Visual Assessment

Today was my last Northern Renaissance class, and also the visual assessment went online. I was a bit nervous but mainly excited. I asked Sybren how long we were expected to spend on it within the allocated twenty-four hours, and he explained that two or three hours should suffice; it’s the modern equivalent of the old exams that I sat in great big exam halls in the 1980s. I think that in a way I would have preferred to have an allocated three hour exam, because I ended up working on it for about six hours. You are allowed to look up books and resources, which in my mind made the task more onerous! We were given three pairs of art works to compare in the context of the Northern Renaissance. Finally I was ready to submit the assessment onto the University website, but it wouldn’t upload. I wonder if perhaps the system was down because when I tried for about the 20th time, by now after midnight, it suddenly uploaded which was very exciting! 

Studying and Socialising

On Tuesday I went to my second last Northern Renaissance class. We were learning about woodcarvings, and one of the most impressive ones is Veit Stoss’s huge altarpiece in St Mary’s Church in Krakow. We didn’t see it on our first visit to Krakow in 2023, although we did see lots of other things; however we will be returning to Krakow in December to meet up with Gosia and Mitchell so I am very excited about visiting it then. We had chilli con carne with Ally (and without carne for me) and watched one more episode of University Challenge which of course Ally won again. He set off to a meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning and thence to London by train, it has been really nice to see him. 

On Wednesday we had lunch with Christine and Gerry at the Wishing Well tearoom in Eaglesham. We had lots of news to catch up on and the lunch was very good. On Thursday we went to see 80s pop singer Howard Jones with Marjory and Forrest, after a tasty dinner at Il Pieno in Hope Street. Howard Jones was James’ idea; I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and the whole audience were up dancing by the end. I think it’s fair to say that nobody enjoyed it more than Howard Jones himself, who changed sparkly outfits three times and was very enthusiastic. More very pleasant social occasions followed; coffee with my lovely cousins Janie and Julie, and a great curry at Rasoi with Heather and Ewan. James and I went to see the new film Nuremberg with Davie, it was very good. It didn’t in any way seek to excuse the actions of the Nazis but it was nuanced and Russell Crowe was fantastic as Goring. However I have spent a great deal of time over the past week working on my Northern Renaissance Art essay. James has rightly pointed out that when I was an undergraduate I was producing essays of this length (about 2000 words) every week, but I’m out of practice and also I want to make a good job of it. I’m enjoying the process very much. 

Home again and Afternoon Tea

Jennifer very kindly drove me to Milton Keynes on Sunday morning, from where I could catch a direct train to Glasgow. I had a reserved seat again and soon made myself comfy with a cup of coffee and a pain au raisin from Prêt. The train was quite busy at first but I pressed on with my Northern Renaissance essay and by Penrith lots of people had got off the train so it was lovely and quiet. 
James, Ally and Davie have been hill-walking this weekend around Glencoe and stayed for one overnight in the Nevis Range Base Camp hotel. James had piled up lots of food in the cats’ bowls before he left yesterday morning. When I arrived home in the afternoon Tom and Flora came running down the stairs and took me straight to their bowls. There was loads of dry food left but no fresh chunks, which I remedied immediately. James and Ally arrived home by teatime and we had a curry together and I heard about their hill-walking adventures.
On Monday morning the sky was a gorgeous blue colour but it was very cold and there was frost on the ground as I walked down to the station. I met Heather at Mackintosh at the Willow where we had a delicious afternoon tea; sandwiches, scones and tiny cakes. You could choose whatever tea you wanted and I chose Duchess Grey which was very drinkable, I drank two teapots full! Heather chose different fruit teas which she said were excellent. A good old chat ensued before we headed on our separate ways home. We made lamb tagine for James and Ally, and butternut squash tagine for me, and we watched University Challenge which was great fun. James doesn’t like University Challenge so my only chance to watch it is with Ally. I was delighted that one of the answers to a question about art was Vasari! I have learned about him in my Northern Renaissance art course! Ally won of course, although we were both a bit out of practice.  

Injera and candlelight in Oxford

Russell impressed me in the morning with his tiny frying pan which is exactly the right size for one fried egg to be fried in a perfect circle. After breakfast Jennifer and I, and her lovely friend Debbie went for a stroll into the centre of Princes Risborough where we went to a craft fair at St Mary’s Church Hall, and then had coffee and brownies. We were joined by anther of Jenn’s friend, also called Debbie, and had a really nice chat. Back at the house Jennifer organised a tile painting session for us, what fun! She then baked the tiles in the oven to set the ink. 

