Storytelling: Astray

Tonight, I headed to the Crick Crack Club (CCC) again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths! I can walk there, of course, from my current place - thought I'd try The Astronomer for food en route, although after last time, I wasn't optimistic about getting a table.

There was a huge crowd outside, in the warm weather - I wasn't optimistic, but lo, as I looked in the door - was that a free, small table?! I grabbed it. Sure enough, it was a bone fide table, complete with number. Thank goodness for the ordering from the table - I'd never have dared to leave this table, having found it, and it would have taken me ages to queue and order at the bar! As it was, it can't have taken more than five minutes after my order before my wine arrived - a nice Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Not long more before my main arrived. I was a bit dubious about this - I'd ordered the chicken, but wasn't at all sure what exactly I'd ordered. It's a complicated dish (although not expensive) - chicken stuffed with tarragon and mushroom, accompanied by carrot, onion puree, and potato cake. Is what it was. And TBH, when it did arrive, I wasn't at all sure what was what! The potato cake looked like a slice of pie, cut in a triangular shape, and was a little salty - but the rest was seriously delicious. I think they use chicken thighs - tricky, but tastier. Man, it was gorgeous - highly recommended. I gushed about it to the lady who cleared the table. Some chocolate ice cream for dessert - not the best, but after that chicken, I wasn't complaining. Seriously, if you get the chance of a table here, have that. Done and dusted, with plenty of time to stroll the rest of the way.

At Rich Mix, I was waved upstairs without anyone checking my credentials - upstairs, they checked my name off a list. I got another glass of wine at the bar. Lovely, relaxed atmosphere, Martin Shaw and Ben Haggarty mooching around - and I was talking to him, briefly! We went in early, and I got my usual front and centre seat. No rush on people coming in - indeed, I had time to get a refill, although it was already showtime!

Both Northern Islanders, it turned out - one retaining her original accent, despite - as she said - living here for most of her life! The theme of the evening - "astray" - comes from the Irish, "ar strae" - translated as "lost". First up was Cath Heinemeyer, breathing new life - and much energy - into the old tale of Sweeney, the Irish king who went mad and grew feathers! Ah, that's what you get if you diss the clergy.. Now, as it happened, I do believe I was seated beside Laura Sampson, a longtime CCC afficionada, who spent some time taking notes during this talk. Lord knows what, she was most careful to hide what she was doing! But I don't blame her for note-taking - this was a most original performance, the storyteller challenging us to step into the mind of the lead character. Suitably mad, as Ben remarked at the interval..

The second half saw Lara McClure tell us the tale of Barry Lyndon, an 18th-century rogue who flitted from pillar to post, never quite becoming what you might call settled. Her method was more conventional - less hopping about, and a more defined style. It's one of the more entertaining accounts I've heard of that fellow - and she managed to squeeze a fair bit of Anglo-Irish politics in there, including a bit about exporting "Irishness", which seems a theme of hers, from the conversation I overheard her having before the show. Most entertaining, all the same. And the whole was over nice and early! Always good for getting home.

Tomorrow, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see. They were good enough to email me a link to my ticket.

And on Saturday - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky? Got reminders yesterday.

Pub: The Folly

Needed something to eat after the webinar this evening, but I was tired of my regular places. So I trawled around for something new, and came on The Folly. It seemed to have plenty of availability, so I didn't book, just headed down there - it's about a 10-minute walk.

I had to navigate a bouncer to get in! He asked whether I had a reservation, I said no, I was looking for a table. He directed me to the front desk. Well, duh. A highly uninterested-looking young lady said "Of course we have a table!", led me to a nearby one, slapped a menu down at the nearest seat, and stalked off. The din was deafening! I'd hate to hear it when it's full.. anyway, another young lady with an unflappable smile asked what I'd like to drink, but I hadn't had a chance to look yet. When she came back, I was ready with both a food, and a drinks order. Decided, ironically, to try the minute steak that I'm so sick of at Cote, and yay, they have onion rings as an optional side! It's so long since I had them..

