Rubens Has Arrived At The Royal Academy
As it was Friends Preview Day, I went to see the new Rubens exhibition at the Royal Academy.
Rubens Has Arrived At The Royal Academy
I was a bit underwhelmed and as The Times gave it only two stars out of five, I don’t think my views are out of line.
I much preferred the Allen Jones exhibition, which ends in a few days.
It Must Be Warm, As I’ve Put My Electric Blanket Away
I’ve taken my electric blanket off the bed, as I have found I’ve not used it for some months.
The bed ceretainly feels more comfortable and the only new problem I’ve got is that I can’t fold it up to put it away.
London’s New Bridge
It’s not often that London gets a new bridge. But the swing bridge over Deptford Creek opened today.
They even closed it so, that I could walk over the creek.
Walking Through My Maternal Grandparents’ Lives
My maternal grandmother, Harriet Martha Upcott, was born opposite Dalston Junction station in Dalston Lane in May 1871. In September 1894, she married my grandfather, Henry Millbank, who had been born in Clerkenwell in 1870. Census and other records show that in 1894 they lived at 29 Dalston Lane and then by 1901 they had moved to 90, Princess May Road in Stoke Newington. As Princess May Road is perhaps a kilometre from where I live now, I walked round all these places this morning.
In some ways, one thing that struck me as I walked in a semi-circle to St. Mark at the back of the famous Ridley Road Market was how intact the late Victorian terraces were. But why was 90, Princess May Road missing. Was it just development or did the Luftwaffe have a hand? I shall go to the Hackney Records Office opposite where my grandmother was born in the week.
It was a family joke between my parents, that my grandmother was born in the Balls Pond Road, when it was posh the first time around. The Balls Pond Road is the continuation of Dalston Lane towards Islington.
I can’t salso ever remember talk of Dalston, despite my mother having worked at Reeves. Stoke Newington and Islington were mentioned.
A Gallery I Wish I’d Missed
I regretted going to the Musee D’Orsay, as I was tired after my walk and it wasn’t a gallery that was easy to visit, if you were in your sixties and showing the odd sign of wear and tear.
Compared to the Louvre, it was very second rate, with no working lifts and no escalators, and steps everywhere, which would make it probably a no-go for many.
In some ways if your compare it to the Louvre, the four Tates, the Royal Academy and the Louvre, the layout is very 1980s and the Musee D’Orsay desperately needs an update to bring it up to modern standards.
It also annoyed me that photography is not allowed, so I was unable to take pictures of the building, which was one of my reasons for going.
I also felt that the Sade exhibition was rather pretentious, long winded, cramped into a too small exhibition space and badly presented.
It certainly wasn’t good value at I think eleven euros with no senior discount.
Walking Along The Seine
After Republique, I took the Metro to the Bir Hakeim, with the aim of having a river cruise. I didn’t see a boat running or anybody to ask, but a notice said there had been floods, so I just walked along the Seine to the Musee D’Orsay.
It was a pleasant walk for much of the route, but it was rather devoid of any information on nearby Metro stations, so I probably walked further than I intended.
Republique Remembers Charlie
One of the reasons I went to Paris was to go to the Place de la Republique to pay my respects after the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
Like my father, I am a great believer in free speech and agree totally with Voltaire.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
Unfortunately criticism is now seen in many countries and organisations as severe disloyalty and could even suffer the ultimate punishment,
Up And Down To Sacre Coeur
I always go up to Sacre Coeur when I go to Paris.
I was lazy and went up and down on the funicular, which is covered by a standard one day pass on Paris Metro, RER and buses.
If I ever was to meet a French lady on a date in Paris, I would meet her here. The reasons are that the place is special to me, as I said in this post
One Reason We Need More Engineers!
When I graduated in 1968,with an Upper Second Class Honours in Engineering from Liverpool University, my first job at ICI paid £1150 a year.
According to this article in The Independent, Aldi are paying trainee managers £42,000 a year or £3463.70 in 1968 money.
It is my belief that good engineers are some of the best practical problem solvers, so how many of the best engineers are lured by high salaries to non-creative jobs like being a trainee supermarket manager?
High salaries in these sorts of non-creative industries like Retail and the Civil Service, are robbing the country of its best engineers.
Exposed Breasts On The Underground
How long have there been Page 3 girls in The Sun?
So in some ways, it is rather strange, that on a Metropolitan Line train, I saw for the first time, a pair of breasts in a newspaper displayed in all their glory by the guy opposite.He’d folded the paper back to read something more interesting on the other side of the page.
It was also strange that no-one asked the man to cover up his breasts by refolding the paper.
In answer to the question at the start of this post, the answer is in this Wikipedia entry.
It’s over forty years.
The Anonymous Widower 