From the saddle

Went out for a bike ride with my friend H on Saturday. We’ve been going for a few bike rides recently and I’ve always forgotten to bring my camera, so I made sure I did this time. Good thing too or I wouldn’t have been able to snap this beautiful maple around the corner from where I live.

We headed towards east London, which is like another city to me. I really don’t know that part of London well, which is great, as it really feels like traveling elsewhere when I do go. The view of this church made us think that we were in Oxford or Cambridge, as there was no traffic and people were either on foot or on bikes.

We cycled through De Beauvoir Square where these kind of Dutch style houses were a happy discovery. I sent a little film to my pal Z in Amsterdam and wrote: “Not quite Amsterdam, not quite London.” Maybe I’ve discovered a new city… Amsterdon? Londam?

A few minutes later into our drive you could tell we were no longer in north London. I’d love to know if the interior is as colourful.

We did a pit stop in London Fields to have a break on a bench and eat our packed lunches. I’ve only eaten lunch out twice since March; I now always bring a packed lunch (and a cup of tea in a thermos!) if I’m out in the day. Weirdly I kind of prefer it as it just less hassle. No decisions over what to eat or eating something meh. And tea is never as nice out as it is at home!

It’s hard to take pictures while you’re cycling. The framing is trickier and as I always shoot manual the exposure can leave much to be desired. This one came out ok though.

This street had a couple of artist’s studios in it with people working in them, which was great to see, as art should always be part of life, regardless of whatever else is going on.

I’ve never cycled along Regents Canal on the east side, and I really want to, but it’ll have to be on a weekday and maybe when we’re not in lockdown, as it was crazy busy. We’d arrived at Victoria Park at this point, which was so rammed with people on the paths it almost felt like we’d arrived at a festival. It did not feel like the last lockdown at all, and how sitting down on a blanket with friends and a bottle of wine qualify as exercise is beyond me.

Oh well, at least in some parts of the park you can pretend you’re somewhere else.

Or go somewhere else - within the covers of a book.

We planning on cycling to the City next time, as it’s bound to be deserted. Looking forward to it.

And finally a last looking up, on the way home, before it got too dark. Must remember to bring bike lights next time.

Down at the Palace II

Oh hey there. Lazy Famapa at your service. Apologies for the delay in part II of my Eltham Palace visit. So, let’s get right back to it. Continuing on the ground floor we entered the wood panelled full on Art Deco dining room, where on one section of the walls was this inlaid synchronous clock, which at the time ran off the mains supply (very high tech back then). The wealthy Courtaulds spared no expense on all the mod cons, with both underfloor and ceiling heating, wired loudspeakers throughout the house connected to a record player and an internal telephone exchange.

Fancy.

Too fancy for the staff to have their lunch in, so they eat in here instead. This room is usually open to the public, but due to Covid restrictions lots of rooms were out of bounds, which was a shame as it would have been interesting to have seen the servants quarters.

This corridor is part of it. Really digging the green.

We then walked up the stairs, where we took a moment to look out this circular window.

Walking past this door we tried to figure if it had anything to do with cricket, or multiple Bruce Waynes.

In a corridor on the way to the bedrooms we could see what the roof of the entrance hall looked like from the outside. What a mish mash of architectural styles!

A painted Virginia Courtauld and Mah-Jongg. Stephen got cropped out as a result of the reflections in the glass.

Virginia and Stephen had separate bedrooms (but with a little door interlinking the two), and Virginia had the largest one. I preferred Stephen’s. This room felt a bit cold and uncozy.

Maybe because freaks like this were walking around taking pictures? Hmmmmm.

She did go all out in the bathroom though. BLING.

Gold taps daahling.

And a walk-in wardrobe. In non-Covid times children can dress up in Tudor, 1930’s and WW2 fashion styles in here.

Stephen’s bedroom. Much nicer don’t you think? If I had worn a jacket with bigger pockets I would’ve stuffed that bedcover in it.

D in the the more spartan and masculine ensuite.

When I took this pic, D said that she also took a picture of it and posted it on Instagram - 10 years ago. :D

The back of the Great Hall. Not your usual little stuck-on conservatory, eh?

Snooping in under the watchful eye of two very nice stone heads (pretty sure that’s the correct architectural term for them).

And finally, the “modern” extension from the outside with the old moat. It’s feels like it’s been years since I’ve nosied around an old stately home, and I must say I really enjoy doing so. I can’t help thinking how interesting it would be to see preserved homes from regular people and not just the hoi polloi though. I’d love to see a much more complete version of domestic history, because, really, these rich folk were/are the minority and don’t fully represent the past. I’m sure there are workers cottages and old farms out there, still kept as they were, and I hope I get to snoop around them one day too.

Down at the Palace

Remember how I wrote in the last post that I’d been busy topping up on cultural experiences? I took quite a few pics as a result, so I think I’ll start with the most recent and then work backwards. A couple of weeks ago me and my friend D went on a Sunday excursion to Eltham Palace in south London. As a north Londoner, south London feels like another city, so it was really nice to go somewhere (for me) completely new (D had already been twice, which was handy, as she could basically give me a guided tour of the place) - even though we got stuck in traffic and had to take a massive detour to get home. It took 45 minutes to get there, but 2 hours to get home!

