A tube strike today and I had booked a haircut at Kevin Joseph in Uxbridge for midday. I could have driven there and parked, but I decided to take the bus. I checked the TFL app for the best route and proceeded to take the H13 to Ruislip and the U1 on to Uxbridge.
The journey there proved very easy, with buses arriving promptly. I had my appointment with Michele and made my way home. First of all I wasn’t sure where the pick up point was for the U1. But then I spotted my bus entering the major bus station and caught up with it. I boarded the extremely busy bus and we started our journey to Ruislip. When we were approaching Ickenham I realised that I didn’t have my glasses with me. I remember seeing them on the counter at Kevin Joseph.
I walk back to the bus top which will return me to Uxbridge and wait for about 8 minutes. The journey is relatively short and I pick up my left behind wonky glasses. I go back to the U1 stop to find a queue already formed and I wit for another 8 minutes for the next bus. A bit of pushing and shoving, but we all got on. En route to Ruislip the driver refused admission for several people because the bus was too full.
When we arrived at Ruislip Station I crossed the road and immediately got on the H13 that happened to be waiting to go. Unfortunately it was going in the wrong direction. However, the first bus stop from the station happened to be quite near. I walked back to the station and waited another 8 minutes for the H13 going to Pinner.
Classical Music
Bernard arrived at 4:30 as arranged. It had started raining about an hour earlier. The Waze app took us on a roundabout route to the Festival Hall. It took 2 hours before we could park so there was no time to have a proper bite to eat. We bought disgusting sandwiches and a packet of crisps which neither of actually finished. We had booked to see the London Philamonic Orchestra conducted by Karina Canellakis. They performed three pieces by Beethoven, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. Bernard wasn’t keen on either of the first two pieces, but loved the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 3 that took up the whole of the second half.
I was disappointed with the Beethoven piece, but I did enjoy the Prokofiev performance which was not sweet but had an edge to it. The pianist, Daniil Trifonov played with gusto and enthusiasm that lifted the whole orchestra. I tried to listed to the Tchaikovsky’s work with my eyes closed so I could concentrate on the music but when I did this I drifted off. I don’t think I actually fell asleep, I think I stopped myself doing that.
The concert lasted 2 hours including about 20 minutes for an interval, but it was nice to go out in the evening in London for the first time in a long while. This was despite the heavy traffic caused by the tube strike and the rain.
