Degas and the Ballerinas

Step on De Gaz and go to the Royal Academy to see Degas' ballerinas.  Stocky little French peasant girls transformed into lovely visions of delight by the alchemy of art.  Nothing nasty to be seen.  Then to the best Chinese restaurant in London - big and bustling with no pretensions to fine dining but good honest nosh.  On to the ballet and view from a box in Covent Garden lovely dancers in Cecil Beaton sets performing to music by Liszt and Foure.  Ballerinas are taller and thinner now and they all have lovely legs.  The foyer has a bust of Thomas Beecham and I am reminded of his lollipops.  It was a day of lollipops all round.  It is sometimes worth living in London. All that and the new Woody Allen film when an aspiring writer gets swept up in a time warp and goes back to the twenties in Paris.  Splendid impersonations of Ernest, Scott, Pablo and Gertrude oh yes and Cole Porter too. Ogden Nash occasionally hit the bull's eye:

I wish that I could get in line

And sing the praise of Gertrude Stein.

For Gertrude Stein I cannot root;

I cannot raise a single toot.......

So you can have the 'Autobiography of Alice B Toklas',

And I'll have the Complete Works of Shakespeare and a box of chocolates.