Restaurant: Caravel & Southwark Walk

Last night, back with Civilised London (CL) for dinner at Caravel. Terrific reviews.. Meeting at The Narrowboat. Now, this is closer to my flat than to the office - but really, for the sake of having to take a bus, I didn't want to have to drag the laptop with me on Thursday evening and home that night: not to mention back in on Monday. No, I'd just bus it to the dinner yesterday evening.

It's very hard to enthuse myself to work, with this sentence hanging over me (last day at work on Monday). So I managed some work - and left in good time, got to the pub in good time. Where I discovered one of our group at a table - which an employee told us wasn't actually booked until 7.30, despite the note on the table that said 6.30. So, fine, and we stayed there - they had a choice of New Zealand or Chile for Sauvignon Blanc (joy!), so I was happy. The others arrived, we had a nice chat..

And so off to the barge restaurant, in due course. Not a long trek - and when we got there, we had to navigate an entry system! Code required, or authorisation to be on this pontoon - we got through the gate eventually, and the lady at the security desk checked who we were. So, we were duly allowed to progress to the barge. (FYI, toilets are off the barge, head back along the pontoon to the black awning with the signs for toilets. Ye shall not be deprived,)

I wasn't in the mood for a starter, although all the others had them - instead, I just had some bread and (very melty) butter. For mains, three of us had duck - although for some reason, the message to the kitchen got misinterpreted, and they thought one of us wanted the fish! Fair play, they turned it around pretty quickly, and we all got the duck we wanted - and one had ordered some very moreish potatoes as a side. For wine, our organiser suggested that the house wines were probably pretty good here - and he was right! We had a very nice Sauvignon Blanc between two of us - and an extra glass each afterwards, for good measure. I couldn't manage a dessert. But yes, a lovely meal - and the only time we noticed the sway was if we looked at the canal-side windows, where you could see the roofs of the buildings across the water bobbing gently up and down.. It's also a lovely, cosy room, and we remarked how good it'd be at Christmastime!

And so back to The Narrowboat for a nightcap - and to the same table we had before, by the door, and our organiser bought drinks (many thanks!). Now, they have a sign on the door that says that they close at 11. So it was rather surprising to me to have the barman coming around to warn us about last orders - at 10.25?! and coming around with plastic containers at 10.50! As someone pointed out - probably accurately - this was probably so as not to inconvenience the neighbours. And I'm not advocating rowdiness. But really, this is over the top! So, not recommended for late drinking! Anyway, I walked home, and was too tired to blog.

All 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! Today, it was his Southwark Walk. Sadly, although it was later advertised on TAC, I booked it through the official site (discount of £3 with the code MEETUP3, as usual).

Well fancy, an afternoon walk! Such a luxury, not to have to race to get up, for once (although I checked several times, it's so unusual in my experience). And I took the bus in, in good time. Needed food, so headed for The Old Thameside Inn - and was lucky enough to get a table! Ordered from my table with the app, as usual, and the wine came nice and quickly. Was waiting a while for my starter.. I should have realised. It came with the main! Their calamari is weird here, coming in bitesize chunks - the garlic mayo is lovely though, and the schnitzel is de-loverly. Some confusion with the dessert - I wanted two scoops of ice cream, but wasn't sure how many came with a serving, and the waiter, whose first language was not English, didn't quite understand me. So I ended up ordering two desserts - each of which came with two scoops! Oy ve.. Well, they were v nice.

And so to the walk, which started at the post office on Borough High Street. And meandered around the streets of Southwark for the next 90 minutes or so. Seriously, I've been around here so many times that there was much that was familiar to me. Like Crossbones Graveyard. But hey, he almost immediately found something that was new to me - did you know that the names of the now-vanished coaching inns are carved into the pavements? Me either.

Plenty of meanderings through housing estates, and some stories I'd heard before, but that it was good to hear again. And I love the way that this guide keeps interjecting anecdotes, from books he's read, for example. He's so obviously passionate about his subject. And so on to theatreland, Southwark style, and the site of the original Globe theatre:

He made a very interesting point about London Bridge. This is a detail of the relief of London in Shakespeare's time, which shows how crowded the bridge was, with houses all along its length. And for over 1000 years, this was the only bridge in central London! Why..? The answer came later, when he was talking about the ferrymen who took people across, in lieu of other bridges - and, apparently, were strong lobbyists. It needed an act of Parliament to build a bridge - so, for over 1000 years, Parliament was stymied from building a much-needed transportation link. Because of lobbyists. Jeez, puts current arguments in context, huh?! It never has been easy to get Parliament to do anything!

We kept running into other tour groups all day.. Horrible Histories was just the last of many such meetings!

And so to a finish at the reconstructed Globe. I still love this part of town - any excuse to get down here, frankly! And another excellent tour by Stephen.

Now, my ex-boss had directed a friend of hers on this tour, and afterwards we were looking for a place for a quiet drink. Tricky, on a sunny summer Saturday - but I had the idea to head down the alleyway to The Old King's Head, where he bought us some wine and we sat outside in the alley, gazing at the blue sky overhead and talking about this and that. So yes, a most pleasant afternoon. And getting the bus home, as when I was coming, there was a diversion - which worked out marvellously convenient for me.

Tomorrow, it's Stephen's 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. And it turns out that this is my last day at work - so it's handy I'll still have the office, because it's very handy for here.

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! Just as well I'll have finished work already.

On Wednesday, back with CT for a concert by the Royal College of Music Brass Ensemble, at the college on Shelton Street.

On Thursday, 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! Only up to Wednesday, however. 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 Bucket List London - 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!

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!

And on the 29th, thinking about the National Theatre's River Stage 2022. This will be the first night of the Hackney Empire's Young Producers Weekend, and there'll be some dance and some music.