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Frost Descends Social

Tonight, another social with  The Hideout  and their sister group,  Movie Roadhouse London , at the  BFI Riverfront Bar  - this one was fetchingly called  Frost Descent . How appropriate. Eating beforehand at  The Archduke , as usual. Ah man, what a busy day.. I was to be glad I was headed reasonably close to home, as I even had to run to Tesco beforehand! Cold as a.. (insert expletive here). Anyway, I arrived at the restaurant a little late, wasn't a problem.. warmed my hands on the candle on the table, not joking. When she came for my drink order, I gave her the whole order - I knew I wanted beef bourgignon. And wow, was it good.. and when she came to clear it away, I asked for the bill. I was in something of a hurry. So, I arrived at the social a little ahead of the scheduled time, but I had heard it was going to start early - some of the group had decided to decamp to a table quiz at the Prince Charles . Never mind.. it was another very convivial social, lots of interesting ch
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Film: Soundtrack to a Coup d' État

Tonight was film again. So, what I came up with was  Soundtrack to a Coup d' État , a fascinating documentary about events in the  UN  in 1960, with the entry of a host of newly independent  African  nations, shifting the balance of power. We get  Khrushchev  banging his fist, we get  Eisenhower  - and we get a political  assassination . Lots of shenanigans - and all to a rocking jazz soundtrack. Showing in the  ICA . I left a little later than intended, but the bus fairly flew - until we were nearly at my stop , when we hit horribly heavy traffic. When we were finally let off, happily, Google Maps had provided me with a terrific little shortcut, down Spring Gardens , then onto a pedestrian passageway that took me straight to the Mall . So handy - albeit there was a chap pissing in the corner. And wouldn't you know it, I made it on time! Had to queue for a ticket, then slipped into the cinema behind another couple, and sat in the same row as they did, which was mostly empty,
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Play: Reykjavik

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Tonight, I headed to  Reykjavik , in  Hampstead Theatre .. which, ironically,   Up in the Cheap Seats   went to a while back. What an awful night to be headed out.. cold, pouring rain.. Anyway, I walked to the station to catch the Tube . And despite someone's groan as it pulled in and we saw how crowded it was, mercifully most of them got off, so we got on. And I even got a seat after a couple of stops! Ate at Ye Olde Swiss Cottage of course, as usual. I have to say, I've never seen it so busy! I was lucky to get a seat - not my usual table, but one at the other side of the bar area, which was fine. 20 minutes, I queued at the bar to get served - the lady behind me remarked that she'd never seen such a slow barman, but I think that was unfair! As I pointed out, there was only one of him - and the line of people never dropped off. Anyway, I duly had my order taken, and it wasn't too long before I got served - poor guy admitted that he'd forgotten where I was sittin
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Walk: Baker Street and its Irregulars, Film: Gladiator II, & Storytelling: Queen of Between

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Yesterday, back with  Laurence Summers  and the  45+ Not Grumpies , yay! This (new) walk started life as  Baker Street and its Quirky Surrounds , and was rechristened Baker Street and its Irregulars . So, back in the same direction as Friday .. gee, I should nearly have stayed the night! Ah, the buses.. I discovered I could get there by bus in under an hour. Apparently. I'd have to change at Waterloo . I left in plenty of time. Getting to Waterloo was no problem - getting out of there was a nightmare. The #139 was supposed to take me straight from there to Selfridge's , where we were to join the walk. Yeah - except it never came. With no bus apparently due, I got wary - I often run into problems like that at Waterloo - and took the other bus from that stop , the #176 , when it came. Then it had to stop dead for a while, to "even out the gaps in the service". Then traffic was terrible.. and finally it dropped me - on Tottenham Court Road . Now, I knew that was going t
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Play: The Glorious French Revolution (aka Why sometimes it takes a guillotine to get anything done)

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Now, a couple more days with  Meetup . Tonight, back with  Up in the Cheap Seats  (UITCS) for  The Glorious French Revolution  at the  New Diorama Theatre ! I booked to eat beforehand at the nearby  Greene Man , which is a  Greene King  pub, where good food can always be had. Most of the group actually ate at  Ravishankar  - but with it being vegetarian, I wasn't keen. Wow, it takes a long time to get there from where I live - had to be Tube ! I had planned to walk to the station - and just as well, because en route, I didn't see any bus pass that I could have got from home. Wow again, I don't recall ever seeing the Tube this busy - it took a while just to get through the barriers. The train itself, mind, was relatively ok, wherever that crowd were all going to.. and I got a seat most of the way. At Baker Street , I had to change for the Metropolitan Line - and arrived just in time to see it pulling away. The next one didn't come for about five minutes - but was nice
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Film: No Other Land

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Tonight, I was to be back at  Watkin's Occult Bookshop , first time in ages - this was for a  talk  from the author of a new book - on  Book Curses ! Eating afterwards at  Bella Italia Cranbourn Street  again. But I subsequently decided to check out the film list - and top of the list was  No Other Land , a documentary formed from a young  Palestinian  boy filming every eviction from his village by  Israeli  forces. Teamed up with a sympathetic Israeli journalist to do it. Sounded more interesting to me. Closest showing to me was in the  BFI  - and with it mostly sold out, I said I'd better book. Also booked to eat in  The Archduke  beforehand. I stayed in the office nearly until closing time, and was the last out - well, all of this was on late! and it was a great chance to clock up some hours, what with having a timesheet to fill out. I chose to walk - I should have been able to make it in under half an hour, which left me in plenty of time for my booking. However, Google Map
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