Since the plague we have been doing very little in the way of evening outings. Notwithstanding, back in 2025, I clearly thought it was worth giving it another go, the pull being a set of Beethoven quarters from the Elias Quartet - not something we get to hear too much of at lunch time concerts. Op.18, No.6; Op.135; and, Op.59, No.2. Possibly rather a lot for one sitting these days, but one could always leave at half time. And one could always stay over at the Wellington at Waterloo, of references 2, thus shortening the evening by more than an hour. In the end, that is what we settled on doing.
A visit to T.K. Maxx by way of preparation. The dimensions of this little case were not that much less than those of the Victorinox case of reference 1, but the thing as a whole was much lighter, more suitable for an overnighter.
Walked to the station, passing an older trolley from M&S on the way, arriving what should have been just in time for our train, the 17:19, to find that it only exists in the form of the 17:39, so we had something of a wait. The 15:19 and the 18:19 exists, so some quirk of the rush hour timetable.
A small flock of what I took to be coal tits in the bushes across the town rails. Coal tits which were seen off by the arrival of a magpie.
A young man opposite us in the train appeared to be comparing his photocopied version of 'A midsummer night's dream' with the version on his telephone, and making a small number of notes in very small writing on the photocopy. He also had ear plugs in. We wondered what exactly he was up to, but did not like to ask. It had the appearance of some kind of study assignment, but what kind exactly?
A mass of white blossom along the way, to the west. Stoneleigh or somewhere like that. Whitethorn to the right but what was it to the left?
Google Images took my hint the wrong way at his first attempt.
But did rather better on his second. I had wondered about clematis, although the Clematis montana that I used to grow on the allotment had yellow flowers. However, Google proper turns up Clematis montana 'Grandiflora' aka Old Man's Beard from Sutton's - so maybe his colleague was right.
Interesting cloudscape to the west, complete with low flying sun and strobe effects when one shut one's eyes. A few aeroplanes, but no twos.
Just two young ladies in full war paint when we arrived at Waterloo, this being early Friday evening.
We had time to check-in at the Wellington and leave our case, where the bar was busy but where we were taken in hand by a very pleasant bar maid. A very decent room, up on the third floor. Another of the little coffee machines which we had first come across the week before - but this time the kettle was to hand and BH left the machine alone.
The view, complete with secondary double glazing, of a sort which one does not see that often these days. I installed some in our house in Cambridge back in the 1980s - a 1950s house with galvanised steel window frames, all the thing at the time. Not as smart as that snapped above.
There was a very noisy band set up just outside Waterloo Station. Presumably some people like it - while we were consoled by the thought that they would be long gone by the time we got back, which was indeed the case.
A very retro switch, a switch went goes up and down for on and off rather than round and round. But we did not escape the tricky wiring of all the many lights which seems to be a feature of hotel rooms and holiday cottages. I never got the hand of that in our cottage at Holne, Forestoke Linhay, despite visiting the place quite a few times.
Interesting tread covering on the lower flights of stairs. Don't remember when I last saw such a thing, inside or outside a building. A matter to which I shall attempt to return in due course.
In any event, there were quite a few steps - BH made it just over sixty - so I was glad enough that we had opted for the little case.
Onto Bond Street and Olle & Steen, where we took an open beef sandwiches. Plus, in my case, some kind of sugary cake, visible top right.
The sandwich was on the right lines, but the same amount of beef would have been better spread over two slices of bread and it would have been better if there had been a good deal less mayonnaise. Better still, only today we were in an establishment, to be reported on in due course, where they provided the mayonnaise in a little jug, in the manner of gravy at Wetherspoon's. A much better solution altogether.
The cake, perhaps involving some kind of fig and cinnamon based filling, was indeed far too sweet. Perhaps it is the sort of thing people eat in the winter in countries that get properly cold - which the south of England does not. At least not very often.
Onto the Hall, where for once in a while, something had gone wrong with the flowers, Perhaps one of the front of house staff had attempted to repair the display.
But nothing wrong with the Elias String Quartet who did us very well. I would only say that either they or I drifted off a bit for the second half of the second work, Op.135, but everything was spot on after the interval. A fine concert, well worth the effort of getting there, after hours, as it were.
Back to the Wellington where I took a short pint of fine London Pride, which made a change from the bottled stuff I usually make do with these days. Unusually, I was tempted to buy a bag of crisps, something I do very rarely indeed,
Then, rather to my surprise, I did not fancy a second pint, despite all the salt in the crisps. And too proud to ask for a half!
PS: the Quartet (at reference 4) get twenty hits on the archive, the first of which turned out to be Norbert Elias, which was quite wrong. But there was reference 3, from 2012. To my memory's credit, I had wondered whether we had first come across them at Dorking. As it happens, remarks about cold winters above notwithstanding, an occasion with snow - and with the 18.6 to be heard on this outing. How many times have they played it in the fourteen years since?
References
Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/03/big-case-second-day.html.
Reference 2a: https://www.wellingtonhotelwaterloo.co.uk/?partner=8163. What does partner mean in this context, given that the house is branded for Fullers? We did learn that the land is owned by the railway, unsurprising given that what used to be the entrance to Waterloo East is adjacent, now a bistro or something.
Reference 2b: https://www.wellingtonhotelwaterloo.co.uk/. Reference 2a is what one gets through Bing, but this version works too. A puzzle for another time.
Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/02/adventure.html.
Reference 4: https://eliasstringquartet.com/.
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