Kew Gardens on a sunny November morning

The sunshine pulled me out of bed at some ridiculously early hour for a Sunday morning, it was before 9am, and made me go to Kew Gardens.

The 65 bus helped me on my way and threw me out at Kew Bridge so that I could go in to the gardens through the main gate on Kew Green, which is now called the Elizabeth Gate.

Getting in was a problem at first but was soon resolved when I showed my Kew Membership Card rather than the the National Trust card that I had tried to get in with.

Just inside the gate is the Conservatory. I do not know what it was originally used for, now it is occasionally home to works of art and at the moment that means one of the pieces in the David Nash collection that is littered across the gardens.

Turning right takes you to a hidden lake and another interesting glasshouse that I also know nothing about. This one is more interesting architecturally so it's a shame that visitors are not allowed in there.

From the lake decisions had to be made and I chose to go for an extended walk roughly following the river with the intention of then heading towards Lion Gate and home.

After crossing the top of the lake I took the Cedar Vista towards the Pagoda, this is the longest of the seven vistas that radiate out from there.

Along the way I paused at the Waterlily Pond simply because it is very pretty. Obviously the peacocks think so too and they are usually found in that area. There were a couple on the bank but I preferred to take pictures of the magnificent grasses.

The walk was going so well that I changed my plans and instead of continuing on to Lion Gate I turned left again and went along the Pagoda Vista towards the Palm House.

I rarely walk along the Vistas because they are usually too full of people so it was a treat to find them empty. Going fairly early on a cold day helped.

As did the persistent rain over the last few months that drove most people on to the drier tarmac paths.

I took a slight detour from the Vista to walk through the Temperate House.

This is my favourite building in Kew, despite some fierce competition, and it would be ridiculous to be near and not go in. First though, I had a good look at it from the outside as the architecture is stunning. All greenhouses should look like this. Sadly my garden is not quite up to it.

Inside the greenhouse is being refreshed and replanted so there are changes to see on every visit. At the moment it is looking a little bare due to the work that is going on.

Surprisingly it also boasts some of the very few colours on display in late November. And most of those colours were orange, like these.

From there there it was a short walk, back along the Vista, to Victoria Plaza where they have cleverly placed a coffee bar with cakes ready to trap the weary walkers, like myself. As always, I consoled myself that these were not unnecessary calories but a way of giving thanks to the Gardens by making another small financial donation.

I had started my walk at the Main Gate (about 1pm on the clock) and had walked anti-clockwise close to the edge of the gardens all the way round to Victoria Gate (3pm).

Walked at pace, and not stopping too often for distractions, Kew Gardens seemed surprisingly small. I spent around 90 minutes walking around most of it, on other days I've spent that long in one greenhouse. Such is the magic of Kew that is can expand and contract space and time to suit the needs of each visitor's mood and intent.

The Pilgrim's Progress at the ENO

I like to go to performances unprepared and this time I was doubly so.My knowledge of Vaughan Williams' music is limited, the only thing I have on CD is the Antarctic Symphony (his seventh), and I have never read John Bunyan's book that provides the inspiration and title.

I was not taking much of a risk this time as I booked a seat up in the Balcony for a modest £25. At that price it did not have to be that good.

The Coliseum was packed so I guess that some people had some idea of what to expect.

The opera opens in a prison where we meet John Bunyan completing his book. He starts to read from it and the protagonist, Pilgrim, then appears. Bunyan fades from view and Pilgrim starts his journey that is the narrative.

The music is as wonderful as I had hoped. It is very similar in mood to the Antarctic Symphony which is not that surprising given that the symphony premièred in 1952 just one year after the opera. The music sweeps through long passages slowly, grandly and beautifully.

This beauty is not matched by the story.

Pilgrim is beset by challenges and temptations and the production reflects this with bleak industrial colours and staging.

The main element of the stage is a set of metal components that, like Meccano, combine in multiple ways to make prisons, bridges and other structures that defy categorisation.

I like industrial stuff and I liked this, though I normally associate such a look with the harsh rhythmic music of, say, Rammstein or Vladimír Hirsch. Not the slow symphonic sounds of Williams.

The bridges were a neat trick creating processional routes for the journey. There was a strong whiff of Victorian railways here, and that is not a bad thing either.

The one uplifting moment and the one splash of colour comes when Pilgrim visits Vanity Fair.

The characters that he meets here include Lord Lechery and Madam Wanton. These are all people off ill-repute who try to tempt Pilgrim who resists and gets jailed for his refusal.

