Sabbatical Day 14: London

- August 11, 2022

No doubt I was grumpy last night and early this morning. I called to inform housekeeping of the clogged sink about 6am. I informed the front desk at 11am. I checked in with the front desk at 1pm, nothing had been done. She offered to move me to another room and I requested one on a higher floor with perhaps a better view. So, that’s where I am now. The view is still nothing to get excited about, but at least I’m not looking out at air conditioner units and construction cranes.

I spent the morning walking and getting a bit oriented. This hotel is an interesting neighborhood called Clerkenwell. England.

Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington.

The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance.[2]

My first walk this morning was to an Amazon Fresh store. The first time I went to an Amazon Fresh store was in 2018 in Seattle. They were a new concept at the time. To shop at an Amazon Fresh store all you need is the Amazon app on your phone and you need to connect to local (UK) Amazon. Then take a shopping bag and drop your items in the bag and leave. The app records what you put in the shopping bag and charges your card when you leave. I spent $15 and bought instant coffee granules (actually made a decent cup of coffee), fresh cream for the coffee, strawberries, cheese and crackers, muffins, and yogurt. I will be able to have a decent breakfast in my room with a not too bad cup of coffee. And I have cheese and crackers and strawberries for either lunch or a light dinner in my room.

After eating a little something I made my way to the British Museum, about a 15 minute walk.

The museum was, of course, MOBBED. But, it has an exhibit on women that was terrific. I really enjoyed reading about the different saints and goddess and the history of women, power, sexuality, that the exhibit had curated. Very well done.

Judy Chicago, 1980’s

I decided after seeing that exhibit to leave the museum, it was way too warm and way too crowded to be inside with a mask on. Besides many of the other exhibits are typical of museums - lovely ancient artifacts, but I’ve seen similar in other museums like Chicago’s Field Museum (one of my favorite museums).

On the walk back to the hotel I saw signs for the Charles Dickinson Museum and so I wandered into it. What a charming little museum.

Located in a house that

Dickinson once lived in, it is full of his furniture, drawings and documents from his books, announcements of plays and other historical booklets. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Once back at my hotel I decided to try to find a clothing store. I’m going out to dinner tonight with a parishioner who is in the UK working on a Masters in Choral Music (not sure the exact degree). I’ve known this kid, this twenty-something, for eleven years. It’s fun to see him as a young adult making his way in the world. Anyway, I only have very casual clothes, a skort and a t-shirt. I thought I’d pick up a little dress. BUT, absolutely zero clothing stores in this area. None. A million cafes. This included the fabulous Exmouth Market. https://exmouth.london/. I did buy an iced latte. It’s very warm here.

Now I’m back in my room, resting up a bit before grabbing a taxi to the restaurant for dinner before the concert. We’re going to https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/emjv9r

Programme

Anna Thorvaldsdottir
ARCHORA(20 mins)BBC co-commission: world premiere
Edward Elgar
Cello Concerto in E minor(27 mins)
INTERVAL
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 2 in D major(43 mins)

Performers

Composers

About This Event

Three composers, three landscapes. Elgar wrote his Cello Concerto in the woodlands of Sussex; for many listeners, its autumnal colours evoke emotions too deep for words. From his home in Finland, Sibelius created a symphony that has the grandeur and inevitability of a great river – though some have heard it as a stirring song of national awakening. And elemental forces are the very bedrock of Anna Thorvaldsottir’s inspiration. The BBC Philharmonic, under Eva Ollikainen – a Finnish conductor with close links to Iceland – teams up with charismatic soloist Kian Soltani in Elgar’s hugely popular concerto, and gives the world premiere of a newly forged orchestral work by Iceland-born Anna Thorvaldsottir, for whom composition is ‘a natural part of my life’.

Broadcast on BBC Four on Sunday 14 August

PART OF

Proms 2022 Classical for starters Proms on TV