My day in London - "Cultural Exploits"

One of the big advantages of living in Brussels is the fact that you are in the middle of Europe - it takes just 1,5 h to go by train to Paris and a little 2 h to go by train to London. Beat that!

So, off I went with the Eurostar: you can be in London  just in time for the opening of shops and museums in a wink - and with the time difference you have even gained a full hour - leaving here at 8 am makes you arriving in London at 9 am.

My dear friend Fiona picked me up and we started with a coffee in the British Library - now rebuilt in another place than the original - I liked it inside better than outside; the space and structure inside is very good architecture indeed, the outside disappoints with a lack of ingenuity ( after all, this is a place for thought, no?) and some feeling of "homely schoolyard".

I was introduced to the London Bus System - always good to learn something new: very easy, once you get a grip - I am now a converted user of buses - you see so much more and get a feeling for the huge dimensions of this huge and beautiful city!

But then we went of to a real treat - please, go there, if you have time: The "Sir John Soane´s Museum" Lincoln´s Field nr.13., try www.soane.org  for more information.

I wonder, if all the students, trying to become successful bread-earners do have a notion of the jewel situated around the corner of the LSE?
A humble selfmade man, becoming a great architect and collector created here one of the most amazing monuments to human willpower and creativity. 

I was stunned indeed. What energy and knowledge of a lifetime to be found here - paradise for the art interested indeed.

The wow factor of the "Picture Room" with its hidden pictures, the world famous Hogarths series "A Rake´s Progress" and some wonderful Canalettos; not to talk of the 12 Piranesi I counted. Curiosities as the tomb of poor old lap-dog Fanny seen from the "Monk´s Parlour" and the description of  an opening-reception given by Soanes to celebrate his aquisition of an egyptian sarcophagus are fascinating. What a mind and what determination....

The house itself is a jewel of Regency architecture with one of the loveliest staircases I have hitherto seen in a townhouse. The staff was very kind, given to the constant flow of visitors they must have the patience of saints to explain and transmit their passion for this house and its collection day after day. Entrance is free and a nice lady at the entrance keeps the queue in good humor - there are only a restricted number of visitors to be admitted, very sensible thought I find, not only because of the damage possible, but also for the visitor to get a feeling for the place.

Next stop was Somerset house.
Had never been there and it felt on the first entrance in the courtyard like entering a huge filmset - please forgive this secularistic allusion. Lovely second impression was to see all the children playing in the fountains in the full afternoon sun - happy shrieks and bustling laughter made the place alive with a carefree feeling of holidays.

We came to have a look at the Courtauld Gallery Collection, which I had never seen but had read and heard about a lot. Not to forget the interesting minor fact that Anthony Blunt, one of the Cambridge Spies spent much time and thought in and on this collection...

Prepare for happiness - it is a small but very fine collection indeed.

Some of the most famous pictures of the world are to be seen and and enjoyed, starting with some Rubens ( especially one of his very rare landscapes!!!),  a Goya, "Mont St. Victoire" in some variations by Cézanne, some of the most famous Manets, the famous little early Picasso blue child with a dove, van Gogh and Gauguin,  one sad and beautiful Modigliani, french early 20th century painting, some Blaue Reiter ( even a Werefkin!!)  - in short: GO AND VISIT.
Can´t be too much insisted on. www.courtauld.ac.uk

What gives me great consolation in a sense of relief and hope is to see how many people of all backgrounds, ages, colours and intentions are taking advantage of the possibilities offered to them to enjoy beautiful things, to see and contemplate some of the greatest works of art in the world: There were loads of people in the British Library to see the Magna Carta, quite a queue for the excentric Soanse´s House, an intense crowd for  Somerset House. This is really a gift to mankind.
I just wished most people were better dressed... Well, one cannot have it all.

The Pleasure of being alone at home

Please, do not get me wrong: I love my children dearly.

But since some 48 h I am alone at home. Something which has not happened during the whole of my last 20 years in my life, really. And I must admit, that it is - until now -  very very nice.

There is still quite a lot os household chores to do in the aftermath of the family leaving for holidays, but this can wait - because, when things are done, they stay done. Not like the eternal repetition of cleaning a kitchen, bathroom or bedroom and within 15 minutes, there is again the milk spilled, wet dogpats on the floor, the chairs pulled out, the garbage open, etc - just in the kitchen.

Now, for the last 48 hours, nothing has changed when I have left a room. The sofa is "normal" and not "deranged" - even the carpet looks clean, and I did the vacuumstuff only yesterday in the morning! No need to do it today. The bathroom is perfect, no open toothpastes, no hairbrushes and no dirty clothes on the floor. In the boys rooms, the lights are out and no clothes on the floors neither.

I am NOT cooking. No noodles and no pans; the fridge has been cleaned yesterday and fruit has been bought. I schlepped home several liters of water for ironing, cleaning products and new supplies of loo paper. The dishwasher is almost empty. And I am thinking, what I shall have for dinner tonight: some soup? Or just a jogurt? Unfortunately there are still some reservoirs of chocolat in special places - dangerous, especially in the evening: I will have to eat it rapidly, so it is out of my way.
But: no cooking! No noodles! No pizza!

