Kamikaze bunnies; modern architecture; dying swans

Last Wednesday Ray and his brother Lee helpfully relieved us of the filing cabinet that has been occupying the third bedroom since I moved into the house. I originally bought it when I was doing postgraduate study in Colchester and had a full-blown home office set up, but it is now a bit surplus to requirements. Lee and his wife have recently set up their own home office and were willing to give it a home. They got it down the stairs and out of the house very quickly and efficiently, perhaps helped by the fact that, as Lee reminded me, the two of them have shifted it up and down stairs at least three times before.

Shortly after they had left, I had a quasi-parental sixth sense experience, which I will relate here. Ruth’s sister Gail and her boyfriend had arrived for dinner while the furniture removal was going on and I was chatting to them, when I suddenly realised simultaneously that a) the men would not have been able to shut the door of the third bedroom behind them (their arms being full of filing cabinet and all) and b) the smaller and naughtier of our rabbits was nowhere to be seen. I bounded from the room and up the stairs, arriving in the third bedroom just as Harley was eagerly making his way towards the open chimney shaft. I lunged and grabbed him with more speed than gentleness and carried him from the room, shutting the door behind us. Little critter. Glad we don’t have an open fire, as presumably his first impulse would be to throw himself into it.

There follows a bit of an architectural digest as Ray and I went for a ‘modern architecture’ walk in London on Saturday (pictures here), partly triggered by his recently having started a WEA evening class in same. Started off with breakfast at La Taaza then nipped across the road and took a bus to St Paul’s – I always forget that Travelcards can be used on buses but they are certainly a more interesting alternative to the tube. Hopped off the bus and made our way to view the controversial No. 1 Poultry, apparently a major exemplar of postmodernism in London. In my uninformed view, the building’s a bit of a gaudy incoherent mess, but I was childishly amused at the existence of a street named Poultry. Here’s a picture of the Mappin & Webb Building that previously occupied the site - I have to say that in this instance I do think the previous incumbent was more elegant.

We then walked from Poultry to the Lubetkin-designed Finsbury Health Centre off Farringdon Road, and were a bit saddened to note that despite being Grade I listed, it looks very shabby, although it appeared to be still in use from what we could see. There’s a good article about the building here. Sadly, it appears that last year Islington Primary Care Trust announced their intention to sell it due to the large cost of refurbishment (pah – that just means that someone high up doesn’t like it). A quick Google search revealed that there’s currently a campaign to save it.

We walked a short distance to Angel and took the tube to Highgate, where we emerged into a monsoon and consequently nipped into the Highgate Café for a hot chocolate. Then we walked a short distance to view some more Lubetkin buildings, the Highpoint apartment blocks on North Hill. We were agreed that Highpoint I is fab but were less sure about Highpoint II – and yes, those caryatids are very odd.

We then moseyed onto Hampstead Heath past the interesting West Hill Park estate and Highgate Ponds, entering Hampstead along Downshire Hill where we viewed the Hopkins house at number 49a - certainly avant garde although possibly too much of a goldfish bowl to live in.

We then trekked out along West Heath Road past the amazing Schreiber House at No. 9. This Times Online piece from 2007 refers – evidently the house was for sale at the time. There’s a picture on Flickr here apparently taken in 1965 – the house is now hemmed in by a more recent building on its left-hand side. There's another picture here from a different angle. This piece calls it one of the most significant town houses of the postwar period.

We then swung left into Redington Road, a long road of large and mainly dull villas, but there are some interesting more modern houses. Disappointingly, Oliver Hill’s ‘Hill House’ at number 87 is now barely visible – there’s a great picture of it in Modern: The Modern Movement in Britain but the garden has been grown in considerably since then and there may or may not have been infill development – the tree cover was too thick to see. The road has some great smaller houses though including number 50 (picture here), the white-rendered 85a (picture here) and the spanking new 14 (pictured right).

After a late lunch at the quirky Coffee Cup on Hampstead High Street, which claims to be "the oldest coffee lounge in London", we strolled to Frognal Way. Have strong suspicions that the Cooper House at 22 Frognal Way (there’s a picture here) may be being demolished, as there was high fencing all around it. There’s an article here published in October 2008 about the house - from the picture it looks a neat and attractive house. WANTON VANDALISM. Fume, rant, etc.

Progressing along Frognal Way we passed Maxwell Fry’s Sun House, which looked distinctly shut up, and then emerged onto Frognal with the striking 66 Frognal (pictured right) on the corner. After a quick whiz around Frognal Close and the half-dozen neat 1930s houses there, we passed my favourite house of the day, 41 Frognal (Alexander Flinder, 1968; pictured left) a well proportioned low-lying house sited well back from the road.

Went with Ray and his Auntie Barbara to The Hexagon to see ‘Swan Lake’ last night, as performed by the Moscow City Ballet. I have seen a few ballets before but am hardly an aficionado so won’t attempt any intelligent critique. I had never seen ‘Swan Lake’ before. I thought the girl who danced Odette/Odile was good; the chap who danced Siegfried was good-looking but seemed to have less energy and lightness of foot than some of the other male dancers – also didn’t manage to convey much expression. The scenes by the lake were pretty and parts of the score are well-known, so that there are a number of “ah, so THAT’S where that’s from” moments. Have to say though that it’s a thin story with a LOT of padding.

Before the show I had quite an acceptable snack at The Hexagon's Café 6 of a coronation chicken baguette and a small plastic bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (about a glass's worth). Cute.