Comedy: Lazy Bastard

For today, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Mid-afternoon, so I had plenty of time for brunch, plenty of time to walk down there. No really, I was actually in plenty of time for once! Had my ticket checked at the door - and wouldn't you know it, they've opened a new, ground-level performance space - straight in, rather than going downstairs. As I made my way in, David McSavage - who has a habit of hanging around his audience - was busily insulting the guy behind the desk (as he does), whom he accused of wearing an upside-down cross. (It wasn't, it was the Mjölnir.) He was giving as good as he got - I left before it got.. interesting. Got a drink at the bar - I keep forgetting how deliciously cheap it is here. And took one of the few remaining seats - the free tickets did draw a crowd!

In due course, he showed up, with a guitar and a notebook. As he was at pains to explain to us, this was a "new material" show. As became obvious, he hadn't really done his homework. Well, that or he wasn't terribly interested. But you know the title of the show, so..

For an hour, he kind of meandered through some material, checking whether it landed. I suspect there was a process behind it, but he certainly didn't give that impression. Thing about it is, he's a funny guy to be around - just don't go in with any prejudices, like an objection to swearing.. or talking about sex.. or wokeness.. or, um, anything.. politicians also got a drubbing (he comes from a political family, you know; I can just imagine what his family gatherings are like). And yes, he can play the guitar - he just didn't do much of it. Yeah, as I say, just don't expect anything from him and you won't be disappointed. Of course, as he repeatedly pointed out, we were getting this for free.. But don't get me wrong, he is a naturally entertaining bloke, and we did enjoy ourselves. In a very unstructured way. Certainly, I'll come to his show again..

For dinner, I decided to try The Plough, where I've drunk before, but not eaten, and which is a Greene King pub. I got the last, unreserved table - and they'd sold out of Sunday roasts, so I opted for my usual steak and ale pie. Which went down even better than usual - once I navigated the roasting hot metal sauce pan, which had obviously been heated along with everything else.. Good atmosphere, even with everyone watching the football, which was turned up for the benefit of punters. And their tips jar encouraged those who were feeling "tipsy"..!

Man, what a lovely, relaxing day - I needed that.

Tomorrow - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, I was thinking film again - but another late listing has the World Music Meetup (WMM) advertising Sounds of Sudan, at St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. At a time when Sudan is in the news for all the wrong reasons, this sounds a lovely concert by Sudanese artist Mo Sarrar. So now I'm going to that.

On Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing in half an hour. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. That blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Wednesday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

On Thursday, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the WMM! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..

Walk: Clerkenwell - A Village of Contrasts

Today, I was back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again! This walk was Clerkenwell: A Village of Contrasts - not so far from me. How fortunate am I, to be living close to so much history.. Now, I had half a suspicion that I'd done this walk before - and I was right. Under a different name, mind - that last time was Down and Out in Clerkenwell, but the blurb was copied straight from there. Ah well, I figured I might get something new from it - and actually, I was right! Anyway, I love coming with these folks.

So, off I schlepped - slightly late, as always when I can walk it! And I ended up being slightly overdressed, for what turned out to be the first day this year that I could really call warm. I found our group fighting for space beside another tour group - and the day got off to an interesting start when I accidentally paid Laurence in Euros! Lordy, I don't know whether I'm coming or going - well, as it happens, he's heading off to Amsterdam for a few days shortly, so he said they'd come in handy!

Well, we started at the Barbican, moved on to Smithfield and the church of St. Bartholomew the Great - which is always worth a look, and where they turned out to be having a modern art exhibition!

We were still being shadowed by that other tour group - and as we waited for everyone to finish inside, I overheard an interesting tidbit - someone once asked me where the street Little Britain got its name, and I didn't know: but that tour guide confidently told his followers that it was from the Dukes of Brittany.. now, looking that up further, it seems he is probably mistaken. Ah well, the mystery continues..

And so on to St. John's Gate:

on the other side of which we passed a group of chess players! 

And witness the sad and strange tale of Thomas Britton:

The chap was best known as a concert promoter - but someone decided to play a practical joke on him, employing a ventriloquist to pretend to be the voice of God, communicating with him! The superstitious Thomas believed it, so the joke worked - but the event affected him so that he took a turn and expired, a couple of days later..

