One of the things I like about London is the fact that one can so often find something completely unexpected to pass the time. I went shopping in Piccadilly and found myself outside St. James's Church, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. On certain days of the week, an art and crafts market takes place in the churchyard and I had hoped to pick up some interesting souvenirs. However, I had picked the wrong day for that. Instead, I discovered that there was to be a lunchtime piano recital that day. So I stayed for that. In fact, many London churches have free lunchtime concerts - the most famous being St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, right opposite the National Gallery.

 

Another unusual concert venue - although not free - is the Handel House Museum. This was exceedingly hard to find. The guidebooks list it as being in Brook Street, but Brook Street is, itself, a mews off South Molton Street. At the time of my visit, the Museum was holding an exhibition on Handel and the divas, chronicling his relationships with the great prime donne of the day, such as Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni, "the Rival Queens", famous for having a cat fight on stage (they didn't, in fact. The fight was between their respective fans). Other famous divas portrayed were Anastasia Robinson, Susannah Cibber (who performed at the premiere of Messiah in Dublin) and Anna Maria Strada del Po. For a music-lover such as myself, especially one so fond of Baroque music, this was a very interesting exhibition. I was only surprised that among the divas, no mention was made of Mrs Cibber's sister-in-law, Cecilia Arne, for whom Handel created several roles.

 

The National Gallery is one of the places I drop into at least once, every time I visit London. This time, there was an exhibition there entitled: Take One Picture. The National Gallery has an imaginative scheme for primary schools, in which, each year, the participating schools focus on one picture from the Gallery's collection to inspire and stimulate cross-curricular work in the classroom. I found this idea fascinating - and while ideas such as this continue to flourish, there is still hope for the future of education in the UK.

 

Less encouraging was the news that cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber had come under attack for suggesting that students taking the GCSE examination in Music should actually be required to be able to read music notation! I was astounded to discover that there is, at present, no such requirement! I was still more flabbergasted to learn, from an old schoolfriend whom I met for coffee and whom I haven't seen for over 35 years, that her daughter had recently graduated from university with a BA in Classical Studies, without actually having studied Latin and Greek!!! So it should have come as no surprise when, in response to the introduction of a new grade - A* - in the GCE A-level examinations, most of the universities announced that they would not be recognising or requiring it. Their ostensible reason? The new grade would give an unfair advantage to wealthy candidates coming from independent (i.e. fee-paying) schools - the assumption no doubt being that education in government schools is so poor that students from such schools would have difficulty in attaining the higher grades. 

 

I mentioned my old schoolfriend. Together, we visited the Tate Modern. I am not, in general, a fan of modern art. There were quite a few paintings and sculptures which I rather liked. However, the interpretations given to such creations by so-called art experts, frequently seem to me to be absolutely ludicrous. I have written before about the Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome. At the Tate Modern, it comes into play with a vengeance. My friend agreed with me.

 

Whenever I visit London, my brother and I like to visit at least one of our old childhood haunts. Our choice this time fell on Bekenscot Model Village. Although the weather was far from ideal (in fact, it started raining shortly after we arrived), we had a delightful time wandering among the miniature houses, farms and churches. Among other things, the village has its own law firm (Argue and Twist - Solicitors), building company (A. Jerry - Builder) and the home of the Dursley family. There are also a miniature railway, airport, harbour, zoo, fairground, castle, gypsy encampment, as well as schools, a police station, a fire station, stately homes and a country club. It was rather crowded, of course, as it was the middle of the school holidays, but not unbearably so.

 

Our visit to Bekenscot coincided with the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, so we missed that. Had we stayed in London, we could have watched the opening of the Games on the giant screen set up in Trafalgar Square. On the days that followed, we did, more than once, find ourselves in the Square and even watched some of the Games Highlights in company with the large crowds that filled the Square (many of them Chinese).

 

My visit was over all too soon, but I returned to work much refreshed and able to tackle the mountain of work that covered my desk with renewed zest. Well, maybe not zest, but at least with renewed energy. It's quite true what they say - a change is as good as a rest.