London Still Rocks!

Just started  two nights of cheap shows courtesy of CT. Tonight, I saw  Ancient Grease , a parody of the famous musical,  Grease , but - well - set in  Ancient Greece ! specifically, on  Olympus , and focusing on the love affair between  Hera  and  Zeus . Showing in the  Vaults Theatre  - which I could walk to, in a pinch, considering we had another Tube strike today. Happily, we were absolved of the duty of going into the office this week, because of the strikes. I left in ok time.. headed for Dockhead , since there were two buses that could get me where I was going, both of which stop there. One of them had just left the stop.. mind you, there was such a traffic jam that I figured I could beat it to the next stop . Not only did I manage that, but to play my game for a bit while I waited.. Well, traffic improved after that bottleneck - but by the time I alighted, it was still a bit late for a proper meal. Now, Google Maps showed a P...

Tonight, back with the  Crick Crack Club  at  Folklore , where  Nell Phoenix  delivered a show called  Uncanny , a set of apparently true scary stories. Tickets from  Dice , as ever, and I was eating beforehand in  The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch , as usual. This strike  promised to be over by evening. Well now, I guess nobody told the bus passengers that, because the buses were rammed. Crazy busy, I was lucky to get on, glad to get off. Plus they were all delayed. Happily, today's was a short journey - at that, I couldn't get a bus quite close enough, and had to walk the last bit. I was five minutes late, but hey, they were practically empty! I got a table without issue, was served at lightning speed - and oh, it was good. Had one glass of wine, and when I was finished all that, it was late enough that by the time I got to the venue, the doors would be open, so off I went. Pity really - Wednesday is cocktail night, they're all on sale.. Got mys...

Tonight, back with  Up in the Cheap Seats  (UITCS) to see  Heart Wall , a drama about a woman returning to a home where she no longer feels she belongs. Karaoke begins 15 minutes before the show, and audience participation is welcome. Showing in the  Bush Theatre . Problem is, there's a  Tube strike , so getting there promised to be tricky.. Google Maps said I could get there by buses in an hour and a half - assuming they weren't too packed to board, and assuming the traffic wasn't crazy. If it was too bad, I'd just have had to cancel. As it was, I had to leave early. I was getting peckish as I prepared to leave, so popped into the shop first for a snack, which I took with me. Wouldn't you know it, the bus arrived shortly after I did! I ate my snack pretty quickly. I was impressed with the progress we made, mind - not much traffic, and the bus not too crowded either. I then had to change buses - contrary to predictions, the second one didn't take too long - a...

Last  night, second evening in a row, I also decided on film - specifically,  Project Hail Mary  at last! It's one of those that a lot of people I know have seen, but I hadn't gotten around to it - stars  Ryan Gosling  in a dystopian future where the sun is dying, and he has to go into space to perform a kind of rescue mission. Sandra Huller is the project leader. Along the way he meets a cute little alien being. I'd heard people rave about it, and he's always watchable, so I was perfectly happy to give that a shot! Closest showing to me was in the  Everyman Borough Yards  - I booked, for convenience. I could walk, and it was a decent day for it. Ah, the joys of a late showing - I stayed late at work, and still made it in good time to eat! Nando's Clink Street , it was.. where I had earned enough Nando loyalty points for free food, excellent! I even had time for dessert - but I was too stuffed. Too early, still, for the film, I figured I'd stay on and...

On Saturday evening, finally back with  La Isla Flamenco  (having had to miss a couple of theirs) for A Sip of Spain: Flamenco, Folk & Copla at  Pulse & Pickle CIC .. tickets from  Humanitix . I decided to go straight from Islington , although I had a ton of time to kill - to while away some of it, I elected to go by bus, although it'd take over an hour. And a hot journey it was too, the sun beating down. By the end of it, I needed the loo - I alighted at Walthamstow High Street , and walked down it till I found my destination. I was hours early though, so sought a pub to hang out in and whose loo I could use. By 'eck, they're thin on the ground there - I eventually came up with Friends Lounge , further down the street. When I made my way down there, a few people were sat at tables outside, but the inside was pretty empty. I chose a table, checked with the server that it was ok just to have a drink, and used their loo. I decided I'd better have a look at the ...