On Tuesday afternoon, one of our new starters, whom I hadn't met yet, booked some time in his busy afternoon to take me for coffee. Well, not in my case - I don't drink it - but it was such miserable weather that I figured hot chocolate would do. And wouldn't you know it, he turns out to be something of an expert on local places to go! How handy is that.. now, we walked along beside Smithfield, where it turns out there are lots of places, and I wasn't really paying attention - so I'm not entirely sure where we ended up. But it COULD have been Redemption Roasters, who apparently provide jobs for ex-prisoners! Anyway, the hot chocolate was nice and hot - not sweet enough for me, but it almost never is. He had coffee, and we had a good old chat - sadly cut short when he discovered he had to rush back for an unexpected meeting. Never mind, I'm sure there'll be other occasions!
Looking for a film for Tuesday night, and having excluded the arty films at the top of the list that were either not showing that day, or just not interesting to me, I was delighted to come up with Another Round, in which Mads Mikkelsen is a disaffected schoolteacher, who, with a group of like-minded teachers, decides to test the theory that humans do much better slightly sozzled (i.e. having consumed a certain minimum amount of alcohol). This is a theory I've heard before, that small amounts of alcohol help with concentration. Anyway, initial results are so good that they take it a step further - but how much is too much? This is one that I seem to remember was showing in Ireland, but only in the evenings, which I couldn't do, because of having to keep my mother company. Anyway, it's gone from my local cinemas there, but still showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury, yay! Nice cinema.. Interestingly, doesn't have social distancing - unlike the cinemas in Ireland.
Well jeez, I thought I'd never get out of the office. There's a blasted major release that's already been delayed over a month, and my boss' boss' boss' boss (yes, really), who has to sign off on all these, never, ever gets to them before evening. And then, with his marketing hat on, he finds ever so much stuff that he wants changed. So he sits me down and goes through it with me - and there was I, trying to sneak surreptitious glances at my watch, as the time ticked by. I literally didn't get out of there until after 8. At least the film wasn't on until 8.20 - but I had planned to walk there. As it was, the Tube was the fastest option, so off I trotted - and did, at least, have great luck with my trains (I had to take two), both of which pulled into the platform just as I arrived. So in the end, I made the cinema just after start time. Nobody checked my ticket, and I took my seat just in time for the trailers. (And it's nice here, with the Pullman seats - almost worth the £17.50 ticket price.)
Appropriately for the theme of the film, a number of audience members had gotten into the spirit (pun intended) by buying drinks - the ladies at the end of my row had to move the ice bucket out of the way so I could pass. And after the opening scenes of drunken student celebration, the film starts with the 40th birthday dinner for one of the four teachers. The night is a celebration, so they go large, taking all the fine vintages that the posh restaurant suggests. But it's clear they're all in a rut, unhappy with their lot. Then the birthday boy - who also happens to be a philosophy teacher (this school offers philosophy!) starts to tell them about this theory about alcohol - and they start an experiment. Mads plays the history teacher, so he's aware of the famous (and successful) drinkers of history, and decides they should follow Hemingway's example, only drinking during work hours. Which makes it interesting, as they find ways to smuggle in alcohol, and hide their slurred speech and unsteady gait.
They make endearing drunks, it has to be said. And wouldn't you know it, initial trials go great! Improvements happen in their work performance, their home lives, their sex lives. And although things do kind of go south as they go deeper into the experiment, still, things mostly pan out ok for them, in the end. If there's a message to the film, it's this - alcohol is to be enjoyed, it's part of social occasions, and it can enhance life. Just don't let it control you. And I just love how the film isn't preachy about alcohol, as they usually are. Recommended.
Now, when I got home on Tuesday, I did up the new film list, for next week - so that ran on too late, and I couldn't blog. And they've now blocked this blogging website at work, along with several others, so I can't do it there anymore, either! It's making it much harder to get everything done..
On Wednesday, my social life creaked back into action in earnest. The aforementioned boss' boss' boss' boss took me out for lunch! Gosh, I'm in so much demand it feels like Christmas. Anyway, I had a think, and suggested Wasabi, in One New Change - I've dreamed of their chicken katsu curry, during lockdown. En route, we passed a brass band, of all things. But, shock horror - Wasabi has closed! Noo, the best place around to have lunch is no more! :-( Well, I said, let's go to Nando's - it's just across the hall, and I didn't want to wander all day. So we did, taking a table by the window.
I hadn't brought my phone, so he did the honours - he was paying anyway. (Two free Nando's for me then, this week!) And it was handy that I had a regular order to give him - I returned to my regular lemon and herb sauce though, I'm not crazy about the new one. But my, he had fun with the website! For one thing, the confirmation button on every screen was hidden by an ad - and it didn't help matters that he had to set up an account in order to order. Nor did the menu offer Sprite - so I ordered Fanta.
Now, the soft drinks they sell here are bottomless, so they give you a glass and you help yourself from the machine around the corner. And wouldn't you know it, when I went, I saw they had Sprite after all! so that's what I had. Same price anyway. As for the food, the chicken was burnt at the edges, as usual here, and I left the end of it - but the sides were lovely. (He had great fun dissing the place in the review he left, BTW.)
