Day 2 of the S Ldn holiday by mistake. Let’s start by putting down the dust sheets in the flat ahead of the arrival of another electrician. It’s me that’s got the problem, not him.
This should have been so simple. The task was to fit a new bathroom fan. Some fella from the same company inspected the old fan a fortnight ago. It took him less than 15 minutes. I still had to pay for the full hour, natch.
I was told he would return two weeks later with a new fan, and then fit this in under an hour. I was a fan of this.
But wait! What’s this? Some new geezer rocks up today:
“Hello. I’ve come to inspect your fan.”
I politely pointed out that the inspection had taken place and that a new fan was being fitted in the allocated hour time for today. He didn’t have a new fan with him of course.
A new timeframe of “two hours or so” was given. I was pissed off. I had paid for a full hour for what was 15 minutes work already. I was led to believe the same electrician would return with a fan.
Some bartering with the head office took place. Never bater with a man who hunts down Lidl orange reduced price stickers. I got them down to one hour and 15 minutes for today.
Album of the Day: Green Day – Dookie
This felt like a Green Day Greatest Hits. All the tracks are so familiar. It’s a great punk pop album. The tracks are the right duration to capture your attention before it’s time to move on. It’s not a revolutionary album like London Calling, etc. But Green Day deserve credit for going against the fashion at the time. Making a pop punk record in 1993 wasn’t a smart move. This still stands up.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
To the Wallace Collection! I could have stayed in the flat and binged on Voyager on Netflix, tbh. I wasn’t in the out and about mood. I somehow found the motivation and fired up my Velo Beeline 2.
It was a shitty cycle ride in. The Beeline took me over the river at Vauxhall, and then through Horseferry Road. Most of the back streets around this area were closed. I ended up dismounting and walking through.
The Wallace collection is located at Manchester Square. I had more interest in The Beatles history rather than one of Europe’s finest collections of Renaissance art. Sadly the old EMI building has long since been demolished. And so a lunchtime spent perusing classical European art pieces it was.
It’s an impressive collection. I did a little light reading ahead of the visit. Part of the covenant which keeps the collection as part of a charitable status is that none of the original items can be removed.
The exhibitions were vast. It was too much to take in during one single visit. Instead I moved from room to room, and tried to get a sense of what’s on display.
The light in each room changed as you moved through centuries and different countries. I’m not sure if this was deliberate, or just some crappy lighting.
I rather enjoyed standing in the centre of each room and just taking in the ambience, rather than looking at the artwork.
I continue with my South London holiday by mistake afternoon of art appreciation.
To the Victoria Milo!
My route took me through Mayfair, and then onto Bloomsbury. I passed around the back of King’s X and then found the gallery. It was in the back of beyond in a hidden away North London side street.
I wasn’t even quite sure if the gallery was open. There was a single door with a buzzer. I hesitantly pressed it, not sure what to expect on the other side. A warm welcome was offered as I was invited inside the gallery space.
Of interest to me was the Grayson Perry exhibition, Posh Cloths. Grayson Perry is always playful. There was a Colchester connection in some of the tapestry. One of the large rugs was previously on display at Firstsite.
The woven map of London was spot-on with the observations: ‘Nannies, wellness and yoga mat’ were woven into a particular suburb of West London.
Victoria Milo is an impressive gallery space. There was room to breathe as you took in the artwork. It’s pretty cool that this kind of gallery is there for you to enjoy for free on a Tuesday afternoon.
I was now on a roll. I cycled on to Upper Street. It would be rude not to whilst not in the area. I got a little lost. I took a wrong turning and ended up in Highbury Corner. It’s been years since I’ve been around this part of town.
I cycled back down Upper Street and towards Angel. I wanted to do a brief charity shop trawl.
You get a different class of customer around Islington. I hate all the legacy media lame stereotypes about Islington. There are pockets of poverty behind Upper Street. It’s no different to most other towns or cities.
This was certainly reflected in the CD section. I picked up a Pat Benatar Best Of and Anita Baker’s Rhythm of Love – £3 all in.
I took a walk down Chapel Market. It was a little depressing tbh. I had a minor interest in the vegan curry buffet place. I never can say no to a buffet. But I could today. I just wasn’t in the mood and didn’t have the hunger.
The price is still an amazing £5 for all you can eat. I often make the mistake of confusing all that you can eat with all that your body thinks it can eat.
The ride back across the river took me from Farringdon down to Elephant. This was my daily commute back in the days of The Graun. It was bloody awful. CS6 now makes this an absolute dream. There’s over 2km of segregated space for cyclists.
Chapeau!
News came in from the bloody Estuary Wilds. We have a new front door. It looks rather smart. The main specification this time was for a spy hole. We just get fucked off with all these randoms back in Weird Wiv knocking on our door and bothering us. Go away.
The rowing club poll dropped for April. I put myself down for a number of social rows. I can’t think that far ahead though. The appearance of the builders back in the bloody Estuary Wilds will hopefully lead to more S Ldn holidays by mistake over the coming months.