Tonight - at last, back with London Literary Walks! for the Lincoln's Inn Walk. I feel a bit guilty, having missed his last two for the Camden Fringe - blame Up in the Cheap Seats! Now, I cancelled a meal with Let's Do This for this walk - ironically, I see that Mary took my place on it.. ah, this Meetup inter-group competitiveness!
This is getting vexing - every single evening, I leave my boss hard at it to go and enjoy myself, and I feel guilty about that too. I know it's his choice, but still. Anyway, with a reasonably late start to the walk, and meetings that didn't go on for too long, I left in decent time. Annoyingly, I just missed my bus - but hey, the other one would do better than waiting for 11 whole minutes. So I got that instead, and had a short walk when I got off.
"Inside the pub", he said. Hmm. It was The Shakespeare's Head - which is pretty huge, like any Wetherspoon's. So that wasn't terribly helpful. Well, he turned out to be right at the back. Pretty much. I duly commented as much on the Meetup page, figuring it might be of help to the others who had yet to arrive. We had a decent crowd for this one - of the six who accompanied him, three of us were regulars, with two first-timers having signed up. And someone else appeared at the last minute, who hadn't responded at all! Well gee. Welcome, one and all!
We didn't have to go far to find something interesting:
More photos here. Tonight's walk was the usual fascinating mix, with Sir Thomas More..
(and did you know he was lauded by the Soviet Union for his Communist principles, as espoused in Utopia?!) Aleister Crowley made an appearance - or, at least, somewhere he used to live. We learned the correct pronunciation of Chiang Kai-Shek, from the Chinese lady present (yes, he lived around here too). We also got a fair bit about Charles II - primarily, it seemed, because we were passing pubs that had some association with him. Such as the one named after a chap that hid him, at one fateful point of the Civil War:
After that, the walk dealt primarily with money..
and, conspicuously, the Law. Well, but you'd expect that for Lincoln's Inn. We learned about how newly qualified lawyers have to spend a year in chambers, and we passed the pro bono centre. Some quite imposing buildings:
..and some expensive wigs:
Finally, the Peacock Theatre held some surprises, as the venue where women first appeared legally on stage, also notable for its innovative moveable scenery and use of perspective. And so on - for most of us - to The Old Bank of England, which is housed in an old bank. Funny that. Passing the discarded remains of a reception - shocking waste of food and drink - we comfied ourselves in a corner and discussed, well, writing and stuff. Another excellent outing, in good company. Our guide, however, still resolutely refused to pin down any dates for next month.. we wait in suspense.
Tomorrow, I'm with Walking in London again, for The Summer Ghost Walk, which I cancelled earlier in the month. Handily, I got a loyalty discount for this, which knocked nearly half the price off! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
And next week starts with two trips with North London Friends. On Monday, we're off to Hampstead Theatre for The Humans. Front row, cool!
And on Tuesday, we're seeing The Aristocrats - by Brian Friel - at Donmar Warehouse. Now, initially, I didn't book anything for this night, what with another late-night work meeting planned. Forgot about that when I was booking this, next time I looked - but sod it, the last late-night work meeting didn't even happen, and I'm sick of them just blithely assuming we'll work after hours.
Tonight, the London European Club attended a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. I did intend to take my parka, but forgot - never mind, my legs were better wrapped up than last time, and I wasn't too bad. And with no-one in California getting back to me with information I needed (including my Product Manager, who was at the dentist), I did slip away in time! And had an uncomplicated journey there, apart from having to perch half off my seat, the woman beside me was so fat..
No problem finding the Old Building of the LSE - Streetview showed the entrance a short distance from my stop, down Houghton Street. And inside, why, the theatre is dead ahead - somebody official-looking said they'd be open at 6 (I was early), and I could go and come back, or join the queue around the corner - which is what I did, passed by other group members some time later. A bit after 6, we were let in, and strictly directed to specific seats, filling from the far side, and from the front - except for the front row, which was left vacant. In the event, I got in the second row, with Henning, the organiser, just behind me. It didn't fill - there were plenty of seats left in the gallery.
Three speakers came on stage on 6:30 - the Europe editor at the Financial times, and a couple of professors, including one who'd written the book that has the title of the talk. (Discount available on www.oup.com with code ASFLYQ6.) They and the chair spent about 45 minutes introducing us to the subject, and their thoughts on it - a variety of well-thought out ideas, and as Henning remarked afterwards, too much information! During the last talk - by the Financial Times Europe editor - I'm afraid I really struggled to stay awake; he just has such a soothing voice!
