Tonight, booked with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce. Just the two of us going! Second time that's happened with this organiser..
But you know that breathlessness I started to experience on Thursday? Turned out to be quite serious, and I still have it - although it's not as bad, I do get breathless whenever I stand up, and I just don't think that schlepping all the way out to that theatre would be a wise thing. In fact, I'm taking myself home to bed, and planning on working from home tomorrow. This infection is going to take some effort to fight.
Tomorrow, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good. Assuming I can manage it - jeez, I go so seldom with them, they'll think I'm avoiding them!
On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On Thursday, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. If I can manage a walk, by then.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on Friday I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on Saturday, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Monday, 30 April 2018
Thursday, 26 April 2018
Talk: Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration
Tonight, the London European Club attended a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. I did intend to take my parka, but forgot - never mind, my legs were better wrapped up than last time, and I wasn't too bad. And with no-one in California getting back to me with information I needed (including my Product Manager, who was at the dentist), I did slip away in time! And had an uncomplicated journey there, apart from having to perch half off my seat, the woman beside me was so fat..
No problem finding the Old Building of the LSE - Streetview showed the entrance a short distance from my stop, down Houghton Street. And inside, why, the theatre is dead ahead - somebody official-looking said they'd be open at 6 (I was early), and I could go and come back, or join the queue around the corner - which is what I did, passed by other group members some time later. A bit after 6, we were let in, and strictly directed to specific seats, filling from the far side, and from the front - except for the front row, which was left vacant. In the event, I got in the second row, with Henning, the organiser, just behind me. It didn't fill - there were plenty of seats left in the gallery.
Three speakers came on stage on 6:30 - the Europe editor at the Financial times, and a couple of professors, including one who'd written the book that has the title of the talk. (Discount available on www.oup.com with code ASFLYQ6.) They and the chair spent about 45 minutes introducing us to the subject, and their thoughts on it - a variety of well-thought out ideas, and as Henning remarked afterwards, too much information! During the last talk - by the Financial Times Europe editor - I'm afraid I really struggled to stay awake; he just has such a soothing voice!
So. We've noticed a trend, Europe-wide, towards Euroscepticism - what's behind it, and indeed, behind Brexit? The author, first to speak, showed a very interesting graph of Eurosceptic countries - turned out that this was a graph of support for anti-European parties in various countries. And what was interesting about it wasn't that the UK was one of the highest-rated Eurosceptics - no, it was that Sweden was right up there with it! Indeed, I seem to remember, when I was in Stockholm last year, someone living there mentioned that there was a lot of anti-European sentiment.
One argument was that, of course, countries that were doing well, and had alternative options, would tend to explore those options. Or countries that had more faith in their own governments than in Brussels - that might certainly explain, at least partly, the great faith that Ireland has in Brussels, considering the various incompetents that have run that country! And, of course, there's the thorny issue of immigration.. one of the professors made a good point about economic deprivation, and how it makes people disinclined to welcome immigrants with open arms, when they fear they'll be the ones to take the limited resources.
Afterwards, the Q+A - also for 45 minutes - threw up some interesting ideas: such as, what would the EU be like if Russia had joined?! Questions came thick and fast, taken in bunches and answered broadly. The author, again, pointed out a discussion that she, who's Dutch, had had with her Spanish husband. She was complaining about Dutch dissatisfaction with the EU, given their high employment - he exclaimed that it was so much higher in Spain! So why aren't they protesting against the EU? He pointed out that it had been much worse under Franco..
So, the general consensus was that you couldn't generalise. And the continent rumbles on.. someone asked whether they thought that the EU and the Euro would still be here in 20 years' time, and whether the UK would be a part of them? Another consensus: "yes, yes, no".
Afterwards, some stayed for the free drinks in the lobby, but we went in search of a pub. And how we searched.. they were either packed or noisy. We ended up in the Shakespeare's Head, on Kingsway, very glad to get in from another biting wind. Grabbed a table in the end - I see they have an app now, where you can order from your table! Sadly, it wouldn't load the menu, so off we went to the bar, as usual - by the time I got back, they'd found a nice, big round table instead, with room for us all. Occupied just by one fat young man, who looked as though he was playing videogames. He eventually looked up, seemed startled to see us, and left soon after.
For our part, four of us ate - it was curry night, and Henning had that. And oh, what a luxury to have a proper dinner! I don't usually have time. Stuffed myself, I did, as the conversation about Europe continued around me. On the way home, wouldn't you know it, I ran into someone from Up in the Cheap Seats.. they were at something in the Phoenix Theatre tonight, but you know, I was more interested in this.
Tomorrow, I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend, and a much-needed rest - I got quite breathless just walking from the stop, this evening. Really need a break.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce. Just the two of us going! Second time that's happened with this organiser..
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
Next Thursday, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
No problem finding the Old Building of the LSE - Streetview showed the entrance a short distance from my stop, down Houghton Street. And inside, why, the theatre is dead ahead - somebody official-looking said they'd be open at 6 (I was early), and I could go and come back, or join the queue around the corner - which is what I did, passed by other group members some time later. A bit after 6, we were let in, and strictly directed to specific seats, filling from the far side, and from the front - except for the front row, which was left vacant. In the event, I got in the second row, with Henning, the organiser, just behind me. It didn't fill - there were plenty of seats left in the gallery.
Three speakers came on stage on 6:30 - the Europe editor at the Financial times, and a couple of professors, including one who'd written the book that has the title of the talk. (Discount available on www.oup.com with code ASFLYQ6.) They and the chair spent about 45 minutes introducing us to the subject, and their thoughts on it - a variety of well-thought out ideas, and as Henning remarked afterwards, too much information! During the last talk - by the Financial Times Europe editor - I'm afraid I really struggled to stay awake; he just has such a soothing voice!
So. We've noticed a trend, Europe-wide, towards Euroscepticism - what's behind it, and indeed, behind Brexit? The author, first to speak, showed a very interesting graph of Eurosceptic countries - turned out that this was a graph of support for anti-European parties in various countries. And what was interesting about it wasn't that the UK was one of the highest-rated Eurosceptics - no, it was that Sweden was right up there with it! Indeed, I seem to remember, when I was in Stockholm last year, someone living there mentioned that there was a lot of anti-European sentiment.
One argument was that, of course, countries that were doing well, and had alternative options, would tend to explore those options. Or countries that had more faith in their own governments than in Brussels - that might certainly explain, at least partly, the great faith that Ireland has in Brussels, considering the various incompetents that have run that country! And, of course, there's the thorny issue of immigration.. one of the professors made a good point about economic deprivation, and how it makes people disinclined to welcome immigrants with open arms, when they fear they'll be the ones to take the limited resources.
Afterwards, the Q+A - also for 45 minutes - threw up some interesting ideas: such as, what would the EU be like if Russia had joined?! Questions came thick and fast, taken in bunches and answered broadly. The author, again, pointed out a discussion that she, who's Dutch, had had with her Spanish husband. She was complaining about Dutch dissatisfaction with the EU, given their high employment - he exclaimed that it was so much higher in Spain! So why aren't they protesting against the EU? He pointed out that it had been much worse under Franco..
