Tuesday was a non-going-out day in the end, as our visiting colleague took herself off home for the night. I did look for something last-minute for myself, of course, but there was still nothing on Meetup, and unlike Monday, everything from my cheap ticket clubs was sold out! I guess Tuesday is that much more popular than Monday, eh? Finally, I thought about a film - but I had to go so far down the film list to find something showing that night that, by the time I did, it was too late to go to anything. So I had an early night in, and shocked our team lead by beating everyone in the team into the office on Wednesday..
I'd booked with London Literary Walks on Wednesday night, for another Sculpture in the City walk. But wouldn't you know it, he just realised beforehand that the display only starts later in the month! He's postponed it to next month. Which left me free to head back to Sands Films, where Eleanor, courtesy of TunedIn London, and advertised via the London European Club, was hosting a blues concert by Errol Linton. Lovely!
Weather was a bit warmer, thankfully, and the traffic gods were with me - this time, I was given several suggestions for my first bus (although the 43 doesn't go from that stop, tsk!), and had under 10 minutes to wait for the 47, which I picked up at Monument this time, at one of those bus stops that attracts about one bus per minute. And so it was that, despite terrible traffic on the first leg of the journey, I was in Rotherhithe half an hour earlier than last time! So when I got to The Ship, I decided to risk ordering chips.
More photos - and videos - here. Hmm. I guess they didn't have the cooker turned on, because it took over 20 minutes for them to arrive, and when they did they weren't fully cooked. Never mind, they were piping hot and very welcome. Funnily enough, while I was waiting, from the conversation I overheard at the bar, I discovered that, not only is the barmaid Irish, but has the same first name as I do! Anyway, I didn't stay to chat - legged it as soon as I'd finished.
Now that my leg's better, it was only a hop, skip and jump to Sands Films - not a full house this time, unusually, and happily my favourite chair was free - a nice, comfy armchair, into which I settled. Wasn't long before the concert started - a glorious evening of rhythm n blues, Mr. Linton fronting four others - one on keyboard, one on bass, one on percussion, and one on guitar that reminded me of Bill Murray!
For the next couple of hours, the house rocked to the music of these five men, in the most head-nodding, toe-tapping, concert I've been at in an age. Oh, it's so long since I've listened to r n b! By the end of the night, they were dancing in the aisles. Eleanor mentioned that he's the artist she's invited there the most - I can see why. A great, relaxed evening, a real tonic for the cares of the day.
Afterwards, again I was on the run, knowing how long it takes to get home from there - well, not too bad this time, with buses coming quickly, and especially since it wasn't as cold as last time. Still, it ran too late to blog, and I was just too busy to blog at work yesterday, what with California panicking over a late software release.
Yesterday evening was the office's monthly social - this month, it was in Junkyard Golf Club. Well, it beats feckin' ping pong! We had yet another late meeting - so many people in North America to talk to - and I walked down afterwards with the one other writer who was in. It's a basement venue, and I was glad I decided to leave my coat in the cloakroom, before anything else - it was boiling hot! Worth the £1 charge.. £2 for bags, BTW, and they ran out of space for a while!
We got wristbands from the evening's organiser - there are four different courses here, and our wristbands detailed which we were to go to, and at what time. We found the course without problem - basically ignored the start times, after the initial one, just streaming in, taking clubs, balls, scorecards and pencils from the guy at the entrance.
Our course was "Pablo":
Something of a jungle theme going on. Nine holes of crazy golf followed, in somewhat stifling heat, despite the ice-cold air being blasted out by one air-conditioning unit, somewhere in the middle. To mitigate the effects, there's a treetop bar halfway through! The holes themselves? Very entertaining! Lots of tricky challenges. The first is 3 par - they give up on estimates after that, but do have the odd sign warning that there's an eight-shot maximum! I'm sure I was improving by the end.. good fun, good choice of venue!
Afterwards, we writers had a drink in the bar, only to discover that everyone else had decided it was too hot and headed outside. Someone was sent back to tell us that they'd headed left - so when we finished, that's where we wandered. We found them sat at a food stall at the end of the lane, bearing the name of The Orange Buffalo. Ooh, I thought, food! They do wings and chips - I thought wings would be too messy, so stuck to chips. Thought I might also have some onion rings, but they didn't have any ready, so I didn't.
Turns out that pretty much any of the choices of sauce you can have were a bit too hot for our crew! I'm not sure anyone finished their portion. Anyway, we sat and chatted until it was pretty dark, and we started to lose people. A couple of us then mooched over to the nearby bar - when we went for drinks, we discovered it was Juju's Bar and Stage! I thought it sounded familiar - seems I was at a talk there, last year. Well, a few of us stuck it out to the bitter end - and many thanks to both who bought me drinks! A really good, really social night.