In pantomime the baddies wear black so that you know that they are the baddies so it seems at odds to have everybody in grey apart from the baddies. If this is meant to be an advertisement for Christianity then it's a strange one as the only people who have fun all evening are the children of Beelzebub.

Pilgrim escapes from prison and resumes his journey but I had lost interest in the thin plot by then. The music easily sustained my interest though.

The piece feels more like an oratorio than an opera, something more along the lines of The Dream of Gerontius than Billy Budd, to pick two notable works by other English composers. And I think it would have worked just as well, if not better, as a concert performance where we could all have focused on the music and ignored the metal cages.

Political tweeting with the BBC

Twitter has enlivened the watching and listening of political programmes as now you can shout at the world and not just at your telly.

The BBC actively encourages this on its main audience participation programmes Any Questions (Radio 4) and its young upstart Question Time (BBC One).

Even better, Any Questions is followed by Any Answers which has moved over the years from the paper post (the answers were broadcast a week after the original debate) to the telephone to email and now to Twitter.

I have had a few tweets read out on Any Answers but this week was even better as I got retweeted BBC Radio 4 and so my comment, on the lasting legacy of capitalism, was picked up by more people than usual leading to more retweets, more followers and some bizarre replies.

All that is much better that ranting at a box that can't argue back.

For the record, this is what I tweeted during this week's programmes.

Any questions?

Apart from petty vindictiveness, what actually is the point in denying prisoners the right to vote? #bbcaq

We should back down and let all prisoners vote as is their human right and we'll forget what all the fuss was about in a few weeks. #bbcaq

In my children's lifetime we will lose Holland to the sea but all the Tories will talk about is the short-term cost of renewables. #bbcaq

The mistake is only counting the financial cost of energy and ignoring the environmental cost that will critically damage the planet. #bbcaq

The lasting legacy of capitalism will be that it made us destroy the planet because that's what the numbers told us to do. #bbcaq

Anybody who thinks that economically and politically that GB is anything like CH is clearly bonkers. #bbcaq

Question Time

IDS grandstands that Parliament is sovereign and not one person clapped. #bbcqt

Prisoners are still human so they still have human rights. The clue is in the name. #bbcqt

If the UK Parliament flaunts the law will they lose the right to vote too? #bbcqt

Prisoners should be allowed to vote. To restrict democracy in this way is inhumane and is a dangerous route to take. #bbcqt

Don't forget that Charles Kennedy sacked an MP (mine) for just saying she understood why Palestinians are angry. #bbcqt

Kind of guessing that posh boy in the audience has never been to Gazza. #bbcqt

It's a false question; Hammas are responding to the continual growth of illegal settlements and the blockade. #bbcqt

Why a referendum on Europe and why now? We cannot relive all our major political decisions every thirty years. #bbcqt

I'd rather have a tighter relationship with Brussels and weaker one with Westminster. Our MPs are nothing to be proud of. #bbcqt

Don't forget that there is a woman bishop in the Anglican Church already, Ellinah Wamukoya in South Africa. #bbcqt

What is the Kingston Society for?

The Kingston upon Thames Society took a brave step in it's November meeting to start a root and branch review of the Society's objectives and methods by asking the simple question, what is the Society for?

Various members of the Committee (including myself) took it in turns to make a short statement on a part of the Society's activities and then opened the debate up to the whole room.

I was trying to participate in the debate, take notes, tweet and take a few photographs at the same time so my notes are even less comprehensive and comprehensible than usual. I offer them here more of less uneditted.

Brian Godding, the Planning Secretary, opened by reminding members of the three objectives stated in the Society's constitution:

1. To promote high standards of environmental design, planning and architecture in or affecting the area of benefit.
2. To educate the public in the environment, history, natural history and architecture of the area of benefit.
3. To secure the preservation, protection, development and enhancement of features of historic or public interest in the area of benefit.

He added that the Society's relationship with the Council (RBK) was not as strong as it was, e.g. we were no longer invited to private briefings.

The Society is not just about protecting the old and we will support modern schemes we approve against public perceptions, e.g. Huf Haus.

At this point the Surbiton Filter Beds got a mention and for a while threatened to derail the meeting. There was much cross-purpose discussion with the Committee trying to defend the decision whereas the question they were being asked was how the decision had been made.

That then led us in to another discussion on the role of the Committee and its relationship with members, e.g. is it autocratic with an all-powerful Committee or should we be looking for ways to involve members more in decisions like this.

The basis on which applications are judged good is not clear, should we harden the guidelines on which we use to do this, i.e. try to define "good"?

Our membership recruitment leaflet lists some areas of concern in the Borough but the Society does little to address some of these, e.g. streets.