On Clerkenwell Green, we had to look at the Karl Marx Memorial Library across a building site - but there was no mistaking its distinctive red door:

On the way to lunch, we passed the Betsey Trotwood - apparently, they were booked up today, or we might have eaten there. Nice that they have a picture of the lady on the scaffolding:

And so to The Marian Anderson, which was the Bowler last time - now named for the lady whose striking portrait gazed down on us as we ate, who was a singer and civil rights campaigner:

I had steak, which was decent - the sauce was lovely though, and the chips very moreish. And the chenin blanc was tasty, so I was happy. A few of us then repaired to the Old Red Lion, whose dog is now in nappies (the American decor is in honour of the play they have upstairs):

And a most convivial afternoon was had. Look forward to my next meeting with these folks! A sunny walk home followed (mercifully downhill), and I see the town is starting to show some interest in the coronation:

For tomorrow, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Still available, still free, if you're interested..

On Monday - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, I was thinking film again - but another late listing has the World Music Meetup (WMM) advertising Sounds of Sudan, at St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. At a time when Sudan is in the news for all the wrong reasons, this sounds a lovely concert by Sudanese artist Mo Sarrar. So now I'm going to that.

On Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing in half an hour. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. That blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Wednesday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

On Thursday, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the WMM! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..

Opera: Rinaldo

Tonight, I was thinking film again - but just a couple of days ago, London Baroque Music Lovers advertised a Handel event at the Heath Street Baptist Church. It was a performance of his opera, Rinaldo, as part of their Baroquestock Festival. I do love a bit of baroque, hadn't heard any in ages - and it was, as usual, months since I was last with this group! so I plumped for this.

Thinking about where to eat beforehand, I considered Gaucho, just down the road from it - but they were filling up fast, and I couldn't get a booking for the time I needed. So, given that I was to catch the bus right around the corner.. I went to The Lucas Arms again. Where I was also lucky to get a seat - there were a few tables left, but they filled pretty fast: and the poor serving staff were so frazzled, they gave me a second fork instead of a knife! And they had a long night ahead - I don't envy them.

The bus, when it came, confusingly had a destination of "Paddington" - but that was correct. It's one of those that travel in a loop. I just needed it to take me north to Hampstead - and Lordy, was I glad of having an engine to take the strain, rather than climb all those hills myself! I had enough of a climb, just going up Heath Street..

I was pleased to see they offered wine - it hadn't been mentioned in the event ad. So I decided to have a glass as I went in. Unfortunately, the poor bloke taking names was the only person on hand to serve me, so he had a tough time double-jobbing.. but he was very obliging. The wine was a decent pinot grigio - and all the nicer for costing only £3 (they also had red wine, and Brewdog beer - all for the same price). I took it in, and took a seat up front. To the side, though - I didn't fancy being right in front of the artists!

The inscription on the lid of the harpsichord, BTW, is "dum vixi tacui, mortua dulce cano", which is Latin for "while I lived I was silent - dead, I sing sweetly".

As I remarked to someone, how lovely it is to be so close to performers - and a church has the acoustics. And oh, it was gorgeous music, beautifully performed.. with a nice, relaxed staging. A white sheet had been pinned up behind the "stage" area, onto which images were projected - not that I could see much of them from where I was sat, with the pulpit in the way. I did better with the little props that kept popping up in the pulpit:

I also loved how they had a storyteller at the interval, telling the original tale (abbreviated) on which this was based. As he said, might confuse us more than anything, but also v handy if you weren't following the Italian! (There were no subtitles.)

It's a lovely venue to see things in, in general, with a great, informal feel - and one of those where the artists mingle afterwards in the lobby, where they kept selling drinks - and apparently excellent focaccia - until the stock was exhausted. And there we stayed to drink, and chat. Another lovely London venue - I'm delighted to know about it! Baroquestock runs here until the 14th, and I highly recommend checking it out. And thsi opera is showing again tomorrow. And handily, I managed to shop on the way back to the bus..

No confusion over what I'm doing tomorrow - back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again! This walk is Clerkenwell: A Village of Contrasts - not so far from me. How fortunate am I, to be living close to so much history..

On Sunday, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Still available, still free, if you're interested.. I see he's also on tomorrow, slightly earlier.

On Monday - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, I was thinking film again - but another late listing has the World Music Meetup (WMM) advertising Sounds of Sudan, at St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. At a time when Sudan is in the news for all the wrong reasons, this sounds a lovely concert by Sudanese artist Mo Sarrar. So now I'm going to that.

On Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing in half an hour. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. That blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Wednesday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

On Thursday, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the WMM! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..

Restaurant: Colosseo

Tonight, Helen was in town for a conference - we met for dinner at Colosseo, before I was due to head off to join Up in the Cheap Seats again, for The Good Person of Szechwan, by Brecht, at the Lyric Hammersmith! At least I'd get fed, this time..

