Last night, I booked again with Free Stuff and Free Events, for their Free Tuesday Sing-a-Long for Health and Pleasure. Online, and one where you're muted, so you don't even have anyone hear you sing! Great for the shy. But of course, I wasn't too pushed - hence I redid the film list. Now top was Emuthi Puthi, an Indian (of course!) comedy about a teenage girl who decides to run away from home, and is accompanied by her grandmother, who has this obsession with finding a magical fish. Anyway, looked ok - showing at the Ciné Lumiere. Years since I was last there, of course..
So I headed out there by bus, a bit early - thankfully, given the awful traffic in Knightsbridge! Mind you, the worst single part was trying to navigate past Grosvenor Crescent, where - for some ineffable reason - there are no traffic lights, and a stream of Audis and taxis was trying to push its way in front of us. Happily, our driver was a match for them..
Wow, this was a nostalgic trip - it's so long since I was in South Kensington! Alighted with 10 minutes to spare - which meant the bus journey took half as long again as it was supposed to - and moseyed off down to the cinema, vaguely remembering the route. I didn't remember the sign they now have pointing to the cinema - not sure whether it was there before, but it's useful! I figured out where I was going, went and bought a ticket - I hadn't needed to reserve, there was just a small audience. Checked out the café - I fancied a glass of wine, it had been a busy day. My, but service is relaxed.. at least I knew where the single screen was, and had been told the previous film wasn't finished yet - but still! Someone was in front of me, and when the lady finally finished with her, I checked that I was ok to bring wine into the screen. Yes, as long as it's not red - seems they don't allow tea or coffee either. Fine, and I bought a glass - she instructed me to leave the glass at the café door as I was leaving.
Managed to get upstairs to the screen without spilling too much of it - and was just depositing my stuff outside the screen when lo! my name was called. And wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be an old friend from Meetup, whom I hadn't seen in years! Well, it was lovely to see her again - and also handy that she had a spare seat beside her. It was a while before we got to go in, so we had a nice chat.. and she and her companion were in the row behind me in the screen. Well, that was unexpected - how nice that my plans changed!
With the lovely, pale blue upholstery, I can see why they don't allow dark drinks! Well, this film is part of the Blue Orchid Hotels London Indian Film Festival, which runs until Sunday. And so we got a brief introduction by the cinematographer for the film (pictured), who explained to us how this was very much a female-run production, mostly women behind the camera as well as on-screen. And revealed to us that the whole thing was shot on iPhones! which were provided to them by Apple. Which, of course, helped massively with their constrained budget.
Ah, this is a good one - always delighted when a punt pays off. The comic timing of this film is excellent, and they don't waste time on exposition, just straight into the Great Escape of this unlikely couple, with some flashbacks later on for context. What the granny actually wants to find is a fish to "lead her to heaven".
Not that she's picky about fish in general - she is fish-mad! As are they all, it seems, in Assam, where this is set. The film carries a strong environmental, anti-pollution message. And so I know at least one word of Assamese - "fish" translates as something that sounds like "maas". Anyway, she seems to be working from a children's story about an angel on a lake in a national park, who feeds you this fish so that you can ascend the ladder to heaven. So, this is where they're off to - the granddaughter, mind, is just tagging along; granny has promised to leave her all her money afterwards, so the granddaughter can leg it to New York, and start a new life. And the whole way, they're being tracked by the beleaguered daughter/mother, who is a police officer..
As I say, the comic timing is excellent, the characters are engaging, and some really unanticipated plot twists are dropped in. Very highly recommended - it's a truly sweet film, funny as hell, not at all twee, but with a few laudable messages as well. I'm also liking the soundtrack. Delighted I caught this! Now, my friend apparently goes there a lot, and has asked me to message her if I'm there again - well, you never know, but it isn't really close to me any more. Still, watch this space..
Catching the bus home, the next one to arrive was the #14. Which I took, considering the destination was Russell Square! Very close to home for me - despite Google Maps saying the whole trip would take me over an hour. Now, Google Maps is generally excellent, but not foolproof - when I examined its analysis closer, I discovered it would only take half an hour or so to get to Russell Square, then I'd have to wait for several minutes before taking a very roundabout bus trip to get very slightly closer to home! Rubbish - much faster to walk from Russell Square, and I made it in about 45 minutes altogether - faster than any of Google Maps' options! Still a bit late to blog, though.
Tonight, I'm finally succumbing to Anything Goes, at the Barbican. Now, I got my ticket for this from Time Out, which is the first place I saw the offer - but it turns out that any number of outlets have £25 tickets! If they're all for the same seats as Time Out, then I'd have to feel sorry for people that bought tickets for £38, which is cheaper than the original price of £45 for the seats on offer! Assuming anyone did. Anyway, with no bad seats here, you'd have to be crazy to pay more. And they helpfully emailed me the ticket link again today!