So, the general consensus was that you couldn't generalise. And the continent rumbles on.. someone asked whether they thought that the EU and the Euro would still be here in 20 years' time, and whether the UK would be a part of them? Another consensus: "yes, yes, no".
Afterwards, some stayed for the free drinks in the lobby, but we went in search of a pub. And how we searched.. they were either packed or noisy. We ended up in the Shakespeare's Head, on Kingsway, very glad to get in from another biting wind. Grabbed a table in the end - I see they have an app now, where you can order from your table! Sadly, it wouldn't load the menu, so off we went to the bar, as usual - by the time I got back, they'd found a nice, big round table instead, with room for us all. Occupied just by one fat young man, who looked as though he was playing videogames. He eventually looked up, seemed startled to see us, and left soon after.
For our part, four of us ate - it was curry night, and Henning had that. And oh, what a luxury to have a proper dinner! I don't usually have time. Stuffed myself, I did, as the conversation about Europe continued around me. On the way home, wouldn't you know it, I ran into someone from Up in the Cheap Seats.. they were at something in the Phoenix Theatre tonight, but you know, I was more interested in this.
Tomorrow, I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend, and a much-needed rest - I got quite breathless just walking from the stop, this evening. Really need a break.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce. Just the two of us going! Second time that's happened with this organiser..
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
Next Thursday, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Play: Mood Music
Tonight, I was at Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin. Courtesy of Up in the Cheap Seats, second night in a row. Mercifully, work didn't prove too much of a problem - about time, I've been getting so stressed! Despite getting held up doing my quarterly goals - due today, in the midst of everything else! - I just nicely made my bus. And as I was travelling along, I actually prayed it'd take as long as possible - just because I really needed to relax, and this seemed to be working.
In the event, it was about five minutes behind schedule, and I strolled down to meet the others: outside the theatre, the crowds are so dreadful inside before a show! Of all theatres, this one is terrible at crowd management. Bloody 'ell, it was freezing though, with a stiff wind! I was glad I had a scarf. When it came close to time, we joined the enormous queue - most were in the Dress Circle, a few of us in the Upper (Lilian Baylis) Circle.
I see they've greatly extended the stage for this, with a long platform, steppable onto from the stage, housing lots of musical instruments. The story, you see, concerns a young, female artist, who's being exploited by the older music producer (Ben Chaplin) she's working with. Don't harbour any hopes, however, of the instruments being played - apart from odd snatches, they're just there for effect, as the whole play is a talking-shop. The girl bats snippets back and forth with him and with her therapist and lawyer, he does the same with his lawyer and someone else.
It tries to be far, far too clever - any hope of following a normal conversation is swiftly destroyed when they can hardly complete a sentence without the characters switching to talk to a different person, re-enacting a scene that they were describing just a minute ago. So we're back and forth between past and present, from studio to therapist's couch to lawyer's office with bewildering speed. And all the time, during the first half, absolutely nothing happens.
At the interval, we congregated in the Dress Circle Bar, and most concluded that this was a major disappointment. I'd actually come damn close to bringing my coat down with me, in preparation for leaving at the end of the interval - but there remained a glimmer of hope that this might get entertaining, and I stayed.
Boy, was I sorry I did. Several took the opportunity to leave - including all the people on the outside of my row, which was handy. The play dragged on.. there was an interesting story about her being transported, unconscious, across state lines while touring, so that she missed a concert, after getting into a row with the producer when he didn't credit her when their song won an award.
The whole thing was just a repetitive series of increasingly barbed conversations, where he proved himself obnoxious and she proved herself appalled. Oh, and don't get me started on the infantile audience, who tittered every time somebody swore! Don't get me wrong, the cast were excellent - Ben Chaplin does obnoxious very well! It's just the tedious playwriting. As I finally had enough and left, cursing myself that I'd wasted so much time, the usher warned me that I couldn't come back in. "Good!" I replied, "I can't stand it!" Runs until the 25th of August - seriously, avoid; there has to be something, anything, you'd prefer showing in town the same night..!
We were supposed to meet afterwards in the Dress Circle Bar again, where your ticket apparently entitles you to a 20% discount. So I made my way down there - unfortunately, the bar closes while the show is on, and tired and hungry as I was, I couldn't be bothered sitting there all that time without even a drink. So I headed, gratefully, home - after a frigid wait at the stop for a #4 that the Bus Countdown app assured me was coming, but which never did, I took another instead; I had a walk when I got off, but it was better than standing there in the cold!
Tomorrow, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Good luck to me, getting away in time - I'm taking my parka, sick of being cold. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
Next Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
In the event, it was about five minutes behind schedule, and I strolled down to meet the others: outside the theatre, the crowds are so dreadful inside before a show! Of all theatres, this one is terrible at crowd management. Bloody 'ell, it was freezing though, with a stiff wind! I was glad I had a scarf. When it came close to time, we joined the enormous queue - most were in the Dress Circle, a few of us in the Upper (Lilian Baylis) Circle.
I see they've greatly extended the stage for this, with a long platform, steppable onto from the stage, housing lots of musical instruments. The story, you see, concerns a young, female artist, who's being exploited by the older music producer (Ben Chaplin) she's working with. Don't harbour any hopes, however, of the instruments being played - apart from odd snatches, they're just there for effect, as the whole play is a talking-shop. The girl bats snippets back and forth with him and with her therapist and lawyer, he does the same with his lawyer and someone else.
It tries to be far, far too clever - any hope of following a normal conversation is swiftly destroyed when they can hardly complete a sentence without the characters switching to talk to a different person, re-enacting a scene that they were describing just a minute ago. So we're back and forth between past and present, from studio to therapist's couch to lawyer's office with bewildering speed. And all the time, during the first half, absolutely nothing happens.
At the interval, we congregated in the Dress Circle Bar, and most concluded that this was a major disappointment. I'd actually come damn close to bringing my coat down with me, in preparation for leaving at the end of the interval - but there remained a glimmer of hope that this might get entertaining, and I stayed.
Boy, was I sorry I did. Several took the opportunity to leave - including all the people on the outside of my row, which was handy. The play dragged on.. there was an interesting story about her being transported, unconscious, across state lines while touring, so that she missed a concert, after getting into a row with the producer when he didn't credit her when their song won an award.
The whole thing was just a repetitive series of increasingly barbed conversations, where he proved himself obnoxious and she proved herself appalled. Oh, and don't get me started on the infantile audience, who tittered every time somebody swore! Don't get me wrong, the cast were excellent - Ben Chaplin does obnoxious very well! It's just the tedious playwriting. As I finally had enough and left, cursing myself that I'd wasted so much time, the usher warned me that I couldn't come back in. "Good!" I replied, "I can't stand it!" Runs until the 25th of August - seriously, avoid; there has to be something, anything, you'd prefer showing in town the same night..!
