Today was our office Christmas party - we were at the Montague Ski Lodge, and only had it booked till 5; I was assured that the tradition - with some - is to follow on to a pub after, and it can run quite late.
Behold, they finally erected a tree inside our building! An imposing thing it is, too. I joined the others waiting in the lobby, and when everyone had arrived that was likely to, we set off.. by Tube. Doh, Well, what can you do? It wasn't too crowded in the middle of the day, and at least we got there quickly. Well, almost there - we made a pitstop at The Ship Tavern, where we had a couple to get us going. It's a lovely pub - down back alleys, and nice and discreet, with partitions. And well-decorated for Christmas:
And so to the party - in punishing wind. These blasts were courtesy of Storm Brendan - well, related to it, even if we didn't get the full brunt. It was truly a relief to get to the "ski lodge" - which turns out to be part of a hotel. We had three rooms to the side - one a mock ski chalet, reached by a covered hallway that is kind of external: one where the main bar was, and another with more chairs, which could also be used for serving. And I have to say, it was excellent.. we started with mulled wine, which I had two mugs of, even though I don't normally care for it. And afterwards, every time we turned around, we were presented with more trays of food, and the bar was unlimited. Well now..! The food was excellent, there were vegetarian and vegan options, and the repast finished with boxes of chocolates, just left temptingly about. Which I finished for them, of course..
The activities were also well-thought out, with a tinfoil decoration competition, and a quiz about Christmas movies, represented by emojis! Gotta give credit where it's due - our office managers played a storm, also booking space in local pub The Swan for us.
The group I was with there wasn't as entertaining, and I only stayed for one - and then had to walk past the stop that Google Maps recommended for my second bus to get home, because gee, it doesn't take passengers on there! I've pointed this out to them. Anyway, glad to get home early, in this intemperate weather. Lo, to tempt people into the office tomorrow, they're serving breakfast! And as part of the Magic Breakfast initiative, for everyone who has breakfast at the office, they're donating a breakfast to a child in need. Aww.
Having lunch with Henning tomorrow - venue TBD - and must remember to pick up my package from the Amazon locker in One New Change. Tomorrow evening, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Cyrano de Bergerac, at the Playhouse. Stars James McAvoy. Popular event this, I see.
On Thursday and Friday, Meetup has given me ideas, which I'm using to do things outside of Meetup. On Thursday, London Social Detours is charging £3 to go to a talk about Oscar Wilde's London. I booked myself - for free - on Eventbrite; I don't find her group that friendly, to be honest, but the talk sounds interesting.
On Friday, Ken's Walks and Social Events (and its sister group, London Art, Comedy & Walks) are on a Christmas lights tour. Now, after past experience with the walks organised by this group, I'll never darken their doors again. However, a Christmas lights walk sounded good - and I didn't get to one at all last year! So I had a browse - and came up with a pay-what-you-want walk by Free Tours by Foot London. Starts in Covent Garden - and the handy thing is, we're to clear our stuff out of our old office that day, and hand in our passes before the receptionist goes home. Which means we have been told to finish at 4! Excellent - that gives me loads of time. Ivan is coming to this one - which means it'll probably be a late night.
On Saturday, headed with UITCS to the Orange Tree, for Candida, by Shaw. Unless I get sidetracked.
On Sunday, my last visit of the year to the Crick Crack Club - Emily Hennessy is telling the Ramayana at the British Museum. Oh, and I'd completely forgotten that was on when I booked with North London Friends for a carol concert at St. James' Muswell Hill, followed by drinks at the John Baird. Sounds lovely - but I doubt I'll make both. We shall see - with such a huge group going, I doubt I'd be missed. Then I fly back to Ireland for Christmas on Monday.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
..and I'm off again next month, flying back to London on the 5th. On the 6th, I shall start as I mean to go on, with UITCS at the Almeida for the Duchess of Malfi.
On the 7th, I'm off to the Opera House, for the Royal Ballet's production of Coppélia - one I've never seen.
And on the 8th, the RSC's production of Measure for Measure, at the Barbican. Set in decadent 1900s Vienna.
I've had the Kalevala booked for over a month - the second Crick Crack event I came across at the British Museum, although I ran into trouble with the first, which I thought I'd booked and then couldn't find the confirmation for. And now it was sold out - had been for weeks, as they tend to. Rang the museum to see whether they could find my booking - Lordy, they couldn't find their way out of a paper bag with holes in it. Couldn't even find my booking for the Kalevala, which I knew I had, because I'd found that confirmation while I was looking for the other..