It was totally worth it though. I’ve been wanting to go there for decades, but have never gotten my act together. There were two one-way systems for how you could walk up to the house, so we took the long garden route, and of course it started to rain and of course we didn’t bring brollies. But it didn’t matter, because look how damn pretty it is.

I even had to take a picture of the mexican fleabane (same as we have in our window boxes at home). It spreads like a weed and I hope it will do so in our front garden too.

So, let me tell you a little about the palace. It used to be a royal palace from the 14th to 16th century (there’s still a moat), but fell out of favour in Henry the VIII’s reign when he upped sticks and moved to Hampton Court. It eventually fell into disrepair centuries later, and the only remaining part of the palace is the Great Hall, seen here on the left. An über wealthy couple (Stephen and Virginia Courtauld) eventually took over in 1933 and built a huge extension where they lived and partied, which you can see on the right.

The Great Hall from the inside. Pretty great, eh? Every time I visit a great hall somewhere it always makes me think of Harry Potter. Anyway, this was built in the 1470’s and in the early 19th century it was used as an indoor tennis court!

Not sure how old this chair was, but it’s probably older than the 1930’s ;)

From the Great Hall you continue in to the newer part, and this room was Stephen Courtauld’s library. All that wood panelling is so yum. Apparently he’d retreat into this room mid-party if it all got a bit much.

Next door was his wife Virginia’s study. I love the map showing were the house is. And that radio is a beaut.

Check out all of them architectural details. Ouffff.

And then… the entrance hall - the reason I’ve been wanting to go here for so long. It’s Art Deco heaven I tell you! It definitely didn’t disappoint in real life. Can you imagine all the glamorous parties they would’ve had here back in the day?! Well, they did - they had loads. D made me laugh when she blurted out “What I can’t understand is why no one has handed me a cocktail yet?!”. Word.

The ceiling/skylight above the room. There was a huge outrage at the time over the fact that the Courtaulds had nerve to put something so modern next to Great Hall. Understandable.

The furniture and the rug are reproductions of what would have been here at the time.

The couple had a pet lemur called Mah-Jongg who was allowed loose in the house, and this was his ladder back up to his room on the first floor.

A window from an adjacent room and an in-house telephone.

Looking back at these pictures a small part of me misses big parties and the chance to dress up. In my 20’s I used to work on a magazine, and we got to go to big do’s every now and again, and of course there were also the weddings of friends during that same decade, but those big celebrations kind of peter out in your 40’s. Now the thought of a big party feels especially strange of course. I do think a huge celebratory worldwide party would be something to look forward to once we’ve figured this damn virus out, a bit like the V-day celebrations after WW2. Although who the hell would have enough money to foot the bill? Jeff Bezos I guess. And Mark Zuckerberg. Those dudes OWE US.

But I digress. This detail in the wood panelling shows Stadshuset (the Town Hall - the building with the three crowns at the top of the tower) and the Royal Palace in Stockholm. My parents got married in the that town hall, which is kind of amazing, but I think it was just their local town hall back then. Next time I’m in Stockholm I’m going to go full-on tourist and check both of those buildings out.

Couldn’t help but take lots of pictures from this room as it’s pretty stunning, so apologies for the overload. Next week I’ll show you the rest of the house. Have a good weekend!

Random randoms

These pics are from the same trip into town on opening day of the National Gallery. Walking around the streets did not feel good. Not living in central London to see what the reality is, it was quite a shock to see how empty and closed up it still was. Our government had been telling us that the shops, restaurants and pubs were back open again, but that was clearly not the case. As people have lost their jobs, or are still working from home, there is no actual reason to be there at all. To see Piccadilly Circus this empty in the middle of the day was so strange.

I was too weirded out to have my camera head on, so I ended up coming home with hardly any pictures. Somehow this bag of tortilla chips made it on to my camera though.

At one point we walked past the Harold Pinter Theatre where I’d seen ‘Uncle Vanya’ three weeks before lockdown in the cheap seats. It was now sealed off, and will be for a while yet.

The two Masketeers. Me and D at the Marian Goodman Gallery where we went to see the Rineke Dijkstra exhibition (trying to double up on the art in one go) after a very late lunch. We had to walk for ages until we found an open restaurant, and upon arrival we had a temperatures and phone numbers taken before we got seated outside.

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer who has done quite a few series like this. Here she took portraits of three sisters over seven years. This was the first set.

And this the last. Fascinating, and as a parent… a bit terrifying.

Afterwards we fancied something sweet, and same again, we had to really hunt to find somewhere open. I’m not one to take pictures of what I eat, but this black sesame soft ice, the first non-homemade treat in four months, felt worth capturing. My mouth is watering as I type this.

And finally, the one thing me and D have become experts at in lockdown, spotting a really cool building, and crushing hard on the first floor window.

The whole experience was so interesting though; after feeling a bit fed up with always staying local I was gagging for a change of scenery but when I finally got it, I realised how grateful I was for my ‘hood, still full of life, and feeling almost like normal. The expression “You can’t see the wood for the trees” has never been been more true ;0)