if you visit london -waterhouse and beyond

any one from the south side of the channel must not miss the jw waterhouse exhibition at the royal academy . this is an exhibition of late pre raphaelite work and contains famous images i.e the lady of shallot and narcissus. the mood of these works is steeped in pagan and british mythology and is devoted to to examining the eternal feminine principle . some critics see him as throw back to an earlier era ,misogynists might say too many women or too many look alikes, what ever their verdict this exhibition has an eerie grip .the canvases of waterhouse's mid period reveal meticulous paint application..the overall standard is breathtaking and an exhibition not to be missed if you appreciate Romanticism and and superlative figurative art .by comparison royal academy summer exhibition is a let down .large abstracts with a garish misunderstanding of the use of colour are placed next to similarly elphantine wish wash .the only explanation for the latters pallid existence must be they looked good in the sketch stage. weak shapes lack of depth even in an alan jones painting make you long for some thing more substantial .all the cliches are here and when all else fails turn to fauvism . photography in black and white that doesn't trap the eye ,fill several of the best spots for reasons known only to the hanging committee .the room with the small paintings is frightful , why couldn't a better space be allotted at the expense of the so-so large scale abstracts that abound , i left dissatisfied and admiring waterhouse even more than when i arrived.for those wanting a punctuation before moving on to the national collection and the portrait gallery a good stop off for lunch is or maybe was, the national galley restaurant .in sainsbury wing on the first floor ,adjacent to the national gallery proper, it has good views of Trafalgar square the wheel etc. last friday it was as hot as marseille in london and the air conditioning was very welcome. the meal we orderd was from a menu with restricted choice ,usually a good sign but was confusing as it appeared as though you had to have two items from the a la carte selection,whether you wanted it or not. another oddity were waiters dressed in suits ,they looked like bankers,is this new trend or what ?. the lamb that i ordered tasted ok ,nicely seasoned ,not over done unfortunately it was no more than warm .the potatoes tasted fine but were cold. in fact the potatoes took on a life of their own .i happened to spill some on the cloth-( the table setting cutlery and glasses were immaculate ),i apologised to the waiter to receive a matey riposte - "messy bugger i hope the floors not the same" . ok it was good humoured but it was also a first in testing customer good will to its limit .then another waiter started whisking glasses from the table before we'd finished. maybe the suits had put them on a power trip. get these guys in order. once this restaurant served the best bangers and mash in the world and waiters were all charm and tact, so whats happened .a bad day ,the heat getting to every body ,I'm a regular customer when in london ,so to prove my self wrong I'll be back. more importantly if you escape this suggested stopover unscathed, head to the world class collections next door you won't be disappointed. relevant reviews of waterhouse can be found in u'k newspapers sunday times and the observer july 5th editions