I had a choice of buses, settling on the 242. And I actually beat it to the stop, for once! It was going to be a bit tight, but the walk at the other end seemed short - and sure enough, we got there with five minutes to spare, and all I had to do was backtrack to the pedestrian crossing (rare, around here!) and take the next left. Reassuringly, a sign for The Water Poet stood at the entrance to the laneway, and there it was, the first pub just down a bit on the left.
Wow, such decor! I actually look pictures on the way out, because I had so little time..
..and the event was well-signposted, unlike Monday's!
Pity we were in the cellar.. and a much smaller space than Monday's! This one probably did fill completely - certainly, by the time I arrived, I had trouble finding a seat. I ended up a few rows from the front - and in from the aisle, which meant I hadn't a hope of seeing properly. I managed about a third of the screen if I sat still - leaning got me most of it, in the end, but I never managed to get a full view. One of those cases where you wish people in front would remove their heads..
Picked up a Pint of Science beermat, which was placed on my chair. I'll have to start a collection of interesting beermats.. Anyway, also unlike Monday, techie problems abounded last night, with some disconnect between the computer at the back, where the slides were displaying, and the screen, where they were not. Cue poor Dr Karim Malik, our first speaker, who did have a great sense of humour, attempting stand-up while they fiddled around, making sure everything was connected. (In the end, they figured out it was a display problem, with the slides being on a different monitor to the one that was being projected onto the screen.)
So, back to Karim. A reader in theoretical cosmology at Queen Mary, he talked to us mainly about cosmological inflation. The universe, he said, didn't start with a "big bang".. just an initial period of very rapid expansion. (So what's the difference - the bang?) The numbers, as ever, are unimaginable - the universe increased in size by a factor of 10^30 (1000000000000000000000000000000) during a period of approximately 10^-35 seconds (0.00000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds) - hard to measure precisely. So essentially, practically instantaneously, it went from nothing to a whole universe. Phew!
He told us little else, honestly - I got the impression that he'd rather have been speaking in maths, but was determined (or had been told) to keep maths out of it. So the most we got by way of an equation was ä > 0. I wish he'd focussed more on this, actually - it's quite a phenomenal result. ä represents the acceleration of the universe, y'see. If it were slowing down, ä would be negative. So.. the universe's expansion is.. speeding up! Huh. Not that he told us, but when matter in the universe was packed closer together, gravity slowed down the acceleration, and now it's speeding up because things are spaced further apart, and gravity has less of an effect. Oh, and because of "dark energy".. He also spoke about some powerful telescopes, and how Britain's involvement with the European ones is being threatened by Brexit.
Actually, with him, the Q+A was more interesting. People did ask interesting questions, and he was a wee bit more forthcoming. He did have this obsession with seeing the universe as a box (small box, grows to bigger box..). Every time people asked conceptual questions, he referred them back to the box. ("You're forgetting the box..") He excused himself (and the theory) by explaining that cosmologists in general would prefer to be noodling around with equations. The equations show that the universe is homogeneous, isotropic, and infinite. And if someone asks a cosmologist "But what does that mean?" the answer is "Ehh.."
A couple of interesting questions - and the Pint of Science goody bags last night were given out for the most interesting questions! which I thought was nice. First prize went to the girl beside me - her boyfriend was obviously bored out of his tree, and only stayed because she wanted to, but was dead impressed when she got a prize. Her question? "If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?" A brief explanation was given at the time, but the mc - also a cosmologist - took it upon himself to come down to her at the interval, to explain that the equations didn't require it to be expanding into anything. So you don't have to think about it. (Not sure she got anything from that, but I'm sure the goody bag was a consolation.) The other winning question was "How do you tell dark matter and dark energy apart, given that they're both dark?" Karim had pointed out that although we can't see dark matter, we can see its gravitational effect. And again, the goody bag will have proved a consolation for any remaining gaps in the lady's knowledge.
I didn't feel like a drink at the interval - it was just too cramped. We were entertained by a very dubious Indian PhD student, who performed some stand-up. Oh dear. Well, I admired his pluck. And then we had Jessie Durk, a PhD student at Queen Mary, whose talk - and, I bet, PhD - centred on the "lumpiness" of the universe. In other words, the standard cosmological model assumes a smooth universe, and she's looking into what happens if you add some lumps. She'd even 3D-printed a model of what she was talking about! (i.e. she had the universe in her bag). In a breathlessly enthusiastic talk, she asked us to, eh, compare chunky and smooth peanut butter. (So what if you don't like peanut butter..?) She had a terrible habit of saying the same thing over and over, but never mind, she'll improve. And her message at the end, about the passion of scientists for their work, was a valuable one.
