The Last of the Duchess, the Chevin, the Pigeon Detectives and lunch

I confess I have pretty eclectic tastes and I guess this week tested that out. Having done the Victorian art exhibition (see last entry) I followed up with a theatre trip and a hot and sweaty gig.

To start with the play; well an inauspicious start as my companion announced he couldn't make it having double-booked himself, but with little more than an hour to kick off my search for a replacement was unsuccessful. The obvious choice of my friends in Hampstead (since I was going to the Hampstead theatre) was thwarted by husband being in Leeds and mother being stuck at home with youngest child. (But there was an upside as I got eldest son along to the gig 2 days later - third time lucky!)

But the play was genuinely excellent. The Last of the Duchess is sort of about Wallis Simpson. A journalist is trying to get an interview with the elderly Duchess, but can't get past her elderly French lawyer, Suzanne Blum, who guards her. So the play is about the relationship between journalist and this crabby lawyer (played beautifully by Sheila Hancock). What is so clever is that one's sympathies turn from the journalist trying to get past the lawyer who seems to be feathering her own nest at the expense of the old lady, to the French lawyer, who actually seems just to be preventing the world seeing the pitiful effects of senility on a woman she prefers to remember as beautiful and vivacious. Along the way we see plenty of evidence of human frailty of all sorts, vanity, drink, stubbornness. And some excellent witty lines. Like the lawyer insisting that the late Duke of Windsor was renowned for his kindness. "How did this manifest itself?", asks the journalist. "He would often open doors...for people of no worth."

I was rather taken with the thought that, since the play was about the awful effects of senility, the audience was terribly old. I guess an average age of 70 was a fair estimate. Rather the opposite 2 days later at the Pigeon Detectives gig, where I was possibly the oldest there.

The gig was at the splendidly-named Electric Ballroom in Camden. Its a pretty good venue, and very easy to get to, but the title doesn't really conjure up the reality. Its a big cellar really, subterranean, windowless, not in the slightest like a ballroom, although I guess one can fairly say it is connected to the electric grid.

Now the Pigeon Detectives, for those not aficionados, are a Leeds band whose strong point is their energy. Thirty years ago they would have been described as a New Wave band. I was asked by a colleague if they were going to be the next big thing. Actually the opposite, if anything their time has passed. Now on a third album, they really aren't likely to rise any further than they are now. Which is a pity as I like their punky anthems and engaging stage antics. Their lead singer, Matt Bowman, is a master at microphone juggling. You have to be there. Fun.

But as to next big thing, well maybe one could look to the support act, also from Leeds, The Chevin. One of the best support acts I have seen in 30 years of going to gigs. The lead singer's voice, and indeed their songs are rather reminiscent of Keane, although the lead singer is less cherubic than Tom Chaplin (and hopefully, for his sake, less dependent on cocaine).

And while middle-aged lawyers may not be their target market, they went down just as well with my young friend. Who is only 21. Which makes me feel very old as I remember him as a baby. But kids grow up. Which may cause pangs for the parents, but great for me as he is now old enough to buy me a drink. A good night as we met up at Worlds End and then went back to it after the gig. For those not familiar with it, this is a landmark pub in Camden, a quite cavernous place with both a lower and upper level as well as the saloon bar in the middle. Big enough, on our return to be hosting an Irish folk band in a corner, and still to be able to escape them for a chat and a pint. And nice to chat to someone out of my professional circle. I want to say a really nice kid, but of course at 21, a man now.

And a couple of lunches of note, with a couple of my ex-trainees. First I was taken out for lunch by my last trainee who wanted to tell me why she had decided not to stay with my Firm on qualifying as a  lawyer. I do hope her business venture works out. A lovely girl (sorry, young lady, as she is married, but at my age" boy" and "girl" have an extended meanings!) who would have been a very able lawyer. Still I hope to add her to the list of ex-trainees who have converted into long term friends.

Which takes me to Sunday lunch and the opportunity to entertain another of my ex-trainees, now a successful lawyer at another law firm, and his fiancee, who I had only really met once before. So great to get to know her a bit more before going out to their wedding next Spring in Hungary. Can't pretend not to feel just a twinge of envy at discussing their plans for life, honeymoon, travel, homes and family. A lovely couple to spend an afternoon with. A lucky girl to have found such a nice guy, that rare combination of a young man  who is really mature and sensible without the unfortunate associated characteristic of being dull. Just hope their life together is as good as it sounds like it will be. Yeah, just a twinge of envy.

And finally, it has turned into autumn, although still mild. So Sunday, as well as cooking lunch, I popped out with my camera on a dewy, misty morning...