Sotheby's

Our wives   having a planned lunch together, younger brother and I decided  on a trip to Sotheby's London. The journey to New Bond Street was straightforward enough by South Western Railways to Vauxhall, the Tube from Vauxhall to Green Park thence a shortish walk. Given the hour we opted for lunch first at the Sotheby's restaurant. 

The lunch was excellent value at about £35 each given the  upmarket surroundings. I enjoyed a Waldorf Salad  and some chips or in the light of Sotheby's American ownership, fries on the side.

There was an interesting exhibition of Nelson memorabilia:

Especially interesting for myself, as Lord Nelson for a time resided nearby in  Merton Park SW20. Indeed the old Nelson Hospital there has been updated to a modern medical practice with two NHS gyms, which  were excellent for recovery from a cycling accident some time back:

cycling accident

After dining and viewing the Sotheby's auction displays, we made our way home in time to collect the girls from their lunch together

Wimbledon Bookfest 2026

Youngest sister having given membership of Wimbledon Bookfest as a birthday present mrs maytrees and I decided on an evening out there a few days back. 

There were several venues but we selected Wimbledon High School which is only a short walk from our home although neither of us had visited that school before. 

A glass of NZ wine before the talks began was most welcome.

                                    

We  then very much enjoyed an evening at Wimbledon Bookfest 2026 when we had a front row seat for listening to   Irish author Sebastian Barry in conversation with a bookfest expert. The evening was most interesting and entertaining.

   

The Nightingale

                                                           

Maytrees min (youngest daughter) quite recently, bought me a copy of the above book to read. 

I began reading the  biography of the two sisters, last month.

Upon opening the book I was initially dismayed to find that the print was extremely small. However that dismay  quickly changed to fascination. 

Some blurb on the book from Waterstones reads

Mining sisterhood, sacrifice and survival, The Nightingale charts the path of two very different sisters in Nazi-occupied France, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards love and freedom... It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women...This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II, when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked.

The book was certainly the most interesting biography or should I say biographies as two sisters with contrasting characters are portrayed throughout.

Perhaps a spoiler for those intending to read the book first published here about six years ago; though the bravery of women during WWII is surely underestimated, had the 'Nightingale'  been man he would have been captured by the occupying German army and executed at an early stage. 

The Germans were clearly hunting for a man and assumed that no woman would be directly involved. Thus the Nightingale's success in ensuring that so many airmen shot down by the Germans into German occupied France, were so successfully and secretly transferred by her over the Pyrenees to  British diplomats in  Spain.

Ecrehous and Minquiers

                                         

The arrival for a brief visit and coffee here in Wimbledon, of maytrees max from Jersey over in the UK to meet with his friends from university, caused me to look into the history of Ecrehous and Manquiers. They are small islands off the coast of north western France used  both by fishermen from Jersey and French fishermen.

After  some discussion, a centuries old ownership dispute between the French and English, was referred to the international court in December 1951

Many months later,  the court ruled in Great Britain's favour in 1953 - see further below.

Maytrees max has promised to buy a fast boat trip to the Islands (cost about £40) when we next visit his wife and himself in Jersey.

... the French argued that not only were the islands geographically French, but Ecrehous had been granted to the Abbey of Val Richer the year before Jersey had sworn its continued allegiance to the British crown.

Ultimately, the French arguments failed and the International Court of Justice upheld the British claim in a judgement passed on 17 November 1953. In part, the judgement was based on the 1066 invasion and the fidelity of 1204, but the court also cited the fact that Jersey had administered both the Ecrehous and Minquiers faithfully over the years, which France had not.

 

BBC Blue Lights

 

There are so many detective films on TV that when I started to view Blue Lights on BBC iPlayer, my assumption was that this would just be another mildly entertaining drama.

The reality is however that  Blue Lights is a riveting  fictional series about policing in Northern Ireland. The plots depict inter alia, protestant and catholic criminals. The other  real criminals also include MI5 operatives in London as well as senior crooks based in  Dublin . 