And so home - ironically, I could choose a bus going in either direction! I chose the 8, which would drop me convenient to Tesco. And damned if it wasn't raining when I got off - so much for Google Maps' prediction of no rain before midnight! Tonight, London Literary Walks is off to Highbury. And so am I. Despite the fact that it's promised to rain all day - well, it's supposed to have lightened off by evening.
Tomorrow, I was booked for free comedy in Hammersmith, with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon & Greenwich, Random London, and London Live Comedy. Something, frankly, that I usually cancel - and eventually, I got an email advertising a film showing that night. Well, I'd rather go to a film! Did the film list, and eliminated oh, so many films that aren't showing that day - or not at a time I can manage (it's also the only evening this week that I have a late meeting). Left at the top of the list is I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary about race in America. Its IMDB rating has actually gone up! which is always unusual. Showing in a few places in town, but the Curzon Bloomsbury is the handiest for me to get home after. Not to mention the cheapest, showing as part of the Thursday DocHouse programme. I'm keeping an eye on how it's booking -seats are starting to fill.
On Friday, I saw that London Social Detours (a side-shoot of Ken's Events) were charging £3 to go to the free jazz concert at the Royal Academy. So I was going to go on my own. Free. But then the LEC advertised a Norwegian Dixieland concert at Jamboree.. well, that sounded like more fun, so now I'm going to that instead.
On Saturday, I'm doing something local - a guided walk on Residents, Rascals & Riots, in Holborn. With London for a Tenner or Less. Got a message that that group was closing as well - but with a raft of new events suddenly advertised, I guess someone took it over.
On Sunday, London Dramatic Arts (LDAM) is headed out of town. We're going all the way to Northampton, to see a couple of Shakespearian plays, one directed by one of her members. Richard II, to be precise, with Titus Andronicus to whet our appetites. No-one has signed up apart from me, but what the hey I've never been there, so it'll be interesting. Managed to dig out my Rough Guide to England too, when I was in Ireland over the weekend - might photocopy the bit on Northampton!
On Monday, I'm off to Ugly Lies the Bone, at the Lyttleton.
On Tuesday, I'd booked with Funzing UK for an Infinitease Burlesque Show. In Leytonstone, so if anything better came up in the meantime, I was up for it! That's a terribly long way out. Anyway, the other day I got an email about cheap tickets - apparently there's a burlesque festival on - in Hackney, which is a bit closer. And a lot cheaper. So now I'm going to that instead - Funzing can be cancelled up to 48 hours in advance without penalty.
Next Wednesday was supposed to be the Man with the Hat's last event, but he had to cancel. Instead, I discovered that the UL Alumni Association (UL is my alma mater) is holding a talk on Brexit that night. And I was going to go to that - but lo, Funzing came up with something better! So now I'm going to Urban Legends of London.
The 25th, Crick Crack is back - at Crouch End Arthouse again, unfortunately. It's just so far! Still going, of course - the more especially because it's Michael Harvey! He's worth the trip. Then I'm back to Ireland for the Bank Holiday weekend again - and taking the bank holiday, this time!
On the 30h, LDAM are at the Olivier to see Common. So am I.. on a cheap Travelex ticket, which I booked direct with the venue. So I'll be avoiding them, since they don't appreciate that.
On the 31st, free comedy in Hammersmith was up again (temporarily), with the above groups, plus London Art Comedy & Culture Lovers (another offshoot of Ken's Events). But yay, it's now been replaced by another Funzing event - a Luxury Chocolate evening! Helen's popping along, too. The code Fun_Day10 got us a 10% discount.
On 1 June, I eschewed the free comedy in Hammersmith for the Ghosts & Executions Tour, with London for a Tenner or Less - even though that guide wasn't great the last time, so I cancelled this previously, he's better than that free comedy! Oh, and the code WELLBEING30 got me 30% off this. How it qualifies as "well-being" I don't know, but I'm not complaining!
Then I'm off down to Helen for the weekend - she told me about this Living History Festival, and I said yes please!
The 5th, I'm back to Soho Theatre with the Crick Crack Club, for something called The Frog Princess - Punked. Ben Haggerty, the mc and co-founder of the club, told us the other night that there's going to be a full punk band - goodness, who would've thought that Sally Pomme Clayton had a hidden punk side!
And the 6th June, I'm with the LEC, to see the Images Ballet Company at the Arts Depot.
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