Walk: Discover the Secrets of the 19th Century London Docks

Yesterday, back with Discover London - History Walks and Events to Discover the Secrets of the 19th Century London Docks. Always love this part of town - again, this was walking distance from my new place. So it would've been nice to stay the night.. still waiting on word of my keys. Anyway, I was so glad it wasn't on till afternoon, and I could lie in!

Still ended up rushing, knowing me - just made the bus in perfect time though. Wow - must have been the hottest day of the year (or one of them) - I felt like I was cooking from the minute I stepped out of the house. Glad I brought a hat. Was a bit early for the start, and took myself first to the nearby ice cream stand - never has an ice cream tasted better. And they had Flake to put in it - that shortage must have ended! Well now..

I finished it before joining the others - didn't want to have to multitask by eating, talking, and paying, all at once. We made sure to stand in the shade as we waited the usual 15 minutes for people to arrive. And indeed, we spent most of the walk in the shade - much pleasanter.

We started on the attractive St. Katherine Dock:

It's always lovely to be near water on a sunny day:

We moseyed mainly through less-trafficked, more residential areas: with, we decided, utterly unaffordable housing. Except for wildlife, which there was in plenty:

before coming to Tobacco Dock - most recently a conference centre, as, indeed, mentioned by one of our group, who had been to a conference there. The hogs' heads decorating the gate refer to the name of the large barrels they're depicted with:

We passed through Wapping Woods to get to Shadwell Basin, the largest remaining body of water in the docklands. Which seemed to be hosting a tightrope competition! Well, of all the days to get a dunking:

And so, finally, to the Prospect of Whitby - an attractive pub, with lots of cubbyholes, and a long history. Used to be called The Pelican - which is where the adjacent Pelican Stairs, down to the water, got their name. The tour actually ended down the stairs, but I've been down there before, and have a thing about stairs - so I gave it a miss.

Into the pub then, for what turned out to be a long afternoon - a couple of us had food. It's a Greene King pub, whose steak and ale pies I love, but I skipped it on this occasion, what with the heat. Decided on chicken kyiev instead. We sat upstairs, where there was more space - and handily, there was service up there too. Mind you, although the queue was shorter, it was still a pain - and the food took forever to arrive. When it did, the coating on my chicken was a bit burnt - and it didn't taste much of kyiev - but it was succulent, and hit the spot. My fellow eater had a burger, which she proclaimed lovely. And then the afternoon passed merrily, with a few of us sharing bottles of wine, and some excellent conversation. All in all, a most enjoyable outing! Pity I don't get to go with this group more.. Anyway, with all that wine, I was too tired last night to blog.

For today, got a cheap ticket with CT for From Swing to Soul, a concert series at Wonderville. I do wonder whether they fixed their tech issues from last time..

Tomorrow evening, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again - this time, for A Strange Loop, at the Barbican. Multi-award-winning, it seems - cheaper tickets available from WhatsOnStage (WOS), fulfilled by London Theatre Direct. Interestingly though, to get the cheaper offer, buy through WOS..

On Wednesday, thinking film - and delighted to see that Asteroid City has risen in ratings, and is now top of my list! Ah well, that's a no-brainer - a Wes Anderson comedy, with an all-star cast, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Maya Hawke, Rupert Friend, Steve Park, Liev Schreiber, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum (playing an alien, appropriately I guess..), Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie.. and probably some other people I recognise. Anyway, I love Wes Anderson's stuff - and it's on in my local cinema (for flat #1). And there are showings all day, so, given that I probably shan't have any other demands on my time that day, until I get another job, I can go to whatever suits!

On Thursday, thinking of heading back to Watkin's Bookshop, for the first time in an age - they have an author talk called Holy Waters - Searching for the Sacred in a Glass. There's a new book about this, which considers the use of alcohol in religion - sounds interesting! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.

And next Monday, I'm back with UITCS for A Playlist for the Revolution, at the Bush Theatre.