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qatsiI'm still feeling the repercussions of the broadband outages in May and June. Trying to catch up on other significant events, I can remember a few but there may have been others. At the end of May we visited Dulwich Picture Gallery for the Berthe Morisot exhibition and to meet up properly with F. If I'm honest, the exhibition was a bit mediocre and I noted I was actually often drawn to works of other artists placed alongside for comparative purposes. But in any case it was good to catch up with F, and there is always tea and cake to be had in the cafe. As I recall, there was also sunburn on that occasion.
A couple of weeks later, we had lunch with J who was visiting from California. Again it was good to catch up, this time with someone I hadn't seen for more than a decade. I learnt that one of the motivations for "back to the office" in the US is the tax breaks offered to various companies, on the basis that their employees will then pay for public transport in the area. It's not exactly sinister but it does feel like a rather sad reflection on public finances. Not that we have anything to brag about over here in that area. Something about the UK wanting European-style welfare and US-style taxation, or cakeism as it might also be known.
We also ventured out to St Martin in the Fields with (a different) J to see The Sixteen. Although our seats were restricted view, the sound was perfect. Most of the programme was early music, as might be expected, but a couple of contemporary pieces by Dobrinka Tabakova were contrasting and unmistakeably contemporary but well-matched to their context.
Somewhere in-between all of this, we've also had trips to Hampton Court, which I hadn't visited for many years; Gilbert White's house at Selborne, where there was also a "rare" plant sale (in the end, we seem to have bought a few literally common-or-garden plants); and a return visit to Mottisfont, unfortunately a little late for the height of the rose season.
A couple of weeks later, we had lunch with J who was visiting from California. Again it was good to catch up, this time with someone I hadn't seen for more than a decade. I learnt that one of the motivations for "back to the office" in the US is the tax breaks offered to various companies, on the basis that their employees will then pay for public transport in the area. It's not exactly sinister but it does feel like a rather sad reflection on public finances. Not that we have anything to brag about over here in that area. Something about the UK wanting European-style welfare and US-style taxation, or cakeism as it might also be known.
We also ventured out to St Martin in the Fields with (a different) J to see The Sixteen. Although our seats were restricted view, the sound was perfect. Most of the programme was early music, as might be expected, but a couple of contemporary pieces by Dobrinka Tabakova were contrasting and unmistakeably contemporary but well-matched to their context.
Somewhere in-between all of this, we've also had trips to Hampton Court, which I hadn't visited for many years; Gilbert White's house at Selborne, where there was also a "rare" plant sale (in the end, we seem to have bought a few literally common-or-garden plants); and a return visit to Mottisfont, unfortunately a little late for the height of the rose season.