Today, my first outing with another new group - Bucket List London is off to Kenwood House, and I said I'd join them. You don't have to book, but it guarantees availability- tickets for free from English Heritage, via See Tickets. We were to meet at 11, and it'd take me the better part of an hour to get there - so naturally, I didn't get to bed early enough. And waking this morning wasn't the easiest, let me tell you..
Well hey, off I went. In light rain, which hadn't been forecast the night before. The only option to get me there in under an hour was Northern Line, followed by a bus - which is what I did. And happily, the Tube was early, so I got there early, and had time to get slightly lost, as usual. But it isn't desperately hard to find:
Well, our organiser had given good directions, so I managed to find our meeting place without too much trouble. No organiser, though - until I finally spotted him, dressed as he'd said he'd be. Full of apologies for being slightly late. See now, this is why I wouldn't fancy being an organiser - I do my best to be on time, but it's not always easy, and stuff happens. Anyway, no harm done - some of the group had already gone in, it transpired, but we caught up with them.
Kenwood House, it turns out, is famous for being the beneficiary of the Iveagh bequest - the first Earl of Iveagh saved the house from development by buying it. Then gifted it to the nation. Decent bloke.
The contents had already been sold, but he used the house to showcase some of the finest pieces from his art collection. I'm not an art aficionada, but even I had to be impressed when viewing the mixture of Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Constable.. and interestingly, he preferred pictures of women and children, in general..
The architecture is lovely, the presentation of the paintings carefully considered - and the volunteers hanging around in most rooms are generally only delighted to chat about their subject! "Yes, this is the family associated with Guinness, the stout." "Yes, this clock is as old as your country!" (said to an American). Mind you, I thought I'd never get away from the woman who wanted to talk about Ireland, which she'd visited, and loved.. well, she eventually got snagged by somebody who wanted to ask about a painting, and I made a graceful exit. But they're among the most engaged volunteers I've met, anywhere.
The gift shop didn't tempt me - but the coffee shop did, where I had a most excellent, vegan, chocolate orange cake and a hot chocolate. Large. And very hot. And we sat in what was now very pleasant sunshine, where we found plentiful seating, and chatted merrily - and I was back on the Tube with our gregarious organiser. Yes, had a lovely time meeting people! and this is a group I'll keep an eye out for, from now on.
Now, I hadn't had a huge amount to eat yet today - and food was high on my list. So I said, well, for the hell of it, I'll try Cote Barbican again - you might remember that they were booked up when I tried to get a table there, in lashing rain, a couple of weeks ago.. So, in I went, started by saying I didn't have a reservation, but - could I get a table for one? (I could see plenty of empty tables this time.) "Of course! Where would you like to sit?" Hmph. Maybe it was the weather, last time..?
Steak-frites, as usual, and wine, and I decided to try the garlic bread. Yeah - not sure I will again: nothing wrong with it, except the quantity. I didn't have it half finished by the time my main course arrived, and never did get more than half of the garlic bread eaten.. it's just too much. Besides, I needed to leave room for dessert - which was their delectably rich chocolate mousse (topped with cocoa powder). Yup, I was well fed, and practically rolled home. Wow, a much more successful day all round than two weeks ago..
Tomorrow, I found something interesting with London Walks, Art & Culture Explorers! Yet another new one for me. This is an "Uncomfortable Statues Walk" - statues commemorating controversial people. I can think of a few, and it'll be interesting to see which come up on this! Another early start though, damnit. Still, it'll be an early night tonight.
On Monday, I'm with London Classical Music & Theatre Group, for a choral performance (annual, apparently) by The Sixteen in Temple Church. Fantastic, and I've never actually been inside!
On Tuesday, I'm with Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex (!). They have an online talk entitled Hallowe'en Penny Dreadful Online Show - The Art of Victorian Horror. I have to say, online has become much more of an option since lockdown. And that'll be a night I can move stuff from my desk - we have to clear them out by the end of the week, as we're moving office next month!
On Wednesday, I booked another walk with Invigorate - this one is a tour of (the outside of) Christopher Wren's churches. Starting even closer to the office than the last one, handily. Rain is forecast - I hope it doesn't get too bad.
On Thursday, an online storytelling double-bill - I'll have to see how that pans out. First, I'd booked Universe, a Crick Crack Club (CCC) show happening in Oxford and live-streamed. Clare Murphy - and I've seen it before, and it was the best show ever! And then I saw that Martin Shaw from the CCC was doing an online show, earlier in the evening.. this one, in association with Watkins Bookshop, is called The Smoke Hole, and it's free. So I said, hey, why not? (And this is realistically the last night I can move stuff from my desk.)
On Friday, back with the London European Club for a concert - Balkan Music, courtesy of Raka & Balamuc, in The Post Bar, Tottenham. Sounds like fun. Even if I have to bring my work laptop, as we won't have access to our desks by that night. Then I'm back to Ireland - another Saturday flight - and with a few days off, I'm not flying back until the 28th. At least I'm not working from home this time, so don't have to bring the laptop on the flight!
But on the 29th, back with that group again, for Carmen - contemporary flamenco at The Place. (Might work from home that day, as we won't be in our new office yet, and I'd have to carry my laptop around with me.) Funnily enough, someone in the group said there were no individual seats left, and asked whether anyone wanted to double up with her. I offered, if there were no other takers - but she never got back to me. So, since I was now up to that date in my schedule, I decided to check for myself - and got an individual seat! So I've booked it.
And on the 30th, I'm doing something nice and Halloweeny - a ghost story event entitled Night Owl - changed from Scared to Death in the Woods, which they're now doing on Hallowe'en itself, and which has sold out. Tickets from Design My Night. So, an organisation called London Dreamtime is leading us off into a undisclosed location, somewhere around Hampstead Heath (where I was today, actually).. we're to dress warmly, and bring a blanket to sit on, and a "candle in a jar" - I actually went out and bought an LED flickering candle in a lantern-style holder. Well, thought it was the most practical! Now I just need batteries..
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