Handel and Hendrix were neighbors, separated only by a brick wall and two hundred years.

A pity about the two hundred years really, because I’m sure Jimi would have invited George over for a jam session. Hendrix owned two LP copies of the Messiah, and they were some of the most worn records in his collection. In fact, Hendrix did see the ghost of Handel once, as he wandered through the wall into Hendrix’s tiny flat wearing a nightgown. That was the sixties. Sadly you can’t get drugs like that any more.

You can now visit both apartments, and they have knocked a hole in the wall between them to give the ghost easier access. However, they don’t allow photos inside, but Hendrix’s apartment looks just like the pictures, mostly because they looked at the pictures and bought furniture that was the same. We went to a delightful chamber music concert in Handel’s house. A trio on harpsichord, german flute, and viola de gamba played baroque music to an audience of about forty, which was all that would fit in the room. We were in the front row, close enough to kick the viola player if she fell asleep. The harpsichord dated back to Handel’s day. It was a quite delightful experience.

We were joined by Nick and Margaret, once and future crew on Wharram Percy. After lunch we all went to the Guildhall Art Gallery to see an exhibit of William De Morgan’s ceramics. Long time readers of this blog will remember De Morgan as the mad ceramicist obsessed with glossy glazes and implausible animals.

Some of our old feathered friends were there. The turkey with a migraine…

… and the insecure peacocks.

But there were some new friends to make. The Transylvanian Blood Peacock, for instance.

Unlike the flamingo, which gets its pink color from eating shrimp, the blood peacock is bright red because it eats nothing but kippers. Either that or De Morgan was colorblind.

Then there’s the bisected cassowary, a bird that splits into two identical halves on leaving the egg, each demibird having only one leg.

Pride of place must go to our old buddy the bunny raptor.

Though Bunny is smiling, inside Bunny is sad. Why is Bunny sad? Bunny is sad because Bunny’s mate is being eaten by a giant blue bear with googly eyes. Why is Mister Bear blue? Probably because of all the blue glaze that De Morgan didn’t use on the blood peacock.