Finished the blog, went to the loo, got the boarding pass, went through security. I'm not surprised the BA lady wouldn't let me check in late, it's so far to the gates.. No wonder people hate airports. Found the gate - nothing happening. Trekked back to the last place I saw food - I was hungry. This turned out to be a vending machine, from which I got a packet of Maltesers. Came back to the gate, found a seat that was too hot - from the sun pouring in the windows. Ate Maltesers - yum. Plane was too small for the airbridge:
I'd been worried about getting an exit row on my BA flight - no such worries here, none were exits! (bar first and last rows of the plane). The twin props made for a very noisy flight - but we also flew quite low (thank goodness the weather was good!), and it was interesting, flying so low that we could see ships on the sea below. With that and the propellers, it was quite reminiscent of Dunkirk! Less bombing today, thankfully. Lovely staff - this was my first time flying with them. I ordered a wine and some more Maltesers - with plenty of Euro cash, I would've used that, until I saw what they were using as the exchange rate! Bloody hell, there's no way £4.70 is currently worth €7! I paid in Sterling - be warned.
I had to be impressed with the exit from London City Airport.. as I entered security, I'd seen a board advertising a DLR leaving in six minutes, thought "I'll never make that". By the time I exited security and headed up to the platform, it was due in two minutes! Now, that's definitely the fastest I've ever exited an airport. Pity I'd forgotten to touch in, and had to head down again to do that.. still made it, though!
A breezy trip on the DLR gave way to a stifling trip on the Tube - and that was just on the platform, even the crowded carriage was airier. I have to say, though, heading through Bank in this direction is a lot faster. Made it home just as my mother decided I'd left it too long before ringing her, and she rang me instead.. Just had time to change (phew!) before heading out again. I decided that the Northern Line was wisest, since it was apparently the fastest. Got out at Old Street for the revised venue of the Lighthouse Bar.
Amazingly, the exit map hadn't been vandalised, and I could easily tell which exit I needed. I have to say though, it was a culture shock, coming straight from Amsterdam to this. Scruffier buildings, rubbish all over the place - and in the brief walk from station to bar, I was hit on (unsuccessfully) for money. And had abuse shouted at me when I walked away. I did notice that about Amsterdam - despite me walking back late at night on multiple occasions, there were no homeless, no beggars. Hmm.
The Lighthouse bar is easy to spot, with its garish blue, adorned with coloured lights. The lady at the door had loyalty cards - gosh, I thought they'd been done away with! I got one of mine signed, for all the good it'll do.. got a drink at the bar, and made my way upstairs, where I was the first to arrive. Apart from the speaker.
The place filled up reasonably, and - typically, half an hour after the advertised time - he began. Oh dear. So, it seems he's a lecturer. In computer science. This wasn't so much of a talk as a philosophy class. Not five minutes in, I was wanting to leave - some did, but I wasn't close enough to the door! You know, back in the day, when I was studying a form of maths, there were two things that were fashionable for maths students to do; one was to play chess (which I did, and still happily do), the other was to join the philosophy society, which I never did. Tonight was a perfect illustration of why.
Philosophy as a concept is just fantastic. The examination of the human condition, why we think the way we do, examining our prejudices and preconceptions - wonderful. However, I've never found it to work that way. Tonight, what we got was a rather smug academic, encouraging a rambling, unfocused discussion rather than giving any direction, and eventually chiming in, when he felt things were going a bit pear-shaped. His "arguments" were illogical and inconsistent (perhaps, to some extent, because he didn't want to use technical terminology), and I knew I'd better leave when I found myself disagreeing with literally every pronouncement that came out of his mouth. These weren't suggestions, you understand, but dictats. Reminded me of religion, with the Principles of Philosophy as the Creed, and him as the high priest. Thou mayst disagree, but thou shalt be wrong!! Yeah. I left at the break, and was grateful. I practically ran.
At least leaving early gave me time to shop, eat, blog, and it's still not quite bedtime! Tomorrow, another Funzing talk (same groups) - I finally get to see Jennifer Rees again, when she's giving a talk on The Psychology of Criminals. With dim sum, great! (Had to stick with a 10% discount for this one - Fun_Day10 or Fun_Week10 are the ones you want for that.) And it's walking distance from me for once, in Covent Garden. She's a fantastic and engaging speaker. Excellent.. and Helen has sensibly decided to come too. On which occasion she'll deliver all the stuff I couldn't fit in my bag, coming back from Twickenham!
I was just looking up what to do on Wednesday - and wouldn't you know it, at that moment the Pop-Up Opera sent me a mail with upcoming events. Une Éducation Manquée is a short, French comic opera, whose run finishes that day. All right then!
On Thursday, my first Meetup with Up in the Cheap Seats, one of several new groups I've joined to fill the great void left by the sad departure of the Man with the Hat. We're off to see The Tempest, with Simon Russell Beale, at the Barbican - who, unusually, posted my ticket to me. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.
And next Monday, back with Let's Do This for a vintage swing jazz evening at Wilton's.
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