Wow, that's what I call a steak knife.. Well, it was hardly any time in coming, and it was gorgeous. The chips were nice and chunky, although they could have done with some salt, and there was none at the table. The steak was perfect, like Cote's used to be, and the onion rings were so good.. The din never did abate, mind, and I had to think that this is not the place to come with someone you want to have a conversation with! It is, apparently, the place to source booze though - two office types arrived, spoke to someone, and left with multiple crates of beer.

And then things went downhill. I had a look at the dessert menu, but what appealed most was the hot chocolate, which came with optional hazelnut syrup - so I ordered that. And waited and waited and waited.. must have been over half an hour before she arrived with it, apologising for the delay. What, did they have to source a cow?! Not that great shakes either - it comes with a small brownie square, which I highly recommend dissolving in it; it needs some flavour! I'd been drinking for a while before I remembered it was supposed to have syrup in it - well, there was a faint taste, but not worth the 40p extra! I was sorry I'd ordered anything extra. Finished, got out my card, and timed her - it was 20 minutes, during which she passed my table several times, before I managed to catch her eye and ask for the bill - and by now, I was pissed off enough that I got up and put on my coat, waiting for her to come back with the card machine. Have to hand it to her, her smile was 100 Watt, right to the end! I won't be back, though.

On the walk home, shared the pavement for a while with a guy, leading his (girlfriend?) by the hand as she made her way along on a skateboard beside him. What, was her walking pace too slow for him..? Tomorrow, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

On Friday, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on Saturday - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky? Got reminders today.

Webinar: Web Scraping with Python

This evening - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job had a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed. I signed up, but it was just as well he sent a registration reminder today, I hadn't paid attention and didn't realise we had to register! The event was available on Eventbrite.

Well, the first seven minutes or so were just advertising his own company - a recruiter for tech developers, as you might expect. Most of the talk centred around a YouTube video, with someone else explaining the subject of this talk. Which was just as well, as he had a much more comprehensible accent. Now, I don't really need to know how to web scrape, and the Python used is quite specific to that, but I did pick up an idea of how it works. Which is all I was really going for. When people began to realise that the YouTube video was the most valuable aspect of the webinar, they signed off in droves. Interestingly, the webinar also worked as a recruitment session, as they're looking for a team of developers to scrape job websites..

(Of course, if I can access a YouTube video on web scraping with Python, I can also access videos on Python specifically. But this did at least give me a direction to start with.)

Tomorrow, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

On Friday, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on Saturday - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky? Got reminders today.

Restaurant: Mestizo

Last night, back with Civilised London for a meal at last - this one was at Mestizo (Mexican). Mexican isn't usually my favourite, but I thought I'd give it a shot. We were to meet beforehand at the Crown & Anchor.

It was the warmest day of the year so far! I ventured out without a coat, bringing a wrap for the evening. A very hot bus ride was followed by a pretty short walk, and most of the group were already there, sat outside in the mild weather. The place was heaving, but service was pretty quick, and it was lovely to see everyone again! (one for the first time). One who had booked didn't show, and didn't say they weren't coming, which is rather bad form - these meals tend to be over-subscribed, and they could have freed up a place for someone else. Not to mention that our organiser was worried about them being able to find us! Tut.

Not too long a walk to the restaurant, either - but we arrived a little early, and had to wait a few minutes - this place was heaving as well. We got a nice table by the window.

I didn't fancy a starter, I wasn't hungry enough - everyone else had one though, all of which came with tortillas. As, actually, did the main courses - not that anyone used them for the main, that I noticed. I thought the chicken tequila sounded nice - and wow, it was gorgeous! Mind you, anything would have been good with such well-cooked chicken, which was melt-in-the-mouth, as good as I've had anywhere. If you come here, whatever you have, I suggest you make it chicken.. I had an Argentinian wine, but typically, once the mains were out it was almost impossible to get the waiters to bother with us, and we had to ask three people before I got a second glass. Still, a lovely meal - and despite our organiser's dire predictions of rain (he'd brought a brolly), we only had a few drops. Back to the pub afterwards, to round off my only social event this week.. I was way too tired afterwards to blog, but sure slept soundly!