So. We've noticed a trend, Europe-wide, towards Euroscepticism - what's behind it, and indeed, behind Brexit? The author, first to speak, showed a very interesting graph of Eurosceptic countries - turned out that this was a graph of support for anti-European parties in various countries. And what was interesting about it wasn't that the UK was one of the highest-rated Eurosceptics - no, it was that Sweden was right up there with it! Indeed, I seem to remember, when I was in Stockholm last year, someone living there mentioned that there was a lot of anti-European sentiment.
One argument was that, of course, countries that were doing well, and had alternative options, would tend to explore those options. Or countries that had more faith in their own governments than in Brussels - that might certainly explain, at least partly, the great faith that Ireland has in Brussels, considering the various incompetents that have run that country! And, of course, there's the thorny issue of immigration.. one of the professors made a good point about economic deprivation, and how it makes people disinclined to welcome immigrants with open arms, when they fear they'll be the ones to take the limited resources.
Afterwards, the Q+A - also for 45 minutes - threw up some interesting ideas: such as, what would the EU be like if Russia had joined?! Questions came thick and fast, taken in bunches and answered broadly. The author, again, pointed out a discussion that she, who's Dutch, had had with her Spanish husband. She was complaining about Dutch dissatisfaction with the EU, given their high employment - he exclaimed that it was so much higher in Spain! So why aren't they protesting against the EU? He pointed out that it had been much worse under Franco..
So, the general consensus was that you couldn't generalise. And the continent rumbles on.. someone asked whether they thought that the EU and the Euro would still be here in 20 years' time, and whether the UK would be a part of them? Another consensus: "yes, yes, no".
Afterwards, some stayed for the free drinks in the lobby, but we went in search of a pub. And how we searched.. they were either packed or noisy. We ended up in the Shakespeare's Head, on Kingsway, very glad to get in from another biting wind. Grabbed a table in the end - I see they have an app now, where you can order from your table! Sadly, it wouldn't load the menu, so off we went to the bar, as usual - by the time I got back, they'd found a nice, big round table instead, with room for us all. Occupied just by one fat young man, who looked as though he was playing videogames. He eventually looked up, seemed startled to see us, and left soon after.
For our part, four of us ate - it was curry night, and Henning had that. And oh, what a luxury to have a proper dinner! I don't usually have time. Stuffed myself, I did, as the conversation about Europe continued around me. On the way home, wouldn't you know it, I ran into someone from Up in the Cheap Seats.. they were at something in the Phoenix Theatre tonight, but you know, I was more interested in this.
Tomorrow, I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend, and a much-needed rest - I got quite breathless just walking from the stop, this evening. Really need a break.
On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce. Just the two of us going! Second time that's happened with this organiser..
On Tuesday, I'm back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On Wednesday, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
Next Thursday, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House.
Then we're into the Early May Bank Holiday - and I saw an interesting trip, advertised by Carpe Diem, for a long weekend in Bulgaria. So I applied for a place - only to be told that there'd only been six, which were now gone. When I pointed out that the Meetup page advertised 12 places, and that some were shown as still available, they removed the event entirely. Instead, on the 4th I'm headed - with the £3.60 club - to Music Hall Monster: The Insatiable Mr. Fred Barnes, at Wilton's. Could be good.
And on the 5th, as of now, I'm signed up to an overnight trip to Newquay in Cornwall with Eddie's Excursions. This time, I got in the first six - ironically, they're not guaranteeing it'll go ahead unless they can fill a minibus! Watch this space..
Tonight, Henning in the London European Club (LEC) went to Voices of America, at Sadler's Wells. Goodee, two nights in a row that I could walk! The fact that he said he'd also be there early gave me a marvellous excuse to leave the office early, after what had been rather a stressful day. Mind you, I could have done without the drizzle, which had lasted all day and decided it still liked the place, so hung around..
Never mind, I made it in due course. And was first there! Early enough that the staff were getting their pre-show briefing. So I grabbed a drink - insipid house white, not recommended - and hung out until the others arrived. And there we stayed until the bell went for the performance. Visits to Sadler's Wells always involve a lot of climbing, I find - and this time, I was second row from the back, as it turned out. And had to step over a lot of people to get in. Ah well, decent view all the same:
Yes, that is an eye, which watches as you enter, and also makes an appearance during the first piece, Fantastic Beings. Visually arresting, this is formed of large dance groups, with interesting visual elements. Such as what look like apes, crawling on all fours across the stage at intervals and eventually taking over. I also appreciated the silvery glitter that descends from the ceiling at the end. Unfortunately, I struggled to put any meaning on the piece, and being tired anyway, I actually fell asleep - briefly - during this one.
