Janie has never kept a narrative diary. But the wonderful thing about Janie’s diary is that she makes copious notes in the diary around her plans, especially if she is preparing a meal and going to specific places to buy specific ingredients.
This meal was Japanese food and Janie no doubt used the services of our now regular sources in Noddyland, such as Atari-Ya, to source sashimi and tempura as noted in her diary.
No doubt much saki was imbibed to help such dishes go down.
This will have been a rare evening out for Michael and Elisabeth at that time, as Xenia was just turned one. I cannot remember whether a babysitter was involved or whether they brought the infant Xenia with them. At that age, probably the latter.
My memories from these particular evenings are fairly impressionistic.
We had good turnout from the Z/Yen crowd, despite the fact that none of us were really into ten-pin bowling. The Children’s Society (TCS) turnout was not as good, although Charles Bartlett and Tony Duggan were into ten-pin bowling.
I think one of these evenings must have been the first time I met Dot Bartlett. Probably the second one when Janie also came along.
Despite Charles’s constant jokes about Romford being a gangsta’s paradise, the Romford bowling alleys we attended seemed remarkably peaceful and friendly. Perhaps Charles made it known to the Romford underworld that he was being visited by people he considered to be family and that, therefore, “this ain’t your night”. Ever “Charley the Gent Malloy”, is Chas.
I say alleys rather than alley, as I think we went to a different place each time. Perhaps the place known 25 years later as Namco Funscape the first time, then a place now known as Rollerball the second time.
I remember Elisabeth Mainelli doing exceptionally well, especially on that first occasion, having said that she had never so much as seen a ten-pin bowling alley before.
Charles insisted on having Teresa Bestard (who worked for Z/Yen but was doing a lot of work with TCS at that time) on his team. I don’t think this was a tactical move in the matter of improving the standard of his team, but it was an attempt to even up the sides, at least numbers-wise.
Naturally TCS prevailed the first time regardless of the intricacies of team selection and numbers.
In kicking off the arrangements for the second event, I wrote:
I promised to come up with some Monday dates for bowling. Janie is currently keeping Monday 8 February and Monday 15 February evenings free. If you recall, we plugged for Monday evening to enable Dean Burnell to attend.
The Z/Yen team been training hard for many weeks now. I’m not sure whether the management skills training will help the bowling – we’ll find out.
Chas replied:
Both dates are good for me although the second date (15 Feb) probably best as I am on leave to whole week prior to the 8th Feb and it would be helpful that I am around.
How many do you anticipate from Z/Yen for the ritual slaughter?
regards
Charles.
It might or might not have been ritual slaughter. I seem to recall Z/Yen doing a bit better second time around. But my main memory of the event was Janie trying to put Chas off while he was bowling, by wandering down the side of the lane, within his peripheral view, staring like an avid fan at Chas preparing his shot.
Chas got really discombobulated by this trick, claiming a complete inability to concentrate, keep a straight face and/or complete his bowl.
I think Chas might be over it by now, 25 years later. I have a feeling it didn’t stop TCS from winning again.
Chas was over it by 12 September 2005, when we saw England regain The Ashes at The Oval
I was on very good terms with the owners, Tony & Sheila Shaw. They also very much took to Janie.
By early 1999 I had decided that it was time for me to buy a flat and that I would buy one very much like the flat I was renting from Tony & Sheila…if not, that very one.
We invited Tony & Sheila around for dinner and I told them of my plans.
Tony & Sheila told me that they half expected to be hearing that news and that they wondered whether I might wish to buy that flat from them.
Hence we hatched a plan to get a few independent valuations, average them and transact privately…
We went to the Dorcheter Hotel for lunch at the Oriental Restaurant. We had been dying to try the place and had been tipped off that the lunchtime offering was a much better deal than the evening meal.
We went with The Duchess, as was always the case at The Questors. She was a member and got a certain number of guest passes “thrown in” with her membership. She was determined to take advantage of those.
Janie’s diary informs me that she collected oxtail that earlier day and that we all went to Mama Amalfi for dinner after the show.
The log is unusually silent about this event. Especially unusual, as I was regularly recording my thoughts, even if just solo word, at that time.
I suspect this means that we didn’t think much of the piece/production but didn’t want to rubbish it.
Our diaries are also silent on what we did afterwards, other than a note in Janie’s diary to expect the show to end no earlier than 10pm. I suspect we picked up shawarmas on our way home.
25 years ago, Janie and I decided to party like it’s 1999 at the start of 1999. What better to do that than a concert of baroque music at The Wigmore Hall.
These are the pieces we heard/saw:
Cantata “Cessate Omai Cessate”, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
Sinfonia to Cantata BWV 49, Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord), Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”, Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for Viola da Gamba and Recorder in A Minor, Georg Philipp Telemann
Cantata BWV 170 “Vergnugte Ruh”, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Perhaps there was a change of programme or perhaps my notes missed out the Handel by mistake. I’ll check back to the programme when next I can face the thought of an archaeological dig into my programme collection.
Here’s a video of Clare playing a strange and ancient instrument – the nyckelharpa – I don’t believe I have ever seen this instrument played live:
Here is an audio YouTube of Charles Humphries singing one of the Bach arias we heard, vergnugte Ruh, accompanied by Kontrabande:
While here is the Bremer Baroque Orchestra (similar scale to Kontrabande if I remember correctly) playing the very Telemann concerto we heard back then:
Myung-Whun Chung Standard 22 Feb 1999, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