This evening - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job has a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed. I signed up, but it was just as well he sent a registration reminder today, I hadn't paid attention and didn't realise we had to register! The event is available on Eventbrite.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

On Friday, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on Saturday - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky? Got reminders today.

Play: Middle

Back to Ireland for the weekend..

And not much happened, apart from a laudable (but rather inexplicable) performance from the UK in the Eurovision! Couldn't see the appeal in the song myself, but there you are. That was the excitement of the weekend - and so back to London, and the unwelcome news that there was yet another blasted rail replacement bus for half the journey to London! Hell, when I know in advance, I just get the bus the whole way instead of chopping and changing - the last time I flew, this was the case. The next time I fly, this will be the case. But I wasn't expecting it this weekend as well! And I'm dead right to do so - it took us an hour just to get to Broxbourne, where we hopped on a train that took another half hour. Not to mention the WiFi wasn't working.. much faster just to get the bus the whole way.

Well, at least I got back in time for a meal at Cote. Had my usual steak frites - and the waiter that crouches down to take orders. As he waited for the diners at the next table to decide, and I was about to tuck into my steak, he turned and remarked, with a twinkle in his eye, "Quick, wasn't it? I had ordered it, I think they gave you mine.." Mind you now, I'm becoming rather unenamoured with the steak frites here - the steak always seems a bit tough. Never used to be. Ah well, might have to change my usual.. the chocolate ice cream, and the wine, were excellent as ever.

Tonight, headed to Middle, at the National. I headed off in nice time for a bite to eat at The Archduke - again, no problem getting a table. This is the place that does carafes, so I had another excellent carafe of white - and this time, I thought I'd go for the beef bourgignon. Which, I have to say, came extremely quickly, and was lovely - if not quite at the spectacular heights of the chicken! And I had time for another excellent ice cream sundae.. really recommend this spot, also for the ease of getting seated.

A short trot to the theatre then - queueing at the bar took longer. Now, they never did send my e-ticket for this, but the box office today assured me that my confirmation email, complete with seat number, should be fine - and so it proved.

Pretty packed house for this story of the "middle" of a marriage. They have one daughter, who's now of school-going age, and sure enough, the mum is beginning to question her life, and her love for her husband. Gets up in the middle of the night and comes down to the kitchen, makes herself a hot, milky drink. He wakes and goes to see what she's at, and lots of stuff gets said.

It's all very real, very believable. And in parts, very moving. Nothing too dramatic, just the lives of people just like us - or like people we know. The whole story rests on how we never say what needs to be said, until it's too late - bottle it all up, and it explodes and makes a mess. So, here we have a husband who always figured that his job was to work and provide, a wife who wanted more - and a husband left wondering what it was that was missing. The value of talking it out, eh? Come see this and try and figure out whether they've reached an end - or will go forward from here.. Runs till the 18th of next month. And with no interval, it's over nice and early!

Tomorrow, back with Civilised London for a meal at last - this one is at Mestizo (Mexican). Not usually my favourite, but I'll give it a shot. Meeting beforehand at the Crown & Anchor.

On Wednesday - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job has a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed.

On Thursday, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

On Friday, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on Saturday - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky?

Play: As You Like It

Last night, my only Meetup of the week - I was back with Up in the Cheap Seats, to see a performance of As You Like It at Wilton's. And, energetically, I could walk again! Went for a slightly more expensive seat than usual, this time - I'm sick of straining my neck.

I needed to eat somewhere - decided to try the other Indian restaurant on Leman Street: Red Chilli. An imposing entrance - and I seemed to be the first customer of the day. Service was unfailingly friendly, but boy, did the starter take a long time to come! What, did they not have the ovens turned on?

It was worth it, though. The samosas I found a bit too spicy for my taste - might try the onion bhaji if I'm here again. But wow, the main was a winner! I had my usuals, but they're not usually as good as this - butter chicken with beautifully rich sauce, pilau rice, peshwari naan that was hardly burnt at all, and utterly delicious. My, I wolfed it down - was only sorry that I had to rush off afterwards to meet the others. Again, a small delay with getting my bill - but I highly recommend this restaurant!

