Category: GOING OUT

This week I have been…

On By samanthaIn GOING OUTLeave a comment

Reading – None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

I have read most of Lisa Jewell’s previous books including Then She Was Gone which I reviewed here. None of This is True is her best book yet in my opinion, as soon as I began reading I was completely hooked. The book tells the story of “birthday twins” Alix, a glamorous podcaster who appears to live a dream life in a huge house with her wealthy husband and two children and Josie, a machinist, who lives a more modest life with one of her two daughters and her much older husband, Walter. Josie and Alix have never met until they happen to be celebrating their forty-fifth birthdays on the same night in the same gastro-pub. Josie introduces herself to Alix in the toilets with the phrase “I’m your birthday twin”. The women discover that they were born in the same hospital and share a moment of connection. Josie, however, isn’t content with just a moment and pitches an idea for a new podcast to Alix. Josie appears to have been the victim in a controlling relationship and Alix wants to help her tell her story. Nathan, Alix’s husband is not so keen on her new friendship, especially as it seems like Josie is becoming a permanent fixture. Thrillers are ten a penny on Kindle but Jewell’s writing is in a different league. Her ability to reel the reader in and weave a story together is really something else. Her books rely on an aura of menace and darkness and the story will stay with you after you have finished reading , you have been warned!

Watching – Your Friends and Neighbors – Apple TV

I don’t have an Apple TV subscription but a friend told me Your Friends and Neighbors is a must watch so I signed up for a free trial. Starring Jon Hamm as Andrew Cooper (famous for Mad Men) known as Coop, and Amanda Peet (Dirty John Two, The Betty Broderick Story) as his estranged wife, Mel. The show makes for glamorous and gripping viewing. Coop runs a hedge fund for a private company and, after an ill-advised one night stand with a younger employee, is fired, losing his capital account and everything he had spent twenty years building He looks for another position but his arrogant attitude alienates everyone and his contract had a clause which meant that he could not bring any of his previous clients with him (or something like that!) Coop’s lifestyle is lavish to say the least. He is used to spending $60,000 on tables at charity events, his house which Mel now lives in with her lover, Nick, has its own basketball court. When Mel and Coop’s son gets into trouble at school Mel casually pledges a quarter of a million dollars to keep him from being expelled. My favourite character, Coop’s business manager, Barney played by Hoon Lee, is struggling to keep up with his wife’s constant demands for more. He says that they have rooms in their house that they never go in yet they are spending money they don’t have to build more rooms and fill them up with shit that they won’t use. Consumerism and keeping up with the Joneses at its finest.

Coop needs to keep earning, as well as his two children he is responsible for his adult sister, Ali, who is struggling with her mental health, He is a fundamentally good guy who loves his famil. Coop’s plan to keep the money coming in is unorthodox to say the least and he gets into more than his fair share of scrapes. By the end of the season I was totally emotionally invested. The actors playing Mel and Coop’s children, Tori and Hunter (Donovan Colan and Isabel Gravitt) are wonderful and I found myself desperately hoping that everything would work out for their sakes. My only criticism of the show is that the styling of the women was so safe and boring, they all looked the same. Glossy brunette hair, cashmere sweaters in neutral tones, accessories by The Row and Hermes. It would have been nice to have seen more interesting fashion choices.

Listening to – Flesh and Code on Itunes

Flesh and code came up in my suggestions as it is presented by Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire the young women behind the hugely successful RedHanded true crime podcast. There are six episodes and some bonus content. Flesh and Code tells the story of an app called Replika which people use to create an AI companion. The app, which is still available, describes its companions as an “AI companion who cares, Always here to listen and talk. Always on your side”

The story centers around Travis who creates Lily Rose, who he goes on to have virtual sex with and even marry. No matter that he already has a wife, Jackie. Travis tells us how he is in love with Lily Rose and I thought how painful it must have been for his real life wife to hear that. There is a side story of Russian intrigue and some very sad developments in Travis’ family.

