Concert: Jagaara

Sadly, I can't make the next Hard Façade gig on Friday, as I'm flying back to Ireland for the weekend. But I was set to go to another gig tonight; the Lexington is staging a week-long residency of a series of concerts aimed at promoting up-and-coming new bands, called The Line of Best Fit. Having checked out tonight's acts, I was particularly interested in Jagaara. The others, not so much. So I bought a ticket and aimed to get there for 9.15, when Jagaara was scheduled to be on.

Google Maps had me taking the Piccadilly Line to King's Cross St Pancras, then walking or taking a bus. However, when I checked it on Streetview, I could see it was closer to Angel - one stop from King's Cross on the Northern Line. So I determined to carry on and walk from there instead - especially given the squally rain all day.

So I ate in, and set out quite late. And was all the way to Russell Square - the stop before King's Cross - when the driver made one of those unintelligible announcements they're so fond of. He eventually turned the volume up a notch, and we could hear that there was a delay, owing to a "passenger incident" further up the line. And he hoped we'd be off in the next five minutes.

More like 10. And I was going to be late, but I figured it wouldn't be too bad - these things generally start late anyway and it didn't matter if I missed some of the set. So when I got to King's Cross, I set off in search of the Northern Line. Now, this is one of the worse-signposted stations. I followed a sign for the Northern Line, rounded the corner, and next thing I saw was a sign saying that the Northern Line was NOT this way. Turning around in confusion, I saw a flight of steps I'd passed, leading down, with a sign for the Northern Line on them. Now, that could be signposted a bit better.

Technically, heading to Angel from King's Cross, you're southbound. Not really - more like east, if anything - but each line tends to recognise two directions, either north/south or east/west. Northern has northbound and southbound trains, and since the line turns south after Angel, southbound is what you want. So I got to Angel - one of the deepest stations on the network, and with officially the longest escalators in Western Europe, at 90 feet high and 197 feet long. Takes over a minute to travel its length, if you stand still. The southbound platform, where I disembarked, is also unusually wide; apparently they used to have two tracks here, which made the platform very narrow - so they paved over one, making the much wider one you see today.

I exited the station to a horrible, windy night, still with spitting rain. Made my way to the Lexington - no difficulty in navigation, but terrible difficulty in walking in a strong crosswind that threatened to unbalance me. I was glad when I finally had it in my sights. And then.. I saw the queue outside! O hell. In a bad mood already, after the delay, I was in no humour to be made to stand outside in this weather. I turned on my heel and stormed off back to the station.

Now, there were announcements about delays on other parts of the Piccadilly Line. I decided a wiser course of action was to replicate my journey from the Barbican, and take a Tube to Edgeware Road and the District Line from there. Following the signs for those lines, however, I found myself faced with having to pass through the exit barriers. Signs reassured me that, although I needed to tap out and tap in again in another section for those lines, I wouldn't be charged twice as long as I did it within 15 minutes. In the event, it took me under five. Lotta walking altogether, though!

I had a brief wait for a train that would take me to Edgeware Road, and got there and across the platform just in time to see a Wimbledon-bound train (the one I wanted) pull out. Before long though, there was another, and I took a seat at the rear, to be handy to the exit at West Brompton. Before we got there, there was more excitement at Earl's Court, when as we pulled in, our driver informed us that the train at the next platform would also be going to Wimbledon, and would be departing first. Oh, and there were signal problems down the line, too. So, when the other train appeared, we all dashed across. And as we were waiting for the passengers to get off the other train so we could board, the driver of that train announced that it was being diverted to Richmond. So we all dashed back again. My, was I glad to get off at the next stop! (It also occurs to me to wonder how much of an inconvenience it is for drivers of diverted trains, particularly if it's the last run of the night..)

It was a breezy walk home, and I can hear the wind howling outside now and rattling the kitchen window, which is a bit exposed. Very glad that tomorrow's show is much closer - The Magic Hour is a Victorian-style magic show, with spirit messages and everything, in the Grand Royale, a glorious old Victorian hotel near Hyde Park.
Hopefully the wind will have died down in time for my flight on Friday. And after the weekend, for Monday I've booked to see a play called Pig Girl at the local theatre, the Finborough.