Only a short walk from there to Wilton's, where the others were chatting outside in the sunshine. Great to see them both, and especially the one I hadn't seen for years! So I had great fun giving them the lowdown on my flat hunting, before it was time to go in - as usual, a massive crowd at the bar, but the bar staff dealt with it efficiently and it didn't take too long.

We were all sat upstairs - appropriately for the name of the group! - but as the doors closed, the ever-friendly usher came over and whispered to me that they weren't full, so I could move more centrally if I wanted. And there were the others, beckoning me over. So, over I went! and had a lovely, straight-on view.

Well, and wouldn't that set design be an innovative approach to the problem of my lack of wardrobe space! From the start, this is an anarchic production - the costume changes being the most visible sign. Rosalind, the girl who dresses as a boy when she takes refuge in the forest, is perfectly played by a transgender, non-binary actor. Touchstone has possibly the wildest outfits, veering between genders - there is a lot of cross-dressing in general. The trees are represented by coat racks, the bushes by clothes rails.

I never appreciated this play when I was younger - I certainly did last night though! Being outlaws in the forest not only allows the characters to dress as they please, and assume different identities, but to play with their roles in life, and follow their true desires. So, imagine how revolutionary that would have been, back in the day! This is a vibrant and imaginative production, breathing a life into these old words that I'd never thought of before. The RSC it ain't! I loved it - as crazy as anything I've ever seen in the Globe. My personal favourite bit was watching the actors having great fun portraying goats.. Runs until tomorrow, highly recommended! Go see.

It ran too late to blog last night, because I had an open house viewing this morning - I hate those, you put your name down if you're interested, and they play eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Last time I was accommodation-hunting, a couple got around the queue of folks wanting one of the two rooms in a flat by simply paying for both themselves! Anyway, this morning I could have taken the bus, but ended up being late enough to take a Tube instead. Google Maps was somewhat confused about where I was going, but happily had been correct the last time, and I found my way.

Just as well I took the Tube, I ended up being the first there. There were three of us in the end, all acting awkward around each other until the agent arrived. It was easy to spot the rental, with the broken blind. First problem - the agent didn't know to turn the key the wrong way in the lock. She's obviously not used to rental properties, with the locks installed upside-down - if you have to put the key in upside-down, you turn it the wrong way! Second problem - massive step down into the hall. A step up to it from the landing as well, making this a real trip hazard. Third problem - as someone hinted, this was a very small kitchen for.. what, five people? The agent apologised for the state of it, the cleaner hadn't been yet. From the state of the floor, not for months..

But we're accommodating folks, all we were interested in really was the room itself. It is on the ground floor. The minute I walked in, I knew it was too small. We had a quick look - it didn't take long, there wasn't much to look at - and trooped out again. Whereupon someone pointed out to the agent that this wasn't the room advertised. She brought up the ad - wrong photos, wrong description. I've since reported it.

And so back, to another missed work meeting. Was supposed to view the possibly fake flat in the afternoon - I've already paid a security deposit, she then demanded three months' rent in advance. When she finally refused to show me the room until the money was received, I demanded my deposit back, which she had said she'd refund if I wanted, and I reported her to the fraud squad. Well, again, at least I'm saved the trip.

Later, back to Ireland for the weekend - would you believe it, I've exhausted the films showing locally that I'm interested in! So it'll be a quiet one. I could do with that - although last night was the best night's sleep I've had all week, finally being free of that (probably) fake landlady!

On Monday, headed to Middle, at the National.

On Tuesday, back with Civilised London for a meal at last - this one is at Mestizo (Mexican). Not usually my favourite, but I'll give it a shot. Meeting beforehand at the Crown & Anchor.

On Wednesday - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job has a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed.

On Thursday, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

Next Friday, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on the 21st - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky?

