London Still Rocks!

Now in the middle of four nights of  Meetup . Last night , I started two nights of horror, with  The Hideout  again for the first time in over two weeks.. was supposed to be  Psycho Killer  (stars  Malcolm McDowell ), but its UK release seems to have been delayed. Hope to see it at a later date, it looks good, some Satanic elements - from the writers of  Se7en . Instead, we headed to  Cineworld  to see  Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die  - an apocalyptic thing, the trailer looked funny. Directed by  Gore Verbinski , stars an unrecognisable  Sam Rockwell  as a visitor from the future, here to save us from the hell of AI. Meeting in  Victory House  beforehand - and yay, that meant I could eat in my fave  Bella Italia ! Ah, I've missed them.. Arrived a bit early - and my walk to the restaurant was made a bit easier by the fact that many of the roads were blocked off - turned out there had been a parade for Ch...

Yesterday wa s our ex-colleagues' monthly get-together. There was talk that it might clash with a birthday party.. and then, there was the   Ireland-England match . . we played it by ear. Martin, sadly, was busy and couldn't make it. I was surprisingly sprightly, for me, and made it out early, on what was a grey day: Was first there of the three of us that were meeting, and discovered the entire ground floor was reserved, for one time or another - and we'd need pretty much the whole day. Tried upstairs, which, happily, was open, and managed to find a free table there, phew! Messaged the others, ordered my drink, waited till James arrived to order food. Mark, I knew, would be fashionably late. I hadn't been going to have steak, twice in a row - but honestly, I wanted it more than anything else on the menu, and it is so good there. James had fish though - it's also very good. Sure enough, we'd eaten by the time Mark arrived.. and much drinking and chatting was don...

Tonight, headed with a friend to the  Menier Chocolate Factory  to see  Fallen Angels , by  Noel Coward . He booked a table for us beforehand at   Casa do Frango  - I could have walked, but decided to pack my Oyster card, just in case. Sure enough - despite my weather app's predictions - I walked into a horrible night, squalls of wind, pouring rain. Now, I was wearing a highly waterproof coat - doesn't matter, it was still a horrible night to be out. I do pass a bus stop as I leave - had a look, saw a bus was coming in a few minutes that'd take me within two minutes' walk. No competition! Did that - still got soaked on the walk to the restaurant. I was the first to arrive - gave his name, and was told it was a reservation for three (yes it was, he'd forgotten to tell me someone else would be joining us). Upstairs, the table was (sigh). Was in possession of a glass of Sauvignon Blanc before anyone else arrived - unfortunately, they only do small glasses (...

Last   night, a  Meetup  group called  LGBTQ Culture Lovers  was headed to a  performance  of  Bruckner's 8th symphony  by the  Philharmonia  at the  Royal Festival Hall . Now, I don't want to go with them - I don't swing that way - but hey, nothing to stop me going on my own! Heading to  The Archduke  for food beforehand. I walked, feeling strangely sprightly - got there slightly late, being somewhat distracted by a light show on the church of St. Martin in the Fields , which I passed en route: As usual, I got a friendly welcome - and was taken upstairs (could do without that, dragging my laptop bag). Got a window seat again. Had their gorgeous pumpkin soup, and the chicken - had to run after all that to get to the concert in time, and didn't quite finish the chicken. Would you believe, upon seeing I'd left some, they decided I didn't like it, and took it off the bill! Well, ok.. I wasn't going to complain.. Over to ...

Last night , back to  Winter's Night Wonder Tales , at  The Palmerston . Tickets from  Eventbrite . It's a long, long bus ride to East Dulwich - I had a couple of options, and just made one of them. And OMG, such rain.. sadly, not really bringing milder weather with it. I had to change buses in it, and just before I got off the first bus, I had the privilege of gaining a companion in the seat beside me. Not so happily, I hadn't a clue what he was trying to say to me. At least I managed to glean that he was asking me whether I didn't understand what he was saying - I said no, and he gave up trying. Honestly, that's what you get for going to Peckham , an incomprehensible accent.. really, Only Fools and Horses gives you no clue! So I was rather happy to get off in the rain. Happily, for a long stretch either side of the stop , the building side of the pavement is covered by a long awning, so everyone stood under that. I did have a wet trudge to the pub, though. No p...

T onight, second night in a row with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS), we were going to  Bird Grove , the story of  George Eliot 's relationship with her father , in  Hampstead Theatre . This far out, it had to be Tube .. and with a bus that would take me to the station imminent, I thought it'd simply be silly not to take it. So I did. Now, as often happens at busy periods, we were made to enter for the Jubilee Line via the Northern Line route, at the end of which you go down a staircase that has steps to the left and right. I usually go down the right, whereupon the Jubilee Line to the city centre is to my left. Tonight, I went down the left staircase.. and, distracted, took the train that was just pulling in. To the left. It wasn't for a couple of stops I realised I was going the wrong way and changed - just as well I saved time getting that bus! Not that dinner was going to take long - I was at KFC , as usual for this venue, these days. And it was very nice.. althoug...