John Linton .........which would be what a package tour trip itinerary would say in the event we were on a package tour.
We got up late (a habit that's going to be hard to break when we get back to Australia) and strolled a 150 meters or so to the Royal Academy's Degas exhibition which consisted of dozens and dozens of drawings, water colours, one or two oils and many of his most famous sculptures in a dazzling display spread over half a dozen or so of their upstairs display rooms. There was a lot to see and it wasn't really crowded (unlike Sydney and Canberra's exhibitions) so we were able to spend the best part of two hours seeing all of the exhibits properly. It was the first time I have seen Degas' work in perspective and it was very instructive. I was tempted to buy a copy of his most famous sculpture which, at least to me, seemed very reasonably priced but the logistics were far too complicated.
After that uplifting experience we returned to mundanity with Annette returning to Oxford Street to renew her wardrobe replenishment program and I had a leisurely stroll round St James and Piccadilly wishing I had the sort of annual income that those precincts cater to. I did visit a couple of shops from my boyhood (one that sells hand carved and painted military figures and one where I got my first pairs of 'real shoes' when I went to prep school) and clearly remembered the first times I had visited them. I never did get a figure from The Armoury when I was a child (way out of my father's discretionary spending power - at least on his children) and I almost bought one today but decided it was many decades too late. London has beautiful shops - even for a disinterested male.
We met up for a late, light lunch sans alcohol because my children had clubbed together to buy Annette and I tickets to the National's new production of 'The Tempest' directed by the RSC's great(est) Trevor Nunn and with Ralph Fiennes in the lead part and Nunn's latest 'discovery' playing Miranda. It is a spectacular play in its construction and should be wonderful in Nunn's execution so we are really looking forward to seeing it later this evening. I haven't seen a Nunn interpretation of Shakespeare since his mind blowing 'Midsummer Night's Dream' more than 40 years ago when he was 'the latest young director' to re-interpret many of the theatre's great plays. I used to love the theatre, going to see many plays and acting, directing and writing in various amateur drama groups in Melbourne - however since that time we go to virtually nothing and certainly don't participate.
We were going to visit the National Gallery after lunch but were discouraged by the showers of rain and the likelihood of it becoming more intense - there's always tomorrow for that and a visit to the British Library which we both enjoy. It is a strange experience to see and read the original Magna Carta or one of the original 4th century CE manuscripts of the New Testament (Codex Sinaiticus - it must drive the Bible literalists in to a real tizzy to see the amendments and erasures in the dictated "word of God"). I did have to do some work for the first time in three weeks which I preferred to get out of the way before it began to 'prey' on what's left of my mind and an afternoon lounging about on comfortable furniture as the sky darkens and the rain taps more insistently on the rooms windows is not an unpleasant way of spending an hour or so. So we again 'wasted' the afternoon reading the papers and chatting in the hotel and beginning to prepare for returning to the real world in a couple of day's time.
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