Our next destination was Oxford, but unfortunately there had been an incident on the line near Ruislip and all of the trains were cancelled. We met two young Oxford students called Ellen and Yelena who were also stuck, and after being unable to hire an Uber (because demand was outweighing supply because of the cancelled trains) Russ very kindly brought the car to the station so that Jenn could drop him back at home and then she drove us and the students to Oxford Park and Ride. From there we caught the bus into the centre of Oxford, the girls were very grateful and even invited us for drinks at Brasenose College bar! 

Jenn and I had dinner at Lula’s which is an Ethiopian Restaurant, and we shared a vegetarian injera dish; injera are fermented pancakes with the most amazing texture and taste. Then we had a coffee in Oxford’s Covered Market and listened to a great wee band. As we were walking to the Holywell Music Room for our next event I caught the side of my foot on a kerb and fell down full length rather painfully but luckily with only a couple of bumps and grazes. When Jennifer helped me up I felt really dizzy for a few minutes and my ears were ringing. Jennifer took me into a café and bought me a hot chocolate; I soon felt better and we went to see Candlelight ABBA versus Queen. What a fantastic concert in a stunning venue. We were in the front row and a string quartet played a series of tunes by both groups which were all excellent. At the end we had to decide whether Abba or Queen were better. Abba received rousing cheers from the audience but the applause for Queen easily and in my opinion justifiably surpassed them, so the final song played was by Queen. Does that mean that Queen wrote better songs or that the string quartet simply played the Queen songs better? This gave Jennifer and I plenty to discuss on the journey home. It was a fantastic day. 

National Gallery and Aylesbury Theatre

It was rainy today but I cared not a jot because I had already planned a morning at the National Gallery before meeting Jennifer for lunch. I set off after carefully posting Ally and Cat’s keys through their door after locking up, wrapped in a sock so as not to damage the floor. I had such a lovely time at the National Gallery and had a wee pain au chocolat in the Supporters House mid morning I met Jennifer in the Sainsbury’s Wing and we went down to the Supporters House where we had pumpkin tortelloni which was yummy. I mistakenly asked for tortellini and the waitress politely pointed out my mistake, so I looked it up later and the main differences are size and filling: tortellini are smaller and traditionally filled with meat, while tortelloni are larger and typically filled with cheese and vegetables. Always something new to learn! Jennifer and I then took the underground to Marylebone and caught a train to Princes Risborough. It was dark when we arrived and Russell kindly picked us up from the station, and we had a tasty tea of homemade soup, bread and cheese before going to see the German comedian Henning Behn at the beautiful Aylesbury Theatre. He was very funny; his main theme was what to do about global warming and he made some sharp observations and was not afraid to be quite 
outrageous!   

Dinner with Cat in Marylebone

I had a great day in London today. After a wander around the busy and vibrant Borough Market, I met Rhona for lunch at Fish! which is a gorgeous bright restaurant on the edge of the market. We had a good catch up. I then took an underground train to Euston and went for an excellent walk in Regents Park. Compared with the busy streets of London it felt almost hushed, even though there were some people walking around. There were quite a few squirrels dashing about in the undergrowth and birds singing in the trees. The leaves have nearly all fallen but it was still warm enough to sit outside for a coffee at the pleasant Regents Park Café, where I eavesdropped on a beauty queen (in full regalia) being filmed by a friend talking about her life plans. Fascinating. It was getting dark when I left the park and the path was closed ahead of me so I had to go a roundabout way to get to the road; I felt a bit spooked in the twilight even though there were still other people in the park. I had a stroll along the delightful Marylebone High Street and went into Daunt Bookshop for a browse before meeting Cat for dinner at Bellazul, a great wee tapas restaurant. Ally was on his way to Scotland for a work meeting tomorrow. Cat and I had a really nice chat and had a cup of tea later back at the flat. 

Dinner with Ally in the City

This morning I took the direct train from Glasgow Central to London Euston. The journey went very smoothly although we were 15 minutes late. To my delight I got a table for four all to myself all the way to Warrington, when a quiet man arrived; he was no trouble. I do enjoy a train journey when it goes well. I spent my time writing up my Northern Renaissance notes and working on my essay, it was very enjoyable. 
When I arrived at Ally and Cat’s flat I had a coffee with Cat before she set off for a meeting in Cambridge, and I took the DLR to Bank to meet Ally at our old favourite, the Ivy Asia. When I was at Limehouse Station on the way, a drunk man tried to get my attention but I gave such a terrible scream when he grabbed my shoulder that he looked really scared - I hadn’t realised he was speaking to me until he touched me! That’s the second time that a drunk man has approached me in the last couple of weeks; the other time was in Paris. Ally and I had a really lovely meal and chat, and afterwards Ally took me into his new office above Bank Station which has amazing views from its 4th floor windows. It even has a terrace outside the window with wee tables and chairs. From the terrace we could see an amazing stained glass window, I think it’s about the Peasants’ Revolt, in the Mansion House building, which is the official residence of London’s Lord Mayor.