There was a general feeling that the Society is too reactive, e.g. responding to planning applications or RBK policy statements, rather than setting out what we want to achieve and then working to bring this about.
 
There was a brief, and fairly unanimous, discussion on whether the Society should expand its sphere of interest beyond the physical world of planning and in to how the Borough works, e.g. licensing and traffic. I think we should not but almost everybody else thinks we should.

Similarly members agreed that heritage is important, despite not being specifically mentioned in the constitution, though preservation is. It was also noted that the Coronation Stone is not mentioned in RBK's core strategy.

Various suggestions were made on how we could involve members more, e.g. bring controversial matters to monthly meetings, do more consultation by email and publish committee minutes so that members can comment.

If the Society does take on a wider role then the number of groups that it could work with will also grow to include Residents' Associations and the other local societies with interests in heritage etc.

There was strong interest in the Society establishing sub-committees or working parties to cover specialist topics and there were some volunteers from the audience to get more involved in the Society's activities. In particular Jennifer confirmed that she was no longer able to continue to manage the Heritage Open Days and a few people offered to take this on as a group.

We all want a better "environment" whatever that means to each of us. Wholeness matters, it's not just the buildings we appreciate in our locality.

Should we be active in helping and encouraging people to get things changed, rather than trying to do everything ourselves?

Our mission could be summarised as Protect, Celebrate and Improve. We protect through responding to planning applications and celebrate through HODs and talks but we do little, directly, to improve.

The Society can take a lead in developing a sense of place, which begs the question on what places we have, what their characteristics are and how we want them to develop. There will be conflicts here with different groups of users having different needs. For example, should North Kingston be a quiet area for residents only or does it also have a role in supporting the Town Centre through, say, parking and social life?

Some key points

The Society has yet to consider the results of the meeting so this is all very unofficial, but these are the main messages that I took:

• The Society should widen its remit and that will require changes to the way that the Society is organised and the other groups that we work with.
• We need to engage with members much more. Our Facebook page and this blog are small steps towards this.
• We need to define what we mean by "good" in each sphere and each place that we are interested in, e.g. traffic in the Town Centre and licensing in New Malden.
• This is a significant change for the Society and will take a lot of time and effort to complete but the membership are very supportive and are willing to play their part.

A selection of songs and operatic arias at the Slovak Embassy

Two things that feature here regularly are things Czech/Slovak and opera so I was bound to go to an event that combined the two.

The event was a recital by Peter Berger (tenor) and Lada Valesova (piano), and the location was the Slovak Embassy in London. And that's a winning combination.

I've commented before on the suitability of the Embassy for social events and this was another good example. The room is large, high and open but, somehow, it does not echo at all, which may be down to the design of the wooden ceiling.

The other guests were somewhat timid and avoided the front row so I bagged a set there where I could see the keyboards being tinkled. I was just a couple of seats away from the Ambassador so I was in good company.

There were a few familiar Czech/Slovak faces there too and I was able to say a few hellos before the concert started.

The recital was mostly powerful operatic aria, both happy and sad, with some piano pieces to let the tenor rest and a Slovak folk song as an encore.

Lada introduced each piece, telling us much about the story of the opera as she did so. From this we learnt that (at least) two of the men died shortly after singing the songs we heard.

For the record, we had excerpts from the popular operas Eugene Onegin, Bartered Bride, L'Elisir d'Amore, Tosca and La Traviata, plus a couple of unusual pieces.

The two piano pieces were the first performances by Lada of works she has selected for a soon to be released CD featuring Czech and Russian composers.

It was a very lovely recital and was warmly appreciated by the packed room and we were rewarded for our loud clapping with two encores.

There was, of course, an interval and the Embassy treated us to a range of drinks including some sparking wine. That was my choice.

There was a second hit at the bar after the concert which was also an opportunity to mingle more and to snatch a few words with Lada and Peter.

It is always nice to get to meet the artists after an event like this as a personal "thank you" says so much more than even the most enthusiastic clapping can. Of course it is also nice to be able to put a question or too though the difficulty there is to avoid the obvious that everybody else asks.

The only negative was that the drink was not accompanied by any food, other than a few small plates of snacks like crisps and Cheesy Wotsits. And this was only a negative when judged by the usual high standard of catering at events at the Embassy. It was my fault for relying on this for my evening meal having rushed back from Cardiff to attend the concert.

In summary, this was delightful evening filled with beautiful music delivered in an intimate setting and shared with friends. And this is why I love being on the Slovak Embassy's mailing list.