London Still Rocks!

This weekend, I'm finally back with Meetup - yesterday, it was third time lucky for the London Sci-Fi / Fantasy Meetup Group , who had their social cancelled twice by the Mad Hatter for the World Cup ! Yes, they still had it there.. It's not too far from me, but a little far to walk.. my road is still ripped up so they can fix a burst water main, and sadly is going to stay like that for another week or so.. so I walked to further down, where I could catch a bus . Everyone else evidently had the same idea.. nobody at the intervening stops, but when I got to the stop I needed, there was a huge crowd. A bad sign, if so many people had gathered.. they must have been waiting a while. I tried to check the bus status on Buses Due .. they were "experiencing issues", as happens so often. So I gave up on the bus, and checked the Tube - would you believe, it was experiencing severe delays because of yet another points failure! Again, that's happening a lot these days - m...

Tonight , second film in a row, I decided on   Sherlock Jr. , a Buster Keaton comedy, in which he turns detective when accused of a crime he didn't commit. Showing in the Finsbury Park Picturehouse . And with our company giving us an hour off on summer Fridays, I should have been in time to eat beforehand! Except I wasn't, of course.. got caught up with stuff. Did make it in time for the film, taking the Thameslink , which is quicker, with fewer stops, at the same price. It was cool to look out the window at London as we passed - even when I'm on the bus, I don't see it from this angle.(And yes, don't tap out at the points through the station - wait for the gates at the exit).  Arrived early at the cinema, but not in time for food.. bought a snack and some wine, and settled down in the lobby to wait. I was in the Club Room, to which I was ably directed by a staff member - and wow, every cinema should have a room like this, with cafe tables and a bar at the back...

Tonight, I was thinking of The Last Viking , which I'd intended to see on the 12th , but didn't - it's a crime comedy with Mads Mikkelson , who plays a man under the delusion that he's John Lennon . Evening showing was in the Ritzy . Ah, but the big release of the summer is, arguably, The Odyssey , just released, and which I'd have seen at the weekend, had I had the time. The story of the epic poem , it's directed, written, and co-produced, by Christopher Nolan , and for the cast, it looks like they went through the Hollywood phone book and played eeny-meeny-miny-mo.. there's: Matt Damon as Odysseus , King of Ithaca , who spends 10 years fighting the Trojan War , and then gets.. delayed on the way home, spending another 10 years getting there, and giving his name to the trip. I have a vague memory that this was a curse on him after he annoyed some god or other, but can't find anything about it now. Anne Hathaway as his long-suffering wife, Penelope , ...

These three days seem likely to be films. Tonight, I was delighted to be seeing Coup '53 finally - it's a documentary about the joint CIA/MI6 operation in 1953 to overthrow the Iranian Prime Minister , who had just nationalised the Iranian oil industry, which had previously operated under the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP ). The operation was Churchill 's idea (always far too interested in meddling in other countries, that man). Showings are limited, so I missed it before.. it was showing in the Arthouse Crouch End , and was mostly sold out when I looked, so I booked. It was quite a ways away, but I did want to see this. I had a helluva time getting the last post out, only just getting out in time - only to discover the whole road ripped up! Seems there was a leak in the water mains - major traffic disruption and, crucially, no buses! So I hiked down to the station to get the Tube - too far away to get anything else. Happily, I was only three minutes late...

Back to London last Sunday - and a palaver to get home. So glad it's not a regular event anymore. I flew into Heathrow , so had to travel all the way across town.. having not taken the Elizabeth Line on Friday , I didn't take it on Sunday either, having checked and seen that, by the time I was taking it, it didn't go further than Paddington . So, Tube it was.. but I had to change at Green Park for the Jubilee Line , and when I saw how late it was getting, I thought to check what time the last Jubilee Line left there. Sure enough, midnight - all Tube lines that aren't all-nighters finish between midnight and 12.30am. And it was past midnight. That wasn't the most sensible place to exit then.. I checked the map of stations on the Piccadilly Line , which of course is the one that runs from Heathrow, and realised that I could get off at Holborn , from which I could get the #188 bus straight home. I exited the station to the sound of many happy, and noisy, Spaniards,...