Twelfth Night Matinee 22nd March 2017; Vanessa Bell

2^nd March 2017 – a Matinee performance of Twelfth Night

Vanessa Bell at Dulwich Picture Gallery

It was a strange afternoon, weatherwise. I walked to the underground station in pouring rain; I emerged by the Thames in bright sunshine. I walked across the river by the footbridge from Charing Cross Station, the next bridge downstream from Westminster. Then along the Southbank, with its confusing proliferation of concrete modernist buildings, to one of the biggest of them – the National Theatre.

There was a matinee performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, beginning at 2pm. Forty minutes or so into the first half, the terrorist atrocity was perpetrated about ½ mile away, in Westminster. The show went on.

Impressions of Seville

Impressions of Seville

The 100-metre tall bell tower of Seville’s cathedral (La Giralda) has a unique means of ascent. Instead of the usual medieval staircase, winding upwards or downwards narrowly and unevenly and endlessly, there is a brick ramp. It goes up (and down) at angles, and is much to be preferred to stairs.