The series is about far more than crime however with mental breakdowns, middle class crack cocaine taking, domestic abuse, illness, love, hate  human strengths and weaknesses featuring. 

Terror, knee cappings and plots made in pubs are covered as well as huge protests with petrol bombs, about a protestant march. One plot included a 6 year old boy who had managed to obtain his crook father's handgun from a safe..

Recent episodes cover Belfast peoples' protests against immigration from eg Syria though the immigrant subjected to a hate campaign is an attractive young lady, whereas in reality most illegal immigrants are young men but  in fictional Blue Lights that is an aside. The threats against people leading to the need to check underneath cars before driving are depicted as well as the need to move house when threats escalate.

One of the interesting sub-plots concerns a senior black police officer from Dagenham London and the difficulties she has in a largely white policeforce as well as Belfast more generally. 

I am not normally a fan of the BBC these days but Blue Lights is a very absorbing watch as nights draw in.

Sense and Sensibility 2026

Mrs maytrees and I ventured to the Wimbledon Curzon cinema this week to view the new film Sense and Sensibility

The Wimbledon Curzon is on the third floor but worth the effort of the journey there as the seats are comfortable, the screens  in the three  small auditoria well laid out and the cafe welcoming.

The film itself has received mixed reviews with for example only two stars in yesterdays Times newspaper. However The Times often has poor reviews with which I disagree and this was one of them. Time Out on the other had gives the film four stars with a recommended viewing comment

Mrs maytrees and I very much enjoyed the film which has been updated for 2026 viewing but without spoiling Jane Austen's story.  The Dashwood sisters are frequently out and about without wearing hats despite the above. This lack of hats contrasts with the older but also enjoyable Jane Austen Northanger Abbey film which is available on the BBC iPlayer,

The Spectator magazine also gives a poorish review by for example stating:

...It’s not your regular colourful period drama, packed with gorgeous gowns. This has a naturalistic, dirt-under-the-fingernails, desaturated look with only the one pop of colour. (A red sash at a ball.) It gives it an earthy realism – free-spirited Marianne, with her unbrushed hair, often appears almost feral – but also drains it of any joy or vividness. Additionally, it plays fast and loose with the social customs of the time. Women appear with their hair down in public, for example, which would have been wholly unacceptable, and while one doesn’t wish to get hung up on such detail, it does feel like a betrayal of the period. Context, in these instances, can be as much part of the story as the story itself...

We nonetheless enjoyed the film as well as a late lunch afterwards in the nearby Pret cafe, arriving after after the office lunch crowd had abated somewhat.

22 Parkside SW 19

 

Having walked by 22 Parkside near Wimbledon Village on many occasions, it was intriguing to learn that Richard Rogers the famous architect, had  designed the small building there as a home for his parents.

The only site designed by Mr Rogers that I can recall visiting, is the Pompidou Centre in Paris and even that visit was many years ago. As I recall, the Pomidou Centre has many of its building works and pipes constructed on the outside of the building which made it almost unique at the time.

Reverting to 22 Parkside; the building is set back from Parkside  the opposite side of the road from the Village end of Wimbledon Common. The home is not visible from the road which presumably means that traffic noise is largely absent. 

Having learned that  the Rogers' house has been given to the National Trust, their information was that NT visitors would not be admitted until 2028. However the house would be open  to visit on one day last week by appointment but unfortunately when upon enquiring, all  bookings to visit had been taken so we will have to wait a while.

Merton to my knowledge, only has one other National Trust site, namely Morden Hall Park which mrs maytrees and  I have viited on many occasions. There there is  a large garden centre, two cafes  a decent second hand bookshop and several other activity centres and sites. Unusually for the NT there is no requirement of being an NT member to vsit Morden Hall Park,  nor is there any admission fee payable.

The addition of a second NT property to the London  Borough of Merton is welcome.