Last night, we had a slightly delayed September social for ex-employees (and current, if they want) of the company I last worked for - Ivan was away till Sunday, and of course I was busy on Monday. So, last night we headed to Imperial China - the new Chinese restaurant I discovered via Civilised London (CL). Booked for six people, it was pretty much guaranteed not to exceed that. Getting an answer out of people is always difficult.
The weather decided to go for a record, yesterday.. we had thunderstorms, we had pretty torrential rain. And with me getting delayed at the office, I ended up taking the Tube. A packed Central Line gave way to an amazingly deserted Piccadilly Line, where I easily got a seat! As someone said after, I should've taken a picture of such an unprecedented event..
And so out into the rain again, where I discovered one of the group had arrived slightly before me - the only one to arrive on time! He'd messaged me, so I told him I was there now, and to come on in when he actually got there. The others arrived gradually; in the end - with one cancelling at the last minute and the other just not showing up without saying anything - we had four. And it was a while before we ate, as we were waiting for everyone to arrive before we ordered mains!
We started with wine, which was conveniently placed at my elbow.. went through a couple of bottles of that, and some water, and then someone suggested starters. When I saw a dim sum platter, I thought that'd be perfect. It turns out you can have vegetarian or seafood - we chose seafood. Very tasty it was, too. The last person arrived while we were eating it, and we duly ordered mains.
Service was pretty slow throughout - and they mistook a couple of orders. But hey, it was all done in good spirits - and the food was tasty, with decent honey and lemon chicken for me. Just as well we didn't have more people - the table was groaning with what we ordered, what with a couple of portions of fried rice, a chicken fried rice, a special fried rice, another honey and lemon chicken, and another couple of mains for someone else. who was feeling hungry. One had a Coke, and it's good to know that they do spirits, too - a couple of Chivas Regal were ordered.
The toilets are a bit annoying, because you can't flush the paper, but have to bin it - yuck. But all in all, it was a good meal. When we'd finally managed to divvy up the bill to everyone's satisfaction, we repaired to Brewmaster for a couple, where we had an uproarious conversation, fuelled by the news on the tv screen near us. We had to leave all too soon - but it was great to see everyone! Roll on the next time. And at least I got to bed a bit earlier, given that I had a meeting this morning. No blogging, of course.
Tonight, I'm headed to The Merry Wives of Windsor, at the Globe. And wouldn't you know it, it completely rained itself out yesterday, and today is the first day with no rain in two weeks! Feckin' freezing, though.. it would be the day I'll be sitting outdoors.
Tomorrow, I'm back with CL - this should be interesting. Red Palace is an immersive cabaret experience - lots of fairytale characters, I believe - at the Vaults. And I really hope the weather is ok, because I sourced the most fantastic outfit for it..! On Sunday night, someone from the group took the trouble to read the T&Cs - fair play her! - and realised that we have to wear masks. Damnit, and I have one from Venice that would have done perfectly! except it's back in Ireland. Ah well, they'll have cheap ones for sale on the door - just hope I don't freeze.. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - the start of another brief hiatus from Meetup.
On Monday, I'm off to Shushkin's Stories, at the Barbican. Performed in Russian, with English surtitles, it's a dramatisation of the short stories of Vasily Shushkin.
On Tuesday, off to Wilton's, for Lady of Jazz.
Next Wednesday, heading to the Turbine Theatre, for Torch Song. This is the inaugural show at the new theatre in the revamped Battersea Power Station!
On the 10th, back with Meetup - North London Friends is off to A History of Water in the Middle East, at the Royal Court. Another where I got my ticket from the organiser.
On the 11th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - to Southwark Playhouse this time, for Preludes. D' you know, I bought their passport a while ago, which entitles you to cheap tickets to five shows - and of the last three I booked, something else came up for every single one! Hope I make this one.. reports of it being "weird" don't phase me in the slightest!
On the 12th, seeing the matinee of Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith. Turns out that both UITCS and Love London Theatre, Arts, Music & Stuff (LLTAMS) are going - so I booked with both! Why not? Each requires you to buy your own ticket. And since only the organiser and I are going from LLTAMS, I hope we can merge.. Ivan is talking about possibly meeting up that evening.
On the 13th, joining the London Improvisation Community Group for the first time - they have a show called Happily Never After at the Pleasance - part of the London Horror Festival.
On the 14th, I'm seeing Mother of Him, at the Park.
On the 15th, UITCS is off to the Albert Hall for Symphonic Queen - the Royal Philharmonic is performing Queen.
Then begins a long period of non-Meetup stuff. On the 16th, I'm heading to the ballet Manon, at the Opera House.
On the 17th, the Crick Crack Club (CCC) is back at Rich Mix, with Melusine. TUUP is the headliner on this occasion, which should be terrific!
On the 18th, Helen's in town, heading to a Midge Ure concert at the Palladium - we're meeting for dinner beforehand. Now, that's the day I should be flying back to Ireland - so I'm going the next day instead. And with my mother's birthday during the week - and not having any major holidays booked - I said, why not just take the week off and spend it in Ireland? So I am.
On the 28th, the CCC is back again - Ben Haggarty is in Soho Theatre with Grim Grimms - a dark take on fairytales, highlighting four lesser-known tales of the brothers Grimm. With musical accompaniment. Tickets weren't available when I noted this in my calendar - they are now, and will likely sell out.
On the 29th, I'm trying to persuade the aforementioned social group from my former company to come with me to a Design My Night event - Fright Night Cinema is showing Hallowe'en in the Rivoli ballroom, with a themed cocktail bar and people dressed in spooky costumes. Now, that sounds like fun..
On the 30th, back with Meetup at last - UITCS is at a mixed programme by Birmingham Royal Ballet, at Sadler's Wells. I've seen part of it before, and it's excellent.
And for Hallowe'en, The Embers Collective stepped up to the plate, with a storytelling performance called Witch, at The Jago.
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