Tonight, back with TAC - for another operatic evening at Hoxton Hall. National Opera Studio was presenting Mozart: Secrets and Seduction. (So much for Meetup being busy on Wednesdays!) So, two days in a row with them - ironically, Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex had online talks scheduled for both nights - and I would have gone to either, or both, but the links weren't working! By the time the organiser updated them, I'd booked for the other events.
It pissed rain all afternoon. For food, I planned to head to The Astronomer, en route - a slight detour from the shortest path, but not by much. It started to lash down as I headed there - and wouldn't you know it (well, you would by the noise as you approached) - it was packed, not a table free. Well, that wasn't going to work - so I headed for the door again in despair, looking at the weather. My coat was already drenched. Headed instead for Nando's, which had the main advantage of being right across the street.
And had lots of tables - I beat the rush, plus they have seating downstairs. I'm loving the QR codes on the tables, it saves having to queue to order, and in particular if you're having dessert, it saves waiting an age for a waiter to come in a busy restaurant! So I ordered my main and then a dessert, and it didn't take either order long to come. Had the usual - and had exactly the usual experience. Everything was lovely, but the chicken was tough around the edges. How does a chicken restaurant manage to get the chicken wrong so consistently? Ah well, at least they're consistent.. For dessert, I might just have had ice cream, but that's not what they were offering. They had gelato, and I never know whether it's going to taste normal or weird. So instead, I had my regular choc-a-lot cake, the chocolatiest thing in London (as I said in the survey they sent me afterwards) - and it was gorgeous. I was well stuffed by the time I left.
Mercifully, the rain had finally stopped. On the long trek to the theatre, it occurred to me several times that the last time I walked this way was in an Arctic gale.. much better this time. Plus they've fixed those traffic lights, it seems, so it's now not such such a hazard! I was glad to get there in the end - we'd been asked to arrive half an hour early, but all that did was find me in a long queue at the door! Apparently, the box office printer was broken, and all the tickets were printed on teeny slips of paper that they were peering at to see what was what. Well, this time I got seated to the side, downstairs, which was nice!
Seat secured, I headed off to the bar, where a shaky-handed but friendly barman dealt with yet another queue. Drinks are good value, though! Back in the theatre, there was some confusion over seats - I think two people who were supposed to sit together hadn't been given adjacent seats. So an elderly lady was asked to budge up to the seat behind mine. She raised a frightful objection to the fact that my (admittedly damp) coat was brushing against the seat, so I had to spend the first half with it held awkwardly across my knee! Didn't do much good - I turned at the interval to find her glaring at me, whereupon she packed up her things and left! (thank goodness). I dunno, maybe the hood had fallen in her direction? I really can't think what else it could have been..
So, the concert was lovely. I've always loved Mozart, and this was first-class. Not done in costume, it was, as they say, semi-staged. I have no idea what they performed - I didn't really recognise the pieces, so the programme wouldn't have been much help. Some people laughed along to some bits - I guess they understood the Italian better than I did? But I enjoyed it, and it was longer than last time. Still over nice and early, though, for the long trek home..
Tomorrow, my only Meetup of the week - I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats, to see a performance of As You Like It at Wilton's. And, energetically, I can walk again! Went for a slightly more expensive seat than usual, this time - I'm sick of straining my neck.
An open house viewing on Friday morning - I hate those, you put your name down if you're interested, and they play eenie-meenie-minie-mo. Last time I was accommodation-hunting, a couple got around the queue of folks wanting one of the two rooms in a flat by simply paying for both themselves! Supposed viewing of the possibly fake flat in the afternoon - we shall see. Then back to Ireland for the weekend - would you believe it, I've exhausted the films showing locally that I'm interested in! So it'll be a quiet one. I could do with that, will be glad when the day is over.
On Monday, headed to Middle, at the National.
On Tuesday, back with Civilised London for a meal at last - this one is at Mestizo (Mexican). Not usually my favourite, but I'll give it a shot. Meeting beforehand at the Crown & Anchor.
Next Wednesday - well, I saw on Meetup that a group called Get a Tech Developer Job has a free webinar, Learn Web Scraping with Python! Now, we're expected to use Python in my new job, and I never have - so this could be very handy indeed.
On the 19th, I'm headed to the Crick Crack Club again, for Astray, at Rich Mix. A storytelling double bill, both Irish ladies telling Irish myths!
On the 20th, headed to Marys Seacole, at Donmar Warehouse. Based on a true story. I've heard mixed reviews - we shall see.
And on the 21st - well Lordy, I've booked for the Roman London Walk, with Walk About London (also advertised on Walks, Talks & Treasure Hunts - both linked to London Guided Walks). Now, I missed the last two I was booked on with this company - third time lucky?
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