You know, I should be in London right now… and I am not.

Tomorrow my friend Victoria Blake launches her new historical novel, Titian’s Boatman, and I should have been there… but the deities of the flu decided otherwise, and I’m moping at home instead, and whining to anyone within earshot that I should be in London, London, London…

As a kind of compensation, I’m browsing the sites of places I’d planned to visit around Victoria’s launch – one of them being the Dulwich Picture Gallery. I have a special fondness for this gallery, because of the way it all began, with the bequest of Edward Alleyn’s personal collection. Ned Alleyn, in his youth a very successful actor – the first Tamburlaine, Faustus, Barabas and Guise among many other roles – died a Jacobean gentleman, an owner of manors, a founder of colleges and a collector of paintings and books… Twenty-six of his paintings are still to be seen at the DPG – together with many more, acquired in the course of a long and interesting history.

I’ve wanted to visit the place for a long time – and, as things turned out, I’m still left to want it. Meanwhile, I can browse the collection from home, and read about the exhibitions, the talks and many other events…

And wait for the time when I get to be there for real.

*Heaves a gusty sigh…*

Salva