Well, this time I was reassured at having found the confirmation already. Still relieved when I found it again for today, and printed it out. My route to the British Museum by bus would take an hour - and with the show on at 3, I should have had time. Of course, somehow, it didn't quite work out that way, and I ended up taking a train to Waterloo, and a bus from there. As so often happens, I might have had a choice of buses, but was saved from having to make a choice when the #68 arrived, which was on my original itinerary.
Not far from where it dropped me to the museum - I see they have a marquee set up now, for bag checks. The queue wasn't too long, and when they saw how small my bag was, I was waved straight through. And so I eventually made it through to the sunny atrium, where I completely failed to find the BP Lecture Theatre - had to ask. Turns out THAT's where those steps down lead, over at the corner.. Nice, bright area down there too.
Now, for this, I signed up with the Crick Crack Club, as usual - but was delighted when I saw that the London European Club were going too. And they weren't hard to find - although the organiser had said we'd meet at the interval and afterwards, well hey, there he was at the entrance with his Meetup sign anyway! And when the people processing us found out I had printed out my confirmation, they waved me straight through and I could go say hi.
We chatted a bit, then went in - a nice theatre, and in a nice touch, candles lined the steps we took down to the seats. Afterwards, I noticed they were artificial - but quite realistic, a small bulb for light and a fake flame that flickered easily with every breeze. And the stage promised something interesting:
Of course, with Nick Hennessey on stage, there'll always be music. And he duly came on, dressed in black, like the host, Ben Haggerty. And thus a couple of hours flew by, with Nick weaving magic with his words and music. This is, apparently, the national epic of Finland, and he asked at the start whether there were Finns in the audience - yes, a few. I wondered what they thought of it - I guess they approved, given that this man won a competition, in Finland, to recite this song-poem.
This sort of falls into the category - to those who understand, no explanation is necessary; to those who do not, no explanation is possible. It's rather hard to describe the experience to someone who hasn't experienced it in person. Hard to describe the chill down your spine when he plays the harp, the shiver when he uses the singing bowl. The childlike anticipation of the audience, as we waited for the next part of the story. And a silent moon on the screen above, overlooking it all. I was speaking to a couple of people afterwards to whom it was a revelation - and I do keep saying to people, you really don't know what this is like until you give it a go. It's hypnotic.. it's addictive. It's music for the soul. And we could have listened forever..
At the interval, we fairly leapt on the cds for sale - a couple of us bought the Fire in the North Sky cd, which was the closest we could get to what we were actually listening to. And were musing over the others when we were finally summoned for the second half - Ben Haggerty, blowing on an enormous, curved horn. It was worth staying to the last minute, just to be summoned like that..
At the end, they distributed feedback forms, but of course - as usual - I had no pen. Anyway, our group kind of dispersed, but some of us did mosey down the road to The Swan. Where they had gone to town on the Christmas decorations - fake snow on the windows, and quite a few decorations on the bar:
I was hungry enough to have a main meal, as were a couple more - and another got jealous when she saw us, and ordered chips. My hunter chicken I can recommend, and the house wine is tasty too. And so into the night, which was colder than lately. Advantage of heading by bus - pretty much wherever we were, I could catch a bus nearby. Indeed, I only had to walk a few yards to a bus stop where any old bus at all would take me to Aldwych, and the very stop from which I could catch an 87 home. And all for the princely sum of £1.50, with a Hopper fare. All hail the mayor!
Well, film again tomorrow.. and again, The Mountain II is top of the list. But only showing in Odeon Lee Valley, and not inspiring enough to get me all the way out there. Which leaves Dear Zindagi, an Indian rom-com, at the top of the list. Same director as English Vinglish, which is a good recommendation. Closest place it's showing is Vue Shepherds Bush, and it's worth seeing if only to get it off the list!! And you know what? Being on gardening leave, I think I'll go to a matinee. Might even get some more Christmas shopping done, Westfield being just across the road.
The next two days see another Man with the Hat double bill! Tuesday, Let's Do London - for less! are off to a new venue: new to the West End as well as to us. We're off to the Found111 Theatre to see Fool for Love.
And Wednesday sees London for Less Than a Tenner on what will probably be their final trip of the year to Top Secret. Back to two shows, which is nice - especially for £1. And Nick Dixon is slated to appear - yay! I guess I count as a "night owl" (see event description). Well hey, can't disappoint my fans.. ;-)
