Silver service

Last night we were having our pre-prandial in the sitting room and I remarked how infrequently we now entertained people for dinner at home. Although these photographs were taken in the dining room of our previous home, the set up is very similar, except the sitting room and dining room are one long combined space. For some time now I've been thinking that having a formal dining area really isn't a major requirement any longer. For one thing I think many people find it too intimidating, and for another

whilst the effort required to set up this pallaver is very minimal, the cooking and serving has actually become quite an effort. And then of course there's the washing up, and it all needs to be by hand, because it's completely unsuitable for a dishwasher. As it's part of the "living room" in our current set up, even unadorned it looks quite pretty from the sitting area, but I think in our next life the dining and kitchen areas will need to be combined.

Maybe this train of thought is as a result of getting older, of wanting to be less grand and also of recognising that guests prefer a more subdued style. Besides, in Bangkok it is not hugely expensive to dine out at very respectable restaurants, and by doing so one can enjoy speaking to one's guests, rather than worrying whether the soufflé has risen, or prancing around like a footman on hot coals, topping up empty wine glasses.  

Dropping by

Our breakfast this morning was enlivened by a trio of cleaners hosing down the kitchen windows and balconies. Here this method is referred to as using spider men. Although a creative description,

it's not one that would make me jump at the opportunity to become one. Shortly our building will have a team of these spider men to repaint its exterior.

Young & Glamorous

Sometimes we forget how extraordinarily glamorous they were. As the Queen once remarked, she and Prince Philip experienced adulation in their lives, but they understood that it was less about them, and more about who they were. Sadly, an understanding not acknowledged by the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Commemorating the 86th anniversary of the birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Tauromachy

Bull Fight - Madrid, William P. Silva, (1859-1948), oil on canvas laid to artist's board, 6'' x 8''.

Gustave D. Riquet (France, 1866-1937) "Une Course de Taureaux aux Arenes d'Arles" (The bull fight at Arles). Oil on canvas. Canvas measures: 25.25" x 31.5". Ht: 29" Width: 35.5"

The William P Silva picture which was sold today by John Moran at auction caught my eye and I considered it briefly as a mate for the Riquet picture bought two years ago. Obviously similar subjects, but more interestingly from my point of view, similar colours, and two that I think complement each other very well. The sizes are substantially different, but hung together they would work charmingly.

Anyhow, I thought better of it. Bull fighting is not a sport that I follow or favour, and it's popularity is waning in the regions of Europe that these two pictures depict. In Spain especially at the moment, blood sports are getting a bad rap with the King of Spain's secret elephant hunting trip to Botswana being exposed following his fall, perhaps a metaphor for the royal family being out of step on a number of issues currently. 

Anyone for tennis?

Or car parking? In the next door apartment block development - The Sukhothai Residences - which are the most expensive in the city, they seem to have had some difficulty deciding whether what was designated as a tennis court in the prospectus, should be so, or a car park. Initially the plot was laid out as a car park, which was bewildering for two reasons - one that there was no obvious way a car could reach it, and two it differed from what was in the plan.

Subsequently the tennis court duly appeared. But then a few weeks ago this was covered with what looked like sand, and turf was laid over it. White markings then appeared over the grass in a similar layout to a car park again, with removal of all the surrounding fencing and hedging.

Not long after that the turf and sand was removed, and the tennis court was restored, (and is still being restored) to what was there a couple of months ago.

It's make your mind up time. But in the interim it has been fascinating to watch what each new day brings.

Imperial Easter

Although one usually associates Carl Fabergé with fabulously decorated Easter eggs for the Romanovs, this first one created in 1885 is gloriously simple and began a tradition within the imperial family that lasted until their overthrow in 1917. The Fabergé website tells the story here.

In the interim, (whilst I save for the Fabergés), I can content myself with these two jade eggs, which I purchased some time ago, when I was living in the sphere that is their homeland.

I rather suspect they have nothing to do with Ching, Ming or Ping, but there again, neither do I.

One of those days

Some days things just don't quite go according to plan. There are usually a series of setbacks to give you the hint that such a day is in progress.

Conversely, as today, things go swimmingly. By strange coincidence the day began with swimming. That episode was preceded by the cleaning staff having another go at removing the paint so liberally applied on Monday by a totally deficient building "technician" to remedy a very small fleck of paint that scarred the newly renovated corridors. Firstly he applied a matte instead of a gloss version, and then in an attempt to rectify that, decided to repaint the whole section of the wall, covering the chrome floor numbering, the stone surrounds to the lifts, and the black granite skirting. Happily that has largely been removed to my satisfaction.

In the afternoon we wondered whether we should risk the likely traffic problems brought on by tommorrow's public holiday to commemorate the establishment of the reigning dynasty, and a royal funeral on Monday. The taxi driver was not particularly keen to venture out, but we persisted and managed to purchase a large space memory stick for storing downloaded movies and TV programmes, through torrents.

I am such a dinosaur with technical thingies, but this new method eliminates the need to burn DVDs, which become useless after watching as I do not have any re-writable facility, and they are now accumulating on my desk, ready for the dustbin.

Anyway all of that was accomplished much more easily than we could have imagined, so with the wind in our sails, we continued on to another area of the city, to a florist nearer to our home and frequented regularly in the past, and bought a few orchids to retain the uplifted mood. Et voila, they now adorn the desk in the hall, and a small table as one enters the sitting room. The proprietress also agreed to supply and more importantly deliver flowers for our lobby, as the previous incumbent of that service has recently declined the business. All in all a very productive day. Oh, and the sun has shone, and although hot, it has been one of those (glorious) days.  

Nearly Nash

Cattle Country, Eyvind Earle (1916-2000) 1975, oil on panel, 22.5 x 35.5

The Cornfield, John Nash (1893-1977) 1918 oil on canvas; 68.6 x 76.2 cm

Nash's The Cornfield at The Tate has long been one of my favourite C20th paintings. In an upcoming sale at John Moran in California there are two paintings by the American artist Eyvind Earle, and the Cattle Country has some attraction, although I am swithering between Nash-like qualities which I admire, and a cartoon depiction, which I do not.