We were to meet outside Temple Tube Station at 6:20, for a 6:30 start - I set off from the office about 6, and made it just after 6:20. No sign of the usual guide, Helen - but I read the event page more closely and discovered our guide for tonight was Jenny, whom I didn't know. It did say that she'd be brandishing a sign saying "Sweeney Todd" - but nowhere was any such sign - or Meetup sign - to be seen. Well, I wandered up and down - left a message on the event page, which was never responded to - as the time edged towards half past, groups started to form, but I had no idea whether any of them was mine! Finally, I plumped for the group right outside the station entrance, where a woman was handing out fliers - yes, that was the one. I refrained from asking her where her sign was.
As the tour began, I also remarked to myself that she'd have done well to copy Helen's example and use a mic - although she was an entertaining speaker, she was pretty much completely drowned out, the couple of times she stopped on a busy road. Hey-ho, that was my last complaint.. she did follow Helen's example of finding really interesting snippets of history, woven amongst the historical facts we know so well. We spent much of the early part of the walk exploring the gorgeous old Temple district, which I'm always happy to do..
More pictures here. We even got a concise history of the Knights Templar! Well researched, there. And as we passed the darkened Temple Church (pictured above), we could hear an organ playing inside. As she pondered, who would play an organ in the dark?! A ghost, perhaps..?
On to Fleet Street, where we saw the plaques commemorating the sites of foundation of various newspapers - and to the Samuel Johnson House museum, where I've never been, imagine! Not forgetting the statue of his cat, on this, World Cat Day..
At a stop on Fleet Street, we had competition from the Ghostbus, stopped right beside us, emitting various shrieking noises.. One stop, beside St. Bride's Church, was interesting in a curious way - of all the varied guided tours in London, I swear I've never before seen a jogging tour. Lordy me. Four ladies, there were, all wearing "Jogging Tour of London" t-shirts (or such) - they jogged up to the church, stopped briefly while she told them about it, jogged back past us again, stopped again briefly for another bit of info, and jogged off.. Well, I never.
Back on our more sedate tour - well, she was just about finished by that stage. She told us pretty much all there was to tell about Sweeney Todd, but in between wove in plenty of unusual stories about the Knights Templar, about Fleet Street, and about how Charles Dickens used the Cheshire Cheese pub as his office for a bit. Awkward place to try to give a history though, in the alleyway beside it, with everyone that passed having a comment to make..
Yes, another good tour, well worth going on. Recommended - it takes a good guide to travel well worn paths and find new stories. Seems that whatever guide runs these walks, you're guaranteed a good evening. Jenny's own company - as advertised on her fliers - is called Jack the Ripper Walks, and good luck to her.
Tomorrow, after lunch with the other Helen - somewhere around Euston - I'm back with London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) for a production of Hamlet, at the Almeida.
Sunday is shaping up to be a busy day. I'd booked to go to a free organ recital, with the London European Club (LEC), at the Methodist Central Hall. Then the Man with the Hat decides that would be the perfect evening to take Let's Do London - for less! to see the Pop-up Opera, with the Barber of Seville, at Charing Cross Theatre! With a 6pm start, I'll have to rush over from Westminster.. have to make my excuses to the LEC. My, what a busy life!
Monday is the only day I have free to use my Wowcher before it expires - it's for the Magic Lantern festival.
Tuesday, unusually, LEC is taking us to some storytelling - up in Cambridge Heath!
Wednesday, I'm headed, with LDAM, to The Cherry Orchard, at the Arcola. And I just caught an interesting conversation in relation to that evening - seems someone who's booked can't go, and posted in case anyone wanted his ticket. Whereupon the organiser was right on to him to explain that that's against the rules. Yes, ok, he doesn't get a refund if the ticket isn't sold on, and he can't sell on the ticket directly - I get that. But me oh my, it seems her anti-blogging page isn't the only page of rules she - or someone she knows - has come up with - take a read of the rules against reselling. I mean seriously - the ticket can't be passed on until the day of the event? And forget about a refund - at best, you can get credit. You have been warned..
Thursday, the Crick Crack Club is back at Crouch End, with The Fate We Bring Ourselves - finally advertised on their Meetup page! Ben Haggerty standing in for Claire Muireann Murphy, who's having a knee operation, it seems. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
Monday 27th, London for Less Than a Tenner is off to Two Man Show at Soho Theatre. I've seen it before, but it's worth seeing again. And so is the group!
Tuesday 28th, Let's Do London - for less! is off to Sleeping Beauty, at the Opera House.
Wednesday 1st March - well lookee that, the same group is off to Roundelay, at Southwark Playhouse. Three in a row for the Man with the Hat - we'll have to carry him off on a stretcher. About time we got back to Southwark though - we've missed it!
Thursday 2nd, I was thinking of free comedy in Hammersmith - this time with London Live Comedy, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Farringdon, and Random London. But then Walk, Talks and Treasure Hunts (and Walking Victorian London) announced a walk called True Spy Stories! So I thought that sounded more interesting, and booked.
Friday 3rd, again, Crick Crack is telling stories - Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton are performing Metamorphoses at Rich Mix. However, the Rich Mix website doesn't seem to have heard of this.. The independent Crick Crack Club website now has a link to buy tickets from Rich Mix though, and at the moment they're being sold at a discounted preview price. And now that the link is available, their Meetup group is advertising it too.
Saturday 4th, Let's Do London - for less! is back to see Sleeping Beauty - and so am I. Honestly, this was a mistake on my part - I was booking a lot at the time and forgot I was already going - but hell, I'd rather be doing this anyway than not. Amphiteatre, this time - it's been a while since I was there.
Sunday 5th, London for Less Than a Tenner is advertising "Soho: the Roots of the Swinging Sixties - guided walk"! Now, this confused me, before I read deeper.. I do recall the Man With the Hat saying that, while he was interested in guided walks, he wasn't interested in actually guiding them. Turns out someone else is doing the actual guiding.. Anyway, count me in.
Monday 6th, I'm off to see Russell Howard at the Albert Hall.
Tuesday 7th, jeez, the Man with the Hat is back again! Hard to keep up these days - so I'm going with Let's Do London - for less! to The Diary of a Teenage Girl at Southwark Playhouse.
Wednesday 8th, I finally get to go to something with the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club - not a book discussion this time, instead they're off to a play called The Machine Stops, at Jacksons Lane Theatre. Suitably post-apocalyptic. Then I'm back to Ireland for a long weekend.
Monday 13th, I'm with LDAM at the Royal Court, for The Kid Stays in the Picture.
And to complete the tally of a month from now (!), that rescheduled talk on Brexit Vs. Trump from last Tuesday is on Tuesday 14th. Unless I decide to go to a film instead - being Funzing, I can get my money back if I cancel at least 48 hours in advance.
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