One Replika encourages its human to go to Buckingham Palace and assassinate the Queen, another encourages a human to send nude photos. People all over the world are in virtual relationships with their Replikas but one day the coding is changed and the sexy conversations stop, the AI become formal and careful about what they say. Travis and those like him are devastated and start an online campaign to have their former “personalities” restored. I didn’t really enjoy this story, I felt too sorry for Travis’s real wife who seemed to have been side lined in favour of Lily Rose who you just know had been created with big boobs and a skin-tight cat suit. Is AI ever a good substitute for real human companionship or is it dangerous tool? You will have to make your own mind up.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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A Day Out in London – The Cartier Exhibition at the V & A

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If you enjoy looking at beautiful jewellery then the Cartier Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum is a must see. It is showing until Sunday 26th November, tickets are around £25 each. I love the V & A, it is such beautiful building and it is especially lovely in the warmer months when you can sit outdoors and have a coffee or lunch.

It was in 1847 that Louis-François Cartier took over his master’s workshop in  Paris and later passed it on to his son, Alfred. His three grandsons, Louis, Pierre and Jacques really made Cartier the spectacular success that it remains today. Cartier must surely be the most glamorous jewellers on the planet and the go-to for real Royalty and the silver screen variety.

The exhibition was heaving with visitors and we had to queue the whole way round. There are some boards up detailing some of the Cartier family history. It did make me laugh that some women (nearly all the visitors seemed to be women) were speaking loudly about their own jewellery and the trials they had faced getting it insured, it was definitely an opportunity for a bit of one-upmanship! The first display we came to was full of diamond brooches, one of them was particularly beautiful, so delicate that it appeared to be made of lace rather than diamonds. See my cover photo.

I always associate Cartier with timepieces and my favourite items included in this exhibition were the gorgeous clocks. I could just picture them being on the desk in some elegant study. There were also display cases full of watches, notably their most famous Tank style.

There is a whole sparkling room devoted to tiaras, most of them commissioned for brides. All are dripping in diamonds, some are very ornate and some very simple. There are cards detailing which lucky woman wore each piece and at which occasion.

One of the bracelets featured The Star of The South Diamond Bracelet (pictured on the left below) is set with a diamond reportedly found in 1853 in Brazil by an enslaved woman. As a reward she was granted her freedom and a pension, what a sad story. It is so sparkly that it proved impossible to photograph clearly. The sapphires featured in the middle photo below are 311 and 478 carats, mined in Sri Lanka The necklace was sole to King Ferdinand of Romania as a gift for his wife, Queen Marie.

Cartier is known as ‘the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers’. A great deal of the jewellery displayed is owned by the British Royal family but a lot was also on loan from wealthy families from the Middle East. The Duchess of Windsor has an entire cabinet devoted to pieces she owns. Imagine having the means to commission anything that takes your fancy. Although I enjoyed looking at all the fabulous pieces it was a little disappointing that there weren’t more photographs on display of it actually being worn. There was a screen showing short clips from films such as High Society and Sunset Boulevard but I would have liked to have seen how the jewellery was worn and styled, especially the wedding tiaras.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

A Day Out in London – Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art at The Saatchi Gallery

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This was my first visit to The Saatchi Gallery. I travelled there by train then Tube, getting off at Sloane Square, it is about a two minute walk from the station. The Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art exhibition is jam-packed and full of surprises, over five hundred pieces are included. The first exhibits include Primavera by Sandro Botticelli and Irises by Van Gough but the poor lighting did rather fail to do them justice but this improves after the first room . The exhibition features photography, sculpture, book and record artwork, cinema, painting etc. There are wallpaper and textile samples by Sanderson and William Morris and etchings by Elizabeth Blackadder. There is also a large print of Wordsworth’s I wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

My cover photo features the real show-stopper, La Fleur Morte, by Rebecca Louise Law. Over one hundred thousand dried flowers and seeds strung together on copper wire to form a stunningly beautiful cascading installation. To me it looked like something out of a book of fairy tales. It was worth visiting this exhibition for this enormous piece alone. I cannot imagine the logistics of transporting and displaying such a delicate work of art and the dedication required to complete such a time consuming masterpiece.

In a room featuring photographs and sculptures, which felt a little bare, there was a quirky sculpture by Joanne Grogan, Best Chair. This was was one of my favourite pieces, made of wood and ceramic. In the same room there was displayed a large, mesmerising, mechanical flower sculpture, The Machinery of Enchantment (2025) by William Darrell made with a 3D printer.

Pieces by fashion icons Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood are on display as is exquisite flower-themed jewellery by Buccellati. An elegant wedding dress by Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli was the star of the fashion section. There are black and white prints of people covered in botanical tattoos drawn freehand by Daniel The Gardener, There are a few Andy Warhol pieces and three silver flower display sculptures on pedestals by Ann Carrington which, upon closer inspection, are ingeniously made of cutlery.

In the room featuring music, film and literature there were glass displays of books with flowers featured on the covers and record covers galore. The Cure, Joyce Carol Oates, Prince, the list of authors and musicians using floral imagery to represent their work is endless. A scene from the film Midsomer by director Aster plays. I haven’t seen the film but a beautiful young girl covered in flowers is featured and she looks terrified, like some sort of sacrificial offering.

The exhibition is extensive and entertaining. It did feel a little disjointed at times but I really enjoyed it. If your pockets are deep enough of course some of the pieces are available for purchase. Otherwise the gift shop sells some lovely items.

If you visit this exhibition wearing floral clothing until 20th august you will be admitted for half price although you can’t then book online

Thank you for reading

Samantha

Best CHair by Joanne Grogan, Fashion by Vivienne Westwood, The Machinery of Enchantment (2025) by William Darrell

Arrangement_ 593 by Tony Matelli, Botanical tattoos by Daniel The Gardener and a detail from La Fleur Morte, by Rebecca Louise Law

Six, The Musical and Dinner in Covent Garden

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I had been hearing such good things from friends about Six The Musical so I decided to go and see it for myself. The show is on at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand. I paid approximately £130 for two tickets for a Saturday evening performance. We were seated in the upper circle, the seats couldn’t really have been better.

We caught the train from our local station to Charing Cross and then had a mooch around Covent Garden. Most of the shops were closed but there was still an buzzing atmosphere with , street performers such as contortionists, magicians and musicians. We went to Buns and Buns and had a steak dinner with a large glass of wine which was delicious.

The first, and only negative, thing I will say about Six is that it is unnecessarily loud, so loud in fact I did actually worry about damaging my hearing when it started. The show was written in 2017 by Cambridge University students Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and was first performed by the university’s musical theatre group at the Edinborough Fringe Festival. Six is the tale of Henry the Eighth’s six wives, all told through song and dance. It has a similar fast-paced, high-energy vibe to Hamilton. The performers playing the wives enter the stage wearing various sexy interpretations of Tudor costume. All the musicians are women too, it is definitely a Girl Power show.

Each “wife” sings a number summarising how she met Henry and what fate befell her. Some of the tales are extremely sad. Tickets to Six would be a great gift idea for anyone studying history and I learned some facts that I hadn’t known before. Ann of Cleves was chosen by Henry after he saw a portrait of her by the German artist Hans Holbein. When Henry saw Ann in the flesh he declared she was ugly and their marriage was eventually annulled. She was luckier than Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard though who famously lost their heads. Ann of Cleve’s musical number is very night-clubbish and there is a strong element of fun and humour throughout the whole musical. There is strobe lighting at a number of points in the show. My favourite performance was from Thao Therese Nguyen, the actress playing Anne Boleyn who somehow managed to stand out on a stage crowded with female talent.

