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..