Blast it, three buses again, like last night. Had a Murphy's Law experience when the bus I was supposed to change to was right in front of us as we came to the stop! which would have been ok if I could have got off straight away.. I couldn't of course, because we were stopped at a junction! and despite the fact that nobody could come down there, with the bus stopped there, of course I couldn't get off. So I missed it, and was delayed.

And it was not appreciated that the stops didn't even advertise that the #11, my third bus of the day, stopped there! Of course, it mightn't soon - the #11 is, apparently, being discontinued. Tsk - one of the best routes in London. Figures.. they can't see anything good without wanting to end it.

Well, I was slightly late again, but never mind.

Had my usual chicken in white wine sauce, with some garlic bread and roasted potatoes. And ooh.. although the menu wasn't unusual, by gum it was tasty! And as the evening wore on.. I said sod it, made my apologies to the group, and we had a second bottle of wine. And dessert - and ooh, they have tartufo! It's years since I had it, and I love it so.. Oh, d'you know, every now and again I need a break.. this was it! Thanks Helen, and for convivial company too! About time I celebrated getting a U2 ticket (at 5am) .. watch this space.. and now I can chill, then get to bed early. Stunning.

Tomorrow, I was thinking film again - but just yesterday, London Baroque Music Lovers advertised a Handel concert at the Heath Street Baptist Church. It's a performance of his opera, Rinaldo. I do love a bit of baroque, haven't heard any in ages - and it's, as usual, months since I was last with this group! so I plumped for this.

No confusion over what I'm doing on Saturday - back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again! This one is Clerkenwell: A Village of Contrasts - not so far from me. How fortunate am I, to be living close to so much history..

On Sunday, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Still available, still free, if you're interested..

On Monday - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, I was thinking film again - but another late listing has the World Music Meetup (WMM) advertising Sounds of Sudan, at St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. At a time when Sudan is in the news for all the wrong reasons, this sounds a lovely concert by Sudanese artist Mo Sarrar. So now I'm going to that.

On Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing in half an hour. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. That blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Wednesday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

Next Thursday, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the WMM! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..

Films: Alien Day (Alien & Aliens)

For tonight, I was thinking film again - couldn't see anything better coming up than what was advertised by The London Movie Club and The Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London! both of which I'm a member of. And both of which, it transpires, are run by the same people! So I signed up with the Hideout. Specifically, what was happening was Alien Day - a special double bill of the classic, Alien, and its sequel, Aliens, at the BFI Imax! See, the planet where the aliens land is named LV-426.. So, you know, 26th of the 4th.. Now, I'd never even been to the Imax, so this'd be interesting! Also good to meet these folks again.

Ah Lordy, when did my life get this busy? I really don't know.. Anyway, what with writing the last post this afternoon, my time ran away with me, and I couldn't even get a bite to eat before I headed for the cinema. And what an awful time to have to catch a bus.. being rush hour, they were delayed, and indeed, I was lucky to get on the one that finally took me there - after a certain point, the driver took on no more people! And tarnation, by the time I got on it, it was already time to meet the group! Never mind, couldn't be helped..

Now, I knew where the Imax is - you couldn't miss it, it's that whopping, round building at the centre of the roundabout near Waterloo. How you get in, though, was a bit of a mystery.. Google Maps, unphased, showed me a zigzag walking route - which I correctly determined corresponded to the subway, which I don't think I'd ever before used. Off I set - and sure enough, the entrance is at the bottom of the ramp - you really can't miss it. And from that side, you enter straight into the cafe, where they were sat at a table, just inside the door. Couldn't miss them either, despite the inconspicuous, handwritten note taped to a cup, which said "MEETUP". :-) Well, I did know the organiser.. and besides, they were the largest group there!

Dinner was a hot chocolate - decent - and a packet of Piper's Sweet Chilli Flavour. Kept the wolf from the door - and the chat was good. When it was time to go in, we had another set of steps to climb, and then just two doors to enter by. Turns out you enter at the bottom of the screen, and climb.. the thing is four storeys high, so that could be quite the climb, depending where you are! Me, I was in Row H, to the side - I was too late to book in the centre, which would have been better. An entertaining usher gave us an instructional talk just at the beginning, about how, if we needed to leave during the film, we should take the top (fourth floor) exits. Plus the usual stuff about phones and rubbish.. Mind you, I think he encouraged us to deposit our rubbish in the bins on Floor 1 rather than those on Floor 4 - which advice I blatantly ignored..