Tomorrow, back with Bucket List London (BLL) - who obligingly is doing something midweek! I'll have to skip off work early - this is for vespers in Westminster Cathedral, and starts at 4.30. He is actually in Westminster all day, attending Ministerial Question Time earlier - but not only do I have a job to go to, but jeez, I do believe this would just infuriate me! So that, I'm not attending..
On Friday, back with Civilised London (CL) for dinner at Caravel. Terrific reviews..
At the weekend, I'm back with the man with the famous name - Dr. Stephen King (not the writer) is guiding a couple of walks for London Guided Walks (courtesy of Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts). Both topics / areas I've covered many times before, but gee, he's such a great guide! So I hope I make these - early. On Saturday, it's his Southwark Walk. Sadly, although it's now advertised on TAC, I booked it through the official site (discount of £3 with the code MEETUP3, as usual).
On Sunday, it's his Royal Coronation Walk - not advertised on TAC yet. I just bet he comes up with something I didn't already know..
On Monday, I'm headed to A Doll's House Part 2, at Donmar Warehouse - sequel to the famous original, where the wife leaves an unhappy marriage; this sequel examines what happens when she returns.
On Tuesday - well, I finally saw Up In The Cheap Seats (UITCS)' ad for Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, at the Underbelly Festival! A parody musical, right up my street - I hate how Meetup so often doesn't show me the events I really would enjoy! Just as well I saw this in time, before I booked anything else. So it'll be a hectic evening, with an interview scheduled for 5.30! I'd better quit work early I think, and head home for that - I can't guarantee quiet in the office.
Next Wednesday, back with CT for a concert by the Royal College of Music Brass Ensemble, at the college on Shelton Street.
On the 7th, back with Guided Walking Tours in Brighton and Sussex, for The London Necropolis Virtual Tour. I pointed out to him that the registration link had the wrong date, and he said it was outdated, and he'd replace it and send me the new link - well, he's removed it, but no new link yet. And then - you guessed it, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again!
On the 11th, I'm going to Favour, at the Bush Theatre - after much effort, as their website wasn't working for days! In fact, it seems to go down sporadically. I chose an unreserved seat, will be allocated one on the day. Anyway, I see TAC has now started selling tickets for this - gee, might be not only the cheapest, but the easiest way to book! Wow, was only there once before, 3.5 years ago..
On the 12th, I'm going to The Southbury Child, at the Bridge Theatre. I noticed that UITCS is going, later in the week - ah well.
On the 13th, back with CL for dinner - this time at The Crown itself, where we usually meet for drinks before heading somewhere else for dinner. Excellent choice. Which marks the beginning of a whole spate of Meetups in a row! When's the last time that happened..?
On the 14th, back with The Garden Talks - this online talk is How Do Languages Evolve?
On the 15th, back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group for the opera Otello, at the Royal Opera House.
On the 16th, which is a Saturday, I had booked with Discover London for a trip to see a cart making ceremony - and then Eleanor, organiser of TunedIn London, advertised a concert through the World Music Meetup, for that evening, at City Hope Church. So now I'm going to both.
On Sunday the 17th, back with BLL - this time, it's a trip to Sandown Antiques Market. Well, I've never been to Sandown, so this could be interesting.
On the 18th, back with North London Friends! for the first time since before lockdown. This is for an Edinburgh Comedy Festival preview, at the King's Head in Crouch End, featuring Lucy Porter and Rachel Fairburn.
On the 19th.. I'm taking a punt that I won't actually be employed that day, and have signed up again - at last - for a walk with Laurence and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners. This is The Magic of Midtown - and as I said to him, it finishes very near my new home! I also promised to let him know if I can't actually make it - although, even if I have started work by then (which would be surprising), perhaps I could take a day off.
On the 20th, I finish my Meetup run with a trip with UITCS to Leicester Square Theatre to see Frankie Boyle, who has a work in progress show.
On the 21st, I'm thinking of heading - at last - to Summer by the River at More London. This is for a free evening of music, curated by Soho Radio. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
On the 25th, I'm headed to see The Throne, a comedy about to open at Charing Cross Theatre, in which the Queen gets locked in a portaloo with a staunch republican. Time Out has an offer of £10 tickets for the cheapest seats for this - a saving of more than 50%!
On the 26th - tan-ta-ra! I finally managed to get a decently priced ticket to Jerusalem, at the Apollo. I have heard so much about this, and it's always at the top of the Time Out listings - nearly as hard as Hamilton to get a reasonably priced ticket for, so I'm delighted to get one, if only not to have to look any more.
On the 27th, back to Summer by the River again.. for Bumper Blyton: Improvised Adventures for Grown-Ups! Improvised comedy in the style of Enid Blyton books.. sounds jolly good!
And on the 28th - another UITCS event that Meetup finally decided to flag to me. So I've booked to go with them to see Briefs Factory's show, Bite Club! at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Drag, burlesque.. should be fun!
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