Yesterday, my first in-person Meetup with 45+ not Grumpy Old Londoners - a guided walk with Laurence Summers! This was the Feisty Fitzrovia pub tour - and since I used to live there, I could hardly refuse! Another pay-on-the-day, but I had cash.
Headed off in decent time - but the darned bus dropped me further away than I'd have liked, and by the time I got to where we were meeting, I'd frozen into a lump of ice! Unfortunately for the guide, something like half the people, scheduled to attend, didn't - and didn't cancel their bookings, so not only was he out of pocket, but we ended up waiting (in the cold) for a lot of folks that were never coming! Not to mention, as someone remarked later, hard on the people on the waitlist, who could have taken their places.. very bad form.
They're artistic around here, no? Mercifully, our walk was punctuated by three pubs, where we could defrost - the first, the Marquis of Granby, had service so slow I seriously believed I'd never be seen to! She was ever so much more interested in the young men on the other side of the bar..
Afterwards, we made a small detour to my former abode - how nostalgic! Well, we were going next to what used to be my local, right next door - the King and Queen pub is a rugby-friendly establishment, which I've been to a few times before, always for spooky things upstairs.. Last night, less spooky, sat in the main bar, with a match blaring around us. But the chat was good.
Excellent night all round - and courtesy of Laurence, who passed us on info about his upcoming walks. Hope I can make some:
I was way too tired last night to blog.
Tonight - would you believe, my first Meetup of the year with Up in the Cheap Seats! Well, they were 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 promised to be OK. The Apollo Theatre, tickets cheapest on the official website. And with all the seats that were still free, you never know, I thought 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.
Guess what? When I checked my online ticket this morning, sure enough, I'd been upgraded.. to the stalls! 😎 From the very back row in the house. Well now..
I had to change buses. A number of people wanted to get off the first bus at the same stop as I did - but I guess the driver was new to the route (or perhaps a bit deaf), because despite the button being pressed in good time, he made no attempt to stop there! One lady went up to him to complain - thank goodness we were subsequently stopped at the lights, where he (illegally) let us out, or I could have been a good bit later! As it was, it worked out handier for me - I was that bit closer to where I needed to catch an ongoing bus.
As I was walking the last bit to the theatre, someone from the group messaged that - as I'd suspected - the Grand Circle (which I'd booked) was closed. And the group organiser then suggested we meet in the Stalls bar, rather than the Grand Circle bar, which had been the previous plan. Ooh, handy - I wouldn't have to climb lots of stairs! And so we did meet downstairs - you couldn't miss us, big circle that we made. The bar was nice and big enough, mind - and has some excellent house white. And it was great to see some people for the first time this year! We chatted away happily until it was time to go in.
So, the play is built around the premise of a charity magic show - as they explained at the end, that's fake, but Mischief Theatre, who are responsible for this, are fundraising for the Samaritans.
Take your seat early - the shenanigans start before the official start time. And apart from the gentle entertainment of watching two stagehands try to replace a letter that's fallen off the sign (visible in the photograph), watch out for the escaped doves / pigeons.. they could appear anywhere in the auditorium!
Oh, I missed this company! Right back to form, and a delight to watch - as ever, keep an eye on everything that happens on stage, there's always something subtle and hilarious in progress. The whole show is a mishmash of magical disasters - but watch out for the real magic tricks in there, Penn & Teller were technical consultants, and some of the tricks are truly excellent. And are slipped in amongst the others very sneakily! Blink and you'd miss some of them.
Very highly recommended, absolutely hilarious. Caveat 1: strobe lighting. Caveat 2: audience participation - I was getting nervous for a minute, at the end of a row as I was, but I was just far enough back not to be bothered; they went back as far as Row D. But having said that - go see! Running until 27 February. We all adored it..
Tomorrow, 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! Film at the weekend is likely to be Belfast - simply the best thing that's on in the daytime. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, and describes his childhood there. Not much about the Troubles, I believe - after all, his family left before it got too heavy - and the film has earned both praise and criticism for that. Personally, I think we have heard quite enough about them - time to see a different side to the place.
The Stansted Express isn't running again on Sunday, damnit. And I come back to London, and an uncertain future. Ah well, here we go again.
On Monday, another Zoom talk - this is run by a new group to me, The Garden Talks (TGT), and the talk for the evening is Are We Living in the Age of Persecution? Which should, hopefully, be more interesting than the last online talk I attended - on canals!
On Tuesday, I've plumped for something I've seen advertised a lot, but never attended - again on Zoom, this time it's a Free Tuesday Sing-a-long for Health and Pleasure, courtesy of Global Music Fusion & Arts. As advertised by Free Stuff and Free Events - which might just be the first thing I've done with them. Happens weekly, apparently, lasts an hour - the words are on-screen. Could be good.
Next Wednesday, my first Meetup of the year with Civilised London! And as usual, it's dinner - yum! We're off again to Little Georgia, meeting beforehand at The Crown.
On the 3rd, heading with London Classical Music and Theatre Group - and I was lucky to see it, what with Meetup not even suggesting the event when I was looking for something that day! If it hadn't been for some mention over the last couple of events with them, of some event happening next week.. Anyway, we're off to see the LSO at the Barbican - wildcard tickets sadly sold out by the time I booked.
On the 4th, headed with the London European Club to the Puppet Theatre Barge, for a performance of The Red Balloon!
On the 5th, back with the 45+s and Laurence - got the last spot on Passage through Pimlico! which, as he was telling me last night, is not a very well-known part of town!
On the 6th - Crick Crack is back! Now, this is an interesting one - Japanese ghost stories, the event is called The Game of Candles, with each story represented by a lit candle, which is blown out when the story is completed. Taking place at the British Museum, Tim Ralphs and Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson performing.
And on the 7th - another interesting talk by TGT! This one is What Conditions Create Witch Hunts?
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