Concert: Mozart - Secrets and Seduction

Tonight, back with TAC - for another operatic evening at Hoxton Hall. National Opera Studio was presenting Mozart: Secrets and Seduction. (So much for Meetup being busy on Wednesdays!) So, two days in a row with them - ironically, Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex had online talks scheduled for both nights - and I would have gone to either, or both, but the links weren't working! By the time the organiser updated them, I'd booked for the other events.

It pissed rain all afternoon. For food, I planned to head to The Astronomer, en route - a slight detour from the shortest path, but not by much. It started to lash down as I headed there - and wouldn't you know it (well, you would by the noise as you approached) - it was packed, not a table free. Well, that wasn't going to work - so I headed for the door again in despair, looking at the weather. My coat was already drenched. Headed instead for Nando's, which had the main advantage of being right across the street.

And had lots of tables - I beat the rush, plus they have seating downstairs. I'm loving the QR codes on the tables, it saves having to queue to order, and in particular if you're having dessert, it saves waiting an age for a waiter to come in a busy restaurant! So I ordered my main and then a dessert, and it didn't take either order long to come. Had the usual - and had exactly the usual experience. Everything was lovely, but the chicken was tough around the edges. How does a chicken restaurant manage to get the chicken wrong so consistently? Ah well, at least they're consistent.. For dessert, I might just have had ice cream, but that's not what they were offering. They had gelato, and I never know whether it's going to taste normal or weird. So instead, I had my regular choc-a-lot cake, the chocolatiest thing in London (as I said in the survey they sent me afterwards) - and it was gorgeous. I was well stuffed by the time I left.

Mercifully, the rain had finally stopped. On the long trek to the theatre, it occurred to me several times that the last time I walked this way was in an Arctic gale.. much better this time. Plus they've fixed those traffic lights, it seems, so it's now not such such a hazard! I was glad to get there in the end - we'd been asked to arrive half an hour early, but all that did was find me in a long queue at the door! Apparently, the box office printer was broken, and all the tickets were printed on teeny slips of paper that they were peering at to see what was what. Well, this time I got seated to the side, downstairs, which was nice!

Seat secured, I headed off to the bar, where a shaky-handed but friendly barman dealt with yet another queue. Drinks are good value, though! Back in the theatre, there was some confusion over seats - I think two people who were supposed to sit together hadn't been given adjacent seats. So an elderly lady was asked to budge up to the seat behind mine. She raised a frightful objection to the fact that my (admittedly damp) coat was brushing against the seat, so I had to spend the first half with it held awkwardly across my knee! Didn't do much good - I turned at the interval to find her glaring at me, whereupon she packed up her things and left! (thank goodness). I dunno, maybe the hood had fallen in her direction? I really can't think what else it could have been..

So, the concert was lovely. I've always loved Mozart, and this was first-class. Not done in costume, it was, as they say, semi-staged. I have no idea what they performed - I didn't really recognise the pieces, so the programme wouldn't have been much help. Some people laughed along to some bits - I guess they understood the Italian better than I did? But I enjoyed it, and it was longer than last time. Still over nice and early, though, for the long trek home..

Tomorrow, my only Meetup of the week - I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats, to see a performance of As You Like It at Wilton's. And, energetically, I can walk again! Went for a slightly more expensive seat than usual, this time - I'm sick of straining my neck.

An open house viewing on Friday morning - I hate those, you put your name down if you're interested, and they play eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Last time I was accommodation-hunting, a couple got around the queue of folks wanting one of the two rooms in a flat by simply paying for both themselves! Supposed viewing of the possibly fake flat in the afternoon - we shall see. Then back to Ireland for the weekend - would you believe it, I've exhausted the films showing locally that I'm interested in! So it'll be a quiet one. I could do with that, will be glad when the day is over.

On Monday, headed to Middle, at the National.

On Tuesday, back with Civilised London for a meal at last - this one is at Mestizo (Mexican). Not usually my favourite, but I'll give it a shot. Meeting beforehand at the Crown & Anchor.

Next Wednesday - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job has a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed.

On the 19th, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!

On the 20th, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.

And on the 21st - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky?