Whew, made it! I left it as late as possible to tell my mother that I was leaving - which turned out to be a good thing, as she had less time to be miserable! And she was in bed for the afternoon, which is probably the best place for that. Anyway, by the time I had to go, she was back in full nagging mode, telling me to do this and make sure not to do that.. and so we're back to normal.
I have to hand it to Ryanair - their customer service has improved. As I was getting ready to go, they texted me to warn me about roadworks, and waiting in the airport, they texted me what my gate was probably going to be! and so it proved. Mind you, so much for having to be there 2.5 hours beforehand - an hour would have been plenty. Of course, the fact that not one person asked us for our Covid certs, or proof of testing, helped. Meantime, the nice lady in the duty-free reminded me that I can claim duty now, flying to the UK! Gee, I'd forgotten that - and it'll prove very handy, one day.
D'you know, I'm so out of practice at this, I nearly forgot to book the Stansted Express. But I remembered, and have now booked tickets to correspond to all my flights. We actually got in ahead of our scheduled time, and so swiftly to Liverpool Street Station, where I see they've now introduced satisfaction rating meters and more (and comfier looking) seating! Which will probable help the approval rating.
Wow, it feels weird to be back - like reliving a past life. Anyway, it's fantastic to get to book stuff again. Sadly, Meetup is a bit bare, these days.. used to be, there was hardly a day when they didn't offer something decent! Anyway, best this evening seemed to be an online Zoom quiz with Free Stuff and Free Events. I signed up for it. And afterwards, I signed up to a free comedy gig - again, online - with London-International.
Well, four people signed up for the quiz - which the organiser mustn't have thought enough, because she cancelled without a by your leave. We never got formal notification - I just suddenly noticed it wasn't on my calendar any more. Well, no great sadness - and it left me free to eat out. I debated about what to do, and finally decided on Nando's - the nearest to the office being in Farringdon. I didn't bother with a mask, and wasn't asked. I did discover, however, that all ordering and payment is now done online - blasted QR code to scan, and my scanner always takes three goes to get it right! when all it does is redirect you to a website, which you could access directly. Never mind, it worked in the end - and despite rumours of shortages due to Brexit, they had my usual, which was what I ordered. Except that I decided to try their new, garlic and BBQ sauce - a combination I couldn't really imagine, but I was feeling adventurous. Oh, and they now only have one brand of wine - happily, it's mine, but I switched from sauvignon blanc to chadonnay, as the sauvignon now comes in a can!
In due course, someone came along to apologise - sadly, he was soft-spoken, and I couldn't hear him terribly well over the music, but it turned out that I was going to have to wait longer for my chicken, because he'd have to cook up a fresh batch - what was there was "bad"! Well, I have to praise his honesty. He also wanted to give me a complimentary starter, but I don't really fancy the starters there.
When it did come, it was lovely. That sauce is a curious combination, the garlic tempering the spiciness of the BBQ sauce, I guess - I'm kind of undecided about whether I'd have it again, but I did enjoy it. Now, I'd also ordered the choc-a-lot cake for dessert - and ordered them all at the same time. So a while after my main course had been cleared away, I began to wonder whether they knew about the dessert.. after all, I had to get back for the comedy show! Meantime, the soft-spoken guy came back to apologise again, but again I didn't quite catch what he was saying.
Sure enough, I ended up having to go up to the counter to tell them about my dessert - which, of course, came as a complete surprise to them. Well, it came in due course - and that is a damn good chocolate cake! The gelato that I ordered with it had a very strange taste though - I should have known better than to order gelato. Anyway, never mind - wouldn't you know it, I subsequently got an email to the effect that the entire order had been refunded to me! Well, wow, that was a good value meal.. I guess that was what he was trying to tell me, at the end.
Off I scurried, aware that I was going to be late getting home, what with delays to both courses. And I got lost in the City - well, it's been a while! Not to mention that I'd already had more exercise today than in the last year and a half - well, I needed to shop, but figured I'd better leave that till after. Sure enough, I arrived to my room 10 minutes late - booted up my laptop for the first time in a year and a half, and discovered - of course - that I didn't have Zoom on it! So I started the call initially on my phone, about 15 minutes late, at about 9.15, just as they were introducing a performer, filming in what looked like his bedroom - whether there'd been another before that, I don't know.
I guess this is a good idea, a way for inexperienced performers to break into the business. Dear God though, I'm glad I didn't pay for it! There were a few chuckles from the handful of us that showed up - not from me, and given what I was saying about him, I'm glad I had the presence of mind to go on mute. He had time for basically one joke, a lame thing about having sex with toys, and that was it - finished in 10 minutes, and.. so was the show! That was it! despite it being advertised to continue for another 20 minutes. Mind you, if that was any indication, I'm glad it didn't. I'm now reminded why I stopped going to free comedy..
Never mind, it was a cheap night, and I'm stuffed (and exercised). Tomorrow afternoon, one of the many that were hired by our company during lockdown, whom I've never met in real life, has invited me for coffee, yay. More optimistic about tomorrow night than tonight, when I've decided to take myself off to - gee - the cinema again! When I was checking the film list during lockdown (and how happy was I to see that back up and running again, these days - there was literally nothing on it before!, and it was shocking and saddening to see it completely empty. Well, it's pretty full now - and I do like their new policy of listing films in columns, across the page - it makes it much quicker to read. I was also glad of the number I saw in Ireland, which cut the total down a bit.
Anyway, having excluded the arty films at the top that were either not showing tomorrow, or just not interesting to me, I was delighted to come up with Another Round, in which Mads Mikkelsen is a disaffected schoolteacher, who, with a group of like-minded teachers, decides to test the theory that humans do much better slightly sozzled (i.e. having consumed a certain minimum amount of alcohol). This is a theory I've heard before, that small amounts of alcohol help with concentration. Anyway, initial results are so good that they take it a step further - but how much is too much? This is one that I seem to remember was showing in Ireland, but only in the evenings, which I couldn't do, because of having to keep my mother company. Anyway, its gone from my local cinemas there, but still showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury, yay! Nice cinema, with a nice price.. Interestingly, doesn't seem to have social distancing - unlike the cinemas in Ireland.
On Wednesday, my social life creaks back into action at last - the social group of ex-employees of my last company had two members suggest meeting me for drinks that day or the next. Great! Mind you, try getting a response from anyone else.. or a decision on the day, or the venue.. so we've provisionally got as far as "somewhere in Farringdon, on Wednesday." Herding cats, indeed.. s'pose I'll have to decide on the venue, too.
On Thursday - delighted to be back with Up in the Cheap Seats! Seeing Oleanna, a play about a professor who has a sexual harassment claim brought against him by a student, at the Arts Theatre. Always a topical theme.
On Friday, woohoo! Seeing NewsRevue at London Wonderground, courtesy of one of my cheap ticket sellers (CT). For less than 1/3 of the price, thank you.. and I really thought I wouldn't get to London Wonderground at all.. and it's at Earl's Court, which will be a blast from the past - I miss the job I had (and the office environment) when I was staying there, in the nicest flat I've had in London!
And on Saturday, meeting Helen! for lunch at the Bear & Staff, followed by leisurely secondhand bookshop browsing.
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