An interval followed, where most got ice creams, but I didn't - didn't honestly feel like anything. The pieces improved for me after that - the next, Approximate Sonata, features neon-bright costumes, and a series of pas de deux. In the absence of a story, I find I can focus better on a smaller number of dancers, and I really enjoyed the interplay between each pair.
Another interval, and we were into The Cage - not to everyone's taste, this, with its depiction of some kind of predatory insect. Sort of a balletic nightmare. I loved it. And the night finishes, after a pause that confused some, who, I think, though it was finished already - with Playlist: as I discovered from the free flyer that some seemed to have got from some unknown source. This last piece just has the dancers moving in time to more contemporary music - to predictably thunderous applause at the end. Honestly, I liked it too, but really.. all this for the music? Anyway, runs until the 21st. Booking recommended, given how busy it was tonight.
Afterwards, an unusual development - we (well, half of us) went for drinks afterwards! I'm so unused to that, these days. The Shakespeare's Head is right around the back, and a nice, unassuming place, where Henning was good enough to buy us each a drink, and we rounded off the night with a lovely chat. Ah, I don't get enough of that these days, the slow getting-to-know people kind of hanging out that Up in the Cheap Seats just doesn't do.. and I was still back in time to catch the Co-op before it closed!
Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. On Monday, tragically, a Crick Crack event that I found out about too late.. Red Bead Woman, with Martin Shaw at Soho Theatre, is sold out. Never mind, he's not one of my favourites anyway. Instead, back with the Funzing talk groups, London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night (until they cancel!), for The Story of Accent and Identity.
On Tuesday, (nominally) going with London Science Events for a talk on Gravitational Waves and Beyond, at the Royal Institution. They've given no Meetup details, so I'm not anticipating a social evening.
On Wednesday, Funzing again, for The Strangest Feeling: Déjà Vu, at Gabeto, in Camden Market. Presented by Anthony Peake, whom I spent a long time researching to make sure he's not a sceptic, as I have extensive personal experience of precognitive experiences.
Next Thursday, back with a proper Meetup group, in the form of London Literary Walks - he's only doing them fortnightly now, it seems. Well, he's covered half of London at this rate! This one is called Guitar Bands Are on the Way Out, Mr. Epstein.
On the 20th, I got the very last ticket to The Phlebotomist, downstairs at Hampstead Theatre. I'm going with Up in the Cheap Seats - North London Friends are seeing it in preview, but it was already sold out for that night.
On the 21st, I'm back with London Discovery Walks for yet another ghost tour - this one is called Ghosts of the Old City - just like my last Funzing walk!
On the 22nd, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for a film music gala at the Albert Hall.
On the 23rd, a Funzing talk - An Introduction to the Dark Net. At Sink.. For which I earned a loyalty discount, on account of all I booked recently!
On the 24th and 25th, back again with Up in the Cheap Seats: the 24th is for An Ideal Husband - part of the Oscar Wilde Season, at the Vaudeville. Stars father and son, Edward and Freddie Fox. And Susan Hampshire. The 25th is for Mood Music, at the Old Vic, with Ben Chaplin.
On the 26th, the LEC is attending a lecture at the LSE, on Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration. Then I'm back to the highly non-Eurosceptic Ireland again, for the weekend.
On the 30th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for A Gym Thing - got a fright when I saw that, but no, it's a play - in the Pleasaunce.
On the 1st, I am back with North London Friends - to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Our Country's Good.
On the 2nd, Up in the Cheap Seats is off to The Writer, at the Almeida.
And on the 3rd, London Literary Walks is doing - ahem - Stalin's Doss House. Meeting at Starbucks, naturally!
Ah, deep joy when I discovered the London European Club was off to see some flamenco last night - and at Sadlers Wells, too, which kind of guarantees quality! But frankly, it'd take a lot to convince me that flamenco wasn't worth going to - I immediately booked. We were all booking our own tickets (oh, how much less hassle that is!) and sat separately, but met both before and after..
After the previous day's spat with London Dramatic Arts, who no longer like me either buying my own tickets for their events, nor linking to my blog - and hence potentially mentioning ticket resellers (shock horror!) - on their pages, I was up very late that night, trying to bite my tongue in the latest blog post, for fear of inflaming things further. So I woke very late yesterday.. at least there were no further comments in the fray. Sadly, the day kind of escaped from me, and I didn't have time to eat properly before I left..
I decided on the fastest way in, which was train to Vauxhall, Victoria Line to King's Cross, Northern Line to Angel - we were to meet at The Angel, across the road from Angel Tube Station. Wouldn't you know it, for once my luck was in and I just caught a train to Vauxhall as it was about to depart! After that, my journey was smooth enough - as it turned out, I beat everyone else to The Angel, and not finding anyone else, was on the point of leaving when the organiser showed up. So we convened at a small, free, table in this busy pub, and drank and chatted until it was time to go.
Sadlers Wells is really only a short walk away, straight down the road and take a right when you see the sign for it. So we hung out in the lobby for a while, where I ran into people I haven't seen in an age! In due course, we made our way upstairs - most of us were in the Second Circle, and boy, do those stairs test your fitness! And yes, when we made it to the right level, there were more steps to climb..
Someone had guessed beforehand that there'd be a lot of Spaniards in the audience - I think they were right. As usual, we started a bit late.. to a full house, it's been sold out for days, at least. The first piece, I wasn't so keen on - the guitar was overpowered by a secondary music track I found unnecessary, and the formation dancing reminded me of Riverdance - which is fine, but gee, I've seen it before. They even have a flamenco section.
I needn't have worried - the rest was spectacular. This was ballet flamenco, and I did wonder what that would mean - in practice, it meant, it seemed, that you got everything you might want from flamenco (olé!) but with a nod to the way it looked - so, some pieces were more consciously balletic, there was plenty of attention to costume and lighting, all movements were choreographed. It looked incredible! Some of the staging was absolutely epic - I particularly noted one scenario with three flamenco dancers in red.
The flamenco itself, of course, was superb. As the evening progressed, it got ever wilder, and the (extremely noisy) crowd picked up on it. Plenty of "Olé"s! The lead dancer (Sara Baras) got a separate standing ovation after an extended solo, some time before the end - but she wasn't the only one worthy of applause. A fantastic night, whether you've seen lots of this before, or it's your first time. This is part of their Flamenco Festival, and I really recommend it if you can swing both the time to see it, and a ticket.. jeez, sometimes I really miss Spain.
Afterwards, our organiser led us to a little place just around the corner, called The Shakespeare's Head. It's been described as "the pub that time forgot" - well yes! Someone remarked that it didn't feel like we were still in London - I remarked that it felt as though we were in a time machine. Call it what you will - it's definitely retro. Service was a little slow, but prices reasonable and the atmosphere was great! A jukebox included modern hits, but the preference of the clientele tended towards the earlier stuff, and it fitted perfectly! Towards the end of the night, what with the heat, the (too-heavy) coat I was wearing, and the lack of food, I was feeling a bit faint; after a short sit-down, I called it a night, and a couple of us made it to the bus stop, just in time for the bus to Waterloo.
A great night - this is a group I enjoy meeting people from, there's quite a variety of people coming to different things, and they're always open to new people and ideas. Now, I was supposed to go to a free gig at the Finsbury tonight - but you know, I'm quite run down, pretty exhausted in fact, what with quarrels and all, and I ain't going anywhere tonight. Particularly with the wind that's been howling outside all day! I've spent the interim revising my film list, ranked in order of IMDB ratings, and the grand winner for tomorrow is.. drum roll please.. Neerja! Yes, it's another Bollywood film - the true story of an Indian flight attendant who gave her life to save her passengers when her plane was hijacked by terrorists, in 1986. I'm sensing a theme of sorts in the Bollywood films I've seen lately, the last being Airlift.. Anyway, it's in my local cinema - which is quite good for Bollywood - and in the evening, so I can drive (they validate parking from 7). I'll work from home next day, so it doesn't matter that it finishes a bit late.
On Tuesday, I'm back with one of my favourites - Let's Do London - for less! is off to see Orphans, at Southwark Playhouse. On Wednesday, the Crick Crack Club scheduled another storytelling session, in The Forge - and next thing I knew, The London European Club were coming too! I'd already booked my ticket - so now I've signed up with both groups. This one, I'll definitely go to.. and it'll be nice to have the LEC there, I'll know some people; the Crick Crack Club don't put much emphasis on meeting. On Thursday, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts, with whom I'd booked a ticket to Battlefield, at the Young Vic, before all this trouble started. It's based on the Mahabharata, apparently. And that won't be a bit awkward, now will it..? Somehow I don't think I'll be hanging around for long after. Back to Ireland at the weekend, then on Monday of next week I'm back with Let's Do London - for less!, who are off to Soho Theatre for What I Learned From Johnny Bevan.