We had some fun trailers to start, then off we went, beginning with that fabulous, slow-reveal title sequence against a planetary backdrop. As people mentioned beforehand, Alien is a slower burn than its sequel - I'd go so far as to call it kind of poetic. The music - both title and background - has a melancholic air that helps with that..  and silence is used extensively, which I've always thought holds tremendous impact. And crikey, what a long time it is since I last saw this.. delightfully, I'd pretty much forgotten everything that happens in it, apart from a few main plot points! so almost everything came as a surprise to me. What an experience it is to see this film - and how lovely for those in the group seeing it for the first time! It's iconic - a true classic.

At the interval between films, we convened in the bar at the entrance, where I got wine in a can, chocolate M&Ms, and a table that I was lucky enough to be out in time to secure - the house was pretty full, and the bar was crammed at the interval. At the entrance to the auditorium, a couple of screens displayed the Alien movie poster, with a countdown timer.. with three minutes to go, ushers started to go around warning people that the doors would be closed when the timer counted down to zero. All v atmospheric..

The second film, as someone mentioned, is more action-based than the first - the Marines are brought in, all gung-ho, and prove pretty useless, I'm happy to say! Our heroine, Sigourney Weaver, exchanges her pet cat, from the first film, for a kind of foster daughter in the second, as she is drafted in as a kind of consultant, when they go in to try to rescue some colonists who have been unwittingly plonked on the alien planet. Again, they're almost the only ones left alive.. great staying power, that woman! Ultimately less memorable than the original - but I do like the development in the design of the alien itself. And all in all, what a fun night! Delighted this was advertised - and it was lovely to meet the group(s). Hope it's not too long till the next time..

Afterwards, we kind of rushed off to catch our various transport home - it was nearly midnight, and indeed, it was after midnight when my bus finally arrived! I did have choices - think I chose badly.. again, never mind, I got there eventually.

Tomorrow, Helen's in town for a conference - we're meeting for dinner at Colosseo, before I head off to join Up in the Cheap Seats again, for The Good Person of Szechwan, by Brecht, at the Lyric Hammersmith! At least I'll get fed, this time..

On Friday, I was thinking film again - but just this evening, London Baroque Music Lovers advertised a Handel concert at the Heath Street Baptist Church. It's a performance of his opera, Rinaldo. I do love a bit of baroque, haven't heard any in ages - and it's, as usual, months since I was last with this group! so I plumped for this.

No confusion over what I'm doing on Saturday - back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again! This one is Clerkenwell: A Village of Contrasts - not so far from me. How fortunate am I, to be living close to so much history..

On Sunday, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Still available, still free, if you're interested..

On Monday - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, film again - and that blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Tuesday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

Next Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing last night. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. Subject to change, it's a tossup between two - depending on my mood, I might go and see Godland, a dark-looking thing about a young, fanatical, Danish priest who gets sent to Iceland in the 19th Century. And at the same rating is Sick of Myself, a satire set in Oslo, in which a girl is jealous of her boyfriend's artistic success, so she draws attention to herself by taking drugs that give her a skin condition.. Both also on in my local cinema, not that the listings site let me in on the secret.

On the 4th, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book a concert with the World Music Meetup! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..

Film: NT Live - Good

Yesterday, I was to be back with Over 40 Living the Life, for dinner at the Greenwich Yacht Club again. Until I got a message the evening before to say that everyone had pulled out - dunno why - and it'd been cancelled! Ah well - Plan B, as usual, was a film. Now, I already had the film list done for this week - but that blasted listings site is so unreliable, I had to do it again. And sure enough, I came up with a whole heap of films at the top of the list that weren't even on the list, last time I looked! Standout among them was the NT Live production of Good. This stars David Tennant as a German professor at the outbreak of the Second World War, who is forced to examine his conscience.. Closest showing to me was in the Vue Finchley Road, which I booked, to get one of the cheapest seats, under their new theatre-style seating. So delighted to have the chance to see this - I missed it when it was showing live.

Apart from the event being unexpected, so - of course - was where I ate, which should normally have been O' Neill's, given that I was headed in that direction. But then, of course, they changed their menu, and dropped the best thing on it! No more chicken katsu. I'm not keen on their other fare, so took myself to The Lucas Arms - first time in over three weeks! Well, and the lady behind the bar looked delighted to see me, and they knew my order off the tops of their heads - and yes, they still had my steak and ale pie. So I ate there - yum. And was stuffed, and just getting up to leave - when who should walk in the door but Laurence, straight from one of his walks! He'd come in for a drink - and damnit if I didn't have to leave, to make the film I'd already booked and didn't want to miss.. if only he'd come in half an hour earlier. Never mind - he walked me to the station, where he departed for the Tube and I waited for a bus. But I then checked the bus ETA, discovered it wouldn't get me there in time, and hopped on the Tube myself..