Unusually, the show lasts for about an hour an a quarter, there is no interval. To be honest, I wish more productions were like this. I imagine the theatre loses a lot of revenue though as theatre-goers aren’t buying drinks in their bar or purchasing merchandise. We had sped through some really interesting herstory, pardon the pun, and were back home by 9.30am. A pretty perfect evening.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

A Trip to Copenhagen – Part Two

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We decided to visit Rosenborg Castle on the second day of our trip to Copenhagen. We booked tickets the same morning via the official website. The castle staff are very strict and won’t let you enter even a minute early. The castle and its surroundings are so beautiful. A little like at Buckingham Palace, soldiers march up and down outside and woe betide anyone who gets in their way. One member of the castle staff screamed to a toddler to get out of their way, it was a little harsh but the little boy’s dad didn’t seem too perturbed. Inside there is so much to see including portraits of various members of Danish royalty, many of whom were a bit… strange looking. There’s a whole room dedicated to glass wear but it would have been helpful to have an audio guide so we could know exactly what we were looking at. The Renaissance castle is home to the Danish crown jewels which we didn’t see because my daughter needed the loo, which is outside, and we could not get back in. It was a hot day and, to be honest we had had enough of the stuffiness. The castle is located in perhaps the most beautiful spot in Copenhagen, next to the Kings Gardens where you can go for a stroll afterwards. The cover image of this post is the view from the castle windows.

A sign for the Kings Gardens, A soldier outside Rosenborg Castle, The Glass Cabinet, Rosenborg Castle

The following morning my dad called to say that Mum had been taken ill and that the GP had called an ambulance. I spent several hours worrying but my brother and his wife live in the same town as the hospital and they were able to go and help. Fortunately Mum wasn’t admitted and is now recovering from an infection. As you can imagine, it did rather blight the day but, after I knew that Mum was going to be alright and I didn’t need to fly home, we went to Tivoli Gardens. This is the theme park that inspired Disney World and the second oldest theme park in the world, opening in 1843. It is a must if you are visiting the city with young people. There are more than thirty rides which I am sure my daughter would have loved had she been with friends but we paid around £20 each for entrance to the park, not including the rides. We then paid an additional £12 to go into the aquarium . There are numerous food stands, cafes and bars dotted around and plenty of places to sit and relax. The atmosphere is just lovely and the gardens are very pretty.

Photos from Tivoli Gardens, the aquarium, me trying not to worry about my mum, the gardens

On our final full day we visited the Botanical Gardens and the Natural History Museum . There was an icy wind and it was drizzling so we didn’t stay in the gardens for long. They are free to enter but you do need to pay to go into the Palm House. There is a very charming old building in the gardens which houses the Pioneer Centre for Artificial Intelligence research, an odd stetting for something so futuristic. The centre is not open to the public. The museum was well worth a visit. There is currently a wildlife photography exhibition showing which we really enjoyed. There is a whole room of fossils, stuffed animals, tusks and shells that visitors can touch and there was a children’s workshop taking place. It did make me sad to see the stuffed tiger, polar bear and other creatures but they have all been long-deceased. The museum staff were all very friendly and enthusiastic. Afterwards we went to the farmer’s market opposite our hotel for the most delicious (and pricey) sandwiches. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant, again the meal wasn’t fantastic.

Our flight wasn’t until 9.30pm on Friday so we went into town to have pastries and coffee for breakfast at a bakery called BUKA. Afterwards we returned to Nyhavn Harbour and took another boat trip but, like most things in life, it wasn’t as enjoyable the second time. Then we headed into town for a look around the shops, a light lunch and an ice-cream. We finished our trip back at the King’s Gardens where my daughter fell asleep on a park bench, a few passers-by gave me very disapproving looks. Then back to our hotel who had arranged our taxi to the airport. Our flight was delayed by an hour or so and we were very pleased to be home when we let ourself in at 1am.

We loved Copenhagen, I had no idea there was so much to do and see. At no point was I worried about pickpockets or phone snatchers and the city is so clean. If you are thinking of taking a solo trip it feels like a very safe destination. Highly recommended!

