Half a day in the V&A

All three alarms went off at 4.45 am yesterday. We were at breakfast in the airport hotel by 5.20 and in the terminal by 5.40. Inverness airport terminal is about the same size as Hobart. We were aboard by 6.40 for our 6.55 flight to London. Then we sat on the tarmac till 7.30 waiting for Heathrow to find us a slot. By 9.00 we were in London and by 10.30 we had dropped our bags at our insanely expensive hotel.

We had the idea that we'd go to Leicester Square to get tickets for a show tonight but, this being Sunday, the only things on offer were matinees. We weren't excited about those and then had one of our extended impasse conversations. 

"What do you want to do?"

"I really don't mind. Whatever you like."

"I want to do whatever you want."

This could have continued for hours except that it was raining so we jumped on a bus and headed for the Natural History Museum. We'd already noted the huge line outside the British Museum, and were greeted by another at our destination. The rain and the queue settled things. We backtracked, walked into the V&A, had lunch at the cafe, and set out to explore. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a museum of applied and decorative arts. It has literally millions of objects in its collection. If the British have ever visited you or conquered you, you can guarantee that your valuables will end up in the V&A. 

We were there for hours and only saw (most of) the first floor.

This is Lyn looking through a sandstone lace screen from the Islamic Art section.

This is a guardian temple demon from the South Asia collection.

This thing is a north European choir screen!

This is ... dunno.

Everywhere you turn there are wonders and curiosities. Battalions of sensibly dressed women in puffy jackets stared at the amazing fashion collection. 

It is easy to feel all righteous and anti-colonial about all this but people from all over the world were there looking a this stuff. My thoughts were summed up by one staggeringly beautiful golden and bejewelled Burmese headdress. 

When the V&A returned a big chunk of its Burmese collection to Burma, the Burmese government gave this piece back to the V&A as a gift in gratitude for preserving artworks that would have, in Burma, been long ago broken up and melted down. The British are acquisitive squirrels but they have good taste.

George Orwell was a ferocious critic of the British Empire but Orwell also said, "Beauty is meaningless until it is shared."

Lyn then enjoyed one of her beloved London bus rides back to the hotel. Nap, dinner out, sleep.