London Still Rocks!

I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. Just made the Stansted Express with minutes to spare. The journey was greatly enlivened by the appearance, in Tottenham Hale , of a group of youngsters obviously out for a night of fun. I thought they were on the wrong train.. one asked me whether the train stopped in Meridian Water . It didn't ring a bell, so I said I didn't think so.. from their conversation, it became apparent that there was a music festival on there, which they were headed to, and some person in the group had just hopped on the first train they saw. Rather than the train they should have got, two minutes later. So I decided to be helpful by checking our route for them - I told them the next stop was Harlow . "HARLOW?!" one cried in dismay.. well, that was 15 minutes away. They had no choice but to wait for it though, trooping off there into the night. Good luck to them. Ironically, one kept saying they were going to Ibiza .. Obviously a reference to

 Ah, I never thought I'd get on to this post, I was so far behind. But here we are.. and up to date at last! As soon as I heard Darkfield was bringing its latest show, Arcade , to London, it was a must-see. And with it starting on Wednesday - but with me booked already for Land of the Free  for that day, last night was my first chance to see Arcade. So I booked - as I told the lady when I arrived, I'd have waited for Hallowe'en , but it's not showing then.. with it running several times each day (it's only 25 mins long, with a 15-minute briefing), I booked the very last show. As always. Later the better, for spooky stuff. Now, 45+ Not Grumpy had a boat social last night, which I could have come to for a while before going to this. And which I was considering - but my main interest would have been meeting the people from the trip I was just on. And they weren't coming. So I cried off - decided I could do with the extra time to catch up with stuff myself, anyway

Wow, have I been busy..  Safely back from Romania on Sunday, and after a much-needed lie-in, I had booked with  Cultureseekers  for the  Charlie Chaplin Guided Walk . Finishing at  The Jolly Gardeners Pub . But you know - subsequently,  Over 40 Living the Life  advertised a trip to the  Immigrant Comedy Show  at the  Camden Comedy Club . And I was likely to have a better time with them than with Cultureseekers - which I hadn't yet paid for.. so I booked for that instead. Could technically have gone to both, but I couldn't be a***d. And this gave me a chance to try out the food at the  Blues Kitchen Camden , which is right across the  road .. Ah, the buses, the buses.. I had to change buses, and one not only had to change drivers (I am so often privy to that long-drawn-out ceremony), but stopped "to even out the gaps in the service". TWICE!! No surprise that I was a bit late to the Blues Kitchen. Now, this is one of those businesses that texts you a couple of days bef

Our last full day in Romania started with - Dracula 's Castle! AKA Bran Castle , it actually has little to do with Vlad the Impaler at all.. he seems to have stayed here briefly, it was involved in some battles. However, it certainly looks the part - a fairytale castle, in the woods, in the mountains .. and it was lovely to get back into the heart of those mountains: Now, our itinerary originally had us doing this the next day, but as our guide said, we were headed to Brasov , and this was on the way, so it made much more sense. We made it to the castle in due course.. a guided tour was organised for us, and we met the castle guide at the entrance. Which was a ways away from where we parked - they have a huge market at the castle entrance, all sorts of Dracula-related stuff.. Our castle guide warned us we'd have a lot of climbing to do, but promised he'd have lots of stops. I have to say, the worst part for me was the slope leading up to the castle itself - long, halfway