Was in time to queue for chocolate, then went straight in. Lots of ads beforehand for other NT Live productions, and an intro explaining that we'd have a short film about the playwright during the interval. And we were off..

A very minimalist, grey set - David Tennant and two other actors, one male, one female, to play all the other roles. He's a professor of Literature in Germany in the 1930s - married to a rather scatty woman, a pianist, who can't cook nor keep the house tidy or look after the kids, so he does all that. His mother has dementia. So he has all those worries. He unloads on his (Jewish) doctor, and best friend. And one of their principal topics of conversation is the unsettling rise of these thugs, the National Socialists, with their racist propaganda.. David (Johnnie) reassures his friend that they can't rationally get rid of all the Jews, the country depends too much on their capital! and dismisses his worries as panic..

It all happens very insidiously. You know, they say, if you want to boil a frog, if you increase the temperature of the water it's in very gradually it won't notice, and will sit there and let it happen.. Similarly, Johnnie finds it expedient to join the National Socialists. It's better socially and professionally to be a member, and well, being on the inside is the best way to reform them! And once he's in, he finds them such nice, welcoming people.. 

Even as an audience member, I don't think it hit me properly until the very end - although, as his Jewish friend is seen less and less, I did feel it from his perspective. But as for Johnnie, whose personal problems are dealt with as efficiently as anything else under the Third Reich..

Well, all I'll say is, it's disturbing. Highly disturbing. And honestly, a timely reminder of how these things can happen, by slow creep.. Should be required viewing. And bless NT Live for showing these! I see you can now subscribe to the National Theatre's website for content, too..

Well, I got buses home. And they were nice and quick - once they came - but I spent nearly an hour waiting for them! The #46 didn't help, which arrived without its number and destination display working, and didn't put it up until it was up the road, and I was too late.. And then I ended up booking so much stuff, it ran too late to blog! More anon..

For tonight, I was thinking film again - couldn't see anything better coming up than what's advertised by The London Movie Club and The Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London! both of which I'm a member of. And both of which, it transpires, are run by the same people! So I've signed up with the Hideout. Specifically, what's happening is Alien Day - a special double bill of the classic, Alien, and its sequel, Aliens, at the BFI Imax! See, the first planet where the aliens land is named LV-426.. So, you know, 26th of the 4th.. Now, I've never even been to the Imax, so this'll be interesting! Also good to meet these folks again - apparently, there'll be a break between films as well, when we can have a chat.

Tomorrow, Helen's in town for a conference - we're meeting for dinner at Colosseo, before I head off to join UITCS again, for The Good Person of Szechwan, by Brecht, at the Lyric Hammersmith!

On Friday, I was thinking film - and that blasted film listings site has, as of now, partial listings up for it. So - subject to change, as so many films are listed with the caveat "no information available at the moment" - Friday's film is looking like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly..

No confusion over what I'm doing on Saturday - back with Laurence and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners again! This one is Clerkenwell: A Village of Contrasts - not so far from me. How fortunate am I, to be living close to so much history..

On Sunday, I got a free ticket for David McSavage's new show, Lazy Bastard, at the Top Secret Comedy Club. Still available, still free, if you're interested..

On Monday - well, there's a ton of stuff on Meetup! I finally decided that the most attractive thing was the Vintage Soho guided walk with Barrie, again with the 45+s (it's a bank holiday, you see). As with so many of his walks, however, tickets are also available with TAC - and even though I still have to pay him £5 cash on the day, it represents a saving!

On Tuesday, film again - subject to change, it's a tossup between two - depending on my mood, I might go and see Godland, a dark-looking thing about a young, fanatical, Danish priest who gets sent to Iceland in the 19th Century. Again, no location for it on the film listings site - but it's on in my local cinema.

Next Wednesday, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups are running events that would interest me, but are sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, is reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing last night. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I'll probably head to yet another film that night. And, at the same rating as Godland, is Sick of Myself, a satire set in Oslo, in which a girl is jealous of her boyfriend's artistic success, so she draws attention to herself by taking drugs that give her a skin condition.. Also on in my local cinema, not that the listings site let me in on the secret.

On the 4th, I booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I've taken the opportunity, also, to book a concert with the World Music Meetup! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good!

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend..