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In touch with history in Munich (München)
UNITY MITFORD WAS one of the famous Mitford sisters. She had sympathy for the German Nazis, and in particular its leader, Adolf Hitler. It is likely that she had a crush on him.
In Munich, Hitler used to like dining at an Italian restaurant called Osteria Bavaria, an old establishment first opened in 1890. Knowing that Hitler used to frequent the restaurant, Unity Mitford used to arrive there, sit opposite the dictator’s usual table. When he arrived, she would try to catch his eye, and would be invited to join his table. All this occurred long ago before I paid a visit to Munich in the early 2000s.
While in the city, I discovered that the restaurant was still in existence, but had been renamed Osteria Italiana. We reserved a table for dinner. Our table was in one of the place’s several dining rooms. The walls of the dining area had been maintained as they were when the Osteria first opened. The Italian food we were served was first-class. Our friend, who lived in Munich, warned us not to mention Hitler while we were in the restaurant. She was terrified that if any of our fellow, mostly German, diners heard his name, they would have been embarrassed. We did as she asked.
As we were leaving the Osteria, I noticed something at the entrance, which I had not seen when we arrived. It was a sign, both in German and English, that read:
“In touch with history.”
I thought that was a great way of alluding to a hateful person, who made a huge impact on the affairs of the world.
Charles Dickens slept here. So did I
THE AUTHOR CHARLES Dickens visited the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds several times. In 1835, 1859, and 1861 he stayed at the Angel Hotel, whose ivy covered facade faces the ruins of an abbey. The hotel still exists.
In the 1960s, my parents used to take me and my sibling to spend a night at the Angel Hotel in Bury St Edmunds. In those days, it was an old-fashioned hotel. The only thing I can remember about it was that the rooms were equipped with a peculiar contraption to be used if fire broke out.
The device consisted of a belt, which the wearer fastened around the waist. The belt was attached to a cord that was wound around a spindle. In case of fire, the wearer was to climb out of the bedroom window, and drift down to the ground. The spindle was geared so that the rate of descent would have been sufficiently slow to prevent injury when the wearer reached the ground. Fortunately, we never needed to use this potentially dangerous mechanism – something that would now never be sanctioned by health and safety authorities.
Now, almost 60 years later, my wife and I visit Bury St Edmunds every now and then, and often park outside the Angel. Today, 13 July 2026, we entered the Angel, whose interior has been modernised so that it would have been unrecognisable to Charles Dickens, and it evoked no memories for me.
Is it a bar or a bank? Coffee or cash?
NOT LONG AGO, the High Street Kensington branch of the Santander bank re-opened after a period during which it was being revamped.
On entering the branch, a bank official, standing behind a small desk, asks how she (or, sometimes, he) can help you. The wall on one side of this desk has several ATM machines for withdrawing cash and performing other banking transactions. Behind these, deeper in the building, there are desks behind which sit banking assistants, who carry out the duties that one would expect of bank tellers.
The greetings desk stands between what I have just described, and another space, which is furnished with tables, desks, and comfortable chairs. At one corner of this lounge-like space, directly behind the front desk, there is a counter with coffee making machines, snacks, and a barista. The counter is a coffee bar, where beverages can be purchased either to take away or to consume at the tables and chairs. Free Wi-Fi is available in the lounge area, and during the day it is filled with people working on their laptops.
The coffee supplied is from a company called Ozone. The Santander website (https://www.santander.co.uk/workcafe/london-kensington-high-street) noted:
“Founded in New Zealand and established in London, Ozone also operates eateries and cafés with a focus on sustainable dining and zero food waste targets and known for their warm Kiwi hospitality. At Santander Work Cafés, Ozone Coffee is proud to bring their premium coffee expertise alongside delicious breakfast and lunch options, baked goods and tasty snacks, creating the perfect spot to work and connect.”
Apart from the lounge, or ‘Work Café’, being a comfortable place to sit and relax, the bank’s coffee bar serves excellent coffee, which is far better than that which is sold at nearby establishments dedicated to coffee making.
Discovering the artist’s points of view
THE ARTIST LAURENCE Stephen Lowry (1887-1976), best known as ‘LS Lowry’ was fond of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland. He visited the town frequently between 1935 and his death. And while he was there, he created over twenty paintings of the town and its nearby surroundings.
When we visited Berwick in May 2026, we were unaware of Lowry’s artistic connections with the town until quite by chance we came across a placard near a building with sloping walls. The placard contained a photograph of Lowry’s painted depiction of the building and some background information. It is one of 19 similarly informative panels that together make up the town’s Lowry Trail. Each of the panels is placed where it was most likely that Lowry would have been when creating one of his town paintings. And each has a reproduction of the painting he created when he was at the spot where the panel has been placed. It was fascinating seeing a painting and what its subject matter looks like today. In some of the paintings, Lowry played with the composition to include features that would not have been observable had he remained in only one spot while composing the picture.
By following the Lowry Trail, which is described in a helpful booklet produced by the town council, one not only learns about the artist, but also gets to see much of the town. Berwick-upon-Tweed is an attractive town filled with historic buildings and picturesque viewpoints. The trail helps the visitor to make the most of the sights in a most interesting way.
Idle thoughts about the prevalence of allergies
TODAY SO MANY people seem to have allergies
In the 1960s, when I was at school in London, nobody in my classes or amongst my friends and family and other acquaintances ever mentioned being allergic to anything. Occasional seasonal hay-fever is all I can recall in that era.
What has happened since those days before the epipen was even dreamed about?
I asked a medical academic about this a few years ago, and he told me about a study carried out in the USA. The occurrence of allergies amongst children brought up on farms was significantly lower than for those brought up in cities. He suggested that on farms, young kids get exposed to dirt containing allergens to a far greater extent than those being raised in more hygiene aware environments in cities.
It is true that many children (in families above the ‘bread line’) in cities are brought up cleaner environments (hence the popularityof medicated wipes) than kids who are free to roam around in farms.
Can one conclude that being overconcerned with youngsters’ hygiene might not be altogether beneficial when considering allergies?
Although I am not advocating the complete abandonment of hygienic practices, occasional exposure to some dirt during early childhood might possibly reduce the chance of a child devloping allergies in later life.
Just thinking aloud!
A cooling summer spritzer
A cool refreshing drink
Chilled white wine and sparkling water
Let’s say cheers
Hearing pieces of music that triggered distant memories
IT IS CURIOUS how hearing certain pieces of music can sometimes revive memories hidden away in the back of one’s head.
Last night, I attended a concert by a percussion ensemble held at London’s Royal College of Music in South Kensington. The first work performed was a rendering of the overture to Rossini’s opera “The Thieving Magpie”. It had been arranged for percussion (including marimbas) by Clara Smith, and sounded remarkably similar to the original orchestral version. Hearing it, reminded me of the Academy cinemas in Oxford Street, which, sadly, closed forever in April 1986. In the 1970s, I used to attend these art-house film theatres regularly, seeing films that were too obscure to go out on general release in the UK. Before the main film started, it was preceded by a screening of a cartoon, usually one made in one of the Soviet Block countries in Eastern Europe. One of these cartoons, which I remember seeing many times, had as its background music, the overture to “The Thieving Magpie”. Hearing the overture last night at the concert, revived pleasant memories of attending screenings at the Academy.
After the concert interval, we were treated to a performance of “Six Marimbas”, a piece by the minimalist composer Steve Reich (born 1936). I love his compositions, and have attended several concert performances of his music. Hearing the “Six Marimbas” reminded me of my first encounter with Reich’s music. That was in June 1986 at the Union Chapel in London’s Islington. For some reason that I cannot recall, I attended a concert held there as part of Reich’s fiftieth birthday celebrations. And the composer was there, and performed. I remember watching him performing his “Clapping Music” (first performed in 1973). He was one of the duet making this music. I had not thought about this concert until the marimbas began playing his music last night.
That hearing music can trigger memories is not unusual. Much has been written about music and memory, but how it is that a particular tune can unlock memories is far from having been satisfactorily explained.
Above and below the ground in London’s Guildhall
THE GUILDHALL ART Gallery is one of London’s many excellent places to view paintings, often by well-known artists. Until 20 September 2026, it is holding an exhibition of paintings by Jock McFadyen, who was born in Scotland in 1950. He studied art first at the Glasgow School of art, then at Chelsea School of Art.
The exhibition at the Guildhall is called “Underground (and Surface)”, and is displayed in three rooms. One of them, the first you enter, has McFadyen’s large scale paintings of Underground (‘Tube’) stations. These works transform the mundane aspects of these everyday sights into dramatic works of art. The views and details that so many commuters see twice a day, and probably hardly notice, become strangely significant when viewed in McFadyen’s pictures. The room housing these pictures is not silent. Recordings of Underground train sounds, collected and recorded by Jem Finer of The Pogues (a popular music ensemble) provide a background to the paintings.
Another large room contain McFadyen’s images of London above ground. Like the Underground paintings, the overground ones are large. They depict views of London in ways that make ordinary scenes become extraordinarily beautiful. One picture is curious because it shows a line of buildings in Bethnal Green standing beneath a portrait of Mont Blanc covered with snow.
The third and smallest room contains some of McFadyen’s portraits. They are competently executed but not nearly as visually exciting as the works in the other two rooms. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the exhibition is worth a visit.
Pelicans in the park in London
THREE HUNDRED AND sixty-two years ago, the Russian Ambassador to King Charles II donated some pelicans, which were put into St James Park, an open space redeveloped by the king. Before that, during the reign of King James I (he was on the throne of England from 1603 to 1625), the land, which is now the park, was home to exotic animals, including camels, crocodiles, an elephant and birds (kept in aviaries). These animals can no longer be found in the park, but the pelicans remain.
Since their introduction in 1664, over 40 pelicans have resided in St James Park, but none of them produced any offspring until this year, 2026. The first of four chicks hatched on 17 May. The park authorities have no idea which of the pelicans is or are the parents.
Today, 6 July 2026, we visited the park, and were lucky enough to find one pelican taking a stroll near a footpath. As for the other adults, which can often be spotted on a rocky island in the park’s lake, there were none to be seen. The chicks were also out of sight.
The exciting birth of pelicans occurred within a stone’s throw of The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Apart from spotting pelicans, St James Park is a fine place to see a wide variety of other waterfowl.
yamey 