Last night saw me attend only my second ever talk given by Henning, in the London European Club. The subject was UK and the EU - A Troubled Relationship, and it sounded interesting: and topical, what with the Brexit referendum approaching next month.
It was scheduled for 7 - and when I got one of those scary LEC emails earlier in the day, with dire warnings of expulsions if we didn't show up, I was nervous, given that I was in Guildford. I can fully understand their position - I've been in Meetups before where people just didn't bother to show, and organisers were out of pocket; and last night's event was booked out, with, apparently, a long waiting list. Still, the tone of these warnings is off-putting..
Mind you, when I read the Meetup page more closely, it turned out that the talk itself wouldn't start until 7:30, although the room was being set up from 6:30. So I relaxed at that point. And wouldn't you know it, traffic was light for once, and I got home in plenty of time. The quickest way to the Devereux was to take a train to Waterloo, then a bus. At Clapham Junction, a train quickly presented itself, and wouldn't you know it, as I approached Stop C at Waterloo, a 76 was just pulling up! Was I ever satisfied with myself as it pulled away with me on it..
Alighting at the Royal Courts of Justice, I knew I had to cross the road - and Google Maps said to go down Devereux Court. Great - except it's practically invisible:
Had to look carefully to see it. Never mind - if you couldn't, you could just go down Essex Street, to the right, and turn around the back of The Edgar Wallace. Oh, I love the Temple district - full of little nooks and alleyways.
And so to the Devereux, which was practically deserted - but I remembered it from before, and knew the talk would be upstairs. I ordered a drink, paid by card, and was slightly annoyed to be presented immediately with a suggestion of a gratuity - for goodness' sake, I was only just in the door! Anyway, drink in hand, I went in search of the upstairs. Remembered going to the other outside door, so went that way again - only to remember, when I got there, turning back because that was the wrong way. So I did that again, made my way around to the other side of the bar, and went through the door marked "Restaurant".
Sure enough, the upstairs room used for talks is a restaurant in another life. Now, this doesn't work terribly well in practice - I've been in plenty of rooms above pubs, used for different functions, and one that's a restaurant has a problem that others don't - tables. Fine if you're eating off them - not so much if you're trying to cram into what became a very crowded room, to see a presentation and listen to a talk. For goodness' sake, a worker had to push her way through at some point, and it would've been easier to suspend her on a pulley system hung from the ceiling..
The prelude to the talk had a slideshow - what looked like a YouTube compilation - of attractive European landscapes. Lovely - although if you got there quite early, as I did, and were watching them for over half an hour, they did become a bit samey. Mountains, lakes, waterfalls, beaches - and recycle. Some pretty towns too, but if I had to see another waterfall..
So it was a relief when the talk began. Henning's talks are well researched, and this was no exception - he'd done his homework, and presented us with a summarised history of what was to become the European Union, from the end of the Second World War. An interesting story, always with a nod to Britain's role: he described how a desire to curb Germany's chances of starting yet another war led to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which aimed to pool the continent's coal and steel resources, so that no one country could build up its stock - which would be essential for warmongering.
Of course, this grew to become the European Economic Community, which is what I always remember it as. And he explained how the UK was in a stronger state than Continental Europe after the war, and didn't see a need to join any union - but how the EEC's economic power grew, and it duly became more attractive. The UK applied for membership, but was blocked by De Gaulle - partly because he was suspicious of Britain's strong ties to the US. They eventually joined in 1973 - just as Europe's fortunes took a downturn.
As Henning pointed out, mainly the timing of events was unfortunate. At this point, however, the discussion turned towards economics, and my brain turned itself off - never been of any interest to me, I'm afraid. Unlike many of the audience, who - as you might expect - were well informed. I did appreciate the slide of graphs that he reluctantly displayed at the end - as he said, they were open to misinterpretation, but did show the UK's healthy position, relative to other EU members, in terms of contributions, net contributions, contributions as percentage of GDP.. as an ex-statistician, graphs are something I can understand.
I left at the break. Had a long, cold wait at the bus stop - although the display said the bus was due, I was there for at least 10 minutes! At least the nearby church bells kept me entertained with Oranges and Lemons. And the 87 took me all the way home - including a small diversion. Early enough to go to bed - not to blog.
Tonight, the Man with the Hat is taking Let's Do London - for less! (including me) to see Last of the Boys, at Southwark Playhouse - indeed, he's also got a bunch of them going to the other show there, The Toxic Avenger, also tonight! I've already seen that one, of course. And I can guarantee attendees a great night..
Tomorrow, I'm back with the Crick Crack Club, at The Forge, for a storytelling evening entitled The Howken Field, by Nick Hennessy. Could be fun getting to it - I'm in Guildford again, and a train strike is threatened, which means the Overground will be busy..
On Thursday, I'm with Henning again, who's headed to a mixed bill by Nederlands Dans Theater, at Sadler's Wells. I'll work from home that day - it's another 7 o' clock start. And then it's back to Ireland for the weekend.
Actually, there was a classical concert on the Meetup list for tonight, and if I'd seen that first I'd probably have gone to it. But what I saw first was this talk about Ireland, so I said - what the hey! and I booked for that. Not that we had to pay, but we did have to RSVP.
It was held in the function room upstairs at the Devereux pub, in the historic Temple area. Not familiar with the venue, but well familiar with the complexity of the narrow, winding old streets there, I took myself straight to Google Maps Streetview, which showed me exactly how to get there. It was explained on the event website that the event was to start at 7:30, but we could arrive any time after 6:30.
And so it came to pass that I headed off, getting the Tube to Temple. Now, Streetview, for some reason best known to itself, had me heading to the embankment and winding my way around. Nonsense! Quicker to climb the steps, to your left as you leave the station, then head right along Temple Place to the corner, where you intersect with the Streetview route. You need to cross the road, and it's funny how, just at the top of the aforementioned steps, where there's a junction with Arundel Street, there's a zebra crossing on one side, where traffic has to give way to pedestrians - and a light-controlled pedestrian crossing on the other, where pedestrians are supposed to wait for the lights to turn in their favour. Turning to the right, it's the light-controlled crossing you come across; but the traffic from Temple Place (which is one-way) is held at the zebra crossing anyway, so it's just the traffic from Arundel Street you have to watch.
Having crossed successfully, I came across the beautiful building at 2 Temple Place:
At the corner, I knew I had to turn left, into a pedestrianized street - the end of Milford Lane:
And then I proceeded up the flight of steps directly in front of me, to take me onto Essex Street:
Head along to the pub on the corner, turn down the laneway and The Devereux is a little ways down on the left. It didn't take long, and I got there at about 20 past. Now, The Devereux is more than a little confusing. I knew I had to go upstairs, but on my first pass I couldn't see a way there! I tried again, and finally, at the back of the pub, came across a door marked "Restaurant". I knew the restaurant was upstairs, so thought this would be a good bet. Upon climbing the stairs, I came across the restaurant, with tables packed with people. I couldn't see anywhere else, and when I saw a screen displaying a slideshow of what looked like images of Ireland, I figured I was in the right place. Mind you, it did occur to me that it must be awkward trying to eat here, if the restaurant might on any given occasion be booked by a private party..
I should probably have come earlier - pretty much the only seats left faced away from the screen. I had to swivel around in my seat to get a view. As the talk started, one guy's food arrived - you had to get drinks downstairs though, and bring them upstairs - I didn't bother.
The talk was given by a soft-spoken German. Very softly spoken - it occurred to me how many people who are to give presentations put so much thought and effort into slides (or film clips) but so little into what they're going to say, or how they're going to say it. Frankly, he nearly put me to sleep. Still, I have to give him credit - although he admitted his research was on Wikipedia, it was quite extensive.
He started by asking whether there were any Irish in the room. Well goodness, there were a bunch of us! He was impressed - said there'd been no Swiss people at the talk on Switzerland. Yes, well, that's the Irish for you.. It soon became apparent that he was focussing on the history. Mind you, it was a bad sign that he chose to start with the English invasion of 1169. He did pay lip-service to the fact that there was loads of history before that, but well.. he was starting there, and that was that.
After meandering through to the 17th Century, he had some facts clarified by an elderly Irish gent down the back, who pointed out that although Cromwell did massacre many in Ireland, it was royalist supporters he was targeting, and many of those killed were Protestant, English settlers who supported the king. But things didn't really start to warm up until he got up to the Troubles.
They say the tragedy of the English is that they never remember, and the tragedy of the Irish is that they never forget. Well - predictably, really - there were a lot of people in that room with a great capacity not to forget. They soon commandeered the discussion, which became all about the North. And the British Army (Northern Ireland is their longest foreign assignment, you know - by a mile). And the hunger strikes. And so on - and on - and on..
There were some interesting asides, for instance by the Englishman sitting beside me, who described how, as a kid in London, he was terrified to get on a train because of all of the talk of bombs. Or the woman in front of me, from an Irish family but who grew up in London, who remembers the racism of the 60s - "no blacks, no Irish, no dogs", said the signs in boarding houses. See, these are perspectives I haven't heard done to death.
But the discussion for most of the night was just plain depressing, and when he announced a 15-minute interval, for people to get drinks and such, I knew I was leaving. They might have struck a lighter note after I left, but I wasn't willing to risk it. I wasn't the only one - I overheard a couple who left just in front of me also complaining that the discussion had been hijacked. By the sort of people who would never let it go.. ugh. Let them at it. Ironically, I love history - in general. But Irish history has a terrible tendency to turn into a melancholic sinkhole. I climbed out.
Nice to get home early, too. Tomorrow night, I'm joining the same club - but this time, it's for their Spring Extravaganza concert, to promote two young Irish opera singers: Alison Langer and Lawrence Thackeray. And has a different organiser. And, hopefully, NO history.
