By the time I came down for breakfast on Saturday, N was already in his chair, exercising all possibilities with the food in front of him as a toddler will do. Sarah and Jim had thought of a couple of things for us all to do that day, but they involved getting the bus, etc., and we didn’t know if such a huge expedition was warranted. So we decided to first of all go to the playground and then see what else we felt like doing.
Got the right jackets on and got N into his stroller, and then headed down the street and up into Friary Park. The morning was a little overcast and held a slight hint of rain, but also hinted at clearing up.
On the way to the playground, SarahE and I gawked at their Statue of Peace. This is supposedly a statue of Queen Victoria in the guise of “peace,” and is dedicated to Edward VII, who was known as “the great peacemaker” (I never called him that) because he strengthened relations with France after England had been annoyed with them for years.
Besides the nifty statue, they have a great playground there. N tried all kinds of playground contraptions, and I was tempted to try them too. If I’d been younger, I might have. Best of all was a rope jungle gym; he was able to balance across one part but decided not to venture onto the next part, which was a little too precarious. Next time! He also did a great job piloting a ship through an imagined storm while several adults rocked it for him. When he got tired out, we checked out some road re-paving equipment parked nearby (he’s enthralled by all kinds of trucks) and went for a stroll around the park and then back to the house.
Had some lunch and N took a nap, and I decided that was a really good idea, so I did too. We were going to a concert that night! But after a nice nap I went out for a constitutional and walked up the lane toward the North, seeing a good number of comfortable-looking houses and also a spooky church.
Soon time to hit the road … we were going to another church, but first we had to get N back home. It was no problem getting N-in-stroller on the SL1 bus, but more of a hassle than expected transporting him down to the Arnos Grove platform and then up from the Turnpike Lane platform. Even with four adults we needed some advice, but he wasn’t about to give us any. He just looked worried. Back to his house eventually, and had another nice but short visit with Hakey.
From there it was only a few blocks over to the Hornsey Lane Train Station, and we just caught a Great Northern train down to the Highbury & Islington station. We were a bit early for the concert and so took a break in a nearby pub with the imaginative name of “Brewhouse.” The place doesn’t get very good grades because one cask beer they advertised was off (they seemed offended that someone actually wanted to order it), and they tried to forget our order.
Oh well, time to get out of there and we joined the rapidly forming queue at the Union Chapel on what had ended up as a warm, sunny day. Chloe and Graham were meeting us for the concert and were already up near the front of the queue. We were very excited to catch up with Chloe and to meet Graham for the first time. They’re such a nice couple of people!
What we were going to see was an installment in the Union Chapel concert series, with the great Niladri Kumar on sitar, accompanied by Yashwant Vaishnav on tabla. I’d never heard of them, but was very excited, especially when I heard various people who *did* know them talking about how excited they were. One person said he’d been trying for years to see Kumar in India to no avail, but now had a chance to see him in London.
We few attendees who had booked dinner before the concert were shown in a side door, and Graham nicely stood us to a round of drinks before we got our food, a very good chicken thigh, rice, and courgette dinner for me. SarahP had slipped into the chapel when they opened doors and was able to save us seats in a pew almost exactly in the middle of the chapel. As it turned out, the show didn’t start until 30 minutes after we’d thought, but that gave us plenty of time to talk. Graham and I mostly talked sports, though I was also curious about his teaching career and his recent retirement.
Then the guys came on, tuned up, tuned up some more, played a long introduction, slowed down a bit, then speeded up a bit, then really got into it, and then *really* got into it. Kumar showed absolutely amazing technique on the sitar, jumping around all over the keyboard, and sometimes bending sixteenth notes with his left hand having to span two feet between frets. And Vaishnav was just as awesome on the tabla, striking it with his fingers, his thumb, or his wrist to get different sounds, and sometimes playing so fast his hands disappeared, becoming a blur of motion. I’d seen these instruments played before, but never as the main attraction.
This was supposedly Indian classical music, but some audience members were apparently a little disappointed at what they considered more of a popular concert than a classical one. Not us! Some of the audience knew songs of his, and when he asked for requests, he was flooded with them. Kumar played a wonderful mix of folky melodies and more structured rhythms. At one point he smiled at us and played a Deep Purple riff.
And I have to say that Union Chapel is a beautiful place. By the frequency of braziers around the nave though, I assume it gets very cold in the Winter. And it was funny to be sitting in a church and see a neon sign saying “Bar” on the door to the parish hall.
Wow, we were gushing with Chloe and Graham about what a great concert we’d just seen, and hurrying to the tube stop. But then SarahP stopped us short; we said a fond farewell to our friends and twisted around, heading for a bus stop for the 43, which goes all the way to Islington. It was a quick ride past Muswell Hill up to Friern Barnet, and then a short walk back home.
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