a fabulous place. The building itself is quite interesting, occupying as it does a little corner plot near Blackfriars station.
Doesn't this look right up my street?
We sat right in front of this lovely window.
The pub style is very definitely tongue in cheek and has a quite playful feel to it. When Pete read that it was Sir John Betjeman who campaigned to save the pub back in the sixties I think he was beginning to sense there was a conspiracy afoot. It really was a coincidence though. Or maybe not. Maybe I should go and find out more about Sir J B as he may be a man after my own heart. What a great place The Black Friar is. I am so glad we made it before our train home and they served a pretty good cup of coffee too.
To take a sensible route back to St Pancras we walked to St Paul's for the tube. I'd forgotten St Paul's itself is also on my London tour wishlist but we had finally run out of time. When we eventually boarded the train back home it was hard to believe we'd had less than 24 hours in the big city but we had certainly made the best of them.
