London Still Rocks!

This evening , the best film looked like Tuner , about a piano tuner turned safe cracker. Closest evening showing to me was in the Everyman Broadgate  - nice and late, so I could get some overdue work done. Looking for eateries nearby - what should I discover but " Nando's Liverpool Street "! Well, never knew they had one there.. so that's where I headed, on a bus to Liverpool Street Station . Figured the fastest was to cut through the station - didn't realise it was actually in the station! That bit at the end of the station was just under construction when I lived near there. Crikey, it was well needed - there was nowhere decent to eat in the station at the time. Well, it was busy, but I got a table.. WiFi was pretty bad, so I ended up on the station WiFi, which wasn't great either. It took a while to order, therefore.. and it wasn't obvious where to get the cutlery - the lady who took me to my table had said, but she was both softly- and quick-spoken...

Thes e next two days, I was thinking of film - and what was coming up for today was Quo Vadis, Aida? , the Bosnia & Herzegovina entry for Best International Feature at the 2021 Oscars . It's the true story of a UN translator trying to save herself, her husband, and their son during the Bosnian genocide . Showing in the Lexi, Kensal Rise only. But you know, it's a nightmare to get there - so when CT popped up with an ad for Symphonic Rock tonight in the Albert Hall , I was interested.. slightly quicker, and a lot easier, to get to, and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing rock classics, it sounded more fun. I hadn't anything booked - so I booked that! I wasn't in time to make a food reservation there, so booked Stein's Berlin , down the road, for beforehand. My actual concert ticket, which was a lucky dip, was sent to me later in the afternoon - and hey, for £10, I got a seat worth over £40, in the Choir.. not so bad.. Arrived at the restaurant...

Now, tonight was supposed to be the third in a  run of three Meetup s, back with London Social & Cultural Meetups (also advertised, again, with the London European Club ) for a talk at the London School of Economics - this one was Ten Years On: Brexit and Britain's Political Future . But wouldn't you know, I was checking this afternoon - and I never registered for the talk! Lordy.. well, there was no doing it now - so I cancelled my attendance at the Meetup and headed for dinner at the Pommeler's Rest before the talk, which I could still access online. The rain held off, and it was a gloriously sunny evening - I got a table just inside the door, where I could watch both the golden sunshine and the manic traffic. Had a nice meal, nice wine.. a second nice wine.. and reflected that one of the good things about not attending in person was that I had time to eat beforehand, rather than spending the better part of an hour just getting there. And I was hungry.. Got hom...

Now in the midst of three days in a row of Meetup , it's been a London Museums from A-Z (LoMAZ) weekend - yesterday was their bimonthly birthday bash, starting in Benugo Waterloo . The buses were playing with me, first not coming, then on their way.. as I told the group, I'd be fashionably late. And so it proved, with me arriving about 10 minutes after the scheduled time. Still ahead of most of the group though, who dribbled in gradually.. well done to the day's principal organiser for getting there first and securing a table! As we chatted, we unanimously decided that if there were to be a walk at all, as planned, it'd be within the station where we then were, due to the rain. And then our uber-organiser (Jonny) spotted the Well & Boot at the end of the concourse and decided to give that a try. So over there we schlepped, got a round in - I asked the barman whether he had Sauvignon Blanc and he said, "yes, would you like some?" - and spent a convivi...