Guinea fowl

Just over a week ago to the Wigmore Hall, for some songs from Wolf and Mahler, a bit of a new departure for us, usually sticking to Schubert for songs. Our going to this concert was possibly the result of that noticed at reference 1, with the catch there being that I remember a man singing rather than a lady and the Wigmore Hall rather than the Temple. Maybe further search will get to the bottom of that one.

Opted for the Ewell West route, which meant that I was able to notice that the two young Wellingtonia in Longmead Road were doing pretty well, having put on a good bit of height since I first noticed them, some years ago now. Which reference 2 tells me must have been on or before July 2020. I would guess before.

I was reminded that parking for the day at Ewell West with Network Rail and RingGo (this despite all the signage from Apcoa which no-one has bothered to take down) is a good deal cheaper than parking with NCP at Epsom.

No twittering from the big bush at the town end of the platform at Ewell West. On the other hand, plenty of people. And plenty of people piling out of the tube into the station at Vauxhall. No football colours to be seen, but we did learn afterwards of some important rugby fixture at Twickenham, which fitted the travelling.

To All Bar One for tea and toast etc. Moving up from two toasts to three. Toasts which they do pretty well at ABO and which strike me as very good value, particularly considering the pleasant surroundings and service. Even if the clientèle is not quite as select as that at Olle & Steen. Certainly a lot less Islamic. I even got a proper tea cup, rather than the great chunky things they give you at places like Costa.

We wondered where all the joggers came from. One herd and quite a few singles, most of which last were ladies. A species of exhibitionism? You get a lot of lady joggers in Epsom High Street too.

SQS present in Regent Street. Also to be seen in and around Epsom. See, for example, reference 4.

The discrete entrance to the new Aki restaurant, in what was an RBS branch at the corner of Cavendish Square. Perhaps the heritage people insisted on discretion. Last noticed quite a few months ago now at reference 5. People that go in for glossy websites - reference 6 - although I thought the prices up outside the door looked quite reasonable, considering the class of the place. I would be surprised if we give it a go for all that.

The private medical facility on the west side of Cavendish Square was getting a face lift - what seems not long after the whole place was given a makeover. Although reference 7 suggests something more than five years ago. And after all, they do public houses and restaurants every two or three years.

Wigmore Street closed outside the Hall, with one of those vacuum excavators present; excavators which seem to have moved in really fast since they first appeared a few years ago. Plus jack hammers, although I did not hear them inside: maybe the contractors have an understanding with the Hall.

Concert good. I stuck to my usual gazing at the stage rather than trying to follow the words, while BH followed the words. I dare say I was missing a good deal, but I enjoyed the songs well enough without them. Not so uniformly tragic as our usual diet of Schubert; even a touch of fun here and there. But it remains odd that I choose to do without the words.

The encore was the rather different song at reference 8, which by the time we had had lunch, I had muddled up with the roughly contemporary larks of Vaughan Williams.

After the concert, to the restaurant at Waterloo, noticed at reference 9. An occasion when I also noticed the windows of the building which is now Aki, noticed above.

On the way, past the rather different sort of perp walk to that featuring Lord Mandelson. Still rather too much for me, despite the recent repair job.

And something was going on outside the fancy hotel, just to the north of our exit from Bond Street Tube. The A24 featured on the bus runs through the middle of Epsom and I cycle on it briefly at its junction with the A3 when passing though Clapham, so I was naturally curious. Except that I did not see anyone who look suitable to ask. Today, Bing suggests that it is probably to do with a film company of the same name, named for a road in Italy of all places - for which see reference 10.

We were a little early for our table at the restaurant, so we took an aperitif at the pub next door, gearing up for the rugby to follow. The picture on the ceiling was not that which I remembered, but I was probably muddling it up with the picture in the basement bar of the Rubens Hotel in Victoria. Possibly Balaclava rather than Waterloo.

Neither Bing nor Google any help at all and while Gemini is supportive he is not conclusive. And it rather looks as if the place has been made over since I was last there. Long enough ago that they also ran to a large humidor.

He got rather more specific in response to a supplementary, but on-site inspection is still clearly called for. 

I was amused by his commentary: all very décor and weekend supplement. 'Hotel Inspector' even. Maybe that is where he learned to bang on about this kind of thing.

Back at the restaurant, I started with a large mushroom, named for a seaside resort near Edinburgh, but cooked in the Florentine way. Rather good. BH took a vegetable soup.

We both took guinea fowl to follow, getting a half each. I don't think we have ever had them before, although the gardener at Bury Lodge, recently noticed, used to grow them along with his chickens and turkeys.

And I still managed a slice of some kind to cheese cake to finish. All off the specials board, which, unusually really did mean dishes of the day. Furthermore, specials which really are special. A cut well above average for the price point.

Washed down with some Gavi to start and some Grappa to finish. I failed to find a website for the cooperative responsible for the former, but both Bing and Google know all about it, with a sample of their wares being snapped above. Sensible markup.

We shall be back!

Plenty of twittering in the bushes by the time we got back to Ewell West.

PS 1: in the margins of this post, I skimmed the article at reference 11 - leaving me with the thought that is it any wonder that banks are looking to AI to help them keep track of all this. The onus being on the borrowers to explain themselves notwithstanding.

PS 2: further search on the key 'Araldica La Battistina Nuovo Quadro Gavi' fails to turn up the cooperative responsible for the wine. But gmaps turns up the headquarters on the key 'Araldica, Castel Boglione, Piedmont', pretty much half way between Turin and Genoa, as the crow flies. So headquarters yes, arty shots of mist rising over a sea of vines no. 

There is also a shop, possibly the place under the canopy left. Modest looking place considering the number of wine merchants here who stock the stuff? But gmaps does take me to reference 13.

Where there are arty pictures of vines, but not our particular wine - which also lacks the Araldica banner present on the label of most of the wines offered on the website. Where have I gone wrong?

Not the sort of thing you could sell to respectable Italians? Export to the taste-free Brits only? After all, a lot of funny beers called English used to find their way onto cross channel ferries.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/to-temple.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/07/identification-of-wellingtonia-closed.html.

Reference 3: https://clientele.co.za/. Turned up when checking the spelling.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/more-home-affairs.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-day-of-rabbit.html.

Reference 6: https://akilondon.com/.

Reference 7: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/to-london-town.html.

Reference 8: 6 Songs from A Shropshire Lad: When I was one-and-twenty - George Butterworth, Alfred Houseman - 1896, 1911.

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/dissonance.html.

Reference 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A24.

Reference 11: Barclays blocked transactions linked to property lender MFS months before collapse: Bank among lenders to have identified issues with Market Financial Solutions after other high-profile failures - Euan Healy, Ortenca Aliaj, Financial Times - 2026.

Reference 12: https://www.4fratellicaprini.co.uk/. The restaurant.

Reference 13: https://www.araldicavini.it/enoteca. The cooperative.