Storytelling: The Little Prince

Today, ooh - London European Club was at a storytelling event in King's Place! Not Crick Crack this time - this appeared to be an independent event, a telling of The Little Prince, with piano accompaniment. Sounded lovely! and was bound to be more sociable than yesterday.

So, Google Maps suggested two buses - the first was diverted again, but this time didn't cause me too much trouble. But when it came time to change, I seemed to be in a completely different area from where Maps thought I should be! Nuts to where they were telling me to go - I could see the next stop was closer, and happily, my knowledge of the area let me know that I needed to get down from the Holborn Viaduct to get there. Not long to wait, anyway, and I was at the venue first, and took a seat in the lobby. When the organiser arrived, he was brandishing a takeaway cup of coffee; the cafe in King's Place is, sadly, still closed, but the bar does meals and drinks, including for takeaway. So I got a hot chocolate - which was passable, if not memorable.

The others arrived in due course - and among other things, the conversation turned to what exactly the theme of the book was. Happily, one (out of all of us!) had read it fairly recently, and was able to tell us, basically, what happened. And when the time came, downstairs we went to the show.

In the audience, several children - perfectly behaved, for the most part. On stage, a storyteller (with some props), a pianist, in a lovely, sparkly dress. And the story, which lasted for the next hour or so. It's the tale of a pilot who crash lands in the Sahara, and meets a little prince, from a faraway asteroid, who asks him any amount of questions - from which we (and he) learn what we should be considering as important. I have to say, it was an excellent performance.

Afterwards, we repaired to the bar, where a number of us had food - for me, a rather good, if unusually presented, shepherd's pie. And we chatted about the performance - which not everyone was mad about, but hey, I think it was worth watching either way. And the chat lasted for hours, with talk of what's good on film, and Meetup recommendations. See now, that's what I call a Meetup! Saw a number of people I hadn't seen in a while, and everyone had a most convivial chat.

Tomorrow, Surrey History Meetup has another Zoom meeting - this one is on Canal History and Heritage. Forgot I had to register separately, so it's just as well he reminded me.

On Tuesday, my first in-person Meetup with 45+ not Grumpy Old Londoners - a guided walk with Laurence Summers! This is the Feisty Fitzrovia pub tour - and since I used to live there, I can hardly refuse! Another pay-on-the-day, but I have cash.

On Wednesday - would you believe, my first Meetup of the year with Up in the Cheap Seats! Well, they're going to see Magic Goes Wrong, which I've been dying to see - again, I could hardly refuse! Yet again, I missed out on cheap tickets - ended up in the Gods, but at the end of a row, and the view should be OK. The Apollo Theatre, tickets now cheapest on the official website. And with all the seats that were still free, you never know, I might get an upgrade.. The ticket was a nightmare to book, mind - when I tried to add my payment details, it gave me an error! Failing to get a response from the box office, I tried the workaround of adding the payment details to my account and checking out again, which worked.

On Thursday, I wasn't really seeing anything - but CT then advertised two shows at 2Northdown that night. So I'm going to both! As you do. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - and finally get to pick up my new phone! But the Stansted Express isn't running again next Sunday, damnit..