..Which took place in Clapham. Honestly, it feels like I have had so many events there since I moved away from there! Where were all of these when I was walking distance away..? Anyway, I had my usual, Tuesday evening meeting, but it finished in good time, and I had time to take the bus. Got off at Silverthorne Road, and it was just about a 5-minute walk. Along the way, saw a couple of interesting things.. and had a pang of nostalgia when I passed a car the same make, model, and colour as the one I don't have any more. :-(
Arriving at the Jam Tree - which is more a restaurant with a pub attached than the other way around - I was a bit lost, and asked one of the waiters where the talk was. He pointed me towards the back, and asked me to register at the desk. When I stood myself beside it, the guy checking names did arrive - and joy, they were doing loyalty cards again! So he stamped my card (now full), and explained how I have to take a photo of it and email it to the address on the card to get a free talk. Rather excellent..
And so into the room - which is a rather excellent function room!
With its own bar, the room opening onto the kitchen, and French windows that can be completely opened to the beer garden, this would make an excellent party venue. An astroturf carpet and chairs in bright, summery colours complete the summery vibe. Mind you, opening onto the kitchen has its disadvantages, as during the talk we got the constant backdrop of clattering dishes and pots, and people dinging the bell and calling "service!". Terrible venue for a talk - never mind.
The seats were festooned with fliers - you can use the code "SCIENCEPOLITICS30" - for the next 43 days, now - to get a 30% discount on their science and politics talks. I see I also have one of these vouchers for "wellbeing" talks - that code is "WELLBEING30": and since I have dated it on 20 March, that one's only valid until 4 May, by my calculations. Mad keen to give discounts, these people! Anyway, I was to be glad I'd picked up a paper - despite being scheduled for 7, the damn talk didn't start till half past! No explanation was forthcoming - maybe they were waiting for more people to arrive; the room never did fill, although attendance was decent.
Now, there was other stuff I could have done that night, but this topic is of interest to me, as a lifelong horror fan. I was interested to see that the speaker is from Goldsmith's - now, the very first Meetup I ever did was a conference on demonic possession.. at the same place. They obviously have an abiding interest in it - primarily from a debunking perspective, mind. So, this talk was given by a psychologist, who proclaimed that he started off as a believer, and ended up as a skeptic.
As he acknowledged during the Q+A afterwards, he chose easy targets for the talk - but it bears remembering that some apparently paranormal phenomena do have obvious, common-sense explanations; of course, common sense is in sadly uncommon in our world. He started by explaining to to us the difficulties inherent in replicating "ESP" experiments, and showing us a video of a controlled experiment which completely debunked a group of dowsers. Spent some time complaining about journal publication bias - and then took a break..!
At this point, I was beginning to wonder why I'd come - but the second part of the talk was both longer and more interesting. He described to us the standard "psychic reading" given to a class, each student's reading enclosed in a sealed envelope, and how they each thought it was so accurate - even though they were all identical. Well, of course it was accurate - as he said, it describes the human condition; if you don't agree with it, he joked, you're probably a psychopath..!
He also played for us the "Invisible Gorilla" video. Designed to measure how focussed the subject's attention is, it shows us two teams, one dressed in white t-shirts, one in black, and each with a basketball: and asks us to count how many times the white-shirted team throw the ball to each other. And at the end, we're asked two questions - how many times did they throw the ball, and did we notice anything else..? The point was, apparently those who are more intent on a task also tend to be more credulous of paranormal phenomena.
The Q+A at the end featured a couple of people who wanted to make the point that not everything is readily explicable, which he readily agreed to. However, the woman at the end could have saved her story about taking a photo in which a dead person was apparently captured.. simply, what could this guy have to say about that? He mentioned digital photo trickery, which wasn't a feature in this case, it seemed - he could say little else, he wasn't there. An interesting talk, though.
And so home. Yesterday, I was back with familiar faces - yay! Really, Meetup has got very quiet these days, and most days now I don't meet folks that I know - this was a nice change. London Literary Walks were off down Brick Lane. Sadly, one of my friends cancelled at the last minute though. Anyway, I had meetings, but they were over in good time - I got caught up doing other stuff, as usual, and still ended up rushing. The saving by taking the Tube part of the way was minimal, but I still did it - and was glad to hear that, of the lines disrupted yesterday evening, none were mine!
Central Line to Liverpool Street, from where I could walk or take the bus. I had my usual trouble finding my way out of the station, so ended up checking all the street names on the exit signs against Google Maps on my phone, to see which way was the right one. For future reference, take the Underground exit to the mainline station, then hang a right, because you're facing North. When I got outside, I was looking for Stop F - and wouldn't you know, there it was, right in front of the exit! And doubly lucky, a bus going my way was just pulling up. I could take the 8 or the 388 - Brick Lane was just three stops away, and had I had time I'd have walked - but time was an issue, so I didn't.
Hopped off just past Rich Mix - we were to meet at the Costa across the road. As we pulled up, I could see our organiser standing outside it - what, had no-one arrived?! I was in time, but not that early.. anyway, I crossed the road to him, and discovered that, despite the opening hours listed online, the place had already closed! Boo hiss.. he informed me that one had gone to Pret a Manger, just up the road, for something to eat, but that most had gone to a bar in the other direction, and were sat at a table outside. So I went there. They didn't serve hot drinks inside - so we sat there in the cold, until we decided it was time to gather for the walk, which was to start at 8. And boy, was it cold.. the weather has taken a real turn for the colder, and I was glad I hadn't shown up earlier! I shivered my way around for the rest of the evening. Was also glad to find a pair of gloves I'd left in my coat pocket - and indeed, a packet of Rolos in my bag: I hadn't had time to eat.