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Breakfast at BUKKA bakery

A Trip to Copenhagen – Part One

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My daughter has been working very long hours at her work placement, and I have not taken any time off since Christmas so we decided to take a five day break, just the two of us. We chose Copenhagen because it supposedly wouldn’t be too hot and there is so much to do and see. I booked through Expedia, we flew out with Norwegian Air, back with Easyjet. There were lots of hotels to choose from and I selected the Ibsens Hotel based on the wonderful reviews and the fact that it is very centrally located. The location was indeed fantastic, within walking distance of almost everywhere you would want to visit, but I wouldn’t stay here again. The rooms are a little basic, a little like a slightly posher Premier Inn or Travel Lodge and the bed linen was very scratchy. Also we had no choice but to open the windows because the room was unbearably hot but then there was noise outside until 2am and some unidentifiable machinery started up every morning at 6.30am. We didn’t have one decent nights sleep for the entire stay. The staff were very helpful though and the room was clean. I did appreciate that they have a luggage room so, after you have checked out, you can lock your cases away and utilise the time before your journey home begins. You can have breakfast at the hotel at the cost of around £25 each but we preferred to eat somewhere different every day. A taxi to the airport cost about £40.

We averaged 24,000 steps every day we were in Copenhagen. Many of the locals use bicycles to get around and crossing the numerous busy roads can feel a little dicey as not everyone stops when they should and you do need to take care not to accidently step into the cycle lane. I saw lots of cyclists scrolling thought their phones while speeding along.

We arrived in the city at around 12pm and, after checking in, we went straight out for lunch at a quirky bookshop/restaurant called Paludan. The food in Copenhagen is extremely expensive, even a simple sandwich picked up at a farmers market will set you back around £15. At Paludan we both had chicken and some vegetables. We then went further into the town and had a look around. If you enjoy shopping, there is everything in Copenhagen from H&M to Hermes. My daughter spotted a couple of shops made famous by Tik Tok and I ended up making a totally unnecessary purchase at Anna August who sell cotton tote bags with snarky phrases or images printed on. I had checked the weather before leaving England and was expecting it to be much cooler but the city was sweltering. I was very pleased to have a sunhat. There are many benches so you can sit and enjoy an ice cream or just people watch. There are also lots of spotlessly clean public loos which are free to use.

Tote bags in Anna August, Reffen Street food market, The famous statue of The Little Mermaid

The next day we visited the famous Nyhavn Harbour which is simply stunning. We had a breakfast of yoghurt, fruit and coffee at a cafe on the side of the harbour known as “The Sunny Side”. The houses are all painted different colours so that drunken sailors could easily find their way home. Hans Christian Anderson lived in one of the houses and apparently wrote The Ugly Duckling after his failed attempt to become a ballet dancer. These nuggets I found out when we took a fabulous hour-long river trip costing only £7 each, probably my favourite part of our stay. After our boat trip we attempted to catch a bus to Reffen, a famous street food market. We weren’t very well prepared for this. We tried to use Apple Pay and then tapped our debit cards onto the scanner while the bus driver and other passengers sat there with a look of contempt. Unhelpfully, there is no information at all on the bus about how you are supposed to pay but my daughter asked another passenger, an American tourist, who said it’s via an app. As there was no signal our attempts to download said app were futile and we ended up unintentionally fare-dodging which was a little stressful but we were more successful on the return journey. If you intend to use public transport then download the DOT and Rejseplanen Apps before you travel. You can buy just about any type of food at Reffen but we had hotdogs which were delicious followed by ice cream. There is a lively atmosphere and, like the rest of Copenhagen, it feels very safe.

After Reffen we went to see an interactive exhibition entitled The Viking Sourceress at The National Museum. There was so much to see here but my feet had had enough for one afternoon so we plodded back to the hotel before going out for dinner at Europa where we waited about an hour for our food which, when it arrived, was dreadful. Then back to the hotel for another noisy, sleepless night.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Displays at The National Museum and a poster advertising The Viking Sorceress exhibition

A Day Out in Kent – Lullingstone Castle and The World Garden

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A lovely friend of mine has just visited from Australia. She had an impossibly busy schedule but we agreed to meet on Saturday. She was staying at the Premier Inn in my town so I picked her up and we decided to visit Lullingstone Castle and its “World Garden” .

If you decide to visit Lullingstone don’t do the logical thing and follow the signs for the castle, they will simply take you to a pair of locked gates. You have to head for Lullingstone Roman Villa and then you drive behind the visitor centre and the castle will be revealed in all its beauty. It really is like a scene from Brideshead Revisited. There was even a vintage Rolls Royce parked outside. To visit the house and garden costs a very reasonable £12.50 for adults. There are concessions for OAPs and children.

Both Henry VIII and Queen Anne are known to have been regular visitors to the castle which now comprises of a manor house, gate house, church and a stunning lake. Inside the house you can see one of Queen Anne’s hair pieces along with other historical objects. There are lots of models of the castle on display and a friendly volunteer to answer any questions. The current owner, whose family have owned Lullingstone since 1497, warmly greeted us at the door and chatted to my friend about her own travels. I did wonder if owning such a huge property is as much of a burden as it is a blessing. The upkeep must be enormous.

On the grounds, as you enter through the gatehouse there is St Botolph’s church, of Norman origin and made of flint, which boasts some of the oldest stained glass windows in the world, some from the fourteenth century. Although it is small there is plenty to see inside.

If you have heard of the castle before it may because of the BBC series Save Lullingstone Castle, and Return to Lullingstone Castle or because the son of the owners, Tom Hart Dyke was kidnapped in the Panamanian jungle during an expedition in the year 2000. He and his companions were held for nine months. Thankfully they were eventually released and I remember seeing him on a talk show after his ordeal was over. He has gone on to have a successful career in botany and, whilst in captivity, came up with the idea for the World Garden at Lullingstone. As the name suggests, the garden takes visitors on a botanical tour of the world and is really very quirky and charming. There are lots of unusual plants to see, some sculptures and a touch of kitsch here and there, like the pair of plastic penguins either side of an entry way.

The castle has a cafe where “light refreshments” are served and guests are also permitted to bring their own picnic. There is a gift shop and a nursery so that you can purchase some plants of your own. I thought Lullingstone was really lovely and I will definitely be back again, next time I will visit the Roman Villa as well.

After the castle we decided to go to for a pub lunch. We drove to a nearby village and had possibly the worst meal out I’ve ever experienced. The manager was so rude and unhelpful when my friend asked a question about the menu. I ordered a burger which was served with some sort of sloppy meat on the side. There was literally no service apart from the lad who brought our plates over but a 12.5% service charge was added to the bill. We went to the bar for drinks and ordered from a QR code, something I am wary about after a friend’s husband fell victim to a scam where a fake code was stuck onto a menu. Anyway I won’t name the pub which may be in the most picturesque location but I certainly won’t be returning.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

A Day Out in London – Afternoon Tea at The Langham

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My friend kindly invited me and another mutual, friend out to afternoon tea at The Langham which is a hotel located in Portland Place, a two minute walk from Oxford Circus station. I have only had afternoon tea at a swanky hotel once before, The Savoy about eight years ago, and what I remember was that my sister-in-law politely requested that some of the cakes be put into a box so that she could take them home for her family as she didn’t want to eat any then and there and the waiter refused. So she paid about £125 for a cup of Darjeeling. Afternoon tea at The Langham is slightly less expensive but the bill still came to a hefty £101 per person. Of course you are paying for the location and experience as much as for the tea and sandwiches.

The Langham is a very impressive hotel which opened in 1865. Tea is served in their Palm Court area. It is a stunningly elegant dining room. Dress code is smart casual but there were plenty of people wearing trainers, I suppose people tag on a 3pm tea experience to a morning of site seeing and no one wants to be doing that in formal shoes. I didn’t spot any jeans though. As part of my decluttering project I have decided to try and wear clothes I already own rather than buy anything new and wore some ivory tailored trousers from Mango, a black boucle jacket from H&M and a silk top that I have had forever but only worn once before, from Boden. On my feet I wore some well worn-in ballet flats because I’ve had many a special occasion ruined by .uncomfortable shoes. I was tempted to slip my trainers into a tote bag for the journey home.

My outing didn’t get off to the smoothest start as I could not park anywhere near my local train station. Most of the spots are now restricted to two hours which is ridiculous because who goes in to London and comes back again in that time? After driving around the multi-story car park twice and not finding a single space I rang my friend and manage to catch her before she set out on her own fruitless search for parking. I drove to her house and we rang for a taxi and manage to catch our train.