New is also the luxury of not having to talk or to listen. I ponder around and hear music, if I want to talk to other human beings, I take the telephone and can call - nobody comes in to ask what is for dinner or where the scissors are, and nobody watches "How I met your mother" in 24 decibel. It is quiet. Well, almost, as the dogs are with me and keep me company - they sleep most of the time and there is happy snoring to be heard through the whole house. Yesterday afternoon I was lying reading on the sofa ( DURING THE DAY!) with dogs snoring next to me on the floor. Now tell me, is this luxury or not?

Today I will attack the ironing. And then perhaps mown the lawn - when it does not rain. In the evening, I will watch a film, which I like - no dead bodies, no blood, no Simpsons and no news. I hesitate between "Il Gattopardo" by Visconti, or "All about Eve" by Mankiewicz. My population here would just shout - No.... not that!
No, I will even not watch the news: I cannot help the US getting out of debt and am not interested, if there has been another busaccident with 23 dead in Bangladesh ( hopefully there has been no such thing..)
I go on a diet for news and television! Wonderful. But fullblast Mozart concertos for Klarinette and perhaps later a little bit of Bach, H-moll Messe - to start practising for the new choir season.

I do not go to bed at 21.00, but at midnight. Very unusual, me pondering around. And I sleep tight and well. SO, there is a future!!!

Tomorrow there will be a dinnerparty at a friends house, with all the lonely rangers who are still in town - will be fun. And on thursday I go to a museum of my choice. Perhaps I will even write a post about it?!

Most probably in 2 days time I will have a crisis and miss the children terribly. I will go into their clean rooms and have a sinking heart. After all it is so much more fun having the house full of shouting teenagers, rock music and ABBA blasts, and some movement in the now so well-behaving rooms. And a bursting fridge. Some dirty socks on the stairs. And someone to chat to. And somebody to laugh with.

Still, almost 8 days of "conditional leave for housewifes and moms". Terribly wonderful!

About re-reading old favourites

I have the theory that good literature is to be re-read every decade in one´s life. A really good book will surprise you every time you read it and will give you food for thought and pleasure which have been undetected hitherfore.

For example take Leo Tolstoy.

You read "Anna Karenina"  for the first time in your teens and it is long and neverending and the lovestory really really tiring - what is all the fuss about? Mystery.
Then you read it in your late 20ies and get a grasp on the beautiful writing and the perfect locations, the great rhythm of the narration.
In your 30ies you start to get some more understanding for Anna, as you realize that her marriage is definitively not the right thing - or is her husband right, after all?
In your 40ies you start to think, if she really could not have managed all together more satisfying and better? You start to reflect on your self - what would you do in such circumstances??Mhh?
I am not yet in my 50ies, so there are some years to go until I will discover another question on the subject, but discover it I will.

Or, take "War and Peace" - not the old kitschy filmthing with Audrey Hepburn - although she looks great, especially in the famous first train scene. No wonder Mel Ferrer fell for her. You need at least 2 weeks of holidays to read this epic novel - and a good stomach too.

But the book is so much more filled than a film can ever be - there are only some very few great and geniuslike films made out of books - believe me, the older you are, the more you get out of  good literature...

This is perhaps the greatest of pleasures in re-reading the old classics: one digs deeper and deeper into the "message" of the book, discovers new things every time and the surprise to re-discover an old aquaintance always full of new facets is as wonderful as re-discovering an old friend as full of surprises, even after 35 years of knowing each other.

It is like Looking at Art - the more you know about what you look at, the more you can see.
The same principle applies to reading.

I make a manifesto here ( I love to make manifestos!) for reading and re-reading. It is not essential to read always the latest newest books - sometimes it is fun, but often those bestsellers of the moment do not stand the test of time. You read them once and that was it. The urge for re-reading is minimal.

But the cumulus of pleasure is to find someone you like and respect and who can embark with you on a lengthy discussion/conversation/exchange/contemplation about the whys and why nots in a book you both know well enough to saviour this exchange. But who has time for good conversation nowadays?
Rare pleasure indeed and one of the very great ones.

Summerholidays...

Dear all,

the summerholidays have started - I will therefore be on and off here in Bruxelles and will not - as in the last week already the case - write posts regularly.

Which does not mean, that I will not once in a while DO write something...

Up to now the Red Handbag has been great fun -  a really interesting experience I started in february  - now there is a little summerbreak coming up.
Useful for collecting ideas...

I wish you all, where-ever you are, very happy and restful summer weeks, full of good experiences, laughter, good friends, lovely places - well, in short: Enjoy Life, through and through!

Jola

My mother and me

 This is my mother, painted in 1942, and  then me, painted by my grandmother when 3 years old.
She was a very very good portraitist...
Her aquarelles  are signed "ASR" - you recognize them immediately, when you have seen them once.

She painted in all Europe,  especially in Belgium and Germany - and also in the United States, especially in Washington political circles.  After WW II the family settled in Quebec, Canada, where she died in 1974.
Especially in Belgium are a  great number of her very best works. Is an old project of mine, to make a collection of them and perhaps organize an exhibition?