When our walk started, it was with the story of Rich Mix, just cross the road, which faced having to close right after it opened, after the local council demanded the return of the moneys owed to it. Apparently, it was saved by an online petition. And then the talk turned to matters historical. It's an area that's experienced a great deal of poverty over the centuries, and we heard about Huguenot refugees, about Dickensian conditions, about the necessity of the workhouses. (As the man quite rightly pointed out, a necessary side-effect of capitalism is the provision of social welfare - if you want people to be mobile in their careers, you need to provide a safety net for them for those periods when they have no work..)
More photos available here.
I was wondering why he'd dragged us down a cul-de-sac.. he stopped us in a car park at the end, where he explained to us that there was a school behind that high wall, with the barbed wire. And it's a notorious one - famous for being where the Kray twins went to school, it's also achieved fame for the number of its pupils who fled to become jihadi brides, and for extensive leaking by teachers of exam content just this year. Yes, you might say that the relatively recently named Green Spring Academy has become famous for all the wrong reasons..
It wasn't all crime and misery. Much of the area is now hipster heaven, and we passed many specialty shops, including the Duke of Uke (ukuleles), Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium, the Cereal Killer Cafe (which I agreed could benefit from better signage), and a shop specialising in that essential accessory, the bow tie.
Afterwards, while some headed home, four of us headed to The Astronomer, near Liverpool Street station. Cute little touches abound - like the Hubble Room (plenty of space), and the astrolabe globe on an adjoining table:
Three of us stayed till chucking-out time - and indeed, it was great to see the others again! Tonight, I had my usual placeholder of free comedy in Hammersmith - courtesy of Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Greenwich, and London Live Comedy. Of course - much like Funzing - I usually end up cancelling these, when something better comes up. And lo and behold, it did - Walking Victorian London is off to see Six Islington Squares. Did sound better, so I cancelled the comedy - the walk costs £12, but I wasn't charged on RSVPing. So, when I later got an email from ShowFilmFirst, advertising £2 tickets to a concert - Nancy & Beth - at the Royal Festival Hall.. well, that sounded better again, and now I'm going to that. Stars Megan Mullally, from Will & Grace.
Ditto the comedy tomorrow, which I've just cancelled in favour of going to the cinema (spent all day yesterday doing the list). Friday is always a bad day for arthouse - I'm guessing they figure that Friday night audiences prefer populist stuff. So, would you believe, I deleted the top 40-odd films from my list, because they're not showing tomorrow! Top of the list, having jumped to 7.5, is Raw - that's terrific for a horror film rating, and I do feel I have a duty to see this. The newspaper review on Friday described it as something the audience could only watch through their fingers, but said that, for all the gore, they never lost sight of what is a clever plot. Showing only in the Rio tomorrow, at 6.
On Saturday, I'm off to see the Naked House Cleaner! Venue to be revealed tomorrow.. ooh!
On Sunday, I'm on a walk of Hampstead Village Highlights, with Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts. Be good exercise, leading up to my own sponsored walk in September, in aid of Cats Protection.. Helen and I are going as Dick Whittington and his cat. She's the cat.
On Monday, a summery treat! The Man with the Hat is taking both London for Less Than a Tenner and Let's Do London - for less! to the Globe (ah, it's been too long..). For one night only, the Comedy Store Players will regale us with Shakespeare-inspired improv. As usual, London for Less than a Tenner standing in the yard, Let's Do London - for less! in lower gallery seats. Which is where I go - couldn't take standing for that long. Better savour this trip - he only has four more events scheduled, three of which I'm going to, with no word on whether he'll continue longterm. And if he doesn't (Heaven forbid!), that'll leave a huge, hat-shaped hole in my life. Plenty of other stuff to go to, but hardly anything I'll look forward to as much as his events.
On Tuesday, London European Club (LEC) - it'll have been a while! They're off to an informal evening of classical music, in Peckham.
On Wednesday, London Literary Walks is doing the Sloane Ranger.
Next Thursday, Helen and I are on an Underground treasure hunt, courtesy of Walk, Talks and Treasure Hunts. TFL goodies to be won, it seems.. Then back to Ireland for the bank holiday weekend - which I'd forgotten was a bank holiday, or I'd have stayed over an extra day!
Instead, for 1 May, I've booked The Ferryman, with London Dramatic Arts (LDAM), at the Royal Court.
On 2 May, those same three Funzing groups have advertised a talk called Origin of Vampires: Fact or Fiction?
On 3 May, London Literary Walks is off around Gloucester Road.
On 4 May, Let's Do London - for less! is off on its last scheduled trip to the opera house - the occasion is Mayerling, my favourite ballet, and is sold out by now, I see. We have tickets in both slips and amphitheatre, as usual.
On 5 May, I'd bought a ticket to Nell Gwynn, at the Globe - then it turned out that LDAM is going on the same night! (Buy Your Own Ticket.) As the organiser said, it must be fate.. it'll certainly be nice to have company. Odd venue for them, though - I know the organiser doesn't like it.
And on 6 May, I'm joining the LEC for a classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Hallelujah, they're playing Beethoven's 9th..
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