Now I'm back in Ireland for the weekend again. Gotta say, it's warmer here, way more humid. On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for the first time in weeks! Another performance of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical - different every night. At the Lyric again.
On Tuesday, another Funzing talk, courtesy of London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night - Inside North Korea. I see the code crazy_fun is still getting a 10% discount.
On Wednesday, London Literary Walks is taking us to A Circus School and Shakespeare's Dark Lady.
On Thursday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats - at the Bridge Theatre this time, for My Name is Lucy Barton, starring Laura Linney. I got the very last £15 seat!
Next Friday, would you credit it, I'm back with London Dramatic Arts! to see Monogamy, at the Park Theatre. Well, it sounds interesting - and they've sold their allocation for this showing, so we're free to buy our own (gee). My good God, it's August since I was last with them..
On the 16th, Funzing is advertising an ice skating display in aid of the victims of Grenfell. Via Funzing UK. The usual 10% discount applies.
On the 17th, Let's Do This is headed to the World Illustration Awards exhibition at Somerset House.
On the 18th, I'm headed to storytelling by Crick Crack again, finally.. I haven't been able to make any of their more recent ones. It's in Soho Theatre, and it's Sally Pomme Clayton, with Crow. Blood. Snow. Oh my God, it's been ages. Naturally, you'd never know from their Meetup group that it's happening at all. Our boss was supposed to be in London that week, so I decided to leave the rest of the week free, for now.
Then he pinged us, this week, to say it'll actually be the week after. Cue me booking things frantically for the week that was now free - happily, I did well. On the 19th, something very interesting - Up in the Cheap Seats is off to Whist, at Sadler's Wells. Now, turns out that this is an immersive, VR experience! Definitely different.
On the 20th, London Literary Walks is off on Pop the Weasel, and I'm delighted to be able to accompany them.
On the 21st, back to Sands Films for Fete de la Musique - Belcirque is performing, and they do sound quirky. Then it's Ireland again at the weekend.
On the 25th, I'm indulging myself with a premium seat to see Andrew Scott perform the one-man show, Seawall, written especially for him. It's at the Old Vic, two weeks only.
On the 26th, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at Sadler's Wells. It's the Nederlands Dans Theater again - I remember good things about them from before. As I say, the boss is now in the office that week - well, he'll just have to manage without me, those two nights. I'm keeping the rest of the week, and the weekend, free, just in case. Hey, I do have to move that week as well, so could probably do with the time!
And on the 2nd, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at the Gielgud Theatre for Imperium I - Conspirator. The first part of a double-bill, but viewable independently, it is told from the point of view of Cicero's secretary, as he watches how his master's work is used to bring about an end to the Roman Republic. I should probably have booked the second part at the same time - there's a discount for that - but well, my schedule is generally so packed..!
Hello, didya miss me? Details to follow..
On Wednesday, Eleanor was back with a Flamenco evening at Sand's Films, olé! Advertised via the London European Club (LEC), booked through TunedIn London. Ah, it was so good to get back there again! I had another late meeting, but had to skip it, once I realised that, despite being blocked for an hour on my calendar, it was to run for another half hour after! Never mind, just another all-company quarterly report - nothing of importance. And at least getting public transport again would save my leg.
So, I actually ended up leaving nice and early - of course, buses to Rotherhithe are always a nightmare, so I was to need every minute I had. I was in good time for the bus to London Bridge, which was where the trouble started - first thing was to find my next bus stop, in this maze of passageways. Well, Google Maps was good enough to direct me there. Down a great big flight of stairs - poor leg. Unfortunately, the Bus Countdown app completely failed to recognise the stop, so I couldn't check bus arrival times - and it was to be one of those long waits, for the #47. To my immense relief, it eventually came. Now, it's a long time since I was down in this direction - or I might have remembered that the #381 would also have done me. Which would have been handy, considering that it would have dropped me much closer, and also that two of those came while I was waiting for the #47..
I did eventually get there - got a seat after one stop, too. And when I got off, I limped my way to the venue. Now, I was hungry - our office kitchen still hasn't been built, so I can't feed myself before I leave - so when I was passing The Ship, I headed in there. True to its name, it's full of nautical knicknacks - model ships line a shelf that runs the length of the room! I got a packet of crisps, which I sat to eat - whereupon I noticed a food menu. Never mind, I really wouldn't have had time for much more.
The whole trip had taken me about an hour and a quarter up to now, so despite my leaving quite early, the venue was open when I got there, and I gratefully took a seat in the cafe - you can get free tea and coffee here, but they don't do much by way of food. I wasn't there long before we were summoned - Eleanor's small daughter is really growing into her role at Front of House, as she unceremoniously cried to us that we should all be inside, as the house was open! Oh, and she was observant enough to catch me as I slipped by, and insist that I had a flier. Had a quick word with Eleanor before I went in, selecting the most comfortable-looking chair I could see. In due course, I was joined by another group member - relatively new to the group, and whom I hadn't met before. We had a nice chat.
..Before Lola arrived. Eleanor had described her music as "provocative".. we were soon to see what she was hinting at, as Lola entered wearing a high comb and mantilla, which she soon dispensed with. Along with much of her outfit. The next song saw her lose even more! but then, she had a costume change with practically every number. Personally, I liked the flat cap she donned towards the end, teamed with a mini-skater dress. But of course, mainly it was about the music.. as we'd been told, this wasn't traditional flamenco, it was her personal take. More jazzy than the traditional format, it was warm and hypnotic. I was completely transported. She also performed two dance numbers - and though I couldn't properly see her feet from where I was, it looked and sounded wonderful.
Her band were from assorted countries, they had cds for sale, but as usual I had no cash. Never mind. Hey, we also got to learn the difference between flamenco shoes and tap shoes - she informed us that tap shoes have a plate on sole and heel, whereas flamenco shoes have nails hammered into them. And the toes have to be reinforced, as tapping is done with the toes. Ah, another great night at Sands Films, and educational too.
Afterwards, I limped out, just in time to catch a bus. And nearly froze my tush off waiting for the second one - what with that and my sore leg, I was pretty miserable by the time I got back home.
On Thursday, I was booked with London Literary Walks, which are getting more frequent again - last week, it was Krays, Chaucer and Matches.. Predictably though, I had to cancel; my leg was still just too sore. I decided it'd be nice just to stay in and rest.
Now I'm back in Ireland for the long weekend. Funny thing happened on Friday.. Now that I'm flying Ryanair, I have mobile boarding passes all the time. Well - after changing gates without any announcement (we happened to notice it on a departures board), we all rushed over to the new gate. Well, some of us went quite slowly. Anyway, sometimes they scan your pass themselves, sometimes they make you do it. This time, he did it - and as he handed me back my phone, he accidentally swiped it, and my boarding pass closed. I didn't think anything of it - until I discovered that my internet reception was so poor that I couldn't get it back! I was still trying when I entered the door of the plane, and explained the situation to the attendant. Happily, I remembered my seat number - she reassured me that we'd sort it, but warned me that she needed to see it!
Never did come back to look for it, mind. Despite the fact that I got a burst of internet during the long time we waited to take off, and managed to display it in the end. Anyway, point is, at that point I realised that my leg didn't hurt any more! The stress of all that scared the pain away, I guess. Well, it's still very sore, but the limp is pretty much gone, thank goodness. And now I'm loving just having a few days to recuperate and reset. Stop the world, I want to get off, as they say!
I've also finally had a chance to think about the week ahead. I fly back tomorrow (delays permitting - boy, was I lucky with it being a long weekend!), and was thinking about a film for Tuesday - the film list was the main reason for the delay in blogging, as usual. But what came up didn't appeal much - not Bollywood for once, but The Trout, a documentary about the preparation for a classical concert. It's free, and being in the Southbank Centre, is of course followed by a performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet. Nothing on Meetup either, typically. However, another check of the website of my £3.60 club revealed a whole new range of offers, since I last checked.. so now, instead, I have a ticket for the TriOperas at the Peacock. More expensive than normal for them, at £5.40 it still represents a terrific saving on the cheapest official ticket price of £15. Very cloak-and-dagger collection process though - I have to get my ticket, between 6 and 7pm, from the Pret across the road, from someone with a pink clipboard! Oh, and as usual, say the club name in a whisper..
On Wednesday, more opera - the LEC has advertised the Pop-Up Opera's performance of a Mozart Double Bill, in St. Mary's Islington. Just like last year, it's part of the Soul in the City festival - and it's free! Tickets necessary, and available from Eventbrite - and now sold out, predictably. Sadly, it seems that London Literary Walks have moved next week's walk to the same day.. well, too bad, I just can't bring myself to miss Pop-Up Opera. It's another of the signs of summer! And it's hilarious, and it'll give my leg some more time to heal.
On Thursday, London Speaks Sessions and LDN Talks @ Night (therefore Funzing) have an interesting-sounding talk about Black Tudors: Three Untold Stories. Seeing as how I missed a Funzing talk a while back, because I couldn't find it, and they offered to book me on another for free.. albeit it was weeks ago.. I've emailed to see whether the offer still stands. Watch this space.
And on Friday, back with the LEC for yet more music! The London Jazz Meetup also has an event on that night, but the LEC's sounds better on YouTube - part of the Songlines Encounters Festival at King's Place, and they're doing the double bill for the evening, which scores a 20% discount. (30% off if you book for three events in the festival, but I'm unlikely to do that.)
