I returned to London yesterday - my taxi driver couldn't bring me to the airport, he has Covid, but happily his dad is a taxi driver too. And since they don't live together, he was quite prepared to bring me! We had an awful wait to board, and were late departing - but gee, I've never seen such a fast deplaning. We arrived at 10.45pm, and were in the Arrivals public area at 11.02. There I was, expecting the Stansted Express to have left at 11, so I'd have to wait until 11.30 - no indeed, there was one at 11.12! which I was most grateful to catch. Home and bed that little bit earlier.
Over the weekend, London Classical Music & Theatre Group (LCMTG) suddenly organised a trip for this evening, to see Habeas Corpus, an Alan Bennett farce at the Menier Chocolate Factory. I rather baulked at the steep ticket price - but then thought, why don't I try my cheap ticket clubs? As someone remarked last year, a serious number of shows are using them, desperate to sell tickets. And sure enough, TAC stepped up to the plate - so instead of paying £45.. I paid £3.60! Now, that is one of the best-value deals I ever got from them. Also, this is a new organiser with this group, and we arranged to meet. Lovely!
Except.. this morning, the performance was cancelled. Probably Covid again. What a shame. Undaunted, I finished the film list I'd been trying to do before this was advertised, and ended up with - another Indian film I didn't like the look of. I watched the trailer, read the summary, watched the trailer again - still couldn't take to it. But I was much happier with my second option - I read a great review of Licorice Pizza at the weekend, and was very keen to see it. If only because the trailer includes Life on Mars?, which I've spent the last while obsessed with!
Happily, I had a choice of viewings at the Barbican, my nearest cinema - if I didn't make the 5.50 showing in Screen 1, there was always a later showing in one of the others. Again happily, it seems to be taking most people a while to re-acclimatise to work after Christmas, because this evening - no-one was looking for me! So I took myself to the earlier showing. Boy, was it frigid outside though.. just as well it's not a long walk.
I didn't need to book, there were plenty of seats. And I treated myself to a glass of wine at the adjacent bar - though when I asked him what they had, he moved away and mumbled through his mask, so I could hardly hear a word. As I said, "I heard chardonnay - I'll have that." Having already asked whether they had pinot grigio, which they didn't. And I did have chardonnay, though he had to remove his mask to ask what size I wanted.
Well, this is written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Who is known for films with cracking storylines. And this is a humdinger of a film, set in California in the 70s, about an unlikely relationship between a teenage boy (Cooper, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the girl, 10 years older, who's assisting the photographer on the day his class is getting their school photo. Both are first-time actors, both have bad skin, and this is the most unconventional love story you're likely to see on screen! Also stars Sean Penn as a famous actor she attaches herself to at one point - doubtless inspired by her teenage friend's acting career. Tom Waits is an old friend of his. Bradley Cooper, unrecognisable in long hair and beard, is Barbra Streisand's psychotic boyfriend, to whom the teenager sells a waterbed, once he's established a business in that line.
Trundles along in one way - in another, you're just dying to see where it goes. It's absolutely hilarious, and completely non-conventional.. none of the lines, none of the reactions, none of the scenes, adhere to stereotypical film norms. Take the scene where they're running madly towards each other - only to crash into each other and fall over, with an observer making a face and going "ouch"! And there's a whole film's-worth of that. Oh, and stick around for the start of the credits, where you find out that all the young female star's film family have the same first names in real life as in the film.. and gee, they all have the same surname.. yes, this is her actual family, all of whom were cast! (They're friends of the director.) But she is stunning audiences everywhere with her performance. Definitely, get to see this.. it's terrific. And it's telling how times have changed, when the only way to phone someone at this time was on their house phone.. with the family listening in.. The first film I've rated as 10/10 on IMDB in a long time, and no surprise to me that the above-linked review also gave it a perfect score!
That was supposed to be the start of a few days with cheap ticket clubs - tomorrow, I booked with CT to see Clean Slate Comedy, at Alice House, West Hampstead. But today, I saw an advert for Bucket List London, hosting a New Year Dinner: Meet the London Expert! Well, honestly, since I booked that comedy show, there have been a few clashes - but I hadn't realised this was on, it wasn't up when I was initially looking for something for that day. So I promptly cancelled what I had booked - I'll have to be careful, you can only cancel three times with them over the course of a year, before you're thrown out! and that's twice now. Anyway, this dinner is taking place in the Duke of Sussex pub, and for the price we are getting dinner and a talk by a Blue Badge guide, whose name I'm sure I've seen mentioned in other Meetups. It's a shame there aren't more of us going, but that might be fear of Covid.
On Thursday, the same organiser with LCMTG has arranged an outing to a classical concert by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.. and wouldn't you know it, I had just booked the same thing with TAC! D'you think she is in the same club..? ;-) As she says, hope that goes ahead..
On Friday, North London Friends is off to - Matthew Bourne's production of The Nutcracker, at Sadler's Wells! Aw man, I've been dying to see this! Well, they had their own tickets, and all are now sold out - but they were more expensive than I tend to go for, anyway. So I booked one of my regular seats, in the gods, a single seat to the side. Perfect. (Annoyingly, CT offered tickets to this - very briefly - last year, but by the time I checked, they were all gone. But my seat isn't expensive anyway.) Had to reset my password - they've enhanced the security requirements for passwords.
On Saturday - ironically, the most expensive thing I've booked - I'm headed with London European Club to an Albrecht Durer exhibition at the National Gallery. I could have booked for free if I'd taken out membership, but I don't think I'd get the value of it. We're supposed to get access to a free audio guide with the booking, accessible through our smartphones, but I can't seem to see any evidence of it.. if we are getting one, I'll have to pop into the office during the week, I left my headphones in there! Anyway, we're meeting beforehand at Notes Coffee.
On Sunday, I'm with Discover London - History Walks and Events for a walk entitled Bawdy Borough: Poverty, Prostitutes and Playhouses. Cash on the day, annoyingly - I just about have it, as long as she doesn't mind a bit of change!
And on Monday, back with LCMTG, for a Gabrieli Consort & Players concert at Wigmore Hall. And wouldn't you know it, the organiser gave his seat number for once - so, when I saw the seat beside him was free, I booked it! So, on my third Meetup with him - I just might get to meet him, finally! (Mind you, he then booked to come on Thursday, so maybe I'll get a preview..)
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