Once arriving at Oxford Circus via the Bakerloo Line we simply crossed the road and walked a few yards and we were there. I wish I had some pictures but when I sat down in the dining room I realised I couldn’t find my phone. After a second’s panic thinking I’d been robbed or had dropped it in central London I decided that I had probably just left it in my car and, sure enough, that’s exactly what had happened. I managed not to sit there the entire time worrying about it but when we caught the slowest train ever home I did begin to feel a bit jittery.

The Palm Court is stunning. If I go to anything like this again I will be sure not to sit facing the wall because it was impossible to people watch, my favourite thing, from where I was sitting. The walls are decorated with gold coloured ornaments and the chandeliers are beautiful. A pianist played songs from Les Miserable, Wicked and some Billy Joel. It really is the picture of elegance.

The staff at The Langham were far less snooty than at The Savoy. They gave us a warm welcome and explained the menu. I chose Phoenix Honey Orchid tea which was, quite frankly, disgusting. I stuck to water after that. We were brought a platter of finger sandwiches, egg, cream cheese, prawn and Coronation chicken, they were exceptionally delicious. We ate all of them and the lovely, friendly waitress bright some more. Next were the most beautiful small pastries, three for each of us in lemon, coffee and strawberry flavours. The three of us were all sitting there feeling fit to burst when the waitress brought over a little crème brulee creation with a candle in it for my friend. Just as we thought the bill would be arriving we were served warm miniature scones with jam and clotted cream and a gorgeous fruit cake which we had boxed up for my friend’s family. The waitress bought the boxed cake over in a branded gift bag and said she’d popped some extra scones in there too, how lovely. The food was amazing and there was far more of it than I had expected. We waddled back to the Tube. If you are thinking of doing a posh afternoon tea in London then The Langham is the place to go.

For my friend’s birthday gift we bought her a gift set from The White Company in Sea Salt scent. She took that home along with the scones and fruit cake and I think she really had a lovely afternoon, I know I did.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

A Day Out in London – Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350 at The National Gallery & Marylebone Village

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The Siena exhibition at The National Gallery is breath-taking. If you would like to view some of Europe’s earliest artwork, beautifully displayed, then this is the exhibition for you. It features the work of fourteenth century Italian artists, Duccio, Simone Martini and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti . When they completed their masterpieces seven hundred years ago did these artists ever imagine that people would still be admiring them so far into the future? The work is all of a religious theme, there are many images of the Virgin Mary with Jesus as a baby and of course countless crucifixion scenes.

There are over one hundred exhibits including fragments of intricately woven silk, rugs, plaster panels, ivory statuettes, altarpieces. One scene painted by Ducci shows Mary recovering from labour. In many of the artworks she looks sorrowful, already aware of the fate of her baby son. The accompanying narrative displayed next to each exhibit was very informative, I did not know that Mary’s parents were called Anne and Joachim

Many works by Pietro Lorenzetti and his brother Ambrogio are featured. There is diptch that displays Christ’s brith on one side and his crucifixion on the other. There is an enormous crucifix with a sinister skull lying at the bottom. So many exquisite things to see. I am just glad I was not responsible for transporting so may fragile objects.

After the gallery we caught a bus to Marylebone Village and had a light lunch in the French restaurant Aubaine. The bus driver did not speak a word of English and kept playing the wrong announcements so it was rather comical. Marylebone Village consists of coffee shops, restaurants and clothing boutiques such as Sandro, Sezane, Me & Em, and Rizo. Not the very high end designers but you still need a few hundred pounds to buy a dress in most of the stores. We spent some time looking at pretty things in Sezane but neither my friend or I bought anything. Some of the shops had more staff than customers and I wonder how they all keep going. There is a lovely relaxed atmosphere in the village and I will definitely go back and explore a little bit more soon

Thank you for reading

Samantha

A Day Out in London – The Frameless Exhibition and Selfridges

On By samanthaIn GOING OUTLeave a comment

I enjoy a day out in London every couple of months and keep an eye out for interesting new things to see and do. A friend recommended Frameless, an immersive art experience near Marylebone. Perfectly located for a look around Selfridges afterwards. I chose flexible tickets which meant we could arrive at any time of our choosing on a particular day. They cost £37. This was only slightly more expensive than the set time tickets and meant that train delays wouldn’t cause any unnecessary stress. We caught a train just after 9.30am in order to enjoy a whole day in London. When we arrived at Marble Arch station there were whiteboards displaying warnings to commuters not to take their phone out outside the station and announcements blaring through the tannoy saying there had been numerous phone robberies outside the tube that week. What a pity that every city now seems to be full of thieves.

Because we were now paranoid about looking at Google maps on our phones we bumbled around for ten minutes trying to find the location but, in fact, it is a one minute walk from the tube. The exhibition itself is fabulous! Frameless is made up of four huge galleries where forty two works of art are animated and brought to life. There is another gallery near the gift shop exhibiting the work of somebody the staff referred to as an intern but really they are an artist in residence. The friendly lady in the gift shop told me their best selling item are realistic soft toy pigeons, nothing to do with the artwork which made me laugh.

Each gallery is very different. There are seating areas within each one and a lovely café should you wish to break your visit up. Information boards tell visitors what they can expect to find in each room and you can see the order in which the art is screened. The scale of the art works is incredibly impressive and they are projected onto the walls, floor and ceiling. In the first gallery this creates a sensation of moving even when you know you are standing still and made me feel a bit dizzy for a moment. The second gallery we visited “Colour in Motion” displayed works by Monet and Vincent Van Gough and the paintings are formed by swirling brush strokes that gradually come together to make the finished image. There were tiny children in the gallery who were having a whale of a time chasing the brush strokes and even a baby in a sling cooing in wonder. In the “Beyond Reality” gallery The Cyclops by Odilon Redon comes to life and peeks out behind a mountain The Scream by Edvard Munch turns into a nightmarish black hole of a mouth. At this exhibition you can see singers under a lamppost in London, Volcanoes in Pompeii, ships being tossed about on crashing waves, Venetian scenes and all sorts of strange creatures stomping around. The final gallery “The Art of Abstraction” shows work by artists such as Kandinsky and Klint and is perhaps slightly less suitable for young children as it is very dark the art here is displayed in a maze like display of mesh screens. Each gallery has wonderful atmospheric music playing from Spanish guitar to jazz. It really is a true immersive experience. I would recommend Frameless to anybody who is looking for something a little bit different to do.

After lunch we ventured into Selfridges and had a very mediocre lunch in their ground floor café. I used to work near Bond Street and would often enjoy a mooch around this beautiful department store during my lunch break. I would buy pretty stationary or a scarf. It is very different now, just made up of luxury concessions. If you want to purchase Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton etc. you will be in the right place. If you just want a little treat then there is the beauty hall where you can pick up a fancy lip gloss or bottle of fragrance. We looked around one of the Chanel concessions and oohed a little bit at all the beautiful, wildly expensive things. Pale blue seemed to be the colour of the season and everything was trimmed with crystals or pearls. I tried a Bayswater Satchel on in the Mulberry concession but they didn’t have it in the colour I liked and I had just spent the equivalent amount of money on a new computer for work so, sadly, it wasn’t really day for purchasing expensive new leather goods.

On Oxford Street there were lots of rather aggressive elderly women beggars from overseas, something I hadn’t encountered before anywhere but Italy. I wonder where they all go at the end of the day. The sight of so many homeless people lining the pavements is very sad and I suppose fewer passer bys give them money now as we are largely a cashless society.

We popped into a couple of shops on Oxford Street, Zara and Uniqlo, but this was a Saturday and the crowds were ridiculous. I know some people find beautiful things in Zara but I don’t find the quality to be very good. Uniqlo is brilliant for basics like T shirts and my son likes their crew neck jumpers. I was tempted by one of their popular sling bags but, after seeing the Chanel delights, they didn’t hold much quite so much appeal. After half an hour or so we headed back to the Tube and managed to travel home without being robbed.

Thank you for reading

Samantha