A quick rundown of our itinerary:
Friday night- went to see Alan Bennett's new play "A Habit of Art" at the National. Centring around an imagined meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten that might have taken place in 1972, it is a highly polished, professional performance, as we might expect. Alan is always funny, irreverent and often deeply insightful, though this time it seemed to me he wasn't quite sure how to end it. Biggest laugh:
Auden (to visitor): Are you the rent boy I ordered?
Humphrey Carpenter (Auden's biographer): Good God no! I'm from the BBC!
Saturday morning, to Westminster Abbey (see yesterday's blog)One of Britain's greatest buildings for sure, the highlight being for me Henry VII's chapel. I made sure to find both Auden's and Britten's plaques. How to get a plaque there?. An OM seems to help, as does a CH, so Britten, with both, was presumably a shoe-in.
Saturday afternoon: to the RA to see their new exhibition "Van Gogh: the artist and his letters" The letters were certainly fascinating, sometimes adorned with delightfully drawn "croquis" (cartoons) but ultimately it was the pictures that spoke most eloquently.
Saturday evening: A meal at Kai, rumoured to be the best Chinese restaurant in London. The meal (I stayed safe with chicken and and spring onions with black bean sauce) was indeed excellent, but I couldn't take my eyes off a nearby party; clearly Russians, three men, all dressed identically in black leather, all sporting improbably gorgeous young women. They all ordered Peking duck and the Krug flowed early and often. My wife's verdict on them : boringly predictable.
Sunday morning: to the city to climb the Monument. I haven't done this for nearly 50 years, though I remember the occasion still. I had forgotten the details of the astonishing view, though it's probably almost unrecognisable half a century on.
Returning home, we find ourselves unburgled. A good weekend.
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