The church is just off of Oxford Street, so same bus as usual, for the West End.. and another I could have walked to from my old office, bah humbug! I made good time, and Google Maps directed me the last bit to the church itself. Mind you, they seemed to be sending me around the back, which is just plain silly.. I made my way in, and didn't have to tell them how I'd booked my ticket at all - they had my name on a list and just checked it off. Of course, it was at that point that I realised I had almost no cash, and of course, these places never do have card machines.. I could stretch to a programme, but sadly, the very good value bar was out of my price range!
Never mind, I reasoned, it'd do me good to abstain for once. The guy checking names said we could sit anywhere but the first two rows - strangely, everyone crowded into the centre aisle, which was almost full, while the left-hand aisle was completely empty! He hadn't said anything about the side aisles, so I got myself a nice seat there, to the edge of a pew and quite far forward. It was some time before anyone joined me..
Well, it's a gorgeous church! Turns out - given its location - that it's been the scene of many a celebrity wedding. Like Roosevelt, John Nash, Capability Brown's daughter.. Handel was a regular attender, and the plaques of church wardens are gold-lettered lists of titled fellows from the 18th Century, when this was built:
This orchestra is composed of recent music school graduates - and the conductor wasn't wrong when he said that the planned programme was exciting! We started with the passion of Prokofiev's first symphony - simply stunning - which led into the beautiful violin concerto by Mendelssohn. And how nice it was, to go to a concert instead of a play, only day this week!
At the interval, I still couldn't get a drink, of course. The couple in the pew with me left with such urgency that they obviously weren't coming back, one of them accidentally sweeping my poor programme to the floor as she went! Well, she did at least stop to pick it up. I know he had a slight cough, but their haste suggested that they had somewhere else to be.
The second half started with a 10-minute lecture - by the conductor - on the upcoming piece, which we really could've done without. And then we were finally into the intensity of Schumann's second symphony. A concert of terrific energy, and a beautiful display of talent. Terrific evening! On my way home, I happened to walk around the back - recommended, as there's a great view of the window you can't see properly from inside!
I was nearly home - on a different bus - when we had one of those entertaining incidents. A mother and two children - a teenage girl and a small boy - were getting on. Unfortunately, the little boy hung behind, and got trapped by the bus doors as they closed! Now, nothing really bad happened - he did make it on, apparently uninjured. However, this was the cue for the teenager to unleash a torrent of abuse on the driver, which continued as they went upstairs, the driver protesting that he hadn't done it on purpose.. he wasn't having it, and ordered them down again on the tannoy! Whereupon the argument continued, the driver calling on us all as witnesses. (Frankly, why did they let him hang behind anyway? He was small, it was dark, it was hard to see. My mother, when I was small, always kept me in sight.) Really, I thought I'd have to get off there and walk the rest of the way..
I didn't, happily. Spent last night doing a film list, which I've now decided not to use.. figures! Tonight, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - who else - for Frozen, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Not the Disney version.
I finally have something for tomorrow! Now, London Social Detours are on a tour of the Suffragette Exhibition at the Museum of London - which seemed the most interesting thing on Meetup. (Must check out that museum - it's walking distance from me now, and they do seem to have a lot of interesting stuff.) Anyway, thing is, despite the exhibitions being free, London Social Detours is charging £3. I understand they have costs.. but since the Man with the Hat retired, few groups in Meetup seem to me to be worth paying extra for, and not this group. So my rough plan was to go on my own, and avoid them. Until.. I got an Eventbrite email yesterday, advertising a Mary Poppins walk! Only one in London, apparently, run by an American lady who seems to run some fun tours.. I couldn't resist, so I'm doing that. We meet at St. Paul's.. Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..
On Sunday, I'm doing another chocolate tour - different one from before - with Funzing, courtesy of Walking in London.
On Monday, I'm back to Showstopper! at the Lyric. (Durnit, another I could've walked to, last year!) No problem seeing this more than once, they base every night's show on audience suggestions (roughly), so it is a different show every night..
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends for A Passage to India, at the Park. Last time I was with them, someone asked me whether I was coming to this, and I said no.. it's hard to keep track, though!
On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is headed to Picnic at Hanging Rock - nice and close, in the Barbican. I remember this as quite a disturbing film - will be interested to see the stage version.
On Thursday, Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Beats on Pointe. Unfortunately, this is in the Peacock, rather than the closer Sadler's Wells. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
On the 26th, I'm off to see Jake Bugg at the Palladium (yes, another that used to be walking distance..) Honestly, I'd never heard of him, but he sounded ok on YouTube.
On the 27th, an opera in Sanskrit..! without subtitles. Satyagraha is at the Coliseum, and is about Gandhi. So I should figure it out. Gosh, it's ages since I've been there..
On the 28th, Summer and Smoke (Tennessee Williams) at the Almeida. Does include actual cigarette smoke, and a gunshot. North London Friends are going, but charging extra, so I'm going solo. Performance sold out now..
On the 1st, back with Up in the Cheap Seats at the Bridge Theatre, for what I hear is a stunning performance of Julius Caesar. You get the choice of being part of the crowd - I'm not. Modern setting.
On the 2nd, back with North London Friends, at Hampstead Theatre, for Acceptance.
And on the 3rd, Up in the Cheap Seats, and Beginning, at the Ambassadors Theatre. For once, not an official ticket for this - got better value with What's on Stage!
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