We were supposed to meet afterwards in the Dress Circle Bar again, where your ticket apparently entitles you to a 20% discount. So I made my way down there - unfortunately, the bar closes while the show is on, and tired and hungry as I was, I couldn't be bothered sitting there all that time without even a drink. So I headed, gratefully, home - after a frigid wait at the stop for a #4 that the Bus Countdown app assured me was coming, but which never did, I took another instead; I had a walk when I got off, but it was better than standing there in the cold!
Tomorrow, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Good luck to me, getting away in time - I'm taking my parka, sick of being cold. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
Next Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Play: An Ideal Husband
The next two days, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: tonight was for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire.
I really thought I wasn't going to make this. The madness at work continues, and it was only today that many teams found out they're unexpectedly completely without documentation - well, unless you count me. I do hate to let people down, so I stayed long after I'd meant to, trying to get things in a decent state - finally, when mercifully I found out that a release was delayed again and wouldn't be happening tonight, I raced out the door. Google Maps said my bus would be delayed - it was early, as it happened, and hallelujah, I just made it! despite the driver nearly closing the door on my arm as I was getting on. He nearly closed the door on someone getting off, later - I wonder whether he was quite with it.
Praise be, he made great time, at least - and even stopped a bit past the stop, because of traffic congestion: which was great for me, because that was the way I was headed. I had to queue for ages at the box office - another place where I had to pick up the ticket. Confusingly, "Upper Circle", as booked, is actually "Grand Circle" - oh, whatever, it's the top level and you have to go mountain climbing to get there. So I was a bit breathless, understandably, by the time I panted all the way up to the top level bar, with its bare wood doors. Just had time to say hi and nip to the loo, and it was time to go in. It was nice that the usher at the entrance said I could sit a row forward from where I'd booked (the back rows were pretty empty).. well, once I'd inched my way down the steep stairs, it was!
The show opens beautifully, a violin player whenever the security curtain is lowered, and an opening scene of graceful waltzing in long, swishy gowns. Kudos to the waiter carrying a tray of drinks, who whirls around the stage without dropping them. Again, what a rarity to see a play in period costume. As it happens, most of the cast only appear in this opening scene, then vanish into the London night, ne'er to be seen again - till the final bow.
The story concerns a respected society couple - the wife idolises her "ideal husband". Unfortunately, a lady of shady reputation soon reveals a sordid secret he's kept hidden for years - will his wife's stubborn morality prevent a happy ending? You'd be surprised at the role that the "most idle man in London", who normally spends all his time living the highlife, plays, and how he becomes the champion of common sense. Played by Freddie Fox, he spends much of his time being bothered by his interfering father (also his father in real life, Edward Fox) - we did wonder, afterwards, how much fun they had with that!
Of course, watching something like this brings to mind Wilde's real-life story - at the time that this was released, he was being charged with "gross indecency", and you have to imagine that he was putting himself in the role of the husband that must be forgiven. I also saw something of him in the man-about-town, the social dandy. By and large, this is a lovely production - the only time it lagged, for me, was in the drawing room scene in the first act, where the ladies are making small talk. But then, perhaps the play is making a point, here, about the senseless small talk of upper class society ladies. And I must say, if that's what you want to do, you couldn't do better than Susan Hampshire, who is in her element here.
Recommended for fans of plays of the period. Booking until the 14th of July.
It was raining when we came out to make our separate ways home. Tomorrow is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin - and I hope to goodness I don't have a repeat of this evening at work; I can't take much more of this.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
Next Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
I really thought I wasn't going to make this. The madness at work continues, and it was only today that many teams found out they're unexpectedly completely without documentation - well, unless you count me. I do hate to let people down, so I stayed long after I'd meant to, trying to get things in a decent state - finally, when mercifully I found out that a release was delayed again and wouldn't be happening tonight, I raced out the door. Google Maps said my bus would be delayed - it was early, as it happened, and hallelujah, I just made it! despite the driver nearly closing the door on my arm as I was getting on. He nearly closed the door on someone getting off, later - I wonder whether he was quite with it.
Praise be, he made great time, at least - and even stopped a bit past the stop, because of traffic congestion: which was great for me, because that was the way I was headed. I had to queue for ages at the box office - another place where I had to pick up the ticket. Confusingly, "Upper Circle", as booked, is actually "Grand Circle" - oh, whatever, it's the top level and you have to go mountain climbing to get there. So I was a bit breathless, understandably, by the time I panted all the way up to the top level bar, with its bare wood doors. Just had time to say hi and nip to the loo, and it was time to go in. It was nice that the usher at the entrance said I could sit a row forward from where I'd booked (the back rows were pretty empty).. well, once I'd inched my way down the steep stairs, it was!
The show opens beautifully, a violin player whenever the security curtain is lowered, and an opening scene of graceful waltzing in long, swishy gowns. Kudos to the waiter carrying a tray of drinks, who whirls around the stage without dropping them. Again, what a rarity to see a play in period costume. As it happens, most of the cast only appear in this opening scene, then vanish into the London night, ne'er to be seen again - till the final bow.
The story concerns a respected society couple - the wife idolises her "ideal husband". Unfortunately, a lady of shady reputation soon reveals a sordid secret he's kept hidden for years - will his wife's stubborn morality prevent a happy ending? You'd be surprised at the role that the "most idle man in London", who normally spends all his time living the highlife, plays, and how he becomes the champion of common sense. Played by Freddie Fox, he spends much of his time being bothered by his interfering father (also his father in real life, Edward Fox) - we did wonder, afterwards, how much fun they had with that!
Of course, watching something like this brings to mind Wilde's real-life story - at the time that this was released, he was being charged with "gross indecency", and you have to imagine that he was putting himself in the role of the husband that must be forgiven. I also saw something of him in the man-about-town, the social dandy. By and large, this is a lovely production - the only time it lagged, for me, was in the drawing room scene in the first act, where the ladies are making small talk. But then, perhaps the play is making a point, here, about the senseless small talk of upper class society ladies. And I must say, if that's what you want to do, you couldn't do better than Susan Hampshire, who is in her element here.
Recommended for fans of plays of the period. Booking until the 14th of July.
It was raining when we came out to make our separate ways home. Tomorrow is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin - and I hope to goodness I don't have a repeat of this evening at work; I can't take much more of this.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
Next Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Monday, 23 April 2018
Talk: An Introduction to the Dark Net
Tonight, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. only about 10 minutes' walk from the office. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
Well, another hard day's work - and it was as well I could stay late, to get in my yearly performance review, which was due by COB (Pacific Time). I still cut it fine, arriving with the proverbial "minutes to spare". The sign inside the door helpfully pointed to the left, where a young woman stood with a welcoming smile. She, it turned out, had drink tokens, in return for you presenting your ticket - of course, I hadn't printed mine out (as usual for Funzing), the damn website had logged me out, and I couldn't find where to log in again! She finally looked up my name on her list, and I got my token - which entitled me to a small glass of house white. What the hey, it's ages since they gave it away for free anyway.
Upstairs then, and the room was fairly full, most of the remaining seating at the back. Nonetheless, it's a decent venue for a talk, and I got a good view of the screen. Again, the Funzing lady made a mistake in her presentation, saying that the sixth talk is free.. it isn't, you get a discount equal to the price of the talk, or the value of the cheapest thing you paid for while earning your discount: whichever is cheaper.
The chap presenting was a pleasant-seeming fellow, who really entertained us over the next hour or so with a wee chat about the dark net - which, as he said, isn't as scary as you might think. Indeed, the "clearnet" (regular internet) can be a lot scarier, as in his story about an unwise young woman who posted nude photos of herself on a chat forum. Members would ask her to take photos in different poses, and from seemingly innocuous requests for her to pose with various items, they managed to piece together her complete identity. The mission then became to expose her completely, finding her on Facebook and Twitter, posting the photos to everyone on her contact list.. you don't have to go to the dark net to find dangerous people.
Having said that, he then led us down a merry, dark path - of drug dealers who sell in the same way as Amazon, with customer reviews and discount offers. He did also point out that the dark net can be a very handy way to avoid censorship - for journalists in sensitive parts of the world, for instance, or where governments ban the websites you might want to visit. He told us the interesting story of how Tor, the browser used, was actually developed by the US Navy! It then occurred to them that they might be a bit conspicuous if they were the only ones using it! so they made it freely available. It's a bit slower than conventional browsers, since it bounces your signal around the world, to make your IP address untraceable. So it's a choice - greater security means a sacrifice of some convenience.
After a short break, an interesting Q+A had several people asking questions - but the most enthusiastic response of the night came when he said he'd give us ONE URL to play with. :-) Deepdotweb.com lists the most popular dark net sites, as well as broadcasting news of the dark net.. by 'eck, he had to repeat that name several times, to general mirth, as so many people wanted to make sure they'd got it exactly right! I tell you this, it's interesting to browse - but remember to use Tor (or similar) if you want to do any actual business with sites listed on it! Someone brought up the thorny issue of terrorism - well, as he said, that's the kind of traffic that doesn't really get publicly listed - it's just a set of untraceable URLs distributed amongst specific groups. There's a whole load of internet out there that we'll just never know about.
Well, the weather's switched again - it was freezing on the way home. The next two days, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: tomorrow is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
Next Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Well, another hard day's work - and it was as well I could stay late, to get in my yearly performance review, which was due by COB (Pacific Time). I still cut it fine, arriving with the proverbial "minutes to spare". The sign inside the door helpfully pointed to the left, where a young woman stood with a welcoming smile. She, it turned out, had drink tokens, in return for you presenting your ticket - of course, I hadn't printed mine out (as usual for Funzing), the damn website had logged me out, and I couldn't find where to log in again! She finally looked up my name on her list, and I got my token - which entitled me to a small glass of house white. What the hey, it's ages since they gave it away for free anyway.
Upstairs then, and the room was fairly full, most of the remaining seating at the back. Nonetheless, it's a decent venue for a talk, and I got a good view of the screen. Again, the Funzing lady made a mistake in her presentation, saying that the sixth talk is free.. it isn't, you get a discount equal to the price of the talk, or the value of the cheapest thing you paid for while earning your discount: whichever is cheaper.
The chap presenting was a pleasant-seeming fellow, who really entertained us over the next hour or so with a wee chat about the dark net - which, as he said, isn't as scary as you might think. Indeed, the "clearnet" (regular internet) can be a lot scarier, as in his story about an unwise young woman who posted nude photos of herself on a chat forum. Members would ask her to take photos in different poses, and from seemingly innocuous requests for her to pose with various items, they managed to piece together her complete identity. The mission then became to expose her completely, finding her on Facebook and Twitter, posting the photos to everyone on her contact list.. you don't have to go to the dark net to find dangerous people.
Having said that, he then led us down a merry, dark path - of drug dealers who sell in the same way as Amazon, with customer reviews and discount offers. He did also point out that the dark net can be a very handy way to avoid censorship - for journalists in sensitive parts of the world, for instance, or where governments ban the websites you might want to visit. He told us the interesting story of how Tor, the browser used, was actually developed by the US Navy! It then occurred to them that they might be a bit conspicuous if they were the only ones using it! so they made it freely available. It's a bit slower than conventional browsers, since it bounces your signal around the world, to make your IP address untraceable. So it's a choice - greater security means a sacrifice of some convenience.
After a short break, an interesting Q+A had several people asking questions - but the most enthusiastic response of the night came when he said he'd give us ONE URL to play with. :-) Deepdotweb.com lists the most popular dark net sites, as well as broadcasting news of the dark net.. by 'eck, he had to repeat that name several times, to general mirth, as so many people wanted to make sure they'd got it exactly right! I tell you this, it's interesting to browse - but remember to use Tor (or similar) if you want to do any actual business with sites listed on it! Someone brought up the thorny issue of terrorism - well, as he said, that's the kind of traffic that doesn't really get publicly listed - it's just a set of untraceable URLs distributed amongst specific groups. There's a whole load of internet out there that we'll just never know about.
Well, the weather's switched again - it was freezing on the way home. The next two days, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: tomorrow is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
Next Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Sunday, 22 April 2018
Day in South Kensington
Today, back with Up in the Cheap Seats.. all day, as it happened. See, one of the organisers went crazy booking things the other day - it seems the V&A have an annual performance festival, and this year's theme was censorship, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Theatres Act, which abolished censorship of the theatre in the UK. The day started with Decorum X: Brunch with Bite.. tickets required. This was followed by a talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage, then finally came a performance by Belarus Free Theatre (the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, it seems), with Artists Fighting Oppression. Sold out by the time he advertised it, but he had tickets for us, if we were in quick. All events free. In the evening, we were off to a film music gala at the Albert Hall. What the hey, the V&A is very near to there!
Ohh, but I could have done with more sleep. Never mind, out I hopped, and with a number of options for getting there. The one that promised to get me there quickest was to take the bus from my nearest stop, then the Tube.. either bus would do. I was in good time, it was sunny - all was good. Unfortunately, the buses took forever.. the first to come was the #56, for which the plan was to alight at St. Paul's, then take two Tube lines. The problem arose with all the connections.. with the bus delay, I missed the Tube I should have got, and ended up with about a five-minute wait for each of the two trains I needed. At least I got a seat on the Piccadilly Line, for most of the way.
I didn't arrive at South Ken till gone the time the first event was due to start. Still, I persevered, trotting down that subterranean tunnel, praying I'd see the right exit soon. I emerged into the museum with a vague notion that I had to go left, having checked the interactive map last night - of course, it's not as easy in person, and when a helpful assistant asked whether he could help, I asked directions to the Sackler Centre. Yup, just keep heading left - I was almost there, and the Arts Studio is plain to see once you get there.
