18 Stafford Terrace

Saturday began as a sunny day with a nip in the air.  It was also the first time that I cursed London's tube system.  With the Circle line closed, disruptions on the District line and the lift out of order at Gloucester Road, it was a good thing I heeded the advice given on the Transport for London website to allow forty minutes to get to my destination.  Rachel, Mary and I had a date to meet at Linley Sambourne's house just off of Kensington High Street for a tour at 11:15 am.  Having grabbed a cup of tea from a cafe around the corner I spied Mary making her way towards the house.  With smiles and a hug we fell straight into a chat about the Hollywood Costume exhibit at the V&A that we had each been to the evening before.  After a bit of a wait we were ushered as part of a group into a room for a short film about Sambourne and his family, Rachel snuck in just as things were getting started - tube disruption delays had claimed another customer.

I love visiting houses and this one, says the website, '...is recognized as one of the best surviving examples of a late Victorian middle-class home in the UK.'  This rich and cosy house, absolutely dripping with decoration over almost every square inch looks to be the quintessential Victorian abode of my imagination and so lived in that its owners may have simply stepped out to take the air.  Chairs and footstools surround occasional tables, plates line rails near the wallpapered ceiling and one room even had four clocks.  Pen and ink drawings, many by Sambourne himself, lined the walls end to end and three rows high - the group laughed when told that the expensive William Morris wallpaper wasn't wasted behind any of the prints.  My favourite feature was the gorgeous stained glass windows that adorn the south windows, catching the sun.  While Sambourne was busy spending the money he earned as an artist and illustrator for Punch magazine, his wife Marion was busy keeping exact accounts of the household budget and reigning in expenditures.  I can only imagine that husband and wife would have been shocked speechless to learn that their £2,000 investment from 1875 is now worth over £6,000,000.

 
After the tour it was time for refreshments so Mary suggested The Muffin Man.  Warm and cosy, Mary and I filled up on teacakes and cake while Rachel sensibly had a hearty bowl of yummy-looking carrot soup.  How many cups of tea did we go through, I wonder?  This was my second get-together with Mary and Rachel so we talked about everyday things as though we got together all the time.  Don't I wish!  The lovely and very busy Rachel had a train to catch (only the Eurostar) bound for Paris with her friend, Naomi.  So it was up to Mary and me to close out the afternoon.  We strolled our way through Kensington Gardens and Portobello Road, stopping to look at any bookshops we passed by, even the famous Notting Hill Bookshop from the movie with Hugh Grant.  Chatting as we spied the wares on offer at what must have been a hundred stalls a moment of dread rose within me.  All that tea meant a loo break was needed and soon!  Mary pointed me in the direction of a nearby cafe and so dire was the need I neither realized, or cared, that I had whipped into the gents by mistake...oh well.  So my tiara slips every now and then, whatever.

Thanks so much for a wonderful afternoon, Rachel and Mary...you're lovely!

   Mosaic tiling in front of a townhouse on Gower Street, Bloomsbury

A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark

There just isn't enough time in the day to read as much as I would like to so generally I steer clear of reading challenges and just go where the pages take me.  But when the bloggers who have given me so much host a challenge there is no question - I'm in. 

As many of you are aware, Simon from StuckInABook is hosting a Muriel Spark Reading Week from April 23 - 29.  I am also excited that Harriet is co-hosting as her blog has become another favourite place for me to drop by and discover new book titles or lovely art.  Last but far from least, Thomas designed the gorgeous button everyone has been posting in support of what is surely to be an informative and entertaining reading event.

The reason I chose A Far Cry From Kensington is two fold.  First, it was the only title by this author on the shelf at the library branch where I work.  Second, when Virago issued their clothbound 30th anniversary editions in 2008, I had no idea who Muriel Spark was so I passed this title by.  Shocking, but still, I can't be picking up every book with a pretty cover on the off chance I'll be totally enamoured with the writing at some later date now can I?  Better late than never though, it must be said.  So without further ado...

It's 1954 and Mrs Hawkins is a widow, her husband killed during World War II.  Despite being only in her mid-twenties she exudes an aura of someone older with her comforting advice and generous waistline.  Her fellow residents in the rooming house located in South Kensington are much like an extended family with a varied cast of interesting characters (but aren't we all?).  Mrs Hawkins spends her working day in a converted Queen Anne house which is the office of Ullswater Press, a small publishing company.  Her travels throughout various neighbourhoods of London made me want to do something silly and click 'Book Now' on the British Airways website.  I digress.

One day while strolling in Green Park, Mrs Hawkins is approached by the annoying Hector Bartlett who is a tad over-confident about his writing skills.  Knowing that Mrs Hawkins works at Ullswater Press he strikes up a conversation with her but is quickly struck down with the cutting moniker of 'Pisseur de copie', the translation being something like 'urinates frightful prose'.  A statement which became more hilarious every time I knew it was about to be handed out since Mrs Hawkins is nothing if not faithful to her assessment of this pest in a suit.

Back at home, the tenants of the rooming house are faced with a mystery when Wanda, the Polish dressmaker, receives an anonymous letter.  She is threatened with exposure to the authorities for not disclosing her business details and income.  As everyone speculates about who this mysterious person(s) could be, Wanda's paranoia grows.  As horrifying and sad an image as this could be, Spark has employed clever humour and made the storylines one of the most delightful combinations of mystery/whimsy/comedy I've ever had the pleasure to read.  Perfect stuff for chasing away rainy day blahs or cuddling up with during dratted flu episodes so don't pass up an opportunity to add it to your bedside table.

Thanks to Simon for bringing yet another wonderful author to my attention.  I've read that Loitering with Intent is another popular choice in Sparks' oeuvre but if you have another particular favourite, please share with the rest of us.  The more the merrier!