On Wednesday evening, the social group of ex-employees of my last company had two members say they could meet me for drinks. Great! Mind you, try getting a response from anyone else.. or a decision on the day, or the venue.. so we decided on "somewhere in Farringdon, on Wednesday." Herding cats, indeed.. I had to decide on the venue, too, and said - why not The Viaduct Tavern? It's so close to my office, lovely and ornate.. so, one agreed, and the one other who'd said she could come went AWOL. Now, that Release Note that I'd thought put to bed the night before rose from the grave, in the form of a raft of things that nobody had seen fit to tell me about, which had to go in ASAP - I did my part, and sent it for signoff, but when the evening rolled around, nice and sunny, had the man signed off? Nope, and no sign of it happening. So, shortly after my friend texted me to say he'd arrived, I legged it (and just as well, because that review didn't happen till nearly 10:30!
He'd grabbed a table near the door - and we stayed there till closing, catching up, putting the world to rights, as they say. Great to see him! and the first time for either of us in a pub, after lockdown.. looking forward to catching up with the rest of them, soon - hopefully. I'm quite out of practice with drinking, mind, and couldn't finish my glass when closing time came. Home at last, I conked out on my bed, in my clothes, with the light on. Slept nice and deeply. Too tired to blog.
Last night - delighted to be back with Up in the Cheap Seats! We saw Oleanna, a play about a professor who has a sexual harassment claim brought against him by a female student, at the Arts Theatre. Always a topical theme. Well, guess what? Those Release Notes still haven't got done - I was so busy all day, I only got to them in the evening, and then there were more last-minute additions, and another lecture from Himself, who was of the opinion that the first lecture hadn't gone in! So I was rushing again - actually forgot one entry, in my haste - and instead of the bus, I ended up taking the Tube yet again.
Took me a minute to orient myself, when I came out - the Dominion Theatre finally told me which way was up, and off I trotted in the other direction. I had to queue to pick up my ticket - and although they said I should present my email confirmation or payment card, well, my name did just fine. As for meeting the group - well, they were already in situ when I arrived, and well, I hardly recognised most of them, with their changed hairstyles! Really, I had to pause for a moment to sort out who was who. And one of the few who had pretty much the same hair was wearing a mask! Crikey, it was like they were in disguise..
And so to the auditorium, shortly - I was late meeting them, and didn't really have time for a drink (and had had enough after the night before, anyway!). The usher explained that the Circle, where I was, was mostly empty, and I could sit where I liked.. the others who'd beaten me to it had opted for seats with a central view, but mine was right at the stage end of the slips, and I'd have the place to myself, which decided me.
All takes place in this lecturer's office, and in three acts, between which the actors go off and change clothes. 80 minutes straight through, without interval. Maintains the mood, do you see. And it's one of those cat-and-mouse games - over the course of the play, the power balance shifts, as you might expect. And we had a good old natter in the bar afterwards, people taking different sides. How much did he deserve it? Did she have an alternate agenda? It starts slowly, but the tension soon ramps up to its violent conclusion.. caveat, those sitting in the front row of the stalls had a nervous time, as the action reached its climax and things started to fly..
Tonight, woohoo! I booked for NewsRevue at London Wonderground, courtesy of one of my cheap ticket sellers (CT). For less than 1/3 of the price, thank you.. and I really thought I wouldn't get to London Wonderground at all.. and it's at Earl's Court, which was a blast from the past - I miss the job I had (and the office environment) when I was staying there, in the nicest flat I've had in London!
Well, after two Tube journeys during the week that were necessary because I got held back at work by that release - ironically, by today, the release had been cancelled, and I had time to kill. But still needed to take the Tube, it's so far to travel! Anyway, Google Maps recommended I take the Central Line to Notting Hill Gate, then the District Line to West Brompton.. while at the same time telling me that the District Line was closed for part of the way. So I alighted there and took a bus - which came just as I was trying to cross the road! So I needs must wait for the next one - when the LCD display turned out to be broken on the bus stop, so I couldn't even tell when it was due, I discovered I didn't even remember the name of the bus app on my phone, it's been so long! Anyway, I had to cool my heels for 14 minutes or so. The bus journey, mind, was quick - and so nostalgic, as I started to find placenames familiar.
So, I was a bit later than anticipated, but still in plenty of time - I could see the fairground a while before I found the entrance, but trusted Google Maps, which sure enough led me to the main gate:
From Earl's Court, the Tube was pretty full - standing rom only. I got a seat eventually, which is just as well, because I was inhibiting the chap next to me, who wanted to do a pole dance on the pole in the middle. Which he proceeded to do, to the amusement of all. Very athletic fellow. Not that he'd have managed it on the Central Line, where we were squashed in like sardines..
Tomorrow, meeting Helen! for lunch at the Bear & Staff, followed by leisurely secondhand bookshop browsing. Hallelujah, a lie-in!
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