I hadn't come out this way before, but following my maps app's little blue dot, I seemed to be going the right way. Down by some bus stands I went, stepping around some cones in the road. After a bit, I looked up and realised here was nowhere to go - the road led into the bus garage, the path ahead was blocked by a metal fence. Whu..? Looked back. Yep, those cones I hadn't paid more attention to than required to get around them were actually marking the limit of the pedestrian zone - beyond this, it was a no-walk area. Retraced my steps, to dip back into the station for a little while, till I was past the fence.
London industrial architecture is very complex, and this is a very industrial area. I still don't know whether I was right to climb the steps to get me across that square, but it seemed like the right thing at the time. And it didn't help that the route on my phone both seemed the fastest, and also said it was x minutes slower - than itself. Google was as confused as I was, but I was finally on the right road - and the pub, the Blueberry, was slightly nearer than Google thought - on the corner of Wilson Street and Worship Street. I was just about on time, and the fellow taking in the street sign took one look at me and said "Funzing"? "Yeah." He pointed down the end of the bar, where there was an open door. "First floor, on the left."
The door led to a musty hall, mainly used as a storage area, and a flight of stairs with a dusty handrail. Appropriate for the topic of the undead, I mused. Upstairs, there were some loyalty cards on a table, but with no-one to stamp them, I was out of luck! I did meet the guy later, and recognised him from the talk on the Science of Anomalistic Phenomena - I guess he works for Funzing. Instead, I turned into a large, mostly empty function room - the talk wasn't terribly well attended. I took a seat at the edge, just in time for the start.
The speaker, Deborah Hyde, as she told us, is the editor of The Skeptic magazine - well, this is becoming quite a habit: the speaker at that talk on anomalistic phenomena is involved with it, too. Deborah and her assistant, whom she kept calling "Igor", work in the horror film business themselves, and she was even once a vampire herself.. yes indeed, she was the "corpse queen" in The Brothers Grimm.
That film background stood to her for the talk - her props were excellent. A casket to the side contained a stake, a box of silver bullets, a goblet that she filled with "blood" - presumably the same stuff they have to drink in the movies. A volunteer proclaimed it "very sweet" and she agreed, saying that when she'd had to drink it herself, she was sure she'd get diabetes. She offered another volunteer "vampire's ashes", which she poured into a glass of liquid - the poor volunteer got a bit worried when the glass started to fizz.
She also peppered the talk with a "vampire quiz" - every few slides, one popped up with a scene from a vampire film, which you had to identify (except for the one with Interview With the Vampire, where what you had to give was the vampire's name). First responder with the correct answer got a pair of gummy "vampire's fangs" - there was one couple, sat in the middle, who practically got the whole bowl!
Most of the talk was concerned with the origin of the vampire myth, with the influence of the Ottomans in Eastern Europe leading to a religious freedom that allowed many odd myths to linger. She spent some time talking about the diseases that might give rise to the idea of vampires, things that might cause the non-decomposition of corpses, the blood observed around the mouth of those recently dead. Yes, truly interesting - particularly to our audience of vampire fans: but mostly, it was just good fun.
I'd nipped downstairs at the interval for a drink - just as well I had cash, there's a £10 minimum on cards. Didn't really fancy eating there afterwards, and made my way straight home.
Tonight, London Literary Walks is off around Gloucester Road. It's a bit of a miserable day, grey, cold and drizzly - but it is supposed to clear in the evening.
Tomorrow, 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. The clock is counting down on remaining Meetups for this most excellent group - we're already feeling the pinch of its events being scheduled less frequently. There isn't another group out there like this man's. May the hiatus be brief.
On Friday, I'd bought a ticket to Nell Gwynn, at the Globe - then it turned out that London Dramatic Arts (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 Saturday, I'm joining the London European Club for a classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Oh joy, they're playing Beethoven's 9th. LDAM has a double-bill that day, in the Arcola, but it wouldn't be convenient, and I'm not that pushed anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment