Now, after all that fuss, I was hungry - and regretting my decision to head out, because I had to rush. I'd have loved a slap-up meal - instead, I had to go for something quick, so decided that Wasabi would be the thing. Unfortunately, my local one closes at the weekends - but I checked, and one was open on Bishopsgate. As usual, I wanted chicken katsu curry, but they didn't have anything fresh - he gave me a bento from the hot cupboard, complete with a carton of sauce and the chicken escalopes perched on a little plastic ledge - all very snug.
Interestingly, while he was trying to serve me, a customer had a complaint - she'd tried to avail of an offer they had, of a discount if you buy two - but she hadn't got the discount. He explained to her that the two had to be exactly the same thing. WTF? Never heard of that before - beware the "offers" here. Oh, and my meal was nothing special - I made no attempt to finish it. I won't be going back to this branch.
The #11 bus would take me all the way to the concert, but I had some difficulty finding the stop, since I was under the impression it'd be going the other way! En route, I spied some more pedibuses - really, I knew they'd become popular, but I never saw two in a row before! I did notice that not everyone was pedalling - tsk.
A diversion did delay us a bit, but I still got there in good time. Now, conditions of this club include that, in return for your cheap ticket, you buy a drink or a programme - they didn't have drinks, so a programme it was. And for once, I had cash - had to get some out to pay my movers' congestion charge.
Inside this C of E church, I was, as ever, stunned to see how much it resembles a modern Catholic one. Jeez, there's even a statue of Mary - and when I was sat close to it, I was even more surprised to see a card with the Hail Mary on it, right over the votive candles..
The concert, by the Purcell singers, focused on coronation music:
(Although they missed out Inheritance, in the second half.) Dressed, as they were, in various shades of black, I fitted in with them. A couple of chairs were provided for older members who needed it - and I did notice that the older members seemed a bit cheerier than the generally po-faced youngsters! As for the material - suitably grand, sometimes it was overwhelming.. and sometimes it dragged a bit. Perhaps a bit much to listen to, all at once! My cough did resurrect itself towards the end of the first half - happily, there were plenty of loud bits too hide it.
At the interval, one of the choristers came around asking for subscriptions to the mailing list - so I signed up: can always quit if it gets annoying. Thing is, she asked me whether I knew anyone in the choir - I didn't, but there seemed to be quite a few relatives in the audience. One couple had not one, but two daughters performing! Anyhoo, she also asked how I'd heard about it - and when I told her, she asked how much I'd paid, as she'd heard it was cheaper than full price. Well, it generally is - £3.60, as I told her, as opposed to a full price of £15. Mind you now, if it ever gets back to them that I said that, I'll be thrown out - they're adamant that they don't charge for the tickets, the £3.60 is a booking fee! Eh, whatever. Anyway, I do want to keep attending their events, so I'm hoping - if it gets back to them that someone said that - that I wasn't the only person there from that club..!
And so, back to my new home, on the #344 that's proving as useful now as when I was living in Clapham Junction! Stopped into Tesco on the way - where I tried to help a poor Frenchman who was in search of earplugs. Unfortunately, as I told him, he'd have better luck in a chemist's - and there are no late-night ones around here, would you believe! Poor guy - I'm guessing he won't get much sleep tonight..
Two days of storytelling to follow! Tomorrow, I'm back with the London European Club, who are off to see The Embers Collective perform. Now, I haven't been to one of their events before, but a couple of their performers have also performed at the Crick Crack Club events. It's a bit out of town, at Balabam - never mind, should be good. And Ivan said he'd come, so cool! Name of the show? F*cked Up Fairytales.. tickets courtesy of Design My Night.
Speaking of the Crick Crack Club, on Monday I'm headed to what will probably be their last show before autumn. This is a Fairytales for Grown-Ups double bill at Soho Theatre - one of the performers is Ben Haggarty, always worth seeing.
On Tuesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, to the King's Head, for what should be another manic show. Vulvarine - ahem - is a sort of superhero story. With a female superhero, natch.
And on Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks. He had to change his original plan - seems the pub we were to meet in is closed for refitting, and with no good alternatives, he had to come up with another walk at the last minute. So now, we're doing a Walk by a Canal.
No comments:
Post a Comment