Wednesday 26^th January 2011

It’s an odd mixture, but there we are.

Yesterday I scratched my Balenciaga black slacks in good cloth, only just back from the tailor for thigh widening. A table was in the way.  But that same tailor told me you can get out the marks left in fabric by stitching if you wet and then press (using a pressing cloth, of course). I thought: apply the same principle to the scratch. It worked.

What a laundry or perhaps mending joy!

On Sunday in Paris I went into Kielh’s in the Marais for more shaving cream: £13 a tube. ‘It’s run out world-wide.’ ‘Quel horreur,’ I said, not believing. But it’s true. I’ve tried Space NK and www.mankind.co.uk .

Space NK’s own brand was my only hope. I don’t like it. There should be at least a three-week build-up to a purchase of this nature.

Now: higher things. The Cluny Museum in Paris. Bruce MacBain, my architect, and I were there on Saturday afternoon. Prince Dmitri had gone elsewhere to look at vinyl. I don’t think you know that he’s a vinylist. It’s long-playing records or singles. Rare music. He’s got one of the biggest collections in the world.

I know, the Monet Exhib was the main thing, the reason why we went to Paris. But I’m pondering Monet a little longer. Just how Poor Little Rich Gay was he? Meanwhile Robert Nevil is leaping about on the sidelines, condemning: ‘Terrible old dauber.’

The Cluny Museum, if you don’t know, displays medieval artefacts: bits that have dropped off cathedrals, just a tiny bit dreary, and hard to see how they could be used in the home or about the person. The great glory is the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. We loved them. Radiant mass of decoration, naughty animals, carefully placed, clever unity of colour, deceptively innocent: not entirely clear what the Lady is up to with the Unicorn. Overall, festive, pagan and elusive.

Years ago, Dr Carol, a bad influence on Robert Nevil and myself, used to say: ‘Revive Medieval music? Might as well bring back Medieval drainage.’ Well, Bruce MacBain and I thought otherwise. Look at the graphs below. See what you think. Would you wear that necklace? Or adopt that saintly expression in certain circumstances?

Bruce MacBain found the whole experience very calming. ‘Such compassion,’ he said, in the medieval items.

A New Necklace Look?

Table Decoration? Hostess Gift?

Perhaps One Hanging Over Each Guest's Chair at a Dinner: Especially if the More Elaborate Look Comes Back

Liven Up a Winter Coat?

Supply Each Guest with An Individually Designed Shield? More Fun that Name-Tags or Placement Cards? Useful if Unpleasantness

Simple Dink-Donk on Wheels: Useful Accessory When Ambling the Streets?

Perfect Expression for the Calm Hostess: Try it Yourself