Author: telboy2

Far right in London

Joe and I were trying to go to the Tate yesterday but got caught up in travel cancellations because of the far right march through central London. I should have paid more attention to the news and avoided the area.

As we walked past the walkers trying to find a way, their appearance was what you would have expected.

Clearly white and mostly male. A mixture of of ages but more 40 and 50s. Lots of England football shirts and tins of beer or pints. Lots of union jacks and St George flags to reclaim.

A large crowd which in itself is worrying. A bad day.

Tour of Lords

A tour of the headquarters of cricket. So a chance to go in the pavilion, see the changing rooms and admire the collection of players’ pictures. Also to see the successful Kiwis.

More Tate

Another trip but this time to Tate Modern along with Joe. An option to use the membership again!

Some aboriginal art- some with a more modern presentation

Plus some good photos from a Czech including from the Soviet invasion of Prague.

Downpatrick and Prague

The one on the right is the same event I believe from which there is an iconic picture of a woman Pitt a flower in the barrel of a tank. Plus echoes of Tiananmen Square image.

Plus some other notables:

Tate Britain

As a result of this visit we are members again.

A recommendation from EQ to see Edward Burra:

I enjoyed most of his work. Early stuff less stimulating and later UK scenery less appealing. Interesting images of Franc and USA in the 1920 and 30s.

The violence of war in Spain then WW2 are hard to view.

He also loved music and helped in design for operas. One o f which was about the Govan area of Glasgow:

Proms 2025

During my recent trip to London for work I slipped in some culture. One event was a trip to the Royal Albert Hall to watch and listen to a Proms concert.

The main attraction was Beethoven’s Fifth.

The paino concerto was good to listen to and technically a great exhibition. The piece ‘Bruckner’s Skull’ was quite different and interesting.

I obtained my ticket on the day and so was a ‘Prommer’ for the first time- in the standing area in front of the stage. A good experience but hard on the feet by the end!

A walk from Le Quillio

I have been to the cycle track on my bike before but this weekend Shaz and I went for a walk along the Hilvern. A calm, peaceful environment with plenty of shade. The latter aspect being very much appreciated on a bright and hit day.

Tour de France

While the race is still on, it did pass through the village, but a little bit ago.

So better late than never.

The village was, of course,busy. A good atmosphere and great to see so much going on. We decided to find ourselves a spot on the vallée road in order to give ourselves a long view of the lads as they came through. We arrived in good time and prepared:

Even the ‘gina’ is branded with the Tour:

The more entertaining aspect was the arrival of the caravan- that is the promotional floats that threw out merchandise to spectators. We were avid collectors.

And then the race came through:

So we saw the racers. Others came through in bunches and slowly. We did not appreciate until we watched the tv highlights that there had been a crash just up the road, out of our view, on exiting the village.

We collected our goodies and walked home and watched the rest of the race on the highlights. The finish up the hill just outside Mûr de Bretagne looked impressive. Maybe next time we will go there. See you in three years?