So, headed for All Souls Church, at the top of Regent Street - careful research beforehand informed me that where I wanted was just behind it, and how to get there. Streetview didn't show any signs of the Caffè Nero where we were to meet - well, not as such, but there was something cafe-like on the left, and when I zoomed in, I could see a Chocolate Milano on the menu. Sure enough, thanks to Streetview, I made my way unerringly there (despite the lack of a prominent Caffè Nero sign), passing on the way a pair of unicycle hockey teams, waiting for filming to start. Gosh, BBC Broadcasting House must be an interesting place to pass the time - you never know what'll happen next..
Priorities - I started by securing my Chocolate Milano, then joined the organiser, down the back. Not many of us came last night, actually - as someone remarked, it tends to improve as the season progresses, and some had cancelled earlier in the evening. He distributed a couple of photocopied pages for us to peruse before we started, and after we'd all had our drinks and the time for the walk had arrived, off we set.
It's a grid system around there, and we spent the next 90 minutes or so meandering a zig-zag route through mostly quiet streets. Well, quiet with respect to traffic, at least - several pubs were heaving with people, clustered in great clumps spilling off the pavements. As I said to the organiser afterwards, that's one of the things I love about this area - traffic has given way, mostly, to pedestrians, which is a nicer kind of busyness. Not as much pollution, for a start!
Stephen was taking us around locations where sundry famous composers and poets had lived:
..but we also found ourselves enthralled with stories of vampires and silver bullets! Really, you never do know what you'll find. And I was delighted to be told about the area in which I'm now living. Where there's always something unexpected to be found:
I was the only one to accompany Stephen to the pub afterwards - we were just up the road from the Glasshouse Stores, where we went down to the brick-lined basement, which was buzzing. He was good enough to buy me a drink, and told me that, would you credit it, they'd had the self-same table the first time they'd done this walk, too..
Anyway, great to get started on these again! Tonight, I'm with the World Music Meetup, for a free concert of Iranian music at the Brunei Gallery. It's been a while for me, with both group and venue..
Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend again, and a meeting with my birth and adoptive mothers on Saturday. We had decided on Greene's, but there's no parking and my mother can't walk any distance. So now we're going to Bowes Ryan, in the same building as the multi-storey.
On Monday, I'm back at the Wanamaker Playhouse - always a favourite - for The White Devil, a Jacobean tale.
On Tuesday, I got a cheap ticket to the Caine and Kane comedy show, in Brixton. However, when Funzing (courtesy of London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night) advertised a talk on Exploring the Mind of a Psychopath, I was intrigued, cancelled the first and booked this instead. I tried a couple of Funzing codes, and EnjoyFunzing10 worked, to get me 10% off. Also, thank goodness it isn't in blasted Cafe 1001 this time! No, this one I can probably walk to.
On Wednesday, I'm with London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) to see Don Juan in Soho, with David Tennant, in Wyndham's. Just down Charing Cross Road - nice! There's another London Literary Walk that day - but I'll have to pass, I do want to see this!
Then I'm back to Ireland for Easter - on Good Friday, my (adoptive) mother and I are off to La Bohème, at the University Concert Hall.
On the 18th, back in London, and back with Funzing - London Speaks Sessions, LDN Talks @ Night, and London for a Tenner or Less, for a talk on the Science of Paranormal Activity. Unless I get a better offer, in time - it'd have to be a good one, I'm interested in this!
On the 19th, London Literary Walks is off down Brick Lane - and so am I.
On the 20th, I have 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.
Ditto the 21st - or I may go to the cinema that day. As usual, watch this space..!
On the 22nd, I'm off to see the Naked House Cleaner! Venue to be revealed just the day before.. ooh!
On the 23rd, 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.
The 24th, another 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.
The 25th, London European Club again - it'll have been a while! They're off to an informal evening of classical music, in Peckham.
The 26th, London Literary Walks is doing the Sloane Ranger.
The 27th, 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 LDAM, at the Royal Court.
And 2 May, those same three Funzing groups have advertised a talk called Origin of Vampires: Fact or Fiction?
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