Tango After Dark

Yesterday was a busy day. See, first I booked with Civilised London (CL) for Tango After Dark, at the Peacock. All good, no-brainer. Then I was messaged by an ex-colleague - another ex-colleague was having leaving drinks last night, in the Pelt Trader! Hellfire.. so, what I decided to do was skip drinks with CL after the show and leg it over to the Pelt Trader - I ordered them not to stop drinking till I got there!

For food, I had a look at what was nearest the theatre - and lighted on The Ship Tavern. Booked a table - especially on a Thursday, I figured it was wiser. And it was close enough to walk, so I did. The dining area is upstairs, and there are two entrances - I managed to come across the one straight from the street, but there's also one through the bar. I was glad I'd booked - they were apparently expecting a huge booking, and were turning away walk-ups. Also restricting time we who had reserved could spend - but that was fine, as I told her, I had somewhere to be anyway.

It's got a lovely, cosy, olde-worlde feel to the place. Quite a few American-sounding people about. The menu is short - and a bit pricey, but hey, my first paycheck in ages came through yesterday, so why not. I thought I'd have steak - they had a choice of fillet or - for £4 less - rib-eye. I'd never had it, so thought I'd have that - both come with onion rings and chips. And since I was having steak, I knew I'd be stuffed, so I skipped having a starter. A large glass of sauvignon blanc completed the order.

Or would have, except that she took a long time to come and take my order - especially for such a short menu! I was worried that this would set the trend for the whole meal - but after this, service was quite prompt. Well, after all, it's a small room - and I managed to beat the rush. I was duly served.. the steak was beautifully done, I have to say, charred on the outside, pink on the inside, as I like it. Unfortunately, I hadn't realised how fatty it was going to be! Would be delighted to come back here - and to have steak - but if I do, it'll be fillet, next time. Still, I managed most of it - and the onion rings (beer-battered) and chips (home-made) were delectable. Wine - ok. With plenty of time to spare, I had a dessert - two scoops of ice cream: chocolate (which turned out to be chocolate chocolate chip, and was good) and honeycomb (gorgeous!). I hadn't realised, but I was charged £3 extra for the steak sauce - which I didn't even use. Will keep an eye on that, if I'm back. Still, overall it was good value, and a lovely atmosphere.

And so, a short hop to the theatre, where the group was waiting outside, and we chatted for a bit, and went in when we had all our members. A quick trip to the loo, and I headed for my seat - rather uncertainly, with no seat numbers listed at the door! Tsk. Anyway, it turned out I was on the correct side - she just asked me to head to the very end door, as I was right near the edge.

Ah, what a show. First impressions - not encouraging me to take up tango classes! or, indeed, dance classes at all - I wouldn't dream of trying to imitate them. But they do it very well - gorgeous costumes too, with a singer (singing in Spanish) who changed outfits as often as the dancers did, even matching theirs for the last number! Beautiful, fluid movements - and, as we discussed at the interval, the precision required is amazing, especially considering the speed of the dances. Looks quite dangerous, actually - and there were a number of wardrobe malfunctions: a shoulder pad flew out, that I could see, and apparently, if you sat closer, you could see more.. well, the pressure on those seams is considerable. I remember sitting in the front row of a dance show once, and being occasionally hit by flying jewellery..

Highly recommended. Runs till the 22nd.

The encore seemed to be purely instrumental (I guess the dancers were having a well-earned rest). Anyway, I wasn't so interested, and ran out early, taking the Tube (still busy enough that I had to stand) in the interests of speed. Made it to The Pelt Trader in good time, and there they were, just inside the door. Wow, it's a while since I had to stand in a pub for the whole time.. not since I worked with them, actually! Anyway, we had a long chat, the guy who was leaving was good enough to buy me a drink, and it was so nostalgic. Also interesting to hear how the company is just getting worse (apparently). The evening might have gone on a lot longer, but for a sad personal call that my ex-boss got, which kind of put a dampener on things. So, we made our way. But it was truly great to see them all again! Still back too late to blog, though, given that I wanted to be up for work today.

Tonight, something advertised with the Crick Crack Club (CCC) - they're celebrating all things Mexican in Kew Gardens, with Mexico After Hours! With something about the Day of the Dead, of course.. Hope they have something decent to eat there.

Tomorrow is another of those busy days. So.. first I'm headed on a walk with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners - this one is Paddington - Proud, Perky & Picturesque.

But, for nearly a year now, I've had tickets booked, for me and Helen, for Dara O' Briain in the Hammersmith Apollo that night! Crikey, I'd never even have thought of it if it hadn't been noted in my calendar. So anyway, she can't come to the walk, but we'll meet for dinner beforehand in Bill's of Hammersmith. I can only hope for better service than I got in Bill's of Clink Street..

On Sunday, back with the CCC for Inisfáil, Irish storytelling courtesy of the wonderful Clare Murphy, in the British Museum.

On Monday, I originally booked a free online talk about Railways of Surrey, from the Surrey History Meetup. But I just recently saw (despite the fact that it was evidently posted months ago) an event in Sadler's Wells from Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) - Samsara is inspired by the Chinese novel, Journey to the West, and contains partial nudity, we're told. Tickets for this are quite cheap, and we're all in the Stalls, for once - they haven't even opened the Second Circle, where we normally are! So, no stairs, for a change!

On Tuesday, I've booked for Iphigenia in Splott, in the Lyric Hammersmith.

On Wednesday, supposed to have drinks with Ivan! Might go to O' Neill's, we could do worse.

On Thursday, back with CL for dinner at Le Sacré Coeur. Always good.

Next Friday, back to Ireland again - and the following Monday, it's my mother's birthday, so I'm staying in Ireland for that and flying back on Tuesday 25th. I've already cleared it with work.

On the 26th, I've booked with UITCS again - for Mary, at Hampstead Theatre again. Political machinations in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. Funny thing - there were two seats in the main seating section at the cheapest price, but the site objected to me just booking one of them. No problem booking an equivalent seat in a higher price bracket, though! So I booked one of the high seats, at the back, instead. At the lower price.

I hadn't anything booked for the 27th - was thinking film - and then Ticket Text (one of hundreds of ticket organisations I seem to have signed up for) sent me an advertising email. So, it seems that night the comedy venue, 21Soho, is holding an event of Comedians Telling Spooky Stories. Which sounds the business, for the week that's in it. So I booked. Hallowe'en fancy dress, apparently - well, I'll have a think. I do have some duds that might do.. 😜

The 28th, I've kept free for an all-night drinking session with Ivan. Man, I've missed these! In vino veritas, as they say, and these are wonderful chances to get stuff off your chest. He fancied doing it earlier, but I didn't want to have to take time off work - this was the first overnighter I could fit in.

Which should make the 29th interesting - I'm on another walk with Laurence and the 45+s! Might not actually get to bed in between.. this one is the Edgy London Walking Tour, and is one of his new ones.

And yes, I have something to do that evening! (This month is far too busy.) I'm back with the CCC, for the Game of Candles - their Hallowe'en offering, where they extinguish a candle for every spooky story told. Tim Ralphs and Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson - in King's Place, lovely! I can walk (or stagger) home..