Guess where this is. Tate Modern? Great guess but no cigar.
I spent a few hours here on Wednesday morning. It is a temple of Mammon on Knightsbridge. I wondered how much the fig trees cost; Samuel didn’t know but told me the table we were at cost as much as a family car. He told me his father had been an engineer at Massey Ferguson in the Midlands. I told him my grandfather entered his MF in a competition for oldest working tractor. He told me his father had a choice of moving to work in France or redundancy and chose the latter. He set up his own business and after twenty years sold it for rather a lot and is now happily retired, like me. I told him I had a letter in The Times and he read it. It was a leisurely retail experience. It took me less than fifteen minutes to choose and pay for an iPad and keyboard. It took considerably longer to set it up and transfer the data from the old iPad, a service provided at a cost wrapped into the purchase price so it’s a top tip to take advantage of the Apple in-house expertise.
In the afternoon I went to two adjacent Georgian townhouses in Curzon Street, Mayfair – numbers 9 and 10 – a contrast to the Apple Store. Both seem to be old shops but No 9, Heywood Hill, was founded in 1936 by George Heywood Hill. No 10 is older, founded in 1875 by George Trumper. I usually visit the former to fill in time before an appointment at the latter. On Wednesday I asked what was in stock by Luke Jennings and Gavin Maxwell but there was nothing I hadn’t already got or read. The staff at HH are as helpful as those at Apple so their Samuel directed me to a shelf of paperback thrillers. My image of myself is as a suave boulevardier and man of letters so it was disappointing he assessed me as a thicko.
Anyway (time for a new paragraph) not to hurt his feelings I edged away from the thrillers and spotted a good selection of Eland books on two bottom shelves – the bottom shelf at floor level. After a few minutes on my knees I bought this and suggested the average age of Eland readers is too old for kneeling down on wonky knees. “Samuel” agreed and said he would suggest they are moved to a higher shelf.
At No 10 my hair was cut by Sadiq, as usual. He had just come back from a holiday with his family at Budleigh Salterton. Only one wet afternoon but the sea was very cold. I think this is a sign that UK holidays are becoming popular again.
Then, back home, I ordered online a pair of blue jeans. The confusing term “pair” derives from the age when pantaloons had two parts, one for each leg.