England/Ireland Trip, Part 3: Chelsea, Baby (Plus an Audience With Sir Graham of Norton)

On Wednesday morning (20 May), I went back to Bloomsbury to meet my other doctoral supervisor, P.T., at the Institute of Historical Research, where she works now. While J. struck out for Covent Garden and some shopping, I had coffee and a chat with P.T., who is now a senior, very highly-regarded professor at the University of London. She told me a bit about her current research on unwed motherhood in the early 20th century, for which she is delving into the archives of a British NGO representing the interests of single mums, but which had its historical foundation as a charitable society for so-called "girls in trouble".

On my way back to the Tube station, I was tickled to be approached in Russell Square by a pair of Japanese tourists, who asked me for directions to the British Museum (which of course I happily gave). Then I went to meet J., took a spin around Covent Garden, and had lunch before heading to Sloane Square for another fab London Walk. This one was through Chelsea - formerly an artists' haunt, now characterised by exclusive, gazillion-pound properties (I believe our guide said the average property price in the area is around £2m). We walked all sorts of little back streets, filled with exquisite homes marked with more Blue Plaques (designating that a significant person had once lived there) than you could shake a stick at. We also bypassed both the Chelsea Physic Garden (ca. 1673) and the Royal Hospital (ca. 1682 and designed by Christopher Wren), where we beheld the queues for the Flower Show being held on its grounds that week. When we saw the big banner indicating that the show was sold out, we felt all pleased with ourselves for having booked tickets months before. There was even a tout outside the gate, flogging show tickets and asking if anyone had tickets to sell! As J. remarked, only in England could this happen for a flower show, of all things!

We had another busy evening planned, so we zoomed back to our flat for a quick pitstop, before heading to Waterloo station and London Studios on the South Bank, where Graham Norton awaited us! We got to the studio and joined the queue about an hour beforehand, and as it turned out, just in the nick of time. We were among the final group admitted, and were seated in the very back row - there were probably at least 100 disappointed people behind us!

Still, we made it. It was pretty neat to see what goes on behind the scenes, when making a show like that. After Graham came out to chat with us before the taping began, we found out that the guests were the actress Isabella Rossellini and Alistair McGowan (a well-known mimic in the UK). Surreptitiously-snapped photo (pics were verboten on set) here!


Rossellini talked quite a lot about her latest "artistic" project, Green Porno (!), in which she directed and starred in a series of short films about the reproductive lives of animals. Seriously. J. thought it must surely be a joke, but it is not!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6s2HfSHHsQ

You can watch the rest of them, should you be so inclined, on the Sundance Channel or YouTube!

The evening's musical guest was, of all people, the rather loopy actress Juliette Lewis, whose performance was, uh, interesting (she's nowhere near the badass rawk chick she seems to think she is). Still in all, getting to see the show taping was a pretty cool experience - not as funny as some of the episodes I've seen, but still a lot of fun. Given the high culture of our previous evening at the Globe, we had unquestionably gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, in the space of 24 hours. ;-)

We decided to devote the following morning to some shopping in Oxford Street, as we didn't want to battle the weekend crowds. En route, we took a half-hour to visit the wonderful, medieval (and underappreciated) Southwark Cathedral, which is right across the road from London Bridge station and which we'd been walking past all week. Soon, however, we arrived at Oxford Circus, ground zero for all the big UK and European high-street chains. While J. attained fashion nirvana at Karen Millen, I headed for Bravissimo where I had a professional lingerie fitting. As I have been an aficionado of their catalogue for many years, I was rather shocked to discover I am not the size I thought I was! Eeps. So of course I had to buy some new things (haha) including that elusive item, the well-fitting bikini. I do wish they had an equivalent in North America. On that note, I also ended up in H&M (still waiting for one of those in Eastern Canada), where I bought a fantastic peacock-print wrap dress designed by Matthew Williamson. Later, I got another lovely 'origami' dress at Principles, at 70% off. Yah!

All in all, a profitable morning. We skipped home to dump our bags and get changed, then headed back to Piccadilly in the West End, and Browns Hotel. I had booked us in for afternoon tea that day - and what a meal it was. Unquestionably, the finest hotel afternoon tea I've ever had. Other top hotels in London should take note - originally, I'd hoped we could have tea at the legendary Palm Court at the Ritz, but trying to make a reservation there was ridiculous. Even as far back as February, the only times they could offer us were 11am or 7pm! Are they kidding? It's called afternoon tea, after all - obviously, they're just trying to get as many bodies as possible through the door, which is terrible.

At Browns, tea is served as it ought to be, between 3 and 6pm, in their elegant, classic, yet unpretentious English Tea Room.


They had an extensive tea selection (with an in-house "tea sommelier" on hand to advise) and the food was truly excellent - classic, with a few innovative flourishes. Given that we were there the week of the Chelsea Flower Show, we were served a floral-themed tea, which was delightful. The menu was:

Sandwiches (roast beef, smoked salmon, turkey, egg)
Scones with rose and strawberry jam, and clotted cream
Violet blueberry macaroons
Orange-blossom cake
Victoria sponge
Strawberries and elderflower cream

Not only was the food wonderful, but the service was faultless. During our meal, we were offered more sarnies and scones if we wanted them (unusual, especially at a high-end hotel). And when the server came round partway through our meal to ask if we'd like our tea refreshed, I assumed he'd just give us more hot water. But no - he took away the pots and refilled them with fresh leaves. And at the end of our meal, we were even given little bags to take away, with samples of the particular tea we'd chosen that afternoon (I went with the Brown's Afternoon blend). So many thoughtful touches - I was extremely impressed. Just goes to show that when it comes to afternoon tea, it's really best to keep it simple, stick to the classics, and do them well. If it were up to me, staff at the Peninsula in Hong Kong would be sent there for training!

Well-stuffed with this fine repast, we gathered ourselves together and got ready to head off to our next stop - the Chelsea Flower Show itself. (While waiting for J. to return from the ladies, I watched an archetypal fat-cat Russian oligarch roll in for tea, accompanied by his modelesque girlfriend dressed head-to-toe in designer gear and carrying a massive status handbag. Pretty funny.)

We thought we'd walk to the Flower Show, so that we could cut through Green Park and so J. could have a gawp at Bucks Palace. But by the time we'd done that, it was getting late and we wanted to maximize our time, so we hopped into a black taxicab which deposited us near the entrance to the show. I was excited about attending, since it's such a big deal (and strangely, a major fixture on the British social calendar, as well). I had never attended before, as it's a bit expensive if you're not a member of the Royal Horticultural Society - we had evening tickets, for admittance between 5.30 and 8pm, and they were the cheapest at £18. It turned out to be quite the event! The site itself is absolutely enormous, and a bit overwhelming - you would probably need 1-2 days to see absolutely everything. So we concentrated on seeing the main exhibition hall (where all the prize specimens were on display, from growers around the British Isles), as well as the 'show gardens' which are designed by famous gardeners, by invitation.


I took pictures feverishly, until my camera battery died!


Of course, we saved time for shopping - probably half the show is taken up by vendors, selling every kind of garden-related paraphenalia you can think of. It was all simply gorgeous, and we were lucky also that the weather cooperated and it was mild and sunny. A fantastic day, all round - hard to imagine how it could have been better!
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Next: Bermondsey, Brixton, Brick Lane. And wonderful Westminster.