I was glad that they bumped the time by half an hour - I could have made the earlier time, but 6:30 is very early! So, at my leisure, I schlepped along to the nearby bus stop - the 19 or the 38 would do equally well. Wasn't long till one arrived, and despite heavy-ish traffic, I had plenty of time. Made my way to the Old Queen's Head - and it wasn't until I was inside that I recognised the unique decor! Ah, memories of happier times with the Man with the Hat - comedy that night, and a whole group of people I know.. otherwise, the place was pretty much the same.
(No queens among the above heads, methinks.)
Well, I was well early - whatever the advertised start of Funzing events, they always start half an hour later. So I got a drink and mooched around downstairs until 7, then carefully climbed the stairs - with my somewhat less-full glass - to the well-signposted function room. The guy crossed off my name and gave me another loyalty card, since I couldn't find mine (did later), and I was in time to get a comfy sofa seat to the side. A guy who asked whether he could share it with me then asked about Funzing in general, so I regaled him - and another guy who overheard - with tales of the great stuff I've been to.
They showed a slide of Funzing talks for the month, to start - pity the month they were showing was May. Then the speaker came on. Let me cut to the chase, as with last night - he was good, the talk was awful. At least I got it for free. See, he was entertaining enough - a bit soft-spoken, but hey. It was the material. He had pretty much two stories - the first, he did to death, which I might say could have been shortened, except then there wouldn't have been much of a talk at all. Still, it was interesting to hear how the "story of the corpse on public transport, that you don't realise at first is dead" dates right back to the days of stagecoaches. All about a fear of public transport, apparently, and how you don't know your fellow travellers.
That was it then, apart from rumours of plague pits. There are some plague pit sites around London, of course - naturally, in this talk he spent more time talking about the fake rumours. Boring.. I was embarrassed to have recommended Funzing to these people, after this talk, and as soon as he announced the "comfort break" before the Q+A (which seems to be becoming a feature, obviously to encourage spending), I legged it. He has a book, apparently, about this topic - my, I hope there's more in it than this!!
My bus, mercifully, came straight away, and I have my laptop at home these days, since discovering that I can now make video calls on Skype from my phone, so don't need to lug the laptop into the office. Hence the early blog! Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend (15 degrees cooler, yay!), and on Saturday my mother and I are off to the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival - always worth a look, and the gala concert takes place in the University Concert Hall that night.
On Monday, I'm headed to some comedy for £3.60 - this one's at The Tabernacle. Gosh, that's quite close to the site of the dreadful fire last week - I might take a wander up that direction.
On Tuesday, I'm back with the London European Club (LEC) at last - an evening of Welsh stories and writing at the London Welsh Centre. Be lovely to see some familiar faces!
On Wednesday, I had booked with Random London, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich and London Live Comedy (again) for free comedy in Greenwich (again). And then I switched to West London Improvised Comedy Nights, who have a show at The Lillie Langtry, which is closer - indeed, very close to where I've lived longest in London. However, some more folks I haven't seen in a while - a couple of members of the Man with the Hat's old groups - are headed to a concert at the Royal Academy of Music, with London Social Detours. The concerts are free, but the group is charging a Meetup fee, so I'd normally just go on my own - but I want to meet these folks, so I'll stump up.
Next Thursday, yes, once again I'd booked for free comedy in Hammersmith - with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich, and Random London. Also advertised by London Live Comedy, Hammersmith & Fulham Friends, and Discover LDN.UK (again, twice). But then I'd booked to go with the LEC to a talk on the relationship between Britain and France, at the LSE. Would've been interesting, but sod it, I then realised I have a late meeting that day, and with the talk starting quite early, it's a non-starter. Didn't want to rebook the comedy, having cancelled it. So I had a look at what else was on Meetup - and discovered something interesting. I hadn't been getting a wide variety of things on the main Meetup site - but they've mercifully improved the app. Which is what I happened to consult when I realised I'd have to cancel the talk, since I didn't have a laptop to hand. And lo, the app had LOADS more events. Seriously, there's a real disconnect between the app and the main website. Tons of interesting stuff. And on the app - well, a group called Ealing Ladies Social Group was headed to Terror, at the Lyric Hammersmith. Which sounded the most interesting of all. Not the group, mind, which has far too many rules and regulations for my liking - and they're closed to new members anyway. Nothing to stop me going myself, though..
Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again! Not usual for me to go two weeks in a row.. more details below. On 3rd, London Dramatic Arts is off to see The Mentor, at the Vaudeville Theatre. Expensively, as usual. I'm going as well - cheaply, courtesy of Amazon Tickets. Sat in the Grand Circle, I should be able to avoid them.
On the 4th, I cancelled more free comedy in Hammersmith (Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich, Random London, Hammersmith & Fulham Friends, London Live Comedy, and Discover LDN.UK) for another Funzing talk - The Psychology of Dreams. As advertised by London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night. Cancellable, but I'm so far unlikely to do so.
On the 5th, back with the LEC, for a concert of Greek music at Sands Films. Looking forward to that - I love the venue, but haven't fancied the last couple of concerts they've had there.
On the 6th, I was booked for free comedy in Hammersmith (!) with Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith, Wimbledon and Greenwich, Random London, London Live Comedy, Hammersmith & Fulham Friends, and Discover LDN.UK. Did you think I'd actually go? ;-) Well, I'm not - but the reason is an unusual one. My new company is very nice indeed - and they have an annual volunteering day: gardening. I hate gardening. On the 6th. For the whole day, they're at it. And on Monday, the office manager kindly informed us that it was compulsory unless we were on holiday. Huh! Well now, I hate being told what to do. So I've suddenly decided to be on holiday that day - and as it's a Thursday, the next too.
Then comes a weekend I've been looking forward to for a while. Long-anticipated, the European leg of U2's 30th anniversary tour of The Joshua Tree kicks off in Twickenham on the 8th & 9th. 'Mare of a place to see them - after I saw them there in 2005, I swore - never again. Happily, I now know someone living down that direction! :-) Helen is also coming with me to the first concert, and I'm staying with her for the weekend (now starting on Thursday, as she kindly offered). Which sorts transport for the first night - she'll drive. The second night, I'll head back by bus - the train is an absolute nightmare. Anyway, this would have been a weekend in Ireland - hence the trips back two weekends in a row, preceding it.
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