Wednesday 1 April 2009

Ideal Homes; cemeteries; bit of culture

Ruth and I hit the Ideal Home Show on Friday, which made for a good day out. I had been once before, around 10 years ago, and it had been so crowded that just moving around the exhibits had been difficult – this time we were sufficiently cunning to choose a weekday and the crowds were very manageable so we were able to browse the exhibits and room layouts at leisure. Saw a cute bath which could definitely have potential. Ruth was briefly enchanted by a toilet with a slow-closing lid, although we decided this couldn’t be classed as an essential. We left with a scarf each, a free copy of Ideal Home Magazine and an enormous number of leaflets.

After leaving the Earls Court Exhibition Building we wandered towards Chelsea and discovered Brompton Cemetery, where I’d never been before. Brompton was established in 1840 and was one of the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’, a group of private cemeteries established to take over from inner London churchyards as burial places for London’s dead. There are catacombs below the colonnades at the southern end, which sound terribly exciting and mysterious – no idea whether the public can access them. We were flagging a bit by that point so didn’t investigate. People buried at Brompton include Emmeline Pankhurst, Brian Glover and the founder of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

We had been intending to end the day with a bit of a browse around the Kings Road but in the event our feet were aching too much for this, so we collapsed onto a train back to Reading and went for a nice dinner at Bella Italia, where I think the waiting staff now know us by name.

Off to London again on Saturday to get together with my friend Helen for a catch-up and a browse around the V&A. We always give a token nod to culture by meeting in a museum/art gallery or similar, although in practice usually spend most of the time having lunch/tea. We braved the drizzle to have a quick wander around the new John Madejski Garden. Even after numerous visits to the V&A, there always seems to be something new to see - this time we looked around the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery, sought out the Great Bed of Ware (an impressive three metres wide) and saw the very odd Dacre Beasts, four sixteenth- century heraldic figures all apparently carved from a single trunk of an oak.

In the evening met Ray for a curry in Twyford, where we used to be in the habit of meeting for dinner some years ago when it was halfway between our respective homes. Although tempted by the smart-looking Haweli, we were loyal to our old haunt the Gaylord, where we had a pleasant meal under the slightly overly-watchful eyes of around half a dozen restaurant staff with seemingly little else to do. Still, they were very polite and shook our hands on the way out.