Mercifully, they let people in late, and I followed another woman, our tickets checked at the door. We could grab free drinks and pastries, and were instructed to grab a stool and sit at the side, which I did. I was a few minutes late - when I came in, the lady who was chairing the talk, at the head of the table, was discussing how Elizabeth I used to encourage people to stay away from the theatres by convincing them that the players spread the plague.
A lovely, bright and airy room, and a nice, custardy pastry left me in a receptive mood for the talk, which showed how political censorship in ages past switched to more prudish, sexual censorship in more recent times. A photocopy of the censor's report on Waiting for Godot was passed around, with much mirth at the censor's complete bafflement as to what the play is actually about. The speaker explained how she never appreciated the Carry On films, with their crude sexual innuendo, until she realised that that was as far as their expression of sexuality was allowed to go! And now, she concluded, censorship has been abolished - or has it? What about works that are seen to criticise certain religious groups, for example? A very interesting talk, a nice start.
I joined the others at the end - the ladies of our small group went in search of the loo, and finding the main toilets had a terrible queue, we enquired of an usher, who directed us to some well-hidden toilets, upstairs from the Raphael Gallery (ooh, there's a Raphael Gallery! and it's gorgeous). And then we went exploring, for a bit.
More photos here. Then we assembled at the meeting point near the entrance, for a gallery talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage. For that, our guide took us up to the Performing Arts Gallery, which I'd never known existed - another terrific find, with its displays of costumes, theatrical posters, and video footage. She explained to us the difficulties of proving censorship from this period, and how one way of detecting it was to examine different copies of the same work, to check what had changed.
A quick trip to the cafe, and we were into an afternoon of political theatre. As the speaker remarked, she'd been told for weeks that this was sold out - and here we were, in a rare spell of British hot weather, with the room half full. Ah well, can't be helped. An interesting few hours followed, in which we watched an enlightening film about Belarus Free Theatre, listened to an interview of two people involved, then had to participate in an interactive session.. wasn't too bad, of course. First, people were encouraged to speak about something they always carry with them, and describe its significance. Then, we ended up carrying this long strip of red fabric around the building and back - a symbol of the red line that won't be crossed. We ended with what I found most moving - a Skype call to one of the underground group in Belarus, standing outside tonight's secret theatre, as the audience filed in. "Say hi to London, guys!" Good luck to them.
Time to eat, before the film gala; I fancied trying the cheap Oriental place I'd spotted - Oriental Canteen, as it turns out - so went and got a table there. It's mostly communal tables, but they have small ones along the windows, suitable for one or two. I'd ordered, and was sipping my 7Up - they don't have a full licence, and the only alcohol is Tiger Beer - when I realised the place is cash-only.. and I didn't have any! I checked with them that I'd need it, then asked where the nearest cash machine was - South Ken Station again. Complete with a couple of enterprising beggars, of course. Well, I got it and returned.. they only do mains here, but damn, they're cheap! £5.50 for any of the specials, which come with a choice of three sides - I had Teriyaki chicken with fried noodles. Which was fine - not the tastiest, but perfectly decent, and a good size helping. Friendly service, too. I'd be ok with coming back to try something else.
And afterwards, back up to the Albert Hall, where I ran into a couple of the others. You have to print out your tickets for here - one of us had had his ticket print ridiculously large, and had to go off to the box office to fix it! We others continued up to the Second Circle, where most of us had booked seats. Well, we'd barely arrived when someone let us in on the fact that the ushers were offering free Stalls upgrades..! We didn't need to be told twice. And as more group members arrived, I directed them all to her, and the ever more frazzled usher tried valiantly to seat us all together. Hey, she managed it for a whole group of us - we got terrific seats!
And so for a fantastic end to the day, with film (and tv) themes I mostly recognised. Goddamnit, even Game of Thrones made it in, as it does everywhere else.. the night ended with Star Wars (natch) and Rocky as encore.. but somehow, the theme of the night for me was E.T. As it soared over us, it couldn't be beaten..
Bus home, then, in enough time to drop into the Co-Op for something sweet. Tomorrow, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. only about 10 minutes' walk from the office. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Ohh, but I could have done with more sleep. Never mind, out I hopped, and with a number of options for getting there. The one that promised to get me there quickest was to take the bus from my nearest stop, then the Tube.. either bus would do. I was in good time, it was sunny - all was good. Unfortunately, the buses took forever.. the first to come was the #56, for which the plan was to alight at St. Paul's, then take two Tube lines. The problem arose with all the connections.. with the bus delay, I missed the Tube I should have got, and ended up with about a five-minute wait for each of the two trains I needed. At least I got a seat on the Piccadilly Line, for most of the way.
I didn't arrive at South Ken till gone the time the first event was due to start. Still, I persevered, trotting down that subterranean tunnel, praying I'd see the right exit soon. I emerged into the museum with a vague notion that I had to go left, having checked the interactive map last night - of course, it's not as easy in person, and when a helpful assistant asked whether he could help, I asked directions to the Sackler Centre. Yup, just keep heading left - I was almost there, and the Arts Studio is plain to see once you get there.
Mercifully, they let people in late, and I followed another woman, our tickets checked at the door. We could grab free drinks and pastries, and were instructed to grab a stool and sit at the side, which I did. I was a few minutes late - when I came in, the lady who was chairing the talk, at the head of the table, was discussing how Elizabeth I used to encourage people to stay away from the theatres by convincing them that the players spread the plague.
A lovely, bright and airy room, and a nice, custardy pastry left me in a receptive mood for the talk, which showed how political censorship in ages past switched to more prudish, sexual censorship in more recent times. A photocopy of the censor's report on Waiting for Godot was passed around, with much mirth at the censor's complete bafflement as to what the play is actually about. The speaker explained how she never appreciated the Carry On films, with their crude sexual innuendo, until she realised that that was as far as their expression of sexuality was allowed to go! And now, she concluded, censorship has been abolished - or has it? What about works that are seen to criticise certain religious groups, for example? A very interesting talk, a nice start.
I joined the others at the end - the ladies of our small group went in search of the loo, and finding the main toilets had a terrible queue, we enquired of an usher, who directed us to some well-hidden toilets, upstairs from the Raphael Gallery (ooh, there's a Raphael Gallery! and it's gorgeous). And then we went exploring, for a bit.
More photos here. Then we assembled at the meeting point near the entrance, for a gallery talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage. For that, our guide took us up to the Performing Arts Gallery, which I'd never known existed - another terrific find, with its displays of costumes, theatrical posters, and video footage. She explained to us the difficulties of proving censorship from this period, and how one way of detecting it was to examine different copies of the same work, to check what had changed.
A quick trip to the cafe, and we were into an afternoon of political theatre. As the speaker remarked, she'd been told for weeks that this was sold out - and here we were, in a rare spell of British hot weather, with the room half full. Ah well, can't be helped. An interesting few hours followed, in which we watched an enlightening film about Belarus Free Theatre, listened to an interview of two people involved, then had to participate in an interactive session.. wasn't too bad, of course. First, people were encouraged to speak about something they always carry with them, and describe its significance. Then, we ended up carrying this long strip of red fabric around the building and back - a symbol of the red line that won't be crossed. We ended with what I found most moving - a Skype call to one of the underground group in Belarus, standing outside tonight's secret theatre, as the audience filed in. "Say hi to London, guys!" Good luck to them.
Time to eat, before the film gala; I fancied trying the cheap Oriental place I'd spotted - Oriental Canteen, as it turns out - so went and got a table there. It's mostly communal tables, but they have small ones along the windows, suitable for one or two. I'd ordered, and was sipping my 7Up - they don't have a full licence, and the only alcohol is Tiger Beer - when I realised the place is cash-only.. and I didn't have any! I checked with them that I'd need it, then asked where the nearest cash machine was - South Ken Station again. Complete with a couple of enterprising beggars, of course. Well, I got it and returned.. they only do mains here, but damn, they're cheap! £5.50 for any of the specials, which come with a choice of three sides - I had Teriyaki chicken with fried noodles. Which was fine - not the tastiest, but perfectly decent, and a good size helping. Friendly service, too. I'd be ok with coming back to try something else.
And afterwards, back up to the Albert Hall, where I ran into a couple of the others. You have to print out your tickets for here - one of us had had his ticket print ridiculously large, and had to go off to the box office to fix it! We others continued up to the Second Circle, where most of us had booked seats. Well, we'd barely arrived when someone let us in on the fact that the ushers were offering free Stalls upgrades..! We didn't need to be told twice. And as more group members arrived, I directed them all to her, and the ever more frazzled usher tried valiantly to seat us all together. Hey, she managed it for a whole group of us - we got terrific seats!
And so for a fantastic end to the day, with film (and tv) themes I mostly recognised. Goddamnit, even Game of Thrones made it in, as it does everywhere else.. the night ended with Star Wars (natch) and Rocky as encore.. but somehow, the theme of the night for me was E.T. As it soared over us, it couldn't be beaten..
Bus home, then, in enough time to drop into the Co-Op for something sweet. Tomorrow, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. only about 10 minutes' walk from the office. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Saturday, 21 April 2018
Walk: Ghosts of the Old City
Today, Helen was in town and we agreed to meet for food. I rose late - she was already at her craft show - and moseyed down in the general direction of Bank Station. It's right beside the Royal Exchange, where I had to be later, and is the City terminus of the DLR, which would be handy for where she was coming from. Baking hot it was as I walked down, too.
More photos here. Where in the maze around Bank would we meet, though? She suggested the DLR exit - I had trouble finding that, and decided to stay outside to get a better signal while I hunted down eating options. I had an uneasy moment trying to sit down, when I really thought my back would give way. Been under too much stress lately, for one thing. Well, I survived - options were truly limited though, as always in the City at the weekend. I finally lit on Brown's, a short walk away in Old Jewry - I've eaten in the West End branch, and know it's decent.
She duly met me between station and restaurant, and off we went - inside, it was deliciously cool, airy, and brightly decorated, and practically completely empty. I guess tourists would have trouble stumbling across it, down this side street! We could sit pretty much anywhere, so chose a sofa, and ordered mains, leaving room for desserts - chicken schnitzel for her, with chips, half chicken for me.
I had considered the schnitzel, and might have been better off choosing that - my chicken breast was a bit dry and tasteless. Good gravy though, which came in a dinky little pouring pan (without spout, messily), and terrific chips, of which I half considered ordering another portion - I was starved. I didn't ask about the schnitzel, but it got finished, as far as I could see. Dessert was an apple crumble for her, which she was warned was quite hot, so she melted her scoop of ice cream into it. I'd ordered a brownie, but they were out of them - so I chose the next most chocolatey thing on the menu, salted caramel profiteroles. Which turned out to be quite delicious! Think I'm changing my mind about salted caramel.. With friendly and efficient service too, Brown's might not be the cheapest, but it's not exorbitant, and it is always a pleasant choice.
Afterwards, we moseyed slowly down to St. Paul's for her to catch her bus to Waterloo, stopping in on the way for a spot of shopping - she remarked how beautifully uncrowded the City is at the weekends, in comparison with the West End! True - the trick is to find the stuff that's open. Later, we made our way to Caffe Nero (beside St. Paul's), where - for once - I didn't feel like a hot chocolate, and they didn't have a basket of gianduja by the till. :-( I did have a slice of chocolate fudge cake though, which was decent, if unremarkable. And I had to ask her specifically for a fork, as none were on display. Oh, and the WiFi was so complicated to register on that I gave up.
Great to see Helen, but we were soon to part.. She shortly got a bus to Waterloo - they're plentiful, there - and I moseyed my slow way back to the Royal Exchange, where I was delighted to find unoccupied benches - the tourists had mostly decamped for the day. Having said that, I watched two walking groups, whose guides were describing the Royal Exchange, and the Bank of England, just across the road. Largest gold reserve in the world, it seems! One group was distracted by one of those pedibuses, pop music blaring as it was stopped at the lights.
Well, it was getting chilly now, and I needed the loo. Searching for the nearest toilet, I came across a Public Toilet Finder app for the City! It requires access to your camera, then when you open it, you can see the world through your camera viewfinder, and as you pan, the nearest toilet in a direct line comes up, with the distance. I checked out a few, and the nearest free one that was open, and allowed women to use it, was in the Crosse Keys pub - which is how I came to go up there.
A former bank, and dear God, it's a cavernous space! Marble, with beautiful architectural features - stained glass, carvings - and a cacophonous din. Never mind, it had the essentials - a seat, a cold drink, and crucially, a loo downstairs. I ordered a large lemonade, and didn't finish it, staring mostly at the stairs down to the toilet, just to avoid the other view of garish slot machines that line the walls.. when I'd dawdled long enough over my drink, and carried on downstairs to the toilet - I remarked out loud how quiet and peaceful it was down there! By the time I made it back to the Royal Exchange, I was feeling much refreshed.
In the evening, I was back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last Funzing walk! Mind you, on Walking in London's website, it's called The Alleyways and Shadows - which was to prove much more descriptive. Our guide, decked out as a Victorian undertaker, plonked himself squarely in front of the nearby Underground exit - but still had to run off, near the start, to rescue someone who'd come out one of the other eight exits to this station! He had a big group tonight, too - but was determined to lose no-one. And he remembered my face, which was nice!
I like this guy's style - but he was on fire tonight, seeming to see spooky things all around us, playing everything up. Mind you, what really appealed to me from this tour was the fact that it concentrates mostly on alleyways, so you get to creep around the back lanes of London, which I always find fascinating. We got to hear about a ghostly waiter, who'll take your order but never pass it on: a woman that peers from a window where once the Hellfire Club held sway: and we saw the grave that you can enact a ritual on, to release its inhabitant. It was great fun - and I was glad I made it to the end, with my back playing up. I was also glad I hadn't dressed any lighter - the evening got quite chilly.
Tomorrow, back with Up in the Cheap Seats.. all day, as it happens, so I must get to bed soon. See, one of the organisers went crazy booking things the other day - it seems there's a day of free events at the V&A, with the theme of censorship. The day starts with Decorum X: Brunch with Bite.. tickets required. This is followed by a talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage, then finally comes a performance by Belarus Free Theatre (the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, it seems), with Artists Fighting Oppression. Sold out now, but he had tickets for us, if we were in quick. In the evening, we're off to a film music gala at the Albert Hall. What the hey, the V&A is on the way there!
On Monday, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
More photos here. Where in the maze around Bank would we meet, though? She suggested the DLR exit - I had trouble finding that, and decided to stay outside to get a better signal while I hunted down eating options. I had an uneasy moment trying to sit down, when I really thought my back would give way. Been under too much stress lately, for one thing. Well, I survived - options were truly limited though, as always in the City at the weekend. I finally lit on Brown's, a short walk away in Old Jewry - I've eaten in the West End branch, and know it's decent.
She duly met me between station and restaurant, and off we went - inside, it was deliciously cool, airy, and brightly decorated, and practically completely empty. I guess tourists would have trouble stumbling across it, down this side street! We could sit pretty much anywhere, so chose a sofa, and ordered mains, leaving room for desserts - chicken schnitzel for her, with chips, half chicken for me.
I had considered the schnitzel, and might have been better off choosing that - my chicken breast was a bit dry and tasteless. Good gravy though, which came in a dinky little pouring pan (without spout, messily), and terrific chips, of which I half considered ordering another portion - I was starved. I didn't ask about the schnitzel, but it got finished, as far as I could see. Dessert was an apple crumble for her, which she was warned was quite hot, so she melted her scoop of ice cream into it. I'd ordered a brownie, but they were out of them - so I chose the next most chocolatey thing on the menu, salted caramel profiteroles. Which turned out to be quite delicious! Think I'm changing my mind about salted caramel.. With friendly and efficient service too, Brown's might not be the cheapest, but it's not exorbitant, and it is always a pleasant choice.
Afterwards, we moseyed slowly down to St. Paul's for her to catch her bus to Waterloo, stopping in on the way for a spot of shopping - she remarked how beautifully uncrowded the City is at the weekends, in comparison with the West End! True - the trick is to find the stuff that's open. Later, we made our way to Caffe Nero (beside St. Paul's), where - for once - I didn't feel like a hot chocolate, and they didn't have a basket of gianduja by the till. :-( I did have a slice of chocolate fudge cake though, which was decent, if unremarkable. And I had to ask her specifically for a fork, as none were on display. Oh, and the WiFi was so complicated to register on that I gave up.
Great to see Helen, but we were soon to part.. She shortly got a bus to Waterloo - they're plentiful, there - and I moseyed my slow way back to the Royal Exchange, where I was delighted to find unoccupied benches - the tourists had mostly decamped for the day. Having said that, I watched two walking groups, whose guides were describing the Royal Exchange, and the Bank of England, just across the road. Largest gold reserve in the world, it seems! One group was distracted by one of those pedibuses, pop music blaring as it was stopped at the lights.
Well, it was getting chilly now, and I needed the loo. Searching for the nearest toilet, I came across a Public Toilet Finder app for the City! It requires access to your camera, then when you open it, you can see the world through your camera viewfinder, and as you pan, the nearest toilet in a direct line comes up, with the distance. I checked out a few, and the nearest free one that was open, and allowed women to use it, was in the Crosse Keys pub - which is how I came to go up there.
A former bank, and dear God, it's a cavernous space! Marble, with beautiful architectural features - stained glass, carvings - and a cacophonous din. Never mind, it had the essentials - a seat, a cold drink, and crucially, a loo downstairs. I ordered a large lemonade, and didn't finish it, staring mostly at the stairs down to the toilet, just to avoid the other view of garish slot machines that line the walls.. when I'd dawdled long enough over my drink, and carried on downstairs to the toilet - I remarked out loud how quiet and peaceful it was down there! By the time I made it back to the Royal Exchange, I was feeling much refreshed.
In the evening, I was back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last Funzing walk! Mind you, on Walking in London's website, it's called The Alleyways and Shadows - which was to prove much more descriptive. Our guide, decked out as a Victorian undertaker, plonked himself squarely in front of the nearby Underground exit - but still had to run off, near the start, to rescue someone who'd come out one of the other eight exits to this station! He had a big group tonight, too - but was determined to lose no-one. And he remembered my face, which was nice!
I like this guy's style - but he was on fire tonight, seeming to see spooky things all around us, playing everything up. Mind you, what really appealed to me from this tour was the fact that it concentrates mostly on alleyways, so you get to creep around the back lanes of London, which I always find fascinating. We got to hear about a ghostly waiter, who'll take your order but never pass it on: a woman that peers from a window where once the Hellfire Club held sway: and we saw the grave that you can enact a ritual on, to release its inhabitant. It was great fun - and I was glad I made it to the end, with my back playing up. I was also glad I hadn't dressed any lighter - the evening got quite chilly.
Tomorrow, back with Up in the Cheap Seats.. all day, as it happens, so I must get to bed soon. See, one of the organisers went crazy booking things the other day - it seems there's a day of free events at the V&A, with the theme of censorship. The day starts with Decorum X: Brunch with Bite.. tickets required. This is followed by a talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage, then finally comes a performance by Belarus Free Theatre (the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, it seems), with Artists Fighting Oppression. Sold out now, but he had tickets for us, if we were in quick. In the evening, we're off to a film music gala at the Albert Hall. What the hey, the V&A is on the way there!
On Monday, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Friday, 20 April 2018
Play: The Phlebotomist
Tonight, I got the very last ticket to The Phlebotomist, downstairs at Hampstead Theatre (gee, Hampstead again!). I went with Up in the Cheap Seats - North London Friends saw it in preview, but it was already sold out for that night when I looked.
Ah jeez, what a day today. Came in to the office, to discover that the entire documentation team in California was sacked. Well, first I found out that my boss was gone, then the head of training, then the guy who managed the community forum. Spent the day in shock, and I'm not recovered yet. Anyway, I dragged myself out in time to catch the bus, by which time things had settled down a bit - but I was still distracted as we chugged up the road, the bus overheated by the crush of passengers and the brilliant sunshine. At least, in Camden, I remembered that Stop X is actually after Stop Y - and with the indicator board not working, was delighted to be able to help a fellow passenger with the information about when our next bus was due, courtesy of that extremely helpful Bus Countdown app. And a lovely breeze was blowing by the time I disembarked.
Collected my ticket at the box office and headed downstairs, where our organiser was just drawing together tables and chairs. I headed first to the loo - confusing as ever, with a full-length mirror to give the illusion of space, and doors with large show photos, so it was hard to tell where the door even was. Plus, there was no toilet paper in my cubicle. Never mind, I managed, and was soon out to shock the others with the story of my day. Some had drinks, but our office picked a very good day to start to restock wine, I'd had some, and didn't feel the need now. We moved on to other topics before a queue started to gather, but didn't feel the need to start queueing until the door opened; we were at the end of the queue, but still managed to get seats all together, in the second row on the far side of the stage.
Two rows are all there are, for this production, on each side! The long stage runs down the middle, accessible from either side - seems they favour that kind of set, here. The sign outside the door warns that the production contains smoking (well, vaping) and flashing lights - true, and they start with six screens set in the wall, three on either side, above our heads, initially displaying static.
The story is set in a dystopian near future, where blood screening is used to give an overall picture of the health of an individual, summarised as a score between 0 and 10. Under three and you're known as a "sub", to be discriminated against in terms of dating sites, insurance companies, and employment prospects. It's all quite plausible - realistic ads extol the virtues of the system, and its by-products.. there's a cringeworthy dating ad, someone trying to excuse the fact that her score is only 5.9.. and we follow the stories of four characters caught up in this. There's the phlebotomist of the title, sorting blood samples when we meet her, whose job later becomes to test it for quality. There's a charming young man that she literally bumps into at the hospital. There's her best friend.. and there's the oddly cheery hospital porter, uncannily happy with his lot. All are affected by this system - in different ways.
I love dystopian fiction, and of course all this rings very true to life. Insurance companies do take account of your health, as do some employers, and of course mortgage providers, who look into the minutiae of everything - they'd just love to have it simplified for them with a numerical score. And can't you just imagine people being discriminated against, people being jealous of each other - and, for that matter, people prepared to cheat to better their prospects! The four characters react to this society in quite different ways, showing us how damaging it can be to judge people by an arbitrary number, i.e. be "ratist", as each questions the rules they live under.
I thought it very interesting - runs until the 19th of next month.
On the way home, an old friend contacted me, which delayed my journey somewhat, as I arbitrarily got off in Camden, for fear of missing my stop, only to discover that I was one before it! Not too bad, then. So I finished my conversation there, then waited for the #214 back home.. had to wait ages, and would you believe it, of all the buses that stop there, that was literally the only one that sped by without stopping! Blast - then the next was late. I was glad to get home finally, let me tell you.
Tomorrow, Helen is in town and we're headed for food. Somewhere. In the evening, I'm back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last Funzing walk!
On Sunday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats.. all day, as it happens. See, one of the organisers went crazy booking things the other day - it seems there's a day of free events at the V&A, with the theme of censorship. The day starts with Decorum X: Brunch with Bite.. tickets required. This is followed by a talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage, then finally comes a performance by Belarus Free Theatre (the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, it seems), with Artists Fighting Oppression. Sold out now, but he had tickets for us, if we were in quick. In the evening, we're off to a film music gala at the Albert Hall. What the hey, the V&A is on the way there!
On Monday, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I am back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Ah jeez, what a day today. Came in to the office, to discover that the entire documentation team in California was sacked. Well, first I found out that my boss was gone, then the head of training, then the guy who managed the community forum. Spent the day in shock, and I'm not recovered yet. Anyway, I dragged myself out in time to catch the bus, by which time things had settled down a bit - but I was still distracted as we chugged up the road, the bus overheated by the crush of passengers and the brilliant sunshine. At least, in Camden, I remembered that Stop X is actually after Stop Y - and with the indicator board not working, was delighted to be able to help a fellow passenger with the information about when our next bus was due, courtesy of that extremely helpful Bus Countdown app. And a lovely breeze was blowing by the time I disembarked.
Collected my ticket at the box office and headed downstairs, where our organiser was just drawing together tables and chairs. I headed first to the loo - confusing as ever, with a full-length mirror to give the illusion of space, and doors with large show photos, so it was hard to tell where the door even was. Plus, there was no toilet paper in my cubicle. Never mind, I managed, and was soon out to shock the others with the story of my day. Some had drinks, but our office picked a very good day to start to restock wine, I'd had some, and didn't feel the need now. We moved on to other topics before a queue started to gather, but didn't feel the need to start queueing until the door opened; we were at the end of the queue, but still managed to get seats all together, in the second row on the far side of the stage.
Two rows are all there are, for this production, on each side! The long stage runs down the middle, accessible from either side - seems they favour that kind of set, here. The sign outside the door warns that the production contains smoking (well, vaping) and flashing lights - true, and they start with six screens set in the wall, three on either side, above our heads, initially displaying static.
The story is set in a dystopian near future, where blood screening is used to give an overall picture of the health of an individual, summarised as a score between 0 and 10. Under three and you're known as a "sub", to be discriminated against in terms of dating sites, insurance companies, and employment prospects. It's all quite plausible - realistic ads extol the virtues of the system, and its by-products.. there's a cringeworthy dating ad, someone trying to excuse the fact that her score is only 5.9.. and we follow the stories of four characters caught up in this. There's the phlebotomist of the title, sorting blood samples when we meet her, whose job later becomes to test it for quality. There's a charming young man that she literally bumps into at the hospital. There's her best friend.. and there's the oddly cheery hospital porter, uncannily happy with his lot. All are affected by this system - in different ways.
I love dystopian fiction, and of course all this rings very true to life. Insurance companies do take account of your health, as do some employers, and of course mortgage providers, who look into the minutiae of everything - they'd just love to have it simplified for them with a numerical score. And can't you just imagine people being discriminated against, people being jealous of each other - and, for that matter, people prepared to cheat to better their prospects! The four characters react to this society in quite different ways, showing us how damaging it can be to judge people by an arbitrary number, i.e. be "ratist", as each questions the rules they live under.
I thought it very interesting - runs until the 19th of next month.
On the way home, an old friend contacted me, which delayed my journey somewhat, as I arbitrarily got off in Camden, for fear of missing my stop, only to discover that I was one before it! Not too bad, then. So I finished my conversation there, then waited for the #214 back home.. had to wait ages, and would you believe it, of all the buses that stop there, that was literally the only one that sped by without stopping! Blast - then the next was late. I was glad to get home finally, let me tell you.
Tomorrow, Helen is in town and we're headed for food. Somewhere. In the evening, I'm back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last Funzing walk!
On Sunday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats.. all day, as it happens. See, one of the organisers went crazy booking things the other day - it seems there's a day of free events at the V&A, with the theme of censorship. The day starts with Decorum X: Brunch with Bite.. tickets required. This is followed by a talk on Censorship on the Elizabethan Stage, then finally comes a performance by Belarus Free Theatre (the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, it seems), with Artists Fighting Oppression. Sold out now, but he had tickets for us, if we were in quick. In the evening, we're off to a film music gala at the Albert Hall. What the hey, the V&A is on the way there!
On Monday, another Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: Tuesday is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. Wednesday is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On Thursday, the London European Club is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I am back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
On the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
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