Bath and the British Library

4 April 2007

Today was a very busy day. Virginia headed off to Bath to visit an old friend and the two of them went on for lunch at Castle Combe, considered England's prettiest village. We had booked her train fare from Hobart which cost nine pounds each way. The pricing schedule is bizarre. Had she walked up to the window to book a fare on the same day, it would have cost well over fifty pounds! Booking in advance provides a huge saving although you are locked into specific times to travel.

Bath is one of our favourite places in the world. Virginia reports that the weather being exceptionally kind for the time of year the buildings were bathed in glorious golden sunshine which emphasized the characteristics of the beautiful stone of which they are constructed. The first of the hanging baskets and flower boxes were in place ready for the competition for Britain's most beautiful city. If it were up to the two of us, Bath would win, hands down. The drive out to Castle Combe passed through many quintessentially "English" villages - clumps of daffodils and primroses everywhere and what Virginia calls "proper" meaning "white" sheep and lambs in the fields.

Drives along English country lanes are an absolute treat but could not continue for long with petrol at a pound a litre. For those of you who know Bath, there is a huge renovation taking place in the bus station precinct.

While Virginia was away, I headed to Victoria station to get some information pamphlets; you know, the where to go and what to do sort of thing. I had asked for some of these at Paddington Station and had been told that I needed to go to Victoria or to Piccadilly. It was a bit of a surprise since we would have thought that a busy rail station; particularly the city terminus of the Heathrow Express into the city from the airport, would have had an information kiosk.
Having found a few bits of information I headed to the British Library. I was prepared to hate it, since I loved the old reading room in the British Museum. It is modern and very well organised. Instead of filling out papers and waiting weeks to get a reader's card, it can all be done in a matter of minutes now. The exhibition spaces are excellent and I had a pleasant couple of hours wandering around and looking at items from their magnificent collection including some 17th century Hagadahs and the Magna Carta.

I left the library and went down to the Tate. I don't know if it is my imagination or a false memory, but the underground seems to have more announcements of re-routings and delays than I remember - even including the old bad Irish bomb days. Anyway, got to the Tate where there was an exhibition of Hogarths. Lots of excellent stuff. We're so used to seeing his drawings we forget what a fine painter - particularly of portraits he was. Unfortunately, the exhibition was so crowded it was almost impossible to follow the logic of it.

After the Tate I caught the tube to the West End and went to the theatre to see Equus with Richard Griffith and Daniel (Harry Potter) Radcliffe. It was a first rate production and Radcliffe showed what a fine young actor he is. At the end the audience gave the cast a standing ovation.
After the show I met Virginia at Paddington and we went to our local for a drink and a dry, uninteresting sandwich. On the first of July smoking around food will be banned and the pubs are already making the usual noises that we heard in Australia. In fact, pubs are so smoky as to be clearly unhealthy and from our point of view (admittedly we are non-smokers) it won't be a moment too soon. Then home to